R.I.P.s

[Fionn MacCool]

When I heard the news, I felt a slight smile and immediately felt bad for not feeling bad about a human beings life. Fucking conscience.

Depends how lightly you use the term human being.

[Heather]

Not exactly an RIP.... more of a RIH ..... AMZ was killed yesterday in an air strike in Iraq. I'm only sorry someone didn't cut his f-ing head off while he was still alive, like he did to so many innocent people, then post it to the internet for the viewing enjoyment of his bloodthirsty and cowardly minions.

Is this the bloke who killed Ken Bigley?

[Beisty]

Is this the bloke who killed Ken Bigley?

Yes.

Although Zarqawi died alongside Sheikh Abd al-Rahman, his "spiritual adviser", two other unidentified men, and a woman and a child. Spare a though for the child, another innocent victim of a dubious war between corrupt western governments and middle east thugs.

[Heather]

Is this the bloke who killed Ken Bigley?

Yes.

Although Zarqawi died alongside Sheikh Abd al-Rahman, his "spiritual adviser", two other unidentified men, and a woman and a child. Spare a though for the child, another innocent victim of a dubious war between corrupt western governments and middle east thugs.

Well in that case I'm glad, although I feel sorry for Ken Bigley's family that they will never know where his body is. I really felt sick when I found out what happened to him, and I still feel sickened when I think of it.

[CraigBatty]

Media Puzzle, a former Melbourne Cup winner, has been put down after a bad fall fractured a fetllock. The horse - owned by Irish businessman Dermot Weld - was famous in Australia for having won being ridden by jockey Damien Oliver, whose own brother had died in a riding accident that same month.

[Christine]

RIP Top of the Pops. No more Pogues on there ever again!

[Firsty]

I wouldn't bet on that Christine stranger things have happened!

[MissWalshy]

RIP Top of the Pops. No more Pogues on there ever again!

I was gutted to hear this..

But then I had to think when the last time was that I watched this show.. ... erm I'm still thinking!

[CraigBatty]

Minute's silence to mark anniversary of Guerin's killing

"The 10th anniversary of the cold-blooded killing of journalist Veronica Guerin will be marked with a minute's silence.

The mother of one was gunned on the outskirts of Dublin after mounting a high-profile war against Ireland's drug barons in a national newspaper.

As she sat in her car at a traffic light near Newland's Cross on the Naas Road, she was shot by a pillion passenger on a motorbike.

A minute's silence is expected to be held at the site at 7.30pm

A journalist with the Sunday Independent, Ms Guerin was one of the country's leading crime reporters when she was killed.

The criminal investigation was one of the largest in the history of the state and led to over 150 arrests.

Brian Meehan was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Paul Ward was also convicted and sentenced to life in prison in November 1998 but this conviction was later overturned on appeal.

Drugs baron John Gilligan was extradited from England in February 2000. He was tried and acquitted of her murder but convicted of importing cannabis and sentenced to 28 years in prison, which was reduced to 20 years on appeal.

The man named in court as having shot dead Veronica Guerin, Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland, reiterated his denial after being released from a prison sentence for a drugs conviction in April.

The killing was the first assassination of a reporter in the Republic and sparked shock and anger among colleagues, the public and gardai vowed to track down her killers.

Then Taoiseach John Bruton called the murder "an attack on democracy" and the Dail marked it with a minute's silence.

In a joint statement, newspaper editors in Ireland and Britain branded the assassination "a fundamental attack on the free press".

A bursary was last week launched in memory of the murdered journalist by Independent Newspapers. The Veronica Guerin Memorial Bursary will support the education of new journalists at Dublin City, where Ms Guerin served as a member of the governing body from 1982 to 1992.

The journalist's life has also inspired the making of two films, When the Sky Falls in 2000, starring Joan Allen, and Veronica Guerin in 2003, which starred Cate Blanchett."

- trawled from the web. RIP Veronica.

[philipchevron]

Rest in peace ARIF MARDIN

[CraigBatty]

I just went and read up on him at Wikipedia. Wow! What a life of music. Did you ever work together Philip?

[philipchevron]

I just went and read up on him at Wikipedia. Wow! What a life of music. Did you ever work together Philip?

Good heavens no! But I'd love to have done.

[Fionn MacCool]

RIP Top of the Pops. No more Pogues on there ever again!

I was gutted to hear this..

But then I had to think when the last time was that I watched this show.. ... erm I'm still thinking!

Haha that's exactly what I thought. I guess to look at it from a business sense, if the BBC aren't making enough profit off of it then you can't just keep it for old time's sake.

[philipchevron]

RIP Top of the Pops. No more Pogues on there ever again!

I was gutted to hear this..

But then I had to think when the last time was that I watched this show.. ... erm I'm still thinking!

Haha that's exactly what I thought. I guess to look at it from a business sense, if the BBC aren't making enough profit off of it then you can't just keep it for old time's sake.

The BBC is a public service broadcaster supported and financed by a form of indirect taxation, and profit is not, or should not, be a factor. In the 60s and 70s, when pop and rock music programs were rare on British TV, The Flops could legitimately be defended as public service broadcasting. These days, chart shows are everywhere and shows like Later with Jools Holland more accurately respond to the public service brief. Really, good riddance.

Which is not to say it did not have memorable moments. Yesterday's Sunday Times isolated our appearance with "Fairytale" in 1987 as one of them, claiming Shane was so out of it that he did not even attempt to do an accurate lip-sync. He wasn't. He simply understood we/he would make a more indelible impression if he appeared dismissive of the lip-sync convention. And look now - it worked!

Moreover, UK Chancellor Gordon Brown based his whole act on that lip-sync.

[Fionn MacCool]

Woops I forgot about the public sector thing. Even still, they have to pay somewhere and their funding is a finite resource.