Meagre pension increase will backfire on ministers
AN INCREASE of €12 in our pensions! How generous of our politicians.
However, my phone bill has gone up by a fiver and electricity from €7 a week to over €14, equalling €12+ apart from all other price increases, so we pensioners are still stuck with the huge increase of a fiver we got four years ago.
Politicians are more interested in their millionaire friends and their advisers and top civil servants. They’ve taken us for fools long enough: it’s time for change. Start looking for jobs and work for a living, boys and gals.
S.O’Rourke, Galway.
Get recession done
THE festival of folly and fun shows no sign of slowing down in British politics. Liz Truss sacks herself as PM due to her disastrous gom-inspired mini-budget and being so out of her depth that it was embarrassing.
And now there is talk of Boris Johnson putting his name forward as a candidate, gaining hooray Henry support from a number of politicians including Lord Snooty himself, Jacob ReesMogg. Well, why not, let’s get recession done?
Vincent O’Connell, New Ross, Co. Wexford.
…WITH all the shenanigans going on across the water, it reminds me of that very funny Irish ballad, Lanigan’s Ball. She stepped out and he stepped in again. Lol, it beats Mrs Brown’s Boys hands down.
If it happened here, wouldn’t the Brits have a great laugh at us? Not too many are laughing over there at the moment and not a word out of the DUP.
Val Davis, Crosshaven, Co. Cork.
Big round for Des
DES Cahill’s announcement this week that he is to step down from presenting The Sunday Game after 15 seasons came as no surprise in my view. One of the most endearing aspects of Des is that he wears his heart on his sleeve and his discomfort with
the growing constraints on his ‘freedom to present’ were noticeable, albeit almost always well-disguised.
It is a further measure of the man that in these circumstances he decided to call it a day. So, in addition to thanking him for 15 seasons of the programme, his candidness in the matter should most of all be appreciated.
The Sunday Game ‘post-Des’ will, for the GAA, be but one essential facet in marketing its product, the wider consideration of which is at a crossroads at the moment, mainly due to the ongoing ‘split-season experiment’.
One hopes that there are a number of Des Cahills in the rank and file of the GAA to recognise when enough is enough with this venture.
Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city.
Praise for women
PLEASE allow me to respond to the over-the-top suggestion by Maurice Fitzgerald, Co. Cork (MoS Letters, Oct. 16) that the Irish women’s soccer team should be ‘kicked out’ of the World Cup following their inappropriate celebratory chant after the victory in Glasgow.
Strangely, the imbalanced missive did not bestow any praise on the team for its history-making achievement.
Such was a great pity, as the wonderful win by Vera Pauw’s charges brought a lot of cheer to our nation after being stunned by some dreadfully sad events.
Perhaps the writer is one of the ‘perfect people’ who never makes a mistake. Such individuals should try to view the bigger picture and appreciate the good as well as what they consider to be the not-so-good.
Willie Wilson, Waterford city.
Leave it on the shelf
THE new battlefield in this ‘costof-living emergency’ is the supermarket.
Prices for groceries in Irish supermarkets have a history of being higher that our European neighbours.
What forces are at play when supermarkets can raise prices at a whim and no statutory body asks ‘why?’.
For years, Irish supermarkets have feasted on the Irish consumer. Their annual profits gives these companies the financial heft to absorb supplychain increases without using the consumer as a money sponge.
The use of apps, loyalty cards and vouchers are nothing more than retail fool’s gold.
Shoppers need to be more vocal and raise the price increases issue with their local supermarket manager.
In addition, leaving the product on the shelf sends a message.
Just saying!
John Tierney, Fews, Co. Waterford.