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Dublin: 6 °C Friday 24 May, 2013

Take 5: Thursday

5 minutes, 5 stories, 5 o’clock…

Image: chintermeyer via Creative Commons

EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five stories you should know by 5pm.

1. #UNEXPECTED: Ireland is on its way to an “unexpected economic comeback”, according to two economists writing in the Financial Times. Max Watson and David Vines note that the ratings agencies may have made a “major error” in their assessment of Irish sovereign debt. Meanwhile, IBEC says that the economy is on track and set to grow this year, but any more strident austerity measures than those already planned could have a negative effect on the situation.

2. #EDUCATION: The Department of Education says it has not taken any decision on changing the age at which children start school or on abolishing transition year. Most of those who responded to TheJournal.ie‘s poll today on proposals aimed at cutting down the country’s €9-billion education bill say they don’t want to see such changes being made.

3. #DIABETES: Ireland could be facing a diabetes epidemic, according to the insurer VHI Healthcare. The company says that up to 30,000 people could be suffering from undiagnosed Type II diabetes.

4. #SYRIA: US President Barack Obama has called on Syrian leader Bashar Assad to “step aside”. The US had previously called on Syria to stop its violent crackdown on pro-reform protesters and this is the first time Obama has clearly called for Assad’s resignation. He also commended the “courageous persistence” of Syrian demonstrators.

5. #BANDITS ON THE MOVE: Some good news today for Irish comedy duo The Rubberbandits: Britain’s Channel 4 has commissioned the two to make a set of comedy shorts for its new online series Comedy Blaps.

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Comments (9 Comments)

  • Get a room you two….

    Reply
  • Alan im not entirely sure why you read the journal when all u do is complain! Perhaps you should set up your own publication i’m sure it would be fantastic and of course fault free! You have a lot of time on your hands!

    Reply
    • Ah Jane, even I voted green for you there. If you read all my comments you must have a lot of time on your hands too? But then,you don’t read them all because i don’t always complain,just most of the time. I’ve no interest in starting my own publication, Im happy to use the public forum available through mediums like the journal,isn’t that what they are for? I like the journal, i love the hub of news it gathers, but i dislike something sometimes. Apologies and well done for posting your comment. Clicktivism is go.

      Reply
    • And just another thing, while i have the time, I believe the role of the media is to inform the public of issues,events etc and to facilitate debate. I also believe its the role of the reader to be critical of the news being reported. I think there is a misrepresentation in the Five at Five because the poll gave 3 options other than agree all or agree none. Its possible to agree/disagree with 2. The point of my protest isn’t about the journal being fault free,but changing when faults are identified.

      Reply
  • Ah i gave u a green too! Its almost friday and i only do ‘positive’ on fridays!

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  • Not sure how you can say most respondents don’t want the changes when respondents could only vote for 1. That’s a sweeping statement that misrepresents those who have opinions on the various pros and cons. But your poll didn’t allow that.

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    • Hi Alan, the “none of the above” option in the poll received the most votes.

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    • Run another Poll and ask who voted "None of the above" as a protest vote because they didn’t think the poll was valid by only allowing you select one of the items. What if i agreed with one and disagreed with one? Then After the poll was created the text was changed to encourage you to vote which you "most" agreed with. Just another weak poll from The Journal.

      Reply

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