Metro Herald, December 11, 2013

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Your Metro Herald packed with news, sport and features

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

We get that cLose to suggs

Lysteria

What happens when you cry ‘hoax’ to often? »p19

»p15

Motorists warned over Luas crashes Have some selfie-respect

LUAS is appealing to motorists to stop breaking red lights and remember they share the roads with trams, as new figures reveal a 63 per cent increase in collisions this year.

In 2012, there were 22 incidents involving trams and road vehicles, with 18 of those on the Red Line.

Another incident last year involved a Luas and a very different type of vehicle on the track – a lawnmower.

However, with 2013 not yet over, operator Transdev has already recorded 36 such incidents, 32 of which were on the Red Line.

At 5km longer than the Green line, 5.5km of Red line track runs through busy city streets, with trams passing through 48 signalled road junctions.

Meanwhile, 95 per cent of the 16.5km Green line is on dedicated right of way, with the remaining track segregated street tramway.

It passes through 14 signalled road traffic junctions.

This year, Red line trams have been involved in 22 collisions with vehicles at red light junctions and eight collisions on shared roads. Two further collisions involved vehicles exiting a non-signalled side street.

Green line trams have been involved in four incidents so far this year, three with vehicles on shared roads and one with a vehicle on a non-signalled side street.

by joanne ahern

Transdev insisted Dublin light rail has ‘an excellent safety record by all international standards’, however it is concerned about this year’s increase in incidents.

Managing director Brian Brennan said: ‘This trend needs to go the opposite way, motorists need to stop amber gambling, taking chances, in some cases seeing a Luas and visibly speeding up to cross a road junction as opposed to slowing down and anticipating the lights to change.’

He added: ‘Luas is on a fixed track, it cannot swerve, it needs time to brake and motorists who persist in gambling with the Luas are putting their own lives and the lives of Luas customers at risk.’

Pointing towards the disruption a Luas collision causes to commuters who suffer delayed services, he said that it’s ‘unfair that one gambling motorist can have such an impact on so many others’.

He also called on people to report a motorist breaking a red light to the Gardaí and said that Luas safety is not only important at Christmas, but all year round.

Transdev calculates that 30million passenger journeys will be made on Luas in 2013, up from 29.4million last year.

‘Cars speeding up to beat the Luas’

Yes, Vine minister: Danish leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt poses between a gurning British prime minister and US president, while US first lady Michelle Obama looks unimpressed… or maybe just didn’t notice PIC: AP HE was acclaimed as ‘a man of good humour, even mischief’ – but the flood of tributes to Nelson Mandela appeared to put world leaders in high spirits yesterday. The anti-apartheid hero, who died last week, was

saluted by gaily robed South Africans dancing in the aisles of the stadium in Soweto and hailed as ‘a man of flesh and blood’. And the party spirit spread across the VIP seats, where Barack Obama and

David Cameron were caught grabbing a sneaky selfie. The two leaders sandwiched Danish prime minister Helle ThorningSchmidt to pose for the snap, which some killjoys said was inappropriate. pages 4-5

«

Keep Dublin tidy – Please recycle this Metro Herald when you are finished with it

METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

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54 The percentage of us who don’t think we look or sound the way we do in videos, according to a survey by electronics maker Canon

Ireland’s rate of newsprint recycling is now up to 79%. Keep reading, keep recycling – thank you.

Today is...

International Mountain Day Designated by the UN in 2003 to encourage people everywhere ‘to organise events at all levels on that day to highlight the importance of sustainable mountain development’.

From the archives (2009): Court win for gay sperm donor

A gay sperm donor won a landmark court battle for access to see his son who is being raised by a lesbian couple. The Supreme Court ruled that, while he was not entitled to guardianship, he has natural rights over the three-year-old.

Today’s birthdays

John Kerry, US Secretary of State, 70; Marco Pierre White, celebrity chef, 52; Mos Def, US rapper and actor, 40; Hailee Steinfeld (pictured), US actress, 17.

CLOCkwORD

The solutions from 1 to 12 are all six-letter words ending with the letter D in the centre. Moving clockwise from 1, the letters in the outer circle will spell out the name of a UK actor.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Rich (Inf.) Mean Yellowbelly Repellent Harmony Overjoyed Myth Rotten

9.

10.

11.

12.

D

Stout Type of nut Stretch Forceful request

Yesterday’s solution: Donald Wolfit.

Weather Weather Today

Max: 12°c

Some dry, bright spells, but generally cloudy and misty, with occasional patches of drizzle and fog. Temperatures between 10°C to 12°C in fresh to strong southerly winds.

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11�C

Derry

Donegal

11�C

10�C Belfast

Cavan

Galway

12�C

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Dublin

12�C

Tipperary

12�C

Waterford

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Cork

Tonight

12�C

12�C Sunrise: 8.30am Sunset: 4.06pm

Min: 7°c

Rain arriving in the west will spread gradually east to all parts of the country.

However, the rain will be mainly light and patchy. Temperatures between 7°C to 10°C in westerly winds.

EUROPE today

Tomorrow

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Rain will slowly clear from the east and it will become mainly dry again with a few sunny spells.

Temperatures between 10°C to 13°C in easing southerly winds.

11�C 10�C 12�C 11�C

12�C

12�C 13�C 12�C Max: 13°c

Athens

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Berlin

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Brussels London Geneva Madrid Paris Rome

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

Brazen thieves caught in the act as they’re pictured breaking into a block of flats

I’ve got the bear: One of the gang comes out with the booty while another attempts to flee the scene in disguise

Cat burglars?

No... baboons

by AiDAN RADNEDgE

Up here, boys: A baboon opens the window as an accomplice shimmies up

YOU might think you were safe from burglars breaking into your thirdfloor flat with a sheer drop outside.

But not with this gang of baboons around.

The determined thieves scaled the walls, prised open a window and clambered inside.

After 30 minutes of rifling through the owner’s possessions, they came out to parade their loot – a giant teddy bear.

One even tried to use a bed sheet as a disguise when fleeing the scene of the crime.

The audacious escapade was captured on camera by a French wildlife photographer who later thwarted another team of baboons targeting the same flat.

Cyril Ruoso, 43, travelled to Cape

Hungry work: The peckish pilferers leave the fridge door open and food scattered around the flat before making good their escape Pictures: sNPA

Town in South Africa to take pictures of the monkeys. He said: ‘At first, only one of them was inside the flat.

He opened the front windows with his mouth, and about ten baboons then came into the flat.

‘I am quite used to working with

monkeys but I was amazed. When they came out with a giant teddy bear, I was even more astonished.’

The chacma baboon raids are common in South Africa, where monitoring teams are employed to try to keep them at bay.

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METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

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Rain, boos and empty seats taint big event SOUTH AFRICAN president Jacob Zuma was booed in pouring rain at the memorial service. The 71-year-old struggled through his speech and faced football-style gestures suggesting he be substituted. Service coordinator Cyril Ramaphosa was forced to ask the crowd to be more respectful. Mr Zuma has been criticised for high unemployment, frequent strikes and corruption allegations against him. Many seats in the FNB stadium in Johannesburg were empty because of heavy showers, traffic delays and warnings to stay away because of fears of overcrowding. ‘We were not able to stop the rain but this is how Nelson Mandela would have wanted to be sent away,’ Mr Ramaphosa said. ‘In the African tradition it means the gods are welcoming and the gates of heaven are open.’

Danish? You’ll be bacon, Mr Obama YOU can just imagine the frosty exchange in the back of the presidential limo. ‘So, Barack,’ Michelle Obama will say. ‘Just what did you and the Danish prime minister find to talk about all afternoon?’

The first lady had a face like thunder as Mr Obama chatted with blonde Helle ThorningSchmidt at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. And her husband’s trip from White House to dog house seemed assured when he took a selfie of himself and his new friend – each clutching the cameraphone and smiling broad-

by AiDAn RADnEDgE

ly. David Cameron muscled in to get himself in the shot... but Michelle was again left out and sat staring fixedly the other way.

She later put an end to the fun by moving between Obama and Ms Thorning-Schmidt.

While the ill-judged snap may have got him into trouble, Mr Obama made history by grabbing another photo opportunity. He reached out to Raúl Castro across the rows of seating, becoming the first US president to shake hands

with his Cuban counterpart since the 1959 Communist revolution.

The unexpected scenes were spotted in a VIP section containing a disparate and often controversial collection of leaders, actors and pop stars. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Zambia’s selfconfessed ‘dictator’ Yahya Jammeh rubbed shoulders with Bono and Charlize Theron, while Ireland was represented by Presient Michael D Higgins, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and a member of the Dunnes Stores strikers, who protested apartheid in 1984.

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Body language: Stern Michelle moved between Barack and Helle after they flirted Pictures: AP

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

A colourful farewell to the last great liberator Madiba Two wives and a kiss for Nelson THE two main women in Nelson Mandela’s life joined in an affectionate embrace at the memorial service yesterday.

Wife Graca Machel and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whose marriage to the South African leader ended in a bitter divorce in 1996, gave each other a long hug before they took their seats.

Graca was married to Mr Mandela for the final 15 years of his life. The women heard Zozuko Dlamini, 21, tell the crowd his grandfather was a ‘great tree’ that had fallen.

Tender: Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie greets widow Graca Picture: Pixel

NELSON MANDELA was a giant of history and the ‘last great liberator of the 20th century’, Barack Obama told thousands of mourners yesterday.

The late anti-apartheid leader – also known as Madiba – was an inspiration to the US president when he was a student 30 years ago, Mr Obama told the crowd who gathered in the pouring rain at the FNB Stadium in Soweto.

He praised Mr Mandela’s commitment to reconciliation after he was released from jail in 1990 and elected South Africa’s first black president four years later.

The warders who guarded him in jail were among those invited to Mr Mandela’s inauguration, Mr Obama noted.

‘It took a man like Madiba not only to free the prisoner but the jailer as well,’ the president added.

Mr Obama also appeared to turn on some of the world leaders sitting behind him – and urged politicians to follow Mr Mandela’s example.

‘There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic

by AiDAn RADnEDgE

poverty and growing inequality,’ he said.

‘There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom but do not tolerate dissent from their own people.’

Andrew Mlangeni, a former prisoner on Robben Island with Mr Mandela, spoke of the ‘outpouring of love’.

‘Madiba is looking down on us. There is no doubt he is smiling as he watches his beloved country, men and women, unite to celebrate his life and legacy,’ he said.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said: ‘South Africa has lost a hero, we have lost a father and the world has lost a beloved friend and mentor.

‘He sacrificed so much for freedom and equality, for democracy and justice.’

South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma revealed the Union Buildings – the seat of government in Pretoria where Mr Mandela will lie in state until Friday – would now be renamed in his honour.

The late leader’s body will be flown to his ancestral village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape for his funeral on Sunday.

METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

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60 seconds 8yrs for man found with petrol bomb

CELinE DiOn, 45, is the bestselling female singer of all time. She lives between Las Vegas, Florida and Canada with her husband René and three sons

I hear your oldest son couldn’t believe you got Sia to write the title song for your new album, Loved Me Back To Life… He still can’t believe it. He

thinks she made a mistake. He thinks she was supposed to send it to Rihanna and she sent it to me accidentally and I stole the song. But he can believe whatever he wants, it’s mine. I’m glad that he feels like that: it gives me a bit of a coolness as a mother because he doesn’t usually think I’m cool. I’m his mother!

So, now you have 3,000 pairs of shoes and a house you’re selling for $70million, do you never think: ‘That’s it. I’m done. I’m just going to stay home now and cook some pies?’ Me? Yes! But I still really

ing great. Have you had anything done? I’m always looking

A 22-YEAR-OLD with 140 previous convictions has been sentenced to eight years after being stopped at a Garda checkpoint with a petrol bomb.

The court heard, after being taken into custody, Karl Harford received a text asking: ‘Is it done yet mate?’

Harford, of Dolphin House, Rialto, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit

by COnOR GALLAGHER Criminal Court to possession of an explosive device at Park West Avenue, Ballyfermot, on November 5, 2010.

Judge Margaret Heneghan imposed the term with the final two years suspended. She rejected a defence application to take greater ac-

count of Harford’s young age and suspend more of the sentence.

Harford, who was wearing gloves and had a lighter in his pocket when he was stopped, denied any knowledge of the bomb and claimed someone else must have put it there.

He said the text he received had nothing to do with the bomb.

for a miracle product that might never come. I can’t do Botox because if it’s injected too deeply it can paralyse the vocal cords and you can have an accident. After 30 years in my career, am I really going to put the rest of my singing career in jeopardy for the sake of a few lines on my face or to look 20 again or a little fresher or whatever? I don’t think so. Also, I don’t want to say to my children when they grow up: ‘Oh, I used to look like you!’

And they’ll be: ‘Oh, that’s nice.’

As a parent, what’s your take on the whole Miley Cyrus getting sexy and twerking thing?

For me, as a mother, it’s hard to take. It’s not only her. It’s the whole new generation. I think she represents, in a sad way, if I may say so, love to sing. I can be a busy mum raising my children but I can still do a big bunch of kids out there. She’s not the only one. A lot of people are 70 shows a year, which is not that doing extreme physical bad: I started the Vegas things. Unfortunately, show with 200 shows a society is pushing year; then we shortthose kids to reveal ened it by 165; then I decided that the Miley Cyrus twerking? themselves to the extreme. It’s pushbest is yet to For me, as a mother, it’s ing them to sell come. I’m at 70 their souls, if I hard to take. It’s not shows a year and can put it like every once in a only her, It’s the whole that. while I do extra new generation promotional stuff.

“

You’ve been married to René [also her manager] for nearly 20 years now. When did you first get it together? I think our first

kiss was in Dublin at the Eurovision Song Contest [in 1988].

So you are representing Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest but instead you are spending all your time snogging your manager! Snog-

ging? What’s that?

Deep kissing. Oh! Yeah.

You had known him since you were about 12, hadn’t you?

Who made the first move, you or him? He did. But I think I

felt it before him. I wanted it before him, for sure. And in the end, he understood.

You’d been playing all your little games? I was in my late

teens and I’d been doing all my older teenager things, of course.

Can you believe it? Oooooh. You’re making me blush.

And here you are at 45, look-

Are you happy letting your own kids watch that stuff?

As a parent, it’s very hard because you do need to say to your kids: ‘Don’t watch this!’ Or: ‘This is wrong.’ Freedom of expression I understand, but I think it’s very sad that they feel the need to go that far.

It’s unfortunate. Another thing that’s hard is the fact that it’s on TV: when you go to the movies, it says 16 or over or PG or whatever, so you know. But you turn on the TV and it’s like a free show for everyone.

So, if RC [her son René-Charles] wanted to be the new Justin Bieber? That’s fine. Fine. They

have to live their moments. You can only say so much but you need to control as much as possible while they’re young. The important thing is you have to practise saying ‘No’ when they are very young. At the moment, he’s 12 and I need to be able to say to him: ‘RC, I don’t want you to do this,’ so that when he’s 15 it’s not going to be crazy.

You’re a good mum. I try.

Simon Gage

Celine Dion’s new album Loved Me Back To Life (Sony) is out now.

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

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Ben: I feared I’d be a flop B

en AFFLeCK has revealed he initially rejected the chance to become the Caped Crusader as he feared he’d make a rubbish Batman.

The 41-year-old faced a furious backlash from comic book fans over his casting in the new Batman vs Superman flick and the star admitted he doubted himself after making flop flick Daredevil ten years ago. ‘When they asked if I would be Batman, I told them I didn’t see my-

by ANDREI HARMSWORTH self in the role and I was going to have to beg off,’ he confessed.

Affleck said film bosses finally won him over, adding: ‘They said I’d fit well into how they were going to approach the character and asked me to look at what the writer-director, Zack Snyder, was doing. The stuff was incredible. It was a unique take on Batman that was still consistent with the mythology. It

Bieber: Stop bullying me for being pop brat Justin Bieber has claimed he is the victim of a bullying campaign as he tries to defend his pop brat ways.

The scrawny singer has hit the headlines this year, playing the hard man by spitting on fans, urinating in nightclub kitchens and visiting brothels.

However, he whimpered: ‘People don’t get to see me living as a 19-year-old boy. I’m still finding myself and when I have the media attacking me every day, it’s no [different] than bullying that happens in school.’

The Canadian says he plans to show off his

sweeter side on his forthcoming documentary, Justin Bieber’s Believe.

‘I think this movie really shows who I am as a person. Of course I make mistakes growing up. And I’m not perfect. People forget I’m a human being [and] I have to make mistakes and grow stronger,’ he told US radio show On Air With Ryan Seacrest.

Meanwhile, the singer shot himself in the foot again this week when he was accused of calling a size 14 female fan a ‘beached whale’ while he swanned about by the pool in Perth, Australia.

made me excited. All of a sudden I had a reading.’

Promising DC Comics fans he won’t disappoint, he added: ‘When people see it, it will make more sense than it does now or even than it did to me initially. I understand I’m at a disadvantage with the internet.’

Insisting he’d never risk being a superhero disaster again, he told Playboy magazine: ‘If I thought the result would be another Daredevil, I’d be out there

picketing myself. Why would I make the movie if I didn’t think it was going to be good and that I could be good in it?’

Argo director Affleck admitted that playing the blind superhero was his biggest low on screen.

‘The only movie I actually regret is Daredevil. It just kills me. I love that story, that character, and the fact that it got f***ed up the way it did stays with me. Maybe that’s part of the motivation to do Batman.’

Jen: I really enjoy staying in with some old Friends

Jennifer Aniston’s guilty pleasure is watching Friends. The 44-year-old, who played Rachel Green in the hit 1990s show, said: ‘I actually will always stop and watch, not for the whole thing, but usually because I’ve forgotten a lot of the episodes. It’s sort of fun for a second, I’m like,

“What’s this one?”’ Jen is engaged to actor Justin Theroux, but she has revealed her 30s – when she was married to Brad Pitt – were awkward. ‘They do say youth is wasted on the young, but I feel just as youthful now – if not more – than I did when I was 25,’ she told Parade magazine.

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

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Ralph Fiennes has joined the growing list of stars to open up about mental health, revealing he wakes in a ‘twilight zone’. The 50-year-old said: ‘I have huge anxiety attacks. I’ll wake up early with my brain anxious about something and I don’t even know what it is. Just a general sense of profound uncertainty.’ The actor also told Esquire: ‘Underneath there’s this lurking chaos. You think, “F*** – this could come at me any moment”.’

J-Law fears start of the anger games Jennifer Lawrence admits she is constantly on the edge because she fears her popularity waning. The Hunger Games actress said: ‘I’m always just very nervous. I never feel like, “I’ve got this”. I’m always aware of how quickly people can hate you and that scares me. I never feel like I’m on top of it or I know what I’m

doing. So, no, I never get a big head. I just get more and more anxious.’ The jittery 23-year-old (pictured) also admits she had to go commando for American Hustle. She told MTV: ‘I wouldn’t say that it’s ever exciting to see yourself without a bra in a dress that’s three sizes too small. It was... freeing.’

Jungle Joey’s skinny look worries fans Joey Essex shocked fans with an extra-skinny photo of himself after emerging from the I’m A Celebrity jungle. The 23-year-old lost 9.5kg (1st 7lb) taking part in the UTV show. ‘Getting out of bed now,’ the Towie star said as he posted the Instagram snap of himself on a sun lounger at the plush Palazzo Versace hotel in Queensland.

Harry’s wild date at gay bar H

arry STyLES found a masterful way to keep the competition away from his pretty new girlfriend Kendall Jenner – by taking her to a gay club.

The One Direction heartthrob, 19, and the 18-year-old reality TV star stunned everyone when they tottered up to the Gays Gone Wild night in Therapy, New york, on Saturday.

In fact, it wasn’t the singer’s first visit to the nightclub as it emerged he’s a frequent visitor.

by JENNI McKNIGHT ‘Harry has actually been here a few times before,’ an insider revealed.

‘He’s just a regular customer when he comes in.’

The pair tried to keep their date lowkey and decided not to take the club up on their encouraged dancing policy. a witness told Us Weekly they ‘looked like they were a couple having a great time’.

But Harry’s bid to leave quietly was

scuppered when the venue decided to blast out 1D’s hit What Makes you Beautiful as he and Jenner tried to slink out.

Earlier in the day, the couple were spotted leaving the Gansevoort Hotel in the trendy Meatpacking District before enjoying lunch at Soho House.

Despite their joint exit, Jenner checked in at another hotel in the city.

Harry’s choice of party venue will add to slights about his love life,

which he tried to clear up this year when he said: ‘Bisex-ual, me? I don’t think so.’

He has also laughed off gossip about his bromance with gay BBC radio 1 host Nick Grimshaw, with other fans targeting him and bandmate Louis Tomlinson – dubbing them Larry Stylinson.

Styles and Jenner were first linked last month when they were spotted leaving a dinner date at Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood.

Out for the night: Harry Styles

10 METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

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Just 12 of 325 priests convicted ONLY 12 members of a notoriously abusive Catholic order of priests have been convicted of crimes since 1975, a watchdog has revealed.

The Christian Brothers, one of the largest religious and teaching orders, face allegations that 325 priests who worked in schools in Ireland over the last 38 years attacked youngsters.

An audit by the Catholic Church’s own watchdog – the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children –

found that the order’s initial response to abuse was inadequate.

There were 870 complaints of abuse over four decades, all of which have been reported, but only 50 of the accused priests are still alive.

The audit warned: ‘The number of convictions by the courts, compared to the numbers accused of child abuse, is significantly small.’

The Christian Brothers said they accepted that a safeguarding deficit existed in the past.

Men who stabbed rivals’ fathers over drug debt jailed

by SOnyA McLEAn

Waste company Clinic chief ‘may fined for odour face watchdog’ WASTE management firm Greyhound Recycling has been hit with financial penalties for failing to prevent odours coming from a storage facility in Dublin.

The Environmental Protection Agency sniffed out the problem at their site in Clondalkin. The company and directors Michael and Brian Buckley were found to have broken waste management regulations. Judge John O’Neill imposed fines totalling €10,000 on the company in addition to the EPA’s legal costs.

THE recruitment of the head of the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC), who resigned over a salary top-ups controversy, is to be investigated by the Public Accounts Committee. PAC chairman John McGuinness said Brian Conlon’s appointment needs to be examined. However, last night on RTÉ the Government again faced accusations of leaking the top-ups information to distract from the dismantling of the health service.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR ALL THE FAMILY AT FANTASTIC PRICES! That smaug look…

Allen Higgins and Rory Higgins at the Irish premiere of The Hobbit – Desolation Of Smaug at the Savoy in Dublin last night, in association with Metro Herald Picture: brian mcevoy

TWO MEN who barged their way into the home of two brothers because they claimed they wanted a ‘straightener’ over a drug debt have been jailed for stabbing the men’s fathers.

Mel O’Brien, 19, and James Douglas, 33, arrived at the home of Daragh and Jason O’Sullivan in Ashlawn Park, Ballybrack at 3.40am on September 27, 2012 and woke their mother Carol.

They later stabbed Robert Butler and Paul Griffin, fathers of the O’Sullivan brothers, when they came to the house having been informed by Carol O’Sullivan by text that O’Brien and another man were in her home.

The victims were taken to hospital where Mr Griffin was treated for a perforated lung and multiple stab wounds to his chest and back. He remained in hospital until the following week.

Mr Butler needed stitches to his arm and face.

O’Brien of Bentley House, Dún Laoghaire, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Paul Griffin causing him harm, while Douglas of Rathsallagh Park, Shankill, pleaded guilty to assaulting Robert Butler causing him harm.

O’Brien has 44 previous convictions for offences including robbery, theft, assault and criminal damage while Douglas’s 15 convictions are for road traffic and public order offences.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring sentenced O’Brien to three years in prison with the final 12 months suspended.

Douglas, a father of five, was sentenced to three and a half years with the final 12 months suspended.

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A DUBLIN man who broke an off-duty garda’s nose at a Swedish House Mafia gig at Phoenix Park last year has been remanded in custody.

Sean Hulgrain, 23, of Thornfield Square, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Garda Wayne Keown causing him harm on July 7, 2012.

The court heard that Hulgrain called Gda Keown a ‘garda scumbag’, before punching him in the face and running off through the crowd.

He was remanded in custody pending sentencing.

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GARDAÍ are seeking information on the whereabouts of Daniel Murphy, last seen in Phibsboro on December 7. The 14-year-old is 5ft 10in, of medium build with brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a grey tracksuit, white polo shirt, a black coat, and blue and orange striped runners.

Contact Lucan gardaí on 666 7300.

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World

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

Hot spot: A Christian youth sits inside a burntout car in Bangui in the Central African Republic as French troops, trying to quell the country’s sectarian conflict, suffered their first combat fatalities.

Two paratroopers died yesterday following a clash near the capital’s airport, president François Hollande’s office announced.

France has deployed 1,600 soldiers to the country in a UN-backed operation

digest

Putin amnesty may set Pussy Riot free

RUSSIA: Jailed punk protest band Pussy Riot could be freed under a Kremlin amnesty. Greenpeace activists, known as the Arctic 30, may also avoid jail under plans to pardon people convicted of hooliganism. President Vladimir Putin may waive protesters’ prison time to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Russia’s postcommunist constitution. Plans for the amnesty come as human rights abuse in Russia is scrutinised ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Picture: reuters

Weapons watchdog awarded peace prize

Faulty breast implant boss is jailed over health scare

NORWAy: The watchdog tasked with ridding the world of chemical weapons was yesterday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Ahmet Üzümcü, director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, collected the €870,000 prize in Oslo on behalf of the group. The Turkish diplomat said such weaponry has an ‘especially nefarious legacy’. He added: ‘You cannot see them. You cannot smell them. And they offer no warning for the unsuspecting.’

Rosetta gets a date to land on a comet GERMANy: A date for the first landing of a spacecraft on a comet was announced yesterday by the European Space Agency. The Rosetta probe will head towards the ‘large dirty snowball’ that is 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the new year. If all goes well, it will launch a lander on the comet on November 11, 2014, and take samples, which will be analysed by on-board instruments. One aim of the mission is to discover whether Earth’s water came from comets.

Thief steals jar with pickled foetus inside RUSSIA: A ‘baby snatcher’ was arrested for stealing a jar containing the pickled remains of a foetus. Lolita Bezrukova, 32, was held as she tried to leave a museum of medical abnormalities with the exhibit hidden under her coat. Her motive for the theft is not known, say police. The museum in Petrozavodsk is famous for having hundreds of preserved human foetuses and organs on display to show the dangerous consequences of alcoholism and drug use.

and finally...

AUSTRIA: And you thought carving the turkey was a chore! It has taken cooks Micaheala Geier and Bernhard Ziegerhofer five weeks to make the world’s biggest edible Christmas bauble – a 380kg iced gingerbread ball in St Jakob im Walde, in Styria.

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by TARIq TAHIR

Ice job if you hang tight DANGLING high above the ground, Daniel Arnold and Stephan Siegrist have only the tips of their ice picks to stop them falling into the icy depths. The climbers scaled some of the world’s largest icefalls – some more than 500m tall – for a photo shoot inspired by mythological ‘frost giants’. The ice was tinted with coloured flares and lights by photographer Thomas Senf. ‘The frost giants of Norse mythology were huge, cold and practically indomitable,’ said a spokesman for the project in Eidfjord, Norway, backed by mountain sports company Mammut Pictures: thomas senf/mammut

THE founder of a French breast implant company was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday for hiding the true nature of the sub-standard silicone used in implants sold to 300,000 women around the world.

Jean-Claude Mas, 74, founder and chief executive of Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), was prosecuted after a worldwide panic in 2011 when France recommended women with such implants should have them removed due to an abnormally high rupture rate.

Worries about the implants launched a flurry of international lawsuits and prompted calls for Europe to toughen controls on medical devices.

Once the third-largest global supplier of breast implants, the company was shut in 2010 and its implants ordered off the market after inspectors pursuing a tip-off discovered vats of industrial-grade silicone outside the PIP factory in the southern town of LaSeyne-sur-Mer.

A Marseille court also ordered Mas, who had been pursued for aggravated fraud, to pay a €75,000 fine.

Four other executives, including the chief financial officer, were senJean-Claude Mas tenced to between one-and-a-half and three years in prison, some of it suspended, and fined.

‘It’s a strong signal. This decision is what victims were waiting for,’ said lawyer Philippe Courtois.

Alexandra Blachere of a PIP victims group called it a ‘symbolic sentence’ that challenged any prejudice that there was ‘a ditzy bimbo behind every pair of silicone breasts.’

The trial in April and May was held in an exhibition centre to accommodate the 7,400 civil plaintiffs and 300 lawyers.

Jeers from the crowd greeted Mas’s appearance in the makeshift courtroom.

Woman admits sending ricin letter to Obama A FORMER actress has pleaded guilty to sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Shannon Guess Richardson was arrested in June after authorities said she tried to implicate her ex-husband, Nathan Richardson, who had filed for

divorce. Prosecutors say mother-ofsix Richardson mailed three letters, then went to police and claimed that her husband had done it.

The letter to Mr Obama said: ‘What’s in this letter is nothing compared to what ive got in store for you mr president.’

Prosecutors say Richardson had bought materials online to produce ricin, a toxin that can cause respiratory failure if inhaled.

Richardson, 35, has had minor roles in the TV series The Walking Dead and in the movie The Blind Side.

She will be sentenced at a later date.

Obama: Ricin letter

12 METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

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Mailbox

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‘Mail’ to 53131* Facebook.com/ metroherald

Should we be more critical of Mandela’s early years?

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iTH all of these celebrations of the life of Nelson Mandela taking place, it is our duty to remember that he chose violent resistance by commanding the military wing of the ANC in the 1950s.

This highly educated man chose to turn his back on his legal profession and orchestrate violent acts killing innocent women and children in his quest to end apartheid.

When offered release in the mid-’80s, he refused to renounce his violent methods, thus ensuring several more years in prison.

Amnesty international refused to canvass for his release because of his violent past.

Even Thatcher saw the irony in treating him as a martyr for his cause while having to deal with the iRA closer to home.

Could the media please present a more balanced approach to his ‘legacy’? it is an insult to Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr to mention Mandela in the same breath.

Brian The Pacifist ■ i don’t expect many column inches to be given to the ANC Church Street car-bombing in 1983 which killed 19 and wounded 217, but it was amusing to see Miriam O’Callaghan on Primetime segue without blinking from a castigation of ‘terrorist’ Gerry Adams to glowing tributes to ‘resistance fighter’ Nelson Mandela.

Mandela refused to condemn the Church Street bombing or renounce ANC violence. if Mandela had grown up in West Belfast

Quick pic WICKLOW WAY TO THE HEART: Fergal Griffin of Malahide came across these Christmas trees ‘enjoying the beautiful view’.

We’re not sure if he left out a ‘while’ in that sentence or if Fergal really believes trees admire scenery...

Send your photos to pictures@ metroherald.ie with ‘Quick pic’ as the subject and we will print the best each day in the paper

and taken exactly the same path as he did in South Africa, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, RTÉ and the irish independent would be condemning him as unfit for our wonderful Dáil. if it wasn’t for double standards, these stalwarts would have no standards at all!

Sauce4TheGoose ■ is it just me or did anyone else think that Barack Obama’s speech at the Nelson Mandela ceremony yesterday was the most passionate we have heard him speak in years on any subject?

Much has been made of over-the-top coverage of Mandela’s passing, but it’s worth it to hear oratory like that.

Optimist ■ Dear Santa, why do all my toys say ‘Made in China’ underneath them? i guess even you can’t abstain from the allure of cheap labour. Oink-Oink, You Capitalist Pig

TREnDing

*Please include a name and location.

Texts cost €0.30 per message + standard network charges. SP. Oxygen8 Communications, 4th Floor, Malt House North, Grand Canal Quay, D2. Customer service number 0818286606

gOOD On yA ● To the Irish Rail worker who usually helps with the 8.08am to Maynooth on Platform 7 who called out the pick-pocketter just in time to spare my misfortune – thank you. You saved my day.

Blonde and Thankful ● Despite their fans’ anger, I feel that the Man Utd management team deserves some praise. In respect to the passing of Nelson Mandela, they have lowered their league position to half-mast. A class act, I must say.

Al Goonie ● Thanks to Alan Hanna’s bookshop in Rathmines for sorting my presents out this year. Phew!

Relieved

RAnDOM AcTS Of kinDnESS

#Anchorman2

@metrohnews #metromailbox

● Will Ferrell is on a promotional ROLL!! Gotta love that commitment

yesterday. He is without doubt the coolest human alive.

● The promo they have got Will Ferrell doing for Anchorman 2 is genius – Ron Burgundy on all the talk shows like he’s real, got a book on shelves too.

● Will Ferrell is outside. What should I do?

@NFI_CEEl

@JDotRasTaa

● Still cannot believe I saw Will Ferrell

■ The National Concert Hall is charging full price for children and restricting student tickets to thirdlevel students only for Annie – The Musical, even though all the family tickets have sold out. Where has the Spirit of Christmas gone? Bah humbug…

Parent Of A Musical-Obsessed Child

@ChloeReilly_

@anniewestdotcom

● To the tall dark-haired guy I on Sunday when collecting for a charity with my dog on Grafton St. You were with your parents and you shook my hand when you were leaving.

You are very cute – I wouldn’t have hesitated to give you my number...

Ms Volunteer

● And cue every single person on Twitter with an updated profile picture with Will Ferrell and Co #Anchorman2 #Dublin

@KCTodayfm

by Luas

Last Chance to Win a Christmas Dinner Hamper!

Final Draw Tomorrow Hampers feed 6-8 people and include a delicious, 4 course, freshly prepared, ready to cook Christmas dinner delivered to your door on 23rd December

Enter on www.facebook.com/luas T&C’s apply

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

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The coldest place on Earth

Record is set for biggest chill A SPOT in eastern Antarctica has set a global record for soul-crushing cold.

Temperatures in the remote region plunged to minus 93.2C (minus 135.8F), according to newly analysed data.

The figure, in August 2010, was recorded by a Nasa satellite.

It came close again on July 31 this year at minus 93C (minus 135.3F). The old record was minus 89.2C (minus 128.6F).

Ice scientist Ted Scambos, from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre, said: ‘I’m confident that these pockets are the coldest places on Earth.’

Proper brass monkeys: This ridge in eastern Antarctica contains trapped air that dipped to the lowest temperatures ever recorded

by AiDAn RADnEDgE He told the American Geophysical Union scientific meeting in San Francisco: ‘Thank God, I don’t know how exactly it feels.’

Mr Scambos said researchers need to breathe through a snorkel that brings air into the coat through a sleeve and warms it up ‘so you don’t inhale the cold air by accident’.

However, it will not be counted as a Guinness World Record because these were satellite-measured figures, not from thermometers.

TO DEFERRED MEMBERS OF:

THE IRISH SHELL CONTRIBUTORY PENSION FUND The Trustee of the Irish Shell Contributory Pension Fund is currently undertaking a data verification exercise in order to ensure the integrity of the Fund’s records.

Picture: reuters

number living in cities is set to double in 30 years THE number of city dwellers is at an all-time high of about 3.5billion and will nearly double in the next 30 to 40 years, with almost all the growth in developing countries, the head of the UN agency focusing on cities has said.

Joan Clos said even though the rate of population growth is decreasing, the UN projects that in the next 30 years the global population will increase from seven to nine billion – and the urban population will grow by between 2.5bn and 3bn.

With 96 per cent of the growth of cities expected in poorer developing countries, he said, there are going to be huge demands on land, resources

and services for urban residents.

Mr Clos, a former mayor of Barcelona who is executive director of the UN Human Settlements Programme known as UN-Habitat, spoke at a news conference promoting the agency’s upcoming World Urban Forum from April 5-11 in Medellin, Colombia, which will focus on growing inequalities in urbanisation worldwide.

Currently, Mr Clos said, the world is experiencing ‘the highest rate of urbanisation in human history’, and national and local governments do not have the capacity to address organisation, governance, finance and the provision of services.

World’s most talked about people and events of 2013 on Facebook: 1. Pope Francis (right) 2. Election 3. Royal Baby 4. Typhoon 5. Margaret Thatcher 6. Harlem Shake 7. Miley Cyrus 8. Boston Marathon 9. Tour de France 10. Nelson Mandela

The Trustee therefore requests deferred members of the Fund who believe that they may have an entitlement to receive pension benefits from the Fund, and who have not already been in touch, to contact the Registered Administrator, Aon Hewitt, as soon as possible.

Contact details are as follows: Eileen Kearney Aon Hewitt Block D, Iveagh Court Harcourt Road Dublin 2 Tel: 01 4705640 Email: eileen.kearney@aonhewitt.com *Deferred members are former employees of Irish Shell Ltd, Shell Chemicals (Ireland) Ltd, Shell E&P Ireland Ltd and John G. Rathborne Ltd who have earned pension benefits in the above Fund but whose benefits have not yet come into payment.

Better tracks. Last posting date to USA. ter make m

14 METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

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Life television

ScrEEn Talk

LoRRaine Keane comeBacK?

Former Xposé host Lorraine Keane made a return to TV3 on Monday for an appearance on Late Lunch Live, the first time she visited Ballymount since her unceremonious departure in 2009. And she may as well have set up camp because she’s due back as a host on the same show today. Lorraine is happy to step in and give her old pal Martin King a helping hand on set as Lucy Kennedy, right, takes a day off.

Late Lunch Live, TV3, 2.30pm.

Lucan UTV, 9pm It’s 39 years since minor aristocrat of Anglo-Irish lineage Lord Lucan disappeared into thin air, never to be seen again, after the brutal murder of Sandra rivett, nanny to his three children. This controversial two-part dramatisation of the case – neither the Lucan nor rivett family wanted to be involved – stars rory Kinnear (pictured) sporting a bushy moustache, as gambler ‘Lucky’ Lucan. It follows the tragic chain of events set in motion by the breakdown of his marriage to wife Veronica, widely assumed to be the intended murder victim, with a bitter custody battle the trigger for the fatal events of November 7, 1974. Christopher eccleston and Catherine McCormack co-star.

1916 SeachtaR deaRmadta TG4, 9.30pm

doctoRS on caLL rTÉ1, 8.30pm

Willie Pearse, born November 15, 1881, was the younger brother of Patrick. The siblings were very close and when the Rising started it’s no surprise that Willie was by his older brother’s side in the GPO. While he was only a minor player in the fighting it’s felt that his surname may have condemned him to death.

Willie was given permission to visit his brother before his execution, but while making his way to Patrick’s cell he heard the shots that killed him, never getting the chance to see him one last time. He himself was executed the next day.

With stress and anxiety a part of every busy life, Dr Ciara will take a look at generalised anxiety disorder and how we can take action before it takes over your life. Dr Terry will be talking about heart failure and how thousands of people may be at risk and might not know it, while Paul Walsh will be visiting the Clondalkin Travellers Health Group along with nutritionist Patrick Holford (pictured centre) to advise on what kind of diet can reduce the risks associated with Type 2 diabetes.

WhitmoRe & i

Laura Whitmore, best known for a successful career presenting MTV News, will be taking control of music streaming service Deezer this week as a guest editor, giving subscribers a glimpse into her music catalogue. The Irish TV babe will reveal the tracks she can’t get enough of and her top albums, as well as a song she feels is deserving of being discovered by Deezer streamers. Given her MTV years interviewing musicians, Laura’s choices may not always be to everyone’s taste, but should be worth a listen. www.deezer.com/app/deezerby

i’m a ceLeBRity… cominG out 3E, 8pm This follows the jungle celebrities, including Sligo winner Kian egan, from the moment they step foot off the rope bridge to the emotional family reunions, from facing the press to their first night back in luxury. With Joey essex already insisting on never being parted from his new love Amy Willerton and Kian only wanting to see his missus in her pyjamas, could the real world be just as crazy as the bush they’ve left behind?

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fiLm of the day DeAr JohN, E4, 8pm If you ever sobbed your way through The Notebook, you’ll know what to expect from a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. This soppy war romance stars a before-he-was-funny Channing Tatum as John, a handsome young soldier who falls in love with a pretty student (Amanda Seyfried, pictured with Tatum).

They have a smitten summer on the beach but then are parted by war. She promises to wait for him and they build their relationship through letters to each other.

This being a Sparks story, you know disease and death are inevitable, the only vague suspense being placing bets on who will cop it and when. Critics loathed Dear John but it proved a hit with audiences. And if Christmas has put you in a forgiving, slushy kind of mood, you may well enjoy a wallow in it.

tG4 VieWeR diaRy

TG4 and NUI Galway have launched Fios Físe, a research project aimed at establishing a viewer panel for TG4 with a view to capturing the TV habits and preferences of Irish speakers. Panel members from Gaeltacht and nonGaeltacht areas will be requested to fill in an online viewing diary each week, asking multiple-choice questions about the TG4 schedule of the previous week.

The first viewing diary will be available on December 16. If you’re interested, register at www.fiosfise.ie/register.asp

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

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As frontman of iconic skapop heroes Madness – who play Dublin on New Year’s Eve – Suggs has led a colourful life, and it’s all in his new autobiography, he tells Daragh Reddin

‘T

he web, social media and all that b****x. It’s a pain,’ Suggs – looking characteristically dapper in pinstripe suit – laughs as he taps away frantically on his mobile phone after downing an espresso in the bar of The Westin hotel. The Madness frontman (real name Graham McPherson) might now have entered his sixth decade but there’s a mischievous glint in his eye that suggests he’s still just a cheeky-chappie Cockney at heart who has no truck with the trappings of the digital age.

In his good-natured new autobiography That Close, Suggs charts his life-story from an inauspicious childhood spent on a North London council estate, through punk and two-tone, to the 1980s when his ska-pop outfit became one of the biggestselling singles bands on the planet.

The catalyst for Suggs’s decision to pen his memoir was a decidedly tragicomic episode on the day of his 50th birthday.

‘I’d had a crazy party the night before to celebrate the milestone and the following day I was lying in the bath – feeling somewhat worse for wear – when all of a sudden my cat, who’d been sitting on the shelf above me, fell to the ground dead. It seemed symbolic; I couldn’t help but think about those times I’d been so close to disaster and almost slipped off the edge myself. It prompted me to get it all down on paper.’

Suggs’ mother, edith, worked as a jazz singer and barmaid in the clubs of the east end and that bohemian world – filled with shady characters as memorable as any from Dickens – certainly played a major part in shaping her son’s musical and cultural sensibility. his absent father was a heroin addict who died at age of 40. This must have cast a dark shadow on the young Suggs but it’s something that, in his memoir at least, he doesn’t linger on.

‘Not having a dad around was normal for me insofar as all I’d known was the life I had with my mum – but it must have left a mark,’ he says matter-of-factly. ‘I called the book That Close, in part because I once passed my father on the street without realising it was him. Madness became a surrogate family in many respects so I didn’t necessarily dwell on it as much as I might otherwise have done.’

In his autobiography, Suggs offers a lively account of his adolescent years which, before he became serious about music,

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Arcade Fire 2014 hasn’t even begun and arguably the concert of the summer has already been announced. Next June, Arcade Fire bring their Reflektor tour to Marlay Park with special guests – for once that term feels entirely apt – The Pixies.

Tickets on sale from Friday Jun 29, 2014, Marlay Park, rathfarnham D14, €61.50. tel: 0818 719 300. www.arcadefire.com

Elbow Having played host to Ennio Morricone, Blur and Forbidden Fruit last year alone, the Royal Hospital is fast becoming a much-loved venue for outdoor concerts. No doubt there’ll be plenty more events as yet to be announced for next summer but for now we can content ourselves that Guy Garvey and his Mancunian cohort will fetch up in June. Tickets on sale tomorrow Jun 25, 2014, royal Hospital Kilmainham D8, €49.50. tel: 0818 719 300. www.elbow.co.uk

Miley Cyrus The belligerent, twerking, tweeting former child star plays tracks from her Bangerz album in Dublin next year.

Don’t expect Sinéad O’Connor to join her for a duet – or do. Who knows?

Tickets on sale Friday May 20, 2014, the 02, east link Bridge, North Wall Quay D1, from €65. tel: 0818 719 300. www.mileycyrus.com

Rufus Wainwright The outre Canadian crooner returns to Vicar Street in March where he’ll playing tracks from his forthcoming Best Of LP, Vibrate, which contains fan favourites Going To A Town, Tiergarten, I Don’t Know What It Is and many more Mar 04, 2014, Vicar street, 58-59 thomas street D8, 8pm, €44.05. tel: 0818 719 300. www.vicarstreet.ie

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were marked by high jinx and a number of whiteknucle scrapes with various gangs and football hooligans; it makes me wonder what path he would have taken had Madness not become a success.

‘It’s not wrong to say many of the people in my circle at that time were criminals but I don’t think I ever had the stomach for serious criminality,’ he explains. ‘I could be sitting on a park bench with a piece of string for a belt if the band hadn’t taken off, ‘but I don’t think I’d have made a gangster.’

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hIle his upbringing was far from rosy, it’s easy to believe Suggs when he says he wouldn’t change a thing.

‘I was asked in an interview recently what advice I’d give my 16-year-old self but I wouldn’t offer any because if I did it would set me on a different course. I’ve led a very exulted existence, particularly in the last 30 years. I can’t say growing up was pure happiness and magic but the majority of it was still filled with awe and wonder.’

I mention that the tone of his autobiography will come as a pleasant corrective to anyone who’s completed Morrissey’s oft bitter memoir. he replies that a journalist friend recently joked that the perfect celebrity autobiography would be a hybrid of the two with ‘Suggs’s relentless happiness and optimism combined with Morrisey’s relentless determination to stick the boot in’.

I ask if this innate optimism helped seal his success as a songwriter, and suggest that jolly 1980 single Baggy Trousers could, in the hands of another songwriter, have been a much darker affair.

‘Absolutely,’ he agrees. ‘I wrote Baggy Trousers as a reaction to Pink Floyd’s Brick In The Wall and I wanted to capture in a light-hearted way the perspective of life in the school system for teachers as well as students. I don’t think there’s much to be gained from bitterness and misery; school for me was flawed but also great fun.’

Five films to see at the cinema

1 2 3

Frozen Ding dong! Disney’s done it again with this magical animated Snow Queen musical (right). A christmassy must-see.

Nebraska The latest oscar contender from the director of Sideways and The Descendants is a beautiful family comedy about an old man who’s convinced he’s won $1million.

Philomena Judi Dench is set to be in the running for Best Actress for her turn as the Irish mother searching for her long-lost son in this hilarious weepie, written by and co-starring Steve coogan.

4 5

Gravity Sandra Bullock and George clooney struggle for survival in space in the one 3D this year worth leaving the house for.

Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf’s A soft-touch documentary that celebrates – rather than critiques – the new York retail emporium, Scatter my Ashes At Bergdorf’s offers plenty for armchair shoppers to salivate over.

Looking ahead AnchormAn 2 ‘By the great beard of Zeus!’ Will Ferrell’s long, long-awaited return as 1970s TV newsman ron Burgundy is imminently poised to leap upon us like a sex-crazed panther.

Out Dec 18.

“Despite our youth there was an underlying maturity” Remarkably, Madness have been together on and off since 1976, when the frontman was only 15 years of age. how does he account for the band’s longevity, given they were little more than kids starting out?

‘I think,’ he says, ‘that despite our youth there was an underling maturity that was evident not only in our dynamic as a band but in our songwriting. Take a song like Our house, for instance, which was a celebration of family. Why the f**k were we writing about the importance of family life when we were still teens thinking only of ourselves?’

The strength of the group’s bond was highlighted when they played the Rock en Seine festival near Paris in 2009.

When would-be headliners Oasis cancelled at the last minute, Madness, who’d already played earlier in the day, were asked to step in. ‘We were actually in the dressing room next door to Oasis and we could hear liam and Noel coming to blows. This fight would lead to their demise as a band. here you have two brothers falling out over God knows what. Our greatest achievement as Madness is that we were friends before we started as a band and we’ll remain friends when Madness are no more; all the work we do is a by-product.’

Suggs has been happily married to fellow singer Bette Bright since 1981 and has two children, but I can’t resist finishing with one cheeky question: is it true that he was once propositioned by Madonna?

‘Yes, it is,’ he replies with a glint in his eye. ‘Read all about it in book two.’ Watch this space.

That Close (Quercus) is out now. Suggs will be performing alongside MKS, Ryan Sheridan, The Strypes and Seo Linn at this year’s Three NYE Dublin Countdown Concert at College Green. www.3nyedublin.ie.

HOME cinEMA DVD releases rateD onLy god Forgives (18) HHHH✩ DVD, Blu-ray, VoD

Booed at Cannes – where it was simultaneously declared a masterpiece – director Nicolas Winding refn’s depraved latest is a neon-saturated vision of hell. this reteams refn with his Drive star, ryan Gosling, who plays Julian, a Bangkok drug dealer using a boxing club as a front. Julian’s brother is murdered after raping and killing a 16year-old girl. ‘He must have had his reasons,’ shrugs their mother (a sensational Kristin scott thomas, pictured), a monstrous creation who merges the ‘look’ of Donatella Versace with the pitiless cruelty of classical tragedy. she demands Julian exact bloody vengeance. this is an eerie

underworld where characters glide around like soulless zombies, only stopping to gaze into space, sing thai show tunes or inflict gruesome ultraviolence. refn has declared: ‘I just shoot what turns me on.’ as Zaphod Beeblebrox would say: ‘Put your analyst on danger money, baby.’

Siobhán Murphy

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I ask stars to act like real actors

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hen George Clooney won a Golden Globe – and a best actor Oscar nomination – for The Descendants last year, his director, Alexander Payne, cemented his reputation as ‘the actors’ director’. every A-list star and their agent was hammering on Payne’s inbox. Yet, perversely, Payne shunned the lot. The biggest ‘name’ in his latest Oscar-favourite, nebraska, is 77-year-old Bruce Dern, the veteran character actor who’s probably best known, if at all, as father of Laura.

‘I am happy to cast famous people, if they are right for the part,’ Payne explains. ‘It means I have more budget and the studio breathes easier. But, to me, casting is the most important component after the screenplay. To cast this person over that simply because Person A is more famous during the six-month to one-year period you are trying to make the film appals me.

‘I never tailor a part – even for George Clooney or Jack nicholson [who scored a latecareer Best Actor Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination in Payne’s 2002 film About Schmidt]. I ask that they come to the part as though they were real actors.’

It pays off. Dern won Best Actor at Cannes for nebraska, with hollywood accolades sure to follow shortly. not, as Payne points out, that he actually had a huge pool to draw from when it came to making an austere black-andwhite comedy-drama about a demented old man who is stubbornly convinced he’s won a $1million sweepstake.

‘Who is a super-famous 75-year-old?’ Payne challenges me. ‘There is Robert Redford or there is Jack nicholson – neither of them would have been right for the part and Gene hackman wouldn’t emerge from retirement. So there you are.’ Plus, many actors are too vain to play ‘old’, I suggest, thinking of Redford. ‘True. Though I personally plan on hitting my sexual peak at 76,’ Payne gives an uncharacteristic giggle.

Alexander Payne gets big stars salivating – but he won’t cast most of them, he tells Larushka Ivan-Zadeh Born in Omaha, nebraska, to restaurant owners of Greek descent, Constantine Alexander Payne started film-making when his dad was given an 8mm projector as a freebie from Kraft. Today, you wouldn’t pin down this neat, reserved, 52-year-old, who looks younger thanks to his Mediterranean roots, as a movie director.

Since his insightfully intelligent darkchocolate eyes don’t miss a trick, I’m betting he’s the kind of fella who goes to parties mainly to people-watch. ‘Guilty!’ he admits, confessing how he will often ‘store’ a party in his ‘well of knowledge’ for when he needs to direct a party scene in the future.

L

IKe all Payne’s films, from Citizen Ruth (1996) and election (1999) onwards, nebraska is an understated, bittersweet comedy rooted in wry character observation. Shot on location just two-and-a-half hours’ drive from where he grew up, and using an extensive bit-parts cast of non-actors, it deals with ageing parents and feels like Payne’s most personal film to date – ironic given it’s the first of his six features he didn’t write himself.

‘The hardest part is screenwriting,’ he says.

‘I have read thousands of scripts in the 20 years since I graduated from film school but I never found anything I have wanted to direct until I read Bob nelson’s script.

I have written all my films out of sheer desperation. And unless I receive another such wonderful offer, I will have to begin writing in January.’

Meanwhile there’s the long-cherished ‘sprawling project’ about over-population that accounts for the seven-year delay between

Sideways and The Descendants. ‘It is the grandmama of all our world ills,’ Payne declares sternly. ‘There is too much f***ing flesh on this planet. We should kidnap the Pope and hold a gun to his head.’

Payne has no children. he looks like a civilised, manicured, lone wolf. And by deliberately forging his own groove, sticking to low budgets (nebraska cost just $13million) that allow him creative autonomy, Payne remains optimistic about the future – of cinema, at least.

Well, sort of.

‘In America, we are in the age of s*** for cinema. But television?

We are in a golden age,’ he says.

‘Breaking Bad, Mad Men – that constantly peeling onion of character and story, which is so delightful.

[But] there is something to be said for compressed narrative. And

television can’t really achieve, visually, the scale or scope of cinema.

‘I’m not attracted to television yet. People say “oh, television is dying” this, “oh, watching films on your iPod” that. You still have to take a pretty girl somewhere on a Friday night.

Movies are never going to go away.’

Nebraska is out now

MAn of STeel (12A) HHH✩✩

The Conjuring (15A) HHHH✩

DVD, Blu-ray, VoD

Director James Wan – the man who started the Saw franchise and gave us the rather hokey Insidious films – hit horror gold when he picked up this ‘based on a true story’ possession tale. Taken from the files of real-life ghostbusters Ed and Lorraine Warren – of Amityville fame – The Conjuring recounts what happened when the Perron family contacted them about spooky goings-on in their Rhode Island farmhouse in the early 1970s. Wan ticks off all the stock scares – creaking doors, disembodied laughs, dark cellars, music boxes, creepy dolls, speople being flung bodily around the room, exorcisms – but employs them with real skill. Old-fashioned horror – in the best possible way.

SM

After Brandon Routh’s much-maligned 2006 turn in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, the latest man to don the red cape, Henry Cavill, could only do a better job: no more Man Of Wood for Man Of Steel – Zack Snyder’s film nearly doubled Singer’s box-office takings. Not all is well with this version, though. Cavill is buff and charismatic but doesn’t say a lot because Snyder lingers so long on the backstory of Jor-El (a very miscast Russell Crowe), General Zod (a shouty Michael Shannon – no camp, icy charisma here) and the fate of planet Krypton. It makes for a great cinematic spectacle but by dwelling so long on their backgrounds, strips this set of aliens of some of their enigmatic appeal.

Sharon Lougher

DVD, Blu-ray, VoD

17

AntonIo olmos/the GuArdIAn

interview

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

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18 METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

D

body matters

Should we worry about LED use?

With tablet devices likely to feature in Christmas wish lists, we investigate whether fears about screen use are well-founded. By Vicki-Marie Cossar

M

ost of us will be going LED mad in a few days, as we set up shop for Christmas. Fairy lights for the tree, maybe a flashing reindeer for the garden and presents including tablets, smartphones – perhaps even the coveted Doctor Who sonic screwdriver torch.

But with a recent study by Complutense University of Madrid claiming up to 99 per cent of the cells that protect the retina can be damaged by LEDs, should we reconsider our gift choices this Christmas? Hmm, maybe not quite yet. the spanish researchers say LEDs produce high levels of radiation in the ‘blue band’ of the light spectrum, which can cause damage over time. And with their use ever increasing, the report authors say we should be worried. ‘this problem is only going to get worse and worse,’ says the university’s Dr Celia sanchez Ramos. to put all this into context, you need a basic grasp of the electromagnetic spectrum. It ranges from low-frequency waves such as radio waves (eg tV signals), to microwaves (mobile phones), infrared (cable tV) and visible light. It then moves to the more dangerous, high-frequency end –

from ultraviolet (sunbeds) to X-rays (used for medical images) and gamma radiation (which kills cancer cells).

‘LEDs produce light at the same frequency range as sunlight; it’s called visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum,’ says Henry Lau from the Institute of Physics. ‘Unlike sunlight, however, the light from LEDs is not intense enough to damage someone’s eyes. only ultraviolet and higher frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum can cause damage to cells.’ the report still managed to ruffle some feathers, though. so where has all the fuss about LEDs come from?

Bobby Qureshi, London Eye Hospital consultant ophthalmologist, points to the test conditions used. ‘the Madrid study tested someone looking at the equivalent of a 100watt light bulb, at a distance of 12 inches for 12 hours a day,’ he says. ‘And this isn’t something a normal person would be doing.’

He says although all light is radiation, only certain frequencies can cause harm. ‘the closer you go to the UV end of the spectrum and beyond, there is potential to cause damage in the retina,’ says Qureshi. ‘the rest of the spectrum doesn’t. As the blue

features@metroherald.ie to advertise, call 01 7055010

AWARE WITH DR CLAIRE With Christmas Day two weeks away, we are now being bombarded by ads for toys and presents and constant reminders to ‘go out and have a great time’. For the naturally extrovert who enjoy the whole party season, that may be easy. Others, though, may be heading into the most difficult time of year. How can someone who is struggling financially to get money for food, gifts and maybe even stamps admit they are dreading Christmas and wishing it was all over?

Christmas is a time to remember people we have been meaning to contact all year. I have always found the present buying part difficult though. I worry about what to get people – will they like it? what if they don’t? As for Christmas cards – I do my best to send my cards out on time and cringe when I get a very welcome unexpected card from someone I never thought to send one to. Should Christmas be tit for tat?

The next few weeks pose a serious challenge for people as they cope with the effects of excessive alcohol. Last month, Alcohol Action Ireland hosted a very sobering conference, Facing The Fear: Alcohol And Mental Health In Ireland. The evidence presented by four key experts was stark and frightening. The majority of people who took their own lives in Ireland in the past year had alcohol in their system, as did the majority of people who attended A&E. They are facts and we cannot ignore them.

Christmas is a time for partying and enjoyment for many, but some people are not so lucky…

Why is it that we have such a tolerance for people drinking to excess? Why is it we don’t see that a ‘drink to calm the nerves’ leaves us at risk? Alcohol is a depressant and is also a key factor in depression.

We know that alcohol impairs our judgment and that drinking affects driving. But alcohol affects judgment in other ways too. How many people will wake up to profound shame and overwhelming embarrassment over the previous night’s behaviour as a result of alcohol? How many will be physically hurt, or even killed, as a result of alcohol? How many children will be physically or sexually abused as a result of alcohol?

Do you think I am giving too much power to liquid to cause so much misery? Maybe I am – alcohol left in a bottle, can or glass won’t do any damage, except to our pockets. How about over the next few weeks, as people insist on buying you a drink, that you keep as much of that alcohol out of your system as possible…

Le gach dea-ghuí, Claire Dr Conor Farren was a guest speaker at the Alcohol Action Ireland conference. He gave a lecture for Aware on Alcohol & Depression in May 2012, which is available on the Aware website, Aware.ie. See also www.alcoholireland.ie.

Clinical psychologist Dr Claire Hayes is clinical director with Aware, Metro Herald’s charity partner for 2013.

now spending nine hours every day glued to a screen (including computer, tV and mobile devices, Qureshi says it would take a huge increase in use to cause any Ut Qureshi says there is permanent retinal damage. no cause for alarm ‘Your eyes also have a physical because the full light barrier to the spectrum of light,’ he spectrum – including the says. ‘When light comes in, it blue end – exists around passes through the cornea and the us all the time. lens, which absorb much of the ‘If you’re looking at a blue colour light. then it’s in the blue end of the ‘As we age, people develop spectrum,’ he says. ‘It stimulates cataracts on their lens and this is the blue sensitive cells in the retina another of nature’s ways of preventing the blue end of the spectrum of Merry Christmas from light from coming into the eye.’

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but it’s not at all damaging to the eye.’

He says the study wasn’t without value, though, because it shows damage can be caused if you experience extremely intense blue light for an extended period of time.

But he says the most we will experience from LED lights is eye strain or computer vision syndrome – headaches, dizziness, tired or sore eyes and fatigue caused by excessive screen-time.

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News hoaxes are only funny if they’re believable, writes Ross McDonagh. It says less about the gullibility of the internet age than it does about the man himself – but one can hardly be blamed for believing rapper Kanye West put himself on par with Nelson Mandela, since he’s already marked himself down as tied stroke for stroke with Steve Jobs, Ludwig Van Beethoven and, um, God. SO-AnD-SO iS DEAD

Death hoaxes are nothing new – Paul McCartney was supposed to have been the first Beatle to die, back in 1966, but almost 50 years later he could yet be the last surviving member. With the advent of social media, death hoaxes have become much more frequent – poor Morgan Freeman and Jackie Chan have been killed off more times than Wile E Coyote. When Messrs Freeman and Chan eventually do shed their mortal coils, nobody will believe it. Just like what happened to…

THE LOu REED iS DEAD HOAx HOAx

TOp nEwS HOAxES

It was only a matter of time before this one dropped on someone, and it turned out legendary singer/songwriter Lou Reed passing was the, ahem, perfect day for it. With death hoaxes all the rage on Facebook, as soon as the Velvet Underground frontman was underground bound, a fake news story started doing the rounds that the announcement was a fake – causing people to believe that Reed was very much alive.

Confused? Wait til the day Jackie Chan kills Morgan Freeman…

bObbing fOR AppLES

Believing a news report that someone has died is forgivable – it’s not that big a stretch. Humans are mortal after all. But would you believe a news report claiming a humans were now immortal? Probably not. Yet lots of people believed Apple’s latest software overhaul made their iPhones waterproof. By updating to iOS7, the handset’s touchscreen was ‘able to detect sudden changes in thermo-distribution’ which would activate a smart switch that ‘shuts off the power supply and corresponding components’ to prevent damage to the circuitry.

Believing the story – created by the legendary internet pranksters on 4Chan – was one thing; testing it out was a mortifying other.

SuM Ting wOng?

As regular punters we can be forgiven for falling for the odd faux news feature; however, those in the news profession should have a hardwired failsafe that triggers when a fishy story crops up. Surely then, someone at Californian news channel KTVU had alarm bells going off when a reporter read out the names of the pilots of crashed Korean Asiana flight 214 to be ‘Sum Ting Wong,’ ‘Wi Tu Lo,’ ‘Ho Lee Fuk’ and ‘Bang Ding Ow’.

Nothing funny about fatalities, serious injuries and people at the station losing their jobs… but it is vary hard not to laugh when you picture the moment the penny dropped.

books

D

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

19

Drawing on my life Jeff Kinney, 42, is the author and illustrator of the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series. The latest, Hard Luck, one of this year’s bestselling children’s books.

By Patricia Nicol

Dream job: Jeff Kinney wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist but struck gold when he started to draw as if he was a child

I’ve been surprised by the books’ success overseas, even in countries such as Iran. They are unusual in their format and distinctly American but I’ve come to realise that childhood is a universal condition.

My dream was to be a newspaper cartoonist but my drawings just weren’t professional enough. Then I realised if I started drawing as a kid, I might be able to fool everyone.

I conceived this as a book for adults. When my publishers said they’d like to make it a kids’ series, it jarred at first, but when I mentally scanned the jokes they were U-rated.

There are two ways to look at my publishing career. One is that I’m a novelist churning out books, who is eight into a series; the other way is that I’m a cartoonist, just starting out. Most cartoonists have long careers: Charles Schulz drew Peanuts for 50 years.

At first I felt a lot of pressure to age Greg [flawed Wimpy Kid diarist Greg Heffley] because I was thinking of him as a literary character. With the fifth book I realised that the DNA of the flips back and forth. I remember but still want the physical book. character is in comics and comic once I had lunch with George W On the one hand, the success of book characters don’t change.

Bush, his father and Condoleezza these books hasn’t changed my A lot of times kids, boys especially, Rice. Then I went home to find my life at all. My family and I still live are handed books that don’t in Plainville, I still coach basketball dog and my neighbour’s dog appeal to them. When a kid opens fighting over a dead rabbit and I and soccer and have the same job. one of my books they instinctively had to separate them. I like that my On the other hand, our income has feel it’s not work, but fun. Adults home life keeps things real. increased substantially and we’ve read for pleasure, or for had these crazy experiences. I’ve information, and I think kids need Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck met three US presidents, travelled to feel that too.

(Puffin) is out now. the world and produced movies. It The books are written in a font I designed, based on my handwriting. A lot of parents of dyslexic kids tell me their kids are able to read these books.

At first I was afraid kids wouldn’t understand the irony and that Greg is a flawed, unreliable narrator.

But they’re more After lunch with sophisticated than I thought. Some kids George W Bush, I pick these books went home to find my up at seven and eight. I think the dog fighting over a sweet spot is dead rabbit between nine and 11.

The best thing to do for a boy is to figure out what they’re interested in and keep feeding them material that is Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, D2 related to that interest, even if it’s an interest that you as an adult don’t share. http://dublin.cervantes.es The eBooks came later. I wanted to wait until there was Tel: (01) 631 15 00 the technology to display the comics correctly but also felt ambivalent because it feels so important to put a book into a kid’s hand. Now I see it as an ‘and’ instead of an ‘or’. Kids like these on their devices as a back-up

“

20 METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

puzzles

D

METROSCOPE

by Patrick Arundell

NEMI by Lise

Aries Mar 21 – Apr 20

The Moon in Aries passes over Uranus but briefly squares Pluto today. This may see you feeling particularly restless and finding it hard to conform to other people’s expectations. Mars is now giving you encouragement to be feistier.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 70

Taurus Apr 21 – May 21

Your memory can be particularly powerful today. This could see something come into your consciousness that you had forgotten about, or even stumble upon an old possession that had gone missing.

However, equally, there could be a sense of inner restlessness.

METROKU Easy, Moderate and Challenging. For solutions, visit Metro.co.uk/metroku

For your forecast, call 15609 114 71

Gemini May 22 – Jun 21

– Oct 23

An on-off relationship could present another twist of fate today. If so, you may need to ask yourself whether you are almost addicted to the highs and lows that are being generated.

Solo? You may find yourself enjoying some banter with someone new.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 76

scorpio Oct 24 – Nov 22

Issues that wouldn’t normally irritate you could do so today. It’s best not to expect too much of anyone you work with. And if you are somebody who likes perfection on the home front, try not to push yourself too hard.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 77

A friend could surprise you. And if they do, it could be pleasing. There is part of you that may be in the mood for change and therefore, this person’s about turn could prove stimulating. Indeed, any person who’s a bit off the wall could appeal.

Social plans could be changed at the last minute today. Try to take this in your stride. You’re someone who can actually appreciate flexibility because you know that when such things happen, something just as exciting may come along.

Cancer Jun 22 – Jul 23

Capricorn Dec 22 – Jan 20

For your forecast, call 15609 114 72

sagittarius Nov 23 – Dec 21

For your forecast, call 15609 114 78

Someone you need to interact with could be rather unpredictable. If it’s a boss or an older relative, this could prove frustrating, especially if it seems they are moving their position on something that only recently seemed set in stone. Try to stay calm.

If you find yourself moving furniture around or having a change of mind about family plans for Christmas, it wouldn’t be a surprise. Part of you wants to be close and settled, while another is tempted by spontaneity.

Leo Jul 24 – Aug 23

If you love taking on quizzes, crosswords and brainteasers, you can be on top form. You may even decide to enter a competition. New technology can also come to you much more naturally today. Yet an early night may appeal.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 73

Your attention span can be much lower than normal today. And if you’ve got a key task to achieve and your mind keeps wandering, this could be quite frustrating. But, equally, you can turn today’s celestial conditions to your advantage and do something different.

PEARLs BEFORE swINE

Libra Sep 24

For your forecast, call 15609 114 74

Virgo Aug 24 – Sep 23

Someone close could surprise you.

Today’s influences can be helpful and remind you both to maintain your own space and identities. Yet, this could be quite compulsive stuff and, conversely, see someone with intense eyes intriguing you hugely, Virgo.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 79

Aquarius Jan 21 – Feb 19

For your forecast, call 15609 114 80

Pisces Feb 20 – Mar 20

Your financial situation remains fluid.

Part of this comes from the fact that you may have fixed expectations.

Unfortunately, there may be something that you need to accept is not going to be perfect.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 81

DOWN 1 Rusty (3-2-8) 2 Pursue (5) 3 Scold (4) 4 Trade by exchange (6) 5 wisdom (8) 6 Far (7) 7 Lacking self-control (58) 12 Disparage (8) 13 Vanity (7) 15 Majestic (6) 18 Wandered (5) 19 Pain (4)

Yesterday’s Solutions Across: 3 Transport; 8 Espy; 9 Stretched; 10 Fleece; 11 Cycle; 14 Radio; 15 Edge; 16 Plays; 18 Thud; 20 Tacit; 21 Roost; 24 Fasten; 25 Frightful; 26 Soon; 27 Sternness. down: 1 Perforate; 2 Splendour; 4 Rite; 5 Needy; 6 Pickle; 7 Reel; 9 Scoop; 11 Chart; 12 Education; 13 Pertinent; 17 Steal; 19 Dodger; 22 Satin; 23 Fret; 24 Fuss.

Astrology calls cost 1.27 euros per min from a BT landline. Live Services cost 2.40 euros per minute. Calls from mobiles/other networks may cost more. Callers must be 18 or over to use this service and have the bill payers permission. For entertainment purposes only. All calls are recorded. PhonePayPlus regulated(ComReg in ROI) UK SP: StreamLive Ltd, NR7 0HR, 08700 234 567. ROI SP:Moveda, 1 Courtyard Business Park, Orchard Lane, Blackrock, Co Dublin, 0818 241 398

ENIGMA Town in Northern Italy Where tourists yearly come to see A campanile upon that spot Which should be straight, except it’s not.

WHO AM I? A writer, I was born in Aldershot in 1948. I won the Booker Prize in 1998. My 2001 novel Atonement was turned into a film starring Keira Knightley.

WHO, WHAT, WHERE & WHEN? WHO… wrote the play The Fair Penitent in 1703?

WHAT... are the most sacred scriptures of Hinduism called?

WHERE... in Africa is Dakar the capital?

WHEN... in the 18th century was Lisbon devastated by an earthquake?

SCRIBBLE BOX

ACROSS 1 Happen (5) 4 In addition (7) 8 Betrayer (7) 9 Zest (5) 10 Rid (4) 11 Trader (8) 13 Munch (4) 14 Let it stand (4) 16 Maintain (8) 17 Support (4) 20 Sluggish (5) 21 Disclose (7) 22 Beg (7) 23 Finished (5)

QuIz

Crossword No. 877 See next edition for solutions

For a live one-to-one consultation with one of my gifted psychics, call 15809 113 68 or 1800 719 688 to book using credit card

QUIZ ANSWERS: ENIGMA: Pisa. WHO AM I? Ian McEwan. WHO, WHAT, WHERE & WHEN? Nicholas Rowe; The Vedas; Senegal; 1755.

QUICK CROsswORd

For your forecast, call 15609 114 75

rugby

D

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD

impressive Moore out to seize his opportunity by gARETH MAkiM

Rising LeinsteR star Martin Moore is determined to capitalise on his breakthrough start to the season that has seen him become an integral part of the province’s 100 per cent Heineken Cup record. the 22-year-old tighthead has seized with both hands every opportunity afforded to him by coach Matt O’Connor this season, notably in replacing ireland stalwart Mike Ross and winning a crucial scrum penalty in Leinster’s opening round win at the Ospreys.

Moore’s stock has risen to the point where Leinster have had to fend off offers from abroad with a new contract that the future international front row hopes to sign this week. ‘i’m very happy with the amount of game-time i’ve been able to get under my belt,’ Moore said. ‘in your first season with the senior squad, the ambition is to break through Breakthrough: Moore and to get that sort of game-time. i got lucky initially with a few games in the Rabo and that kind of thing. ‘i talked to the coaches about the game-plan going forward and what i wanted to do so i was lucky to accomplish some of those things. ‘it’s luck to get into that position but it’s another thing to take advantage of those situations. i’ve been pleased with my performances to date so hopefully i can keep that up for the future.’

Moore should again back up Ross when northampton visit the Aviva stadium this weekend and the Lansdowne man is ready for a fearsome onslaught from a saints side still licking their wounds after last saturday’s six try drubbing at Franklin’s gardens.

‘We’re expecting them to come back very strong obviously,’ he said. ‘Up front, we’re going to have a big battle on our hands, especially in the opening quarter of the game. that’s going to be a huge challenge, even more so than last week to deal with that and play our game.’

iRfu MEDicAL SuppLiER AnnOuncED

THe IrFU has announced Irish company Vivomed as its official medical supplier, providing teams with pharmaceutical, first aid, physiotherapy and medical supplies.

The company’s managing director and senior pharmacist is ronnie lennon (pictured left), who said: ‘as a family-run company, Vivomed is proud to be forging a strong relationship with a sport that enjoys such a family-friendly reputation.’

Vivomed sales manager david Corkery (right), a former professional rugby player who won 28 caps for Ireland during a seven-year period, said: ‘Our team already look after the

sports medicine requirements of Munster, leinster, Connacht and a.I.l teams. It’s a pleasure to be entering into this important new partnership and we look forward to providing a professional and comprehensive service to all the IrFU’s medical teams.’

Vivomed clients include arsenal, the British & Irish lions, Irish hockey and the Ireland rugby team, as well as smaller sporting organisations, and it is sole medical supplier to the rugby league World Cup. also pictured at the announcement was medical coordinator of the IrFU Medical department dr Garrett Coughlan (centre).

21

Murray: IRFU contract deal

2 more years for Murray at Munster Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray has agreed a new two-year contract with the Irish rugby Football Union that ties him to Munster until June 2016.

The 24-year-old has rejected approaches from the Top 14 to remain at home in a deal funded by the IrFU, the governing body has announced.

Murray made two Test appearances during the British and Irish lions’ victorious tour to australia and has won 22 caps for Ireland since making his debut in 2011.

‘I’m thrilled to sign a new IrFU contract and to continue playing my rugby with Munster,’ Murray said.

‘In 2013, I learned a lot as a player with Ireland and the lions and I hope to continue to develop and push for honours over the coming years.’

Murray made his senior debut for Munster against Connacht in 2010 after graduating from the academy and has since made 49 appearances for the province.

‘Conor has illustrated in recent months the value he brings not only to Munster, but also to the national team,’ Munster coach rob Penney said. ‘at 24, he is still a young guy and he has the potential to go on to become one of the best scrum-halves in the game.’

SpORT DigEST

Awarding double points is ‘absurd’, blasts Vettel fORMuLA OnE Plans to

award double points at the final race of the 2014 season have been branded ‘absurd’ by world champion Sebastian Vettel. The German, who romped to his fourth title this year with nine consecutive race wins, is the first driver to speak out against the proposal, insisting that the vast majority connected with the sport are ‘horrified’ by it.

The winner of next November’s

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be awarded 50 points, rather than 25. ‘This is absurd and punishes those who have worked hard for a whole season,’ said Vettel. ‘I value the old traditions in Formula One and do not understand this new rule. Imagine, in the last Bundesliga match [of the season] there was suddenly double points. Drivers, fans and experts are horrified.’

2005

Criticism: Vettel

Former New Zealand wing Jonah Lomu made his debut for Cardiff Blues in a 25-10 victory at Calvisano in the Heineken Cup on this day.

Irish swimmers head to Denmark

SwiMMing Barry Murphy will lead a six-strong team this week as the Irish team competes at the European Short Course (25m) Swimming Championships from tomorrow until Sunday. Murphy (pictured), Andrew Meegan, Bethany Carson, Brendan Hyland, Shani Stallard and Fiona Doyle will join athletes from 42 nations at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark. Murphy is the highest-seeded Irish swimmer at the meet with a fourth place ranking in the 50m Breaststroke. He is entered on a time of 26.40, an Irish Record he swam in August this year.

Tyson book promo scrapped over ban

bOxing Former world heavyweight champion and convicted rapist Mike

Tyson has been forced to scrap appearances in London to promote his autobiography Undisputed Truth after discovering he is banned from the UK.

22 METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

fOOTbALL DigEsT arsene wants no ‘average’ show as Gunners look to make the cut ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger has warned that an ‘average performance’ against Napoli tonight could wreck their champions League dreams. The Gunners headed to Italy three points clear at the top of Group F, and a draw would be good enough to secure first place and with it seeding for the last 16. Even defeat could see Arsenal progress, depending on the final scoreline and also borussia Dortmund’s result in Marseille. It could also see them go out. Wenger (pictured) will take no chances against Rafael benitez’s men, who must win to keep their hopes alive. ‘I see it as another game we want to win, and that is the only way we can approach the game,’ he said. ‘benitez is a very intelligent manager, so I know he will prepare his team well. The only way we can counter that is to be at our best and put in a good performance as an average performance will not be good enough.’

football champions league

D

City storm back gROup D

bAyERN MuNIcH .............2 MAN cITy ..........................3

by DAnny gRiffiTHs JAMES MILNER completed a remarkable comeback last night as Manchester City became the first team in ten Champions League matches to beat Bayern Munich.

The European champions blasted their way into an early lead with two goals in 12 minutes before an understrength City showed tremendous character to stun the Allianz Arena with the unlikeliest of victories.

Munich needed just five minutes to take the lead when Thomas Muller stole in from the right, controlled a long, diagonal pass from Dante on his chest, then calmly slotted past the stranded Joe Hart.

Just five minutes later, the Premier League side failed to clear a Toni Kroos corner and the unmarked Mario

GROUP d – final ReSUltS and table bayern Munich ........ 2 Man city .................3 Viktoria Plzen .......... 2 cSKA Moscow........ 1

36 Age Everton

defender Sylvain Distin turns next week, but boss Roberto Martinez says: ‘He could play for a long, long time.’

bayern Munich Man city Viktoria Plzen cSKA Moscow

Jordan gets ready to beat the bruise LIVERPOOL expect Jordan Henderson to be fit for the trip to Tottenham on Sunday. The 23year-old (pictured) suffered a bruised ankle in the tackle that saw West Ham skipper Kevin Nolan sent off in the Reds’ 4-1 win on Saturday. With Steven Gerrard facing six weeks out with a hamstring injury, Henderson is likely to play alongside Joe Allen and Lucas Leiva.

Rodgers’ other option is Luis Alberto, who has made just seven substitute appearances since signing in June.

Swans’ shortage SWANSEA manager Michael Laudrup plans to sign a goalkeeper in January with Michel Vorm awaiting surgery on a knee injury. Gerhard Tremmel played in Monday’s 1-1 draw with Hull and Laudrup said: ‘If something happens to Gerhard we would have to play an 18-year-old who is not an experienced goalkeeper.’

Thrills and Mils: Match-winner Milner celebrates earning a stunning win in Munich

PIcTuRE: AcTION IMAGES

P W D L F A Pts 6 5 0 1 17 5 15 6 5 0 1 18 10 15 6 1 0 5 6 17 3 6 1 0 5 8 17 3

Gotze stabbed in from six yards.

City, who made seven changes from the side that drew at Southampton, were on the ropes but David Silva prodded them back into the game in the 28th minute when Milner arrived at the far post and headed a Jesus Navas cross back into the middle.

Aleksandar Kolarov levelled in the 59th minute when he tucked away a penalty after Milner tumbled over a soft challenge from Dante.

The England midfielder then swept in his first goal of the season to put City ahead three minutes later as he met a deep centre from Navas.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men required another goal to finish on top of the group but they had to settle for a remarkable victory as they became the first side to beat Bayern this season.

Spot-fixing not a big issue, claims FA’s Horne

Arrested: Campbell

THe Football Association’s general secretary Alex Horne has insisted match-fixing is not widespread but has warned against complacency.

Horne was among representatives from five sports – football, cricket, tennis and the two rugby codes – who attended talks on tackling fixing in Whitehall yesterday.

The summit followed the arrest of six people, including Blackburn

match-fixing striker DJ Campbell, following an investigation into spot-fixing in football by the National Crime Agency [NCA].

Horne said the FA will study antifixing measures already used in cricket and horse-racing. ‘The general consensus was this isn’t a

big issue. The intelligence we have says this isn’t a wide-scale issue at the moment but we don’t want to be complacent,’ he said.

‘Some of the education programmes cricket have put in place are very far advanced, and the integrity unit the British Horseracing Authority have in place is very far advanced, so there’s lots of learnings open to all sports.’

D

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 METRO HERALD 23

to shock Bayern GROUP a – final ResUlts and table man united...............1 shakhtar Don........ 0 real sociedad ..........0 Bayer Leverkusen .. 1

man utd B Leverkusen shakhtar Don real sociedad

P 6 6 6 6

W 4 3 2 0

D 2 1 2 1

L F A Pts 0 12 3 14 2 9 10 10 2 7 6 8 5 1 10 1

TONigHT’s fixTuREs Champions League Group E Chelsea v steaua Bucharest..................................... TV Sky Sports 3 schalke v Basle ..............................................................

Group F marseille v Borussia Dortmund.................................... napoli v arsenal ...................................................... TV Sky Sports 2 Group G atletico madrid v Porto ................................................ austria Vienna v Zenit st Petersburg ...........................

Group H aC milan v ajax .............................................................

Barcelona v Celtic .................................................... TV Sky Sports 4

Frustrated: Jose Mourinho

Mourinho on the offensive after dodgy ‘dummies’ dig Jose MoURINHo admits his Chelsea team are struggling so badly at the moment even the training-ground dummies could score against them.

Having conceded six goals in their last two matches – a 4-3 win at sunderland and a 3-2 defeat at stoke – Mourinho is frustrated by the Blues’ failings at both ends of the pitch.

The special one blasted his misfiring forwards at the weekend and has again urged his strikers to ‘kill’ their rivals to make amends for their defensive frailties.

‘We have to kill opponents,’ he said. ‘We have to score goals.

We are also conceding goals defensively.

‘We are not one of the favourites’

Clincher: Jones fires home the only goal PiCture: Pa

One-Phil win has Moyes feeling so much better DAVID MOYES was given some much-needed cheer from an unlikely source as Manchester United finished on top of their Champions League group.

The versatile Phil Jones produced a true striker’s finish in the 66th minute, as a hard-fought victory over Shakhtar Donetsk eased the pressure on his manager.

Jones’ fiercely struck half-volley also ended United’s 309-minute

gROup A man uniteD ...................1 shakhtar Donetsk ....0

by JOHN pAYNE wait for a goal at Old Trafford since Robin Van Persie’s winner in last month’s 1-0 win over Arsenal.

After successive home Premier

League defeats by Everton and Newcastle, there was a palpable edginess among United’s fans as the Ukranian champions posed a constant threat in the first half.

Brazilian Alex Teixeira troubled United with his skill and pace, shrugging off Jonny Evans before firing one effort narrowly wide and beating three men on a mazy run only to see David de Gea save.

But United started to find their

rhythm and Ashley Young twice broke clear only to be let down by wayward finishing.

Young turned creator in the second half but Shinji Kagawa’s shot was clawed behind by keeper Andriy Pyatov.

United kept the visitors at bay after Jones’ goal, meaning Shakhtar drop into the Europa League following Bayer Leverkusen’s victory at Real Sociedad.

‘If you train defensive corners against the dummies, I think one dummy will score, because all the rebounds go to opponents.’

However, Mourinho insists he has no intention of altering his style ahead of tonight’s Champions League clash with steaua Bucharest. ‘Am I going to change the style and play more defensive players? No,’ he said. ‘Am I going to play David Luiz in front of the central defenders? No. ‘Am I going to play with four plus two and the wingers closing behind and leave Torres in attack waiting for a counterattack, waiting for a long ball to try to win 1-0? No. We go in the same direction.’

Chelsea have already qualified for the last 16 but, if they slip up tonight, Basle can overtake them at the head of the group by winning at schalke. even if they finish top, Mourinho does not expect the Blues to challenge defending champions Bayern Munich, Barcelona or his former side Real Madrid, the teams he sees as clear favourites for the trophy.

‘I used to say every team in the quarter-final has a chance, but in my analysis we are not one of the favourites,’ he said.

24 METRO HERALD Wednesday, December 11, 2013

D

Champions League action

«pages 22-23

Ireland get hounded by Afghans

by RyAn bAILEy IrELAnD’S quest to become the first team to win three ICC tournaments in a calendar year hit a stumbling block on the opening day of their Intercontinental Cup Final against Afghanistan as they were bowled out for just 187 in Dubai.

Three wickets in the final session from John Mooney ensured the damage was contained, as their opponents closed on 81/3, trailing by 106 runs.

With Ireland’s bowling resources weakened due to the late withdrawal of Tim Murtagh, Mooney took up the mantle to spearhead a spirited fightback after a below-par batting display.

The 31-year-old removed both opening batsmen thanks to great catches from wicketkeeper niall O’Brien and Andrew White at third slip. The wicket of the dangerous Mohammad Shezad (16) was all his own work, however, as he clung onto a sharp return catch.

‘TJ and Max [Sorensen] did brilliantly at the start to restrict them and not let them get away and I was the lucky one to reap the rewards and get the wickets,’ Mooney said. ‘Our backs are against the wall now after a very

poor performance with the bat but we’re by no means down and out.’

The north County man had shared a fifty-four run partnership with John Anderson, who scored a half-century, to propel their side up to a respectable total after four wickets from Dawlat Zadran had seen Ireland slump to 67/5.

A combination of poor shot selection and a spell of fast-bowling exposed Ireland’s much revered top-order at the ICC Global Academy. Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce and niall O’Brien came and went cheaply before White was trapped in front by 20-year-old rahmat Shah.

Anderson showed great application and tenacity during his innings of 55, which spanned over 111 balls and included eight boundaries. However, his dismissal was quickly followed by the departure of Mooney (33) as Ireland’s first innings came to an abrupt end despite some late resistance by the tail.

‘There’s no doubt it’s a good pitch and if you apply yourself, there are runs to be scored as Ando [Anderson] showed,’ Mooney added. ‘We’ll come back fresh tomorrow morning and hopefully get a few early wickets to get us right back in the game.’

‘A deal can be done to save The Rugby Football Union is confident european competition can be salvaged for next season with chief executive Ian Ritchie warning the alternative would be vastly inferior, writes Danny Hogan.

The future of the heineken Cup is in grave doubt with england’s clubs refusing to participate in a competition run by european Rugby Cup (eRC) and actively pursuing the option of adding Welsh regions to an expanded Aviva Premiership.

Ritchie is optimistic the obstacles preventing an agreement on a new tournament with all six nations – framework, voting on commercial and broadcasting rights – can be overcome.

Monthly Certified Distribution Oct 28 - Nov 24, 2013: 60,208

Unofficial talks between the RFU and the other five unions are taking place daily, with Twickenham ignoring the snub that resulted in exclusion from a key meeting in Dublin on November 21.

It was during those discussions

Desert heat: Ireland’s William Porterfield tries to keep his cool at the ICC Finals piCtURE: inpho

European Cup,’ insists RFU chief that progress previously made on format, financial distribution and notice terms were effectively torpedoed by the other unions.

Ritchie is convinced there is still a ‘deal to be done’ as he seeks to prevent the demise of european rugby that would inevitably accompany the formation of an Anglo-Welsh league.

‘We must understand the consequences of failure – they are not a good thing,’ Ritchie said.

‘All parties want to get a paneuropean competition.

‘We owe it to the fans, players

Published by Fortunegreen Ltd, 1st Floor, Independent House, 27-32 Talbot Street, Dublin 1 Printed by The Irish Times at Citywest in Dublin Editorial: (01) 705 5088 Advertising: (01) 705 5077 Distribution: (01) 705 5007

and everybody involved in rugby to make sure we get this agreed. All of us have an obligation to bust a gut to reach an agreement.

Ritchie denied england’s prospects at the 2015 World Cup would be harmed if players were to miss out on european competition in the build-up.

The key battleground in the dispute is eRC’s involvement and should the RFU persuade its counterpart unions that it should be replaced, the main stumbling block to staging european competition next season will have been removed.

« Murray staying put – page 21

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