TRSI

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2016-05/cp160048en.pdf - Menthol cigarettes are just too good for sale. https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/born-leader-martin-has-proved-he-can-perform-in-adversity-39194050.html - Niall Collins on why the FF leadership should stop beating him. https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1188817.shtml - Winning hearts and minds through superi...

Michael talks to Dr Ida Milne, a historian of disease with a particular interest in the Spanish flu and the author of Stacking the Coffins Influenza in Ireland 1918-19.

https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2020-05-13%20ODNI%20to%20CEG%20RHJ%20(Unmasking).pdf

Irish Heart Foundation research on vaping - https://irishheart.ie/publications/e-cigarette-flavour-options/

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/corona-krise-bundesregierung-zweifelt-an-us-these-zur-entstehung-des-coronavirus-a-51add7cf-96b6-4d04-a2d0-71ce27cff69c - Der Spiegel piece on German Intelligence https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/21765449 - Interview with the CMO https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/who-denies-coronavirus-cover-up-phone-call-between-xi-jinping-and-dr...

The leaving Cert is now in a state of flux; and Bewley's isn't closing because of the rent or anything Johnny Ronan did to them; it's closing because it's a terrible cafe.

00:00 - Dr Ferguson 11:55 - Fianna Fail 17:45 - The Leaving Cert

Sweden has avoided putting the entire country into lock-down as the countries around it shut down en masses. But is it the right option or is the Swedish policy grossly negligent?

Politicians and civil servants quietly pray that the Swedish death toll keeps climbing and never comes down; the head of the UN says that COVID-19 happened because there wasn't enough UN; and a child is traumatized by homework. https://extrafabulouscomics.com/comic/160/

Joe Biden hilariously falls asleep during a town-hall with Hillary Clinton; Joe Biden less hilariously accused of seriously sexually assaulting a former staffer; and Australia pushes back against China.

FG and FF have come up with new and innovative ways to bankrupt the country; FF are pushing for the state to just buy the media; the hottest new trend in economic thought is magical money; and the Phoenix gets into a spot of bother for its hiring practices.

00:00 - Masks and the Venice Carnival 15:40 -Keelings 33:50 - Sinn Fein and Venezuela Taco video 38:15 - The Greens in Power Irish Times on facemasks - https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/scientists-tds-call-for-change-in-policy-on-wearing-face-masks-in-public-1.4235435 Mark Paul on Keelings - https://www.irishtimes.com/business/agribusiness-and-food/government-has-failed-keelings-and-its-worke...

By international comparison Ireland has the 9th highest death rate from COVID-19 in the world, but do the numbers stack up, is there a data collection issue, or should we just mindlessly put on the green jersey and forget how numbers work? https://www.independent.ie/world-news/coronavirus/simon-harris-i-cant-see-people-in-packed-pubs-again-as-long-as-this-virus-is-with-us-39139011.html

Martin plays fast and loose with the FF membership as he looks to get through the FF/FG deal without a vote; the legal profession salivates as people push the idea we should just let teachers award Leaving Cert grades based on their opinion of the student; and Simon Coveney announces we'll be giving four times more money to the WHO for reasons.

FG and FF look ready to get into bed with each other, but why would FG want to go in with FF when it's currently going up dramatically in the polls and wields nearly dictatorial levels of power despite being unelected?

A good week for China (The Republic of); the Chinese organ harvesting business; The Irish Council for Civil Liberties continue to debase themselves; and in review the HSE may have helped to kill a lot of elderly people.

Public health officials continue to try and suck every last bit of joy out of life, this time by saying we should close all off-licenses; the WHO's view on mask wearing 'evolves; identity politics now seem old-fashioned and quaint; and maybe we should dissolve the UN.

Sam Bowman, former Director of the Adam Smith Institute, talks about the economic consequences of COVID-19; if a lockdown was the best option for countries to take; the price of saving 230,000 lives; and if the State should pay the wage bill of companies that agree to keep their employees employed through this crisis.

China increases its influence over the UNHRC; harvesting organs in China for fun and profit; new research from Yale argues for universal wearing of cloth masks; and it turns out the HSE telling nursing homes to remove their restrictions on visitors was a terrible idea as we now have 40 outbreaks of COVID-19 in nursing homes.

The Chinese are reported to be harvesting organs from political and religious prisoners in order to carry out transplants on COVID-19 victims; the HSE says health workers are literally too stupid to wear masks; and Fine Gael is probably not using a bot network on social media. Skip to 06:44 if you don't like inane chatter.

Chinese companies bought up massive amount of medical supplies and shipped them back home, Chinese medical supplies to Europe don't work, a petition to remove the head of the WHO reaches over 500,000 signatures, Taiwan says it told the WHO about human transmission of COVID-19 3 weeks before the WHO announced it, and a spokesperson for the WHO has a ridiculous interview after he refuses to accept h...

How to live in this alcohol free beer version of a lockdown we find ourselves in, COVID-19 is basically just the flu if the flu was twice as easy to pass on and caused you to drown in your own fluids, the Chinese hold the moral responsibility for deaths from COVID-19, and a reminder that the head of the WHO was once accused of covering up 3 separate cholera outbreaks.

Celebrities have started to sing the worst song ever written in order to make you think they're actual humans, why we shouldn't be sad that John Lennon was shot, Singapore is doing something that is technologically interesting but civil-rights wise challenging, and trying to answer the real question - should we allow the police to beat teenagers at random. Skip to 13:55 if you don't want to listen...

The economy is in the process of imploding, the prison service is releasing hundreds of criminals onto the streets, people are legitimately saying that you can be racist to a virus, and Paddy Cosgrave, the man who organised an international tech conference without working WIFI, seems to have become some sort of Chinese courtier. We discuss the week's most pressing nonsense.

Leo's handling of the COVID-19 crisis has led to praise from people who are very far from friends of FG, but will voters reward FG for their handling of the crisis or, like Churchill, who Leo quoted in his recent National Address, will they say Leo and FG are no longer the men for our time?