Neil Michael 🇵🇸🇺🇦🇱🇧🇬🇱

@anewshack.bsky.social

1020 Followers 383 Following

Hack, Social Justice Media Award winner. Chess player. Ex-Washington Post stringer/BBC pundit/ex News of the World, Daily Express, Daily Mirror staffer. Former carwasher, electrical goods salesman, labourer, barman. https://neilmichael.journoportfolio.com/

A screen shot of this morning’s Irish Examiner, which carries - as its main picture - a photo of a mother and her two children standing in the snow blocking the driveway to her house.
A screenshot of the front page of the first edition of the Irish Examiner in which the main story warns that energy bills may rise.
Outgoing TD about to do an interview in advance of the first count at the Thurles count centre.
A photo of a woman using an old phone.
Woman in a white suit and black waistcoat - one of Mattie McGrath’s daughter, Máirín - smiling as she walks away from an area where votes are being counted at the Thurles count centre.
A photo of the entrance of the count centre in Thurles, before opening time.
This is a screen shot of the Friday, November 29’s Irish Examiner front page. The main story by Liam Heylin and main picture relate to Sheila Dunne’s death. Drunk-driving death ‘entirely preventable’ reports that Jennifer Thomas has been sentenced to five years in jail. The 46-year-old was so drunk that moments before she crashed on February 11 this year, she had fallen asleep at the wheel and was woken up by a passerby who suggested she walk or get a taxi. Moments later, she crashed. Sheila’s daughter Lilley is quoted saying she hopes this tragedy sends a powerful message, which is: “actions have consequences”. She is also quoted as saying: “No amount of defence can change what happened. Accountability matters. A guilty plea is not enough. It’s not the justice my Mom deserves. I won’t let my mom’s memory be confined to the outcome of this court case. I’m standing up for her and for every victim in a system that often feels unjust.” The main picture shows a woman - Thomas - in a flowing blue dress, looking at the camera with a smile and wearing sunglasses on what appears to be a sunny day in a park. The second lead is “Polls open nationwide as election is ‘all to play for’. It’s about today’s General Election and reports that three polls this week showed Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein within touching distance of one another and the fate of other seats to other parties or candidates as “difficult to predict”. To the left of that is a report headlined “Israel and Hezbollah claim violations of ceasefire” - which reports that both sides have accused each other of violating the recently agreed ceasefire. The fourth main story on the page is headlined ‘Genuine hope’ for asthma sufferers - about how an injection more effective than the current asthma treatment of steroid tablets is the first major breakthrough in asthma care in 50 years.
This is a screen grab of this morning's Irish Examiner newspaper, which leads with the story headlines, “Leaders clash ahead of Friday's vote”. About last night’s leaders debate in Rte studios, it appears alongside Press Association photographer Niall Carson’s photograph of Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin pointing something out to Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald who appears to be in mid sentence as she holds her hands up and out in front of her, as Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris appears to be making some kind point of his own as he stares at nobody in particular while making a pointing gesture with his left hand. The second story is headlined “Mom was taken from us far too soon”, which is a quote from Lilly Dunne, daughter of the late Sheila Dunne who died, she told a court, in “a car crash caused by a reckless decision made by a selfish individual”. The article references the fact that 46-year-old Jennifer Thomas whose dangerous driving caused the death of her best friend was heard at the scene of the crash in Glanmire hysterically repeating, “Please wake up. How can I live without her?” Another story in the front page is headlined: “Prison chapel closed due to overcrowding”, which concerns the chapel in Mountjoy Prison, which has been in existence for more than 150 years, but has been closed by the prison to be used for other purposes due to overcrowding. The closure of the Catholic chapel was done without any consultation with the prison chaplaincy and temporarily ends the saying of mass for any prisoners who wish to avail of it. A story at the bottom of the page is headlined: “Netanyahu ready to bring in Lebanon ceasefire deal”, which covers the fact that the Israeli Prime’s security cabinet has approved a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, clearing the way for the truce to take effect.
A screenshot of today’s Irish Examiner’s front page, the lead story of which has the headline Violence against women an invisible epidemic, a story based on an EU survey that found 22% of Irish women endured violence including threats by Cormac O’Keeffe, Alison O’Reillly and Ashifa Kassam. This sits alongside the headline “Joy as peacekeepers return” over a photograph of a boy in a white t-shirt holding a large card which reads “I’m proud of my peacekeeper” above a drawing of a girl in a dress giving a red rose to an armed male soldier wearing a blue beret. Planning refusal stops 1,800 Cork apartments - a story by Emer Walsh is the paper’s second lead.
A screen shot of a bid by X, formerly the social media site Twitter, to try and get people to go Premium by reducing the cost by 40%. This is illustrated by a screen shot of a menu of options in a twitter account including Bookmarks, Jobs, Lists and against Premium - is a blue highlighted button with “40%” beside it.
A drone shot of flooded fields.
Two men standing in the foreground of a video of water cascading past the GAA grounds in Abbeyfeale.