Metro Herald, Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Full-of-beans Fu Bost Boston and vviva Las Vegas La

Your Dublin Week

All that’s Special in your capital

uSa TraVEL SPECIaL »p17-19

»p14-15

Fears over fate of 234 girls FEARS are growing for 234 girls kidnapped from a Nigerian school attacked last week

by Islamic extremists.

The figure is significantly higher than that given by education officials, parents told the governor of the Borno state yesterday, claim ing officials would not listen to them when they drew up their list of missing children.

State education spokesman Musa Inuwo Kubo and the principal of the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School initially said 129 students were at the school to sit a physics exam when the abductors, thought to be part of the Boko Haram Islamic terrorist network, struck on April 14.

Twenty-eight pupils escaped before another 16 were found to be day scholars who had returned to their homes in Chibok before the attack. That left 85 missing students, according to school officials.

The latest confusion comes after the military reported last week that all but eight of

by haruna umar

those abducted had been rescued – but then retracted the claim the following day.

Parents and other town residents have joined the search for the students in the Sambisa Forest which borders Chibok town – a known hideout for the militants.

Boko Haram – the name means ‘Western education is sinful’ – is violently campaigning to establish an Islamic Sharia state in Nigeria, whose 170 million people are about half Muslim and half Christian.

It has abducted girls and young women before but last week’s mass kidnapping is unprecedented. The extremists use the young women as porters, cooks and sex slaves, according to Nigerian officials.

The terrorist group also staged four separate attacks last week, including an explosion at a bus station in the capital Abuja, which killed at least 75 and wounded 141.

MILLINERY MANOEUVRES: Irish army captain Catherine Lundon was named Most Stylish Lady at the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse. Guest judges for the Carton House-sponsored event included former Miss World Rosanna Davison and style guru Brendan Courtney PICTURE: andREs PovEda

A world first...

UNLIMITED FREE CALLS to all Lycamobiles in Europe, USA & Australia with any top – up

For more information, FREE SIM and a FREE flight offer visit:

www.lycamobile.ie Austrailia

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

France

Germany

Ireland

Italy

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

UK

USA

Promotion is valid from 10-03-2014 to 31/05/2014. New and existing Customers must top-up to qualify for the promotion and will receive free Lycamobile to Lycamobile calls to any Lycamobile for 30 days from date of top-up. Customers must maintain a minimum balance of one cent. Offer is valid for personal use only.

After the 30 days free calls the customer must top-up again to continue the free calls otherwise the customer will be charged at the standard tariff. International calls are billed per minute. This promotion is only available to Lycamobile Ireland customers and is not applicable to roaming calls.

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

METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

D

Tuesday 22/04/14

Today is...

International Mother Earth Day Established in 2009 by the UN General Assembly, this day is designated for the world to remember the interdependence that exists among human beings, other living species and the whole planet

How to contact us

CLOCkwORD

Email:

news@metroherald.ie mail@metroherald.ie sports@metroherald.ie features@metroherald.ie sales@metroherald.ie Text: ‘Mail’ to 53131 (30c plus usual text charge) Editorial: 01 705 5088 Advertising: 01 705 5010 Distribution: 01 705 5007

Ireland’s rate of newsprint recycling is now up to 79%.

Keep reading, keep recycling – thank you.

Today’s birthdays Social media Facebook.com/ metroherald

@metrohnews #metromailbox

Glen Campbell, country music legend, 78; Jack Nicholson, film icon, 77; John Waters, filmmaker, 68; Gary Rhodes, celebrity chef, 54; Amber Heard (pictured), model and actress, 28.

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 footballer.

1. Incarcerated 8. Refused 2. Mission 9. Stretch, swell 3. Destroyed 10. Collapsed 4. Pondered 11. Insult 5. Ridiculous 12. Facial feature 6. Set in the Thursday’s solution: surface Tony Marchant 7. Went on at

D

Weather Weather Today

Max: 15°c

Today will bring spells of hazy sunshine but showers will develop, becoming widespread and heavy in the afternoon and early evening with some thundery downpours expected.

Temperatures between 12°C and 15°C in a light to moderate Southeasterly breeze.

15�C

Derry

Donegal

15�C

14�C Belfast

Cavan

Galway

12�C

Athlone

Dublin

12�C

Tipperary

13�C

Waterford

Tralee

Cork

Tonight

12�C

13�C Sunrise: 6.10am Sunset: 8.38pm

Min: 5°c

Mild and mostly cloudy tonight, with rain or showers. Some of the rain will be heavy over parts of Munster and south Leinster. Temperatures between 5°C and 8°C in moderate to fresh southeasterly breezes.

EUROPE today

Tomorrow Spells of rain, heavy at times. But it will turn brighter and more showery, from the south, by afternoon.

Some sunny spells will develop.

Temperatures between 12°C and 15°C in moderate to fresh southeast winds.

Athens

15�C 15�C 15�C 13�C

13�C

Barcelona

14�C 13�C 12�C Max: 15°c

22 °c 18 °c

Brussels

22 °c 18 °c

London

16 °c

Geneva

18 °c

Berlin

21 °c Paris 19 °c Rome 20 °c

Madrid

D

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

Slugging it out for a prize Molluscs are slimy stars of photo challenge

by DANIEL BINNS YOU wouldn’t expect to find Cara Delevingne lying naked in your vegetable patch and chomping on a lettuce leaf... much as some might warmly welcome it.

Likewise, if you needed a model for a photoshoot, you’d be unlikely to call on the services of a slimy slug.

So it’s surprising to see the impressive images that resulted when the molluscs starred in front of the camera. They got their moment of fame when Dr Alex Mustard launched a photography contest with one rather limiting rule... only pictures of nudibranchs – a type of sea slug – would be welcomed.

More than 1,000 underwater snappers from 33 countries gladly accepted his somewhat unusual challenge – and with spectacular results.

‘I can’t imagine anyone running a slug photography competition on land,’ admitted Dr Mustard, 39, a marine biologist from Peterborough.

‘But sea slugs are so beautifully coloured. They come in such varied shapes and are found all around the world, so it seemed a fantastic idea to celebrate them with a contest.’

The British arm of the competition was won by Mark Webster, from Cornwall, while Italian Adriano Morettin was the world winner with a photo taken near Sorrento.

‘Sea slugs are beautiful and interesting animals but the subject only gets you so far,’ said Dr Mustard. ‘To win, a picture needs some X factor.’

Glow: Norwegian Christian Skauge’s photo Pictures: solent

Extraordinary: One of Briton Mark Webster’s images

Who you calling slug-ly? The beauty of sea slugs is revealed by Adriano Morettin’s winning picture, left, and Len Deeley’s highly commended shot, above

Tears on Twitter at Bowe’s proposal THERE was an outpouring of grief on Twitter yesterday as women across the country learned that rugby hottie and sometime singer Tommy Bowe was officially off the market.

The Ulster and Ireland winger proposed to his girlfriend, Lucy Whitehouse, over the weekend.

While many took to the microblogging site to congratulate the happy couple, others expressed their dismay, with one tweeter even talking of joining the nuns.

The couple met in a Cardiff nightclub in 2011, when Tommy was playing for Welsh club Ospreys.

Lucy, a nurse and a former Miss Wales, commuted between the two countries for a number of months when Tommy signed for Ulster in 2012, before moving to Ireland full-time.

The news of the engagement emerged when Lucy posted a photo of her diamond ring on her Facebook page. There’s talk the couple could head to Tommy’s home county of Monaghan for a wedding celebration at Castle Leslie.

The happy couple: Tommy Bowe with fianceé Lucy Whitehouse

Capsule bicycle aims to beat 133.7kph record

WHATEVER this object most reminds you of, it’s unlikely to be a bicycle. That’s just what it is, however – and inventors hope the streamlined machine will soon enter the history books by travelling at 145kph.

It is encased in an aerodynamic outer shell that looks as if it might make steering a tad tricky. But restricted vision should not pose such a problem when a rider climbs inside to zoom across the Nevada desert, in pursuit of the speed record for pedal-powered bikes.

The students who have designed it are quietly confident of smashing the 133.7kph fastest time set by a Dutch team in 2012.

‘The project is no simple undertaking but at this stage, just six months in, we are in a Pedal power: Arion 1 great position,’ said Ben Hogan, 22.

The bike – known as the Arion 1 – is designed to be pedalled in a recumbent position, with the rider just a few centimetres from the ground. The students from Liverpool University say the shape of the carbon fibre casing is 40 times more aerodynamic than a Bugatti Veyron supercar.

METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Previous headliner: French DJ David Guetta

D

Procession: Decorated with a painting of her husband, children and pets, the coffin of Peaches Geldof (below) arrives for her funeral yesterday

Oxegen called off this year as promoters cite ‘unviability’ ONE of Ireland’s biggest music festivals has been cancelled this year. Oxegen promoters MCD said a lack of suitable headline acts and other financial issues made the event unviable.

The festival has been held at Punchestown racecourse in Co Kildare since 2004, apart from a break in 2012.

Coldplay, R.E.M. and Beyoncé are among the high-profile acts that have performed. Last year’s downsized event was headlined

by David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Snoop Dogg. In a statement, Oxegen promoters MCD said: ‘It is with regret that MCD announce that OXEGEN will not take place this year due to lack of suitable Headline Acts which combined with the financial demands by local agencies make it no longer viable to stage the Festival in its current form.’

Teenager dies in stolen BMW crash GARDAÍ are investigating the death of a teenager in a car crash involving a stolen BMW. The 18-year-old died when the car he was driving crashed into a wall on the Birr Road in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, at around 1.55am on Monday.

A 16-year-old boy also in the car at the time remains seriously ill in hospital. No other car was involved in the collision.

Detectives are appealing for anyone who saw the black BMW after it was taken from a compound between 1am and 1.40am yesterday at Brosna, Co Offaly, to come forward.

Woman injured as car hijacked LEAFY Ballsbridge was the unlikely setting for a brazen daylight carjacking yesterday, when a woman was attacked and had her car stolen.

The motorist, who is in her 50s, was driving into Argyle House, an apartment complex on Serpentine Avenue, at about 2pm when she was set upon and her grey Ford Focus taken and driven in the direction of Merrion Road.

The woman was taken to hospital for treatment and gardaí are appealing for information.

Famous friends united in grief by jOEL TAyLOR

THE funeral of Peaches Geldof united royalty, models, musicians and TV stars in grief.

Mourners included the Duchess of York, Kate Moss, Four Weddings and a Funeral writer Richard Curtis and the musician Jools Holland.

Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman came in support of his friend Sir Bob as did Jo Wood and Trudie Styler.

Others had met Peaches through her TV work and on the London social scene.

Bob Geldof is thought to have led tributes to his daughter while her sisters Fifi-Trixibelle, Pixie and TigerLily all spoke at the service.

In keeping with his desire for priva-

Order of service: Mourners were given this at the church cy her friends and family said little after the service at Davington Church near Faversham, Kent.

One attendee, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘It was a lovely service. It was, of course, very sad.

‘It was very moving. But I don’t

want to say any more. ‘There was music and poems. It was emotional.’

Dozens of local people gathered outside the church, where Peaches married musician Thomas Cohen, the father of her children, in 2012.

About an hour and 45 minutes after arriving, the hearse which had transported the socialite’s body left without the coffin.

There were bouquets and cards left outside the entrance to Davington Priory, Sir Bob’s estate next to the church, where Peaches grew up.

Mystery still surrounds her sudden death on April 7.

An inquest is not expected to be opened and adjourned by the coroner until after the results of toxicology tests are known.

Friends: Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, Kate Moss and Sarah, Duchess of York, were at the service pictures: XpOsurepHOtOs

Cliff fall man ‘stepped out of car and off edge’

A MAN is recovering in hospital after he was found injured at the base of a low cliff in Co Clare early yesterday.

The alarm was raised at around 12.30am after a number of calls were made to the Irish Coast Guard. It took some time for the location of the incident to be identified as the information provided by the callers was

inaccurate and conflicting.

Members of the Kilkee unit of the Coast Guard and gardaí went to an area near Seafield, Quilty where they found the man in his 30s lying at the base of a 4.5m cliff and a car with its rear wheels hanging over the edge.

There were several other men in the area at the time believed to be camping and drinking.

Coast Guard personnel treated and immobilised the injured man before transporting him along the beach and up onto the roadway to the waiting ambulance.

The man is being treated at University Hospital Limerick for internal injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening.

The injured man told gardaí at the hospital that he had stepped

out of the car and fell off the edge.

Gardaí from Ennistymon have confirmed they are treating the incident as an accident.

Meanwhile, the Doolin Coast Guard team was called out on Sunday to assist a woman injured in a fall. The woman had been walking along a path between Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher when she fell and broke her ankle.

D

Greens claim city ‘bullies’ pedestrians

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

Hanafin: Intends to contest next election for Fianna Fáil

‘FF poll rating is brutal but I’ll still run for them’

Ciaran Cuffe: ‘Road vehicles are the real danger on the streets of Dublin’ should primarily tackle driver behaviour as road vehicles are the real danger on the streets of Dublin.’

His party is looking to promote a ‘walking policy’ that includes expanding the 30kph speed limit in residential areas, longer green man time at pedestrian lights and junction narrowing to slow down heavier traffic.

A spokesman for Dublin City Council last night said the signs were part of its Casualty Reduction Campaign in association with An Garda Síochána and other road safety bodies.

Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid of the Garda Traffic Corps said: ‘We must think outside the box as this is not solely an enforcement issue.’

Picture: conor mccabe

by jOAnnE AHERn

THE Green Party has accused Dublin City Council of ‘waging war’ against city centre pedestrians.

Its north inner city local election candidate, Ciaran Cuffe, has taken exception to messages the council is running which read: ‘Pedestrians are the single biggest group to die on Dublin’s roads. Think twice before you cross the road.’

However former junior minister Mr Cuffe said the council is using ‘heavyhanded scare tactics to deter people from walking in the city centre’.

He said: ‘This type of advertisement sends out all the wrong messages to people who walk on Dublin city streets.

What we should have are signs stating “Drivers: Pedestrians are the single biggest group to die on Dublin’s roads.

Slow down, obey the speed limits.”’

He added: ‘Of course we should encourage those who walk to do so safely, but any road safety campaign

Murder on St Anne’s floor

Sean Giles got into the spirit at the Battle of Clontarf Festival over two days in Saint Anne’s Park, Raheny, where more than 500 re-enactors and tens of thousands of visitors gathered for the re-enactment of the historic 1014 battle

SHE described Fianna Fáil’s performance in Dublin as ‘brutal’, but Mary Hanafin still hopes to contest the next general election for the party.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One yesterday, the former Education Minister said Fianna Fáil’s nine per cent Dublin rating in a Sunday Independent/Millward Brown was ‘absolutely appalling’.

Despite this, the former TD for Dún Laoghaire told Sean O’Rourke she ‘would intend to contest the convention for Fianna Fáil in Dublin’. She had received 9,000 votes when she was eliminated in the 2011 count.

Ms Hanafin would not be drawn on former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s comments at a private meeting to support local election candidate, Brian Rohan, where he said he ‘didn’t think much’ of current leader Micheál Martin and he ‘wasn’t going to say anything nice’ about him.

METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

D

60 seconds BEN KELLETT, the Baftawinning director of Brendan O’Carroll sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys, is one of the directors of Cinemagic, the Dublin film and TV festival aimed at young people

What advice would you give to any young person hoping to pursue a TV or film career?

Stick at it and don’t be afraid to start at the very bottom and work your way up. It’s a pain in the ass beginning so low down the scale but it’s the best way to gain as broad a knowledge of the industry as possible. I started out as a temporary holiday relief floor assistant – taking over from the people who were taking over from the people who were on holiday. I joined on a sixmonth contract and left 12 years later as a staff producer and director, so it paid off.

You were involved with Mrs Brown’s Boys from the pilot episode – did you realise immediately that it would become a juggernaut? When I

cle recently by a journalist who finally watched the show and admitted to finding it well-written and well-made, but deceptively so. I do think there’s a lot of unfair criticism levelled at it by people who have never watched an entire episode.

From speaking to fans, I realise it appeals to people from across a wide socio-economic swathe and has broad appeal – despite the criticism it comes in for.

How do you account for Brendan’s success as an entertainer? He sees life in a very simple way and has a ‘head down/ work hard’ philosophy that pays dividends. There’s a lot of cynicism and snobbery in showbiz. When you meet someone with such enthusiasm and such a positive outlook it’s refreshing.

watched the pilot I laughed in a way Is he a hard task master? He cares a lot. He wants each I hadn’t for a very long time. episode to be perfect The comedy of embarbut he’s much harder rassment – typified on himself than

by The Office – on anyone else was very big When you meet and, from my when we started perspective, he’s out and sitcoms someone with such very hands-off. weren’t really enthusiasm and such a He has an absoup to much at lute trust in what the time. I knew positive outlook it’s I’m doing and I liked it but it refreshing I’m left to get on was Brendan who with it. He knows was really prescihe does his side of ent. The first time I things to the best of his met him he said we’re goability and he expect others to ing to make three series of the show, a few specials, a film and do likewise. we’ll win a Bafta. I believed him Is it true he’s introduced hugand all of that has come to pass.

“

Weren’t you concerned that UK audiences wouldn’t ‘get’ Mrs Brown, a quintessentially Irish creation? Not at all. The

mammy figure is universal – we’ve just finished up a pilot for a Romanian version of Mrs Brown called Auntie Flowers and viewers have loved it. There are traits in Agnes that we all recognise in our own mothers or grandmothers, regardless of where we’re from. She is, by turns, a terrible Machiavellian and manipulative old witch and a brilliantly generous, loving, warm and giving person. That’s something that really travels; even US producers have expressed an interest in a remake.

The show is as loathed by critics as it is adored by fans.

Does the criticism grate? Crit-

ics are notoriously vociferous about stuff they don’t like, particularly in England. I read an interesting arti-

ging sessions when filming?

My esteemed vision mixer has been known to ask if we could all arrive on set about 15minutes ahead of schedule to get the hugging out of the way before we start. Brendan and his cast know absolutely everyone who makes the show by name and that’s unusual in TV-land. Everybody who’s involved in any way on set gets a hug and that’s a lovely way to start the day. Even if you’re jaded, hungover or cynical you will eventually submit to the love because you’ve got no choice. Being an inveterate middle-class Englishman, the nearest I’d come to an embrace in a work environment was the occasional limp handshake from a colleague. I really think it’s an excellent way of highlighting the importance of human connection and team work.

Daragh Reddin For more on Cinemagic, see www.cinemagic.ie.

Unharmed: A 16-year-old boy is wheeled on a stretcher by medical staff after being found in Hawaii PiCTure: AP

Stowaway’s safe landing after 5hrs in jet wheel well

A BOY who claimed to have stowed away in the wheel well of a plane has survived unhurt after a five-hour flight in temperatures that plunged to -62C. The 16-year-old said he crawled into the jet at San Jose, California, before it took off for Hawaii across the Pacific Ocean.

He emerged an hour after it landed on Sunday and was spotted wandering around Kahului airport by ground crew.

An ambulance crew took him to hospital in Maui where he was questioned by FBI officers – who called his survival a ‘miracle’.

Agent Tom Simon said: ‘The kid

by NICOLE LE MARIE

is lucky to be alive. He doesn’t even remember the flight.

‘It’s amazing he survived it – he had no special gear of any sort.’

The boy, from Santa Clara, California, told FBI officials that he had run away from home after arguing with his family.

He said he climbed a fence at the airport in San Jose, crossed the apron and crawled into the wheel well of Hawaiian Airlines flight 45.

As it reached heights of 11,500m, the boy lost consciousness amid depleted oxygen levels.

‘His story checked out,’ said Mr

Simon, from the FBI’s Honolulu office. He added the boy would not be charged over the incident.

A medical examination showed the youngster was unharmed and he has now been turned over to child protection officials.

In a statement, Hawaiian Airlines said: ‘Our primary concern now is for the boy’s well-being. He is exceptionally lucky.’

However, last night questions were being raised about the boy’s account. One aviation expert told ABC News in the US: ‘Somebody surviving at 35,000ft for five hours with no supplemental oxygen supply? I just don’t believe it.’

Politician’s ‘rape’ Paralympian rescued threat to reporter from glacier attempt A PREGNANT Russian journalist is recovering in hospital after a politician appeared to threaten her with ‘violent rape’ at a press conference after she asked him about sanctions against Ukraine.

Vladmir Zhirinovsky, leader of the pro-Kremlin nationalist party LDPR, unleashed a tirade against six-months-pregnant Stella Dubovitskaya, a reporter with the state-funded TV channel Russia Today. The politician is seen saying to his aides: ‘When I say, you run to her and violently rape her.’ He then pushed the two towards the journalist, who is six months pregnant, yelling: ‘Go and kiss her. Grab her.’

Mr Zhirinovsky’s conduct has been referred to the parliament’s ethics commission, and he may lose the right to speak in the State Duma for up to one month.

RT general director Margareta Simonyan said it will take legal action. Mr Zhirinovsky has since apologised if he ‘happened to offend someone’.

A PARALYMPIC skier’s world-first attempt to cross Europe’s biggest glacier ended in a dramatic rescue.

World champion downhill skier Sean Rose was three days into his expedition when he fell ill and became stranded 50km (30 miles) in to the wilderness.

With visibility fading fast due Fever: Sean Rose to high winds, his three-man support team set up camp to ride out the storm, sheltered behind 1.8m (6ft) snow walls.

But when the paralysed skier was hit by a fever of 40C they radioed for help – only to learn that conditions were too treacherous for a helicopter to reach them. However, two 4X4s from the East Iceland rescue service arrived after five hours.

D

World

digest

Al-Qaeda commander is killed in US drone strike

AMERicA: A motorist crashed into a church during a packed Easter service, injuring 21 people. She lost control of the vehicle in the car park of the church in Fort Myers, Florida.

Firemen arrived to find parishioners using a jack to lift the Lexus off those trapped.

‘Longest serving’ political prisoner dies in hospital

bURMA: A pro-democracy leader who became the country’s longest-serving political prisoner has died in hospital, aged 85. Win Tin, a former journalist, was freed from jail in 2008 after spending 19 years behind bars for challenging military rule.

vATicAn ciTy: Pope Francis leads prayers yesterday after calling at Easter for peace in Ukraine and Syria Picture: aP

Mob takes its revenge on father who ‘stabbed baby’

DOMinicAn REPUbLic: A father was killed by a mob after allegedly stabbing his four-month-old daughter in the neck. Jean Lounis attacked partner Patricia Philomar and then turned on the child, villagers in La Victoria said. The baby needed surgery.

Premier’s war shrine gift condemned by neighbours

JAPAn: Prime minister Shinzo Abe has upset South Korea and China by sending a ritual offering to a shrine for the war dead. His actions were ‘deplorable’, said a spokesman in Seoul. The Yasukuni shrine is seen by critics as a celebration of Tokyo’s past militarism.

and finally...

ROMAniA: A bust of a former president’s wife has caused a row – for being too ‘busty’.

Officials in Targu Jiu have ordered the artist, Paul Popescu, to make the breasts smaller.

Boston athletes leave blast in the past

yEMEn: A US drone strike has killed three senior al-Qaeda fighters including a commander. Yesterday’s missile attack destroyed a car carrying the militants across southern Yemen. Tribal leaders identified the dead commander as Munnaser al-Anbouri.

21 hurt as motorist crashes into church during service

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

Riding high: Police cross the finish line before the race

Go team: Mobility impaired runners at the start line

BOSTON yesterday showed it refuses to bow to terror, a year after three people were killed and 260 others wounded in bomb blasts at the city’s marathon. About 36,000 runners, the second-largest field in the event’s history, registered to run and, despite a heavy police presence, the mood was festive. A moment of silence was held before the start and applause rang out as policemen walked past the site of last year’s bombing. Then children danced as The Rolling Stones’ song Start Me Up blared over the speakers. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in a shootout with police while his brother Dzhokhar, 20, has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges and is awaiting a trial. If convicted, he faces a death sentence.

President: Ferry crew acted like murderers

THE actions of the captain and some by nicOLE LE MARiE crew in the South Korean ferry disaster were tantamount to ‘an act of murder,’ cally,’ she said. Captain Lee Joon-seok, 69, and two crewmen were arrested last the country’s president said yesterday.

Park Geun-hye insisted that those to week on negligence charges.

Yesterday, prosecutors announced blame for the accident last week would have to take ‘criminal and civil’ re- four further arrests – two first mates, sponsibility for their ‘unforgivable, one second mate and a chief engineer.

Lee was also charged with undertakmurderous behaviour.’

The death toll from the Sewol stands ing an ‘excessive change of course at 86 with 220 people still missing, pre- without slowing down’ while traverssumed dead. Some 339 of the 476 pas- ing a narrow channel. Survivors say sengers were pupils and teachers from several crew members, including the captain, left the ferry as it was sinking a secondary school near Seoul.

Ms Park said: ‘Above all, the on Wednesday, ahead of the passenconduct of the captain and some gers.

Divers are now bringing up two or crew members is unfathomable from the viewpoint of common sense, and it three bodies at a time, and taking them was like an act of murder that cannot to Jindo, an island close to where the ferry sank. and should not be Many parents of misstolerated. ing children remain ‘The captain did waiting for news in a not comply with pasgymnasium near the senger evacuation orport. ders from the vessel Kim Chang-gu, whose traffic service... and son Kim Dong-hyup is escaped ahead of othamong the missing, ers while telling passaid: ‘I dream about sengers to keep their him and hear hallucinaseats. tory sounds. Somebody ‘This is something told me he was alive but that is never imagiI now have given up.’ nable legally or ethi- Grief: A relative at Jindo

Show of strength: Runners in the first wave of 9,000 cross the start line Pictures: aP

Kiev accord falters amid blame game AN ACCORD signed just days ago aimed at easing tensions in Ukraine was unravelling yesterday.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accused Kiev politicians of doing little to disarm illegal groups.

He said: ‘Extremists are calling the tune.

Steps are being taken – above all by those who seized power in Kiev – not only that do not fulfil, but that crudely violate the Geneva agreement.’

Pro-Moscow rebels said the pledge to withdraw from occupied buildings was not binding on them.

Washington has said it would hold Russian

president Vladimir Putin responsible and impose new economic sanctions if the separatists do not clear out of government buildings they have occupied across eastern Ukraine over the past two weeks.

Mr Putin signed a law on Sunday making it easier for Russian speakers in the former Soviet Union to obtain Russian citizenship.

US vice-president Joe Biden was due in Kiev last night. Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US signed off on a deal in Geneva on Thursday, designed to lower tension in the worst confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

53°20’52”N 6°15’35”W

ursuit Digital Pursuit 6pm, Thursday 5th June

Opening doors for homeless people

Starting from the Harbourmaster , Customs House Dock, IFSC, Dublin 1.

How well do you and your friends know Dublin?

Teams of 3-5 with a registration fee of €100.

Post event BBQ in the Harbourmaster!

For further information: E: fundraising@pmvtrust.ie T: 01 823 0776

Peter McVerry Trust, 29 Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1.

Tel: 01 823 0776 Email: fundraising@pmvtrust.ie CHY 7256 Registration Number 98934

www.pmvtrust.ie

METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

★

★

★★ ★ ★

D

Stars are funny bunnies Hatty Easter: Jennifer Lopez shows off her bonnet

C

ELEBRITIES were competing to post the daftest Easter snaps over the weekend, with Rita Ora wiggling her bunny ears and model Miranda Kerr sucking a giant lollipop in her scanties.

Queen of the dressing-up box Mariah Carey uploaded a photo of herself wearing pink, fluffy ears with husband Nick

by SEAMUS DUFF Cannon, 33, and their two-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe. ‘Easter bunny? Are you coming???’ the eccentric 44-year-old singer posted.

Meanwhile, Madonna, 55, posted an old picture showing her in bunny ears and a low-cut pink dress. ‘Today is the

Resurrection!! Praise the Lord! #iconic,’ she wrote, suggesting she had brought her younger self back to life.

Aussie Kerr, 31, also put a somewhat what challenging spin on the Christian festival by licking her lolly while dressed in stockings and a black leotard in a shoot for Love magazine.

But Jennifer Lopez, 44, went the traditional route by uploading a picture of herself in a bonnet and telling fans: ns: ‘Happy Easter Everybody!!’

‘Happ Be Beyoncé also got in on the act with Ivy. her daughter Blue Ivy The 32-year-old was spotted sporting golden bunny ears and gold-rimmed sunglasses during the Coachella music festi festival in California.

She later gave the ears to two-year-old -old Blue Ivy to wear wear.

Old Madge-ic: Madonna’s retro snap

Suicidal Sia was just hours away from a drug overdose Hit machine Sia Furler is lucky to be releasing solo material after revealing she once wrote a suicide note.

The jittery Australian recalled how just four years ago she called a drug dealer to order ‘two of everything’ with the intention of checking into a cheap hotel and ending it all.

Furler penned a note to her

dog walker and the hotel manager to call an ambulance that read: ‘I’ve killed myself and I don’t want you to have to suffer seeing my dead body.’

The 38-year-old told how she was left in a fog of depression as she grappled with fame after writing hits such as Rihanna’s Diamonds.

Her struggles began when her boyfriend was killed by a

London taxi in the 1990s and she turned to booze to cope.

‘When you’re in a different place every day, there’s this kind of madness that sets in. It’s easy to get away with getting high because everybody’s drinking on the road,’ she told NY Times Magazine.

‘None of my friends thought I was an alcoholic, and neither did I.’

BARNSTORMING: Lauren Redmond and Simon Roche indulged in some very guilty pleasures on Good Friday when they attended Barn Dance VII, which took place at Glendalough Estate in Co Wicklow. Close to 5,000 people were transported to the BYOB music and arts festival that gives people as good an excuse as any to have a little tipple on the day when drinking establishments were closed

★

David Beckham kept his eyes on the ball as he made a surprise appearance on China’s Voice TV show. The 38-year-old former England captain didn’t try to sing a tune to impress the judges though – he instead stuck to what he knew and put on a display of ball juggling tricks... all while wearing a pretty sharp suit.

Ear we go: From top, Miranda Kerr’s saucy shoot, Rita Ora and friends and Mariah with her family

D

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

★

The 5 Seconds Of Summer boys are in need of a cleaner and a cook. The mucky pups admit ‘it’s pretty bad’ inside the London apartment they are sharing. Guitarist Michael Clifford, 18, said their culinary skills also left a lot to be desired. ‘It gets messy,’ he said, adding: ‘It’s the first time we’ve all lived together without anyone else taking care of us. There is a lot of cereal getting eaten. It’s all we can eat, although I can oven a frozen pizza.’

Wossy wows cwowds with Daft Punk cameo Jonathan Ross made a surprise appearance at the Coachella music festival – supporting indie rock band Arcade Fire.

The 53-year-old chat show host was wheeled on stage – along with electro duo Daft Punk – to close the festival on Sunday.

‘On stage with Arcade Fire at #Coachella2014. Quite a night!’

Wossy tweeted. Fans of the Canadian band will know he provides a brief voice sample on their 2013 album, Reflektor.

Meanwhile, Beyoncé (pictured) donned a camouflage jacket and bandana to mingle with the crowds on her return to Coachella in California. Bey, 32, and 44-year-old husband Jay Z – a balaclava covering his face – shared photos of themselves and danced at the front of the stage. OutKast made up for an error-strewn show last week.

They made it through without the technical issues that blighted their first appearance.

LiLo: My miscarriage left me heartbroken L

indsay Lohan’s woes continue with the revelation that she had a secret miscarriage.

The 27-year-old dropped the bombshell in the last episode of her reality series, Lindsay, as she explained why she delayed filming at one point during the summer last year. ‘no-one knows this – and we can finish after this – i had a miscarriage for the two weeks that i took off,’ she said in the twohour finale for the oprah Winfrey network.

Refusing to reveal who the father was, the bisexual star turned evasive, telling the cameras: ‘it’s a very long story.’

Explaining her dilemma over filming the scenes, which were recorded shortly after the most recent of six rehab spells, the Mean Girls actress admitted she was in dire need of help.

‘That’s why on the show when it says she doesn’t want to come down, i couldn’t move, i was sick. Mentally, that messes with you,’ she said.

‘Watching this series, i just know how i felt at that moment and i can relate to that girl, which sounds kind of crazy

by ANDREI HARMSWORTH

but i’m like, “oh my god, this is really sad.

Who’s helping her?”’ she added: ‘There was a lot going on in my life then. i cried so many times watching it.

Because i don’t see it as me – it’s strange. it’s weird.’

LiLo also blasted the leak of a list of 37 sexual conquests – including famous names such as Zac Efron, Justin Timberlake, Colin Farrell and Max George of The Wanted – she purportedly penned on a night out. ‘i don’t care about me in that situation – i care about the people that are involved with other people because it’s really unfortunate and disrespectful,’ she said after a Us magazine published the list she claimed she made in rehab.

‘That’s not something that i’d show anyone. The fact that happened was not only humiliating but just mean – it was mean-spirited for someone to do that,’ she added. she believes a pal took a photo of the list when she was moving out of an La hotel.

10 METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

in focus D

news@metroherald.ie

450 years on he’s so Bard he’s good...

‘S

OME are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.’ You’ve got to hand it to William Shakespeare – he always had the right quote for every occasion, even for his own anniversary.

Next Wednesday, April 23, it will be 450 years since his birth – yet Shakespeare remains the most influ ential writer of all time, having transformed English theatre and the language we speak. But does that mean we all have to be fans?

Well, try to utter a sentence without borrowing from the Bard and you may find we’ve sent you on a ‘wild goose chase’. Yes, that’s one of his. Long before ‘bestie’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary last month, Shakespeare had coined about 1,700 words.

Without him, there would be no ‘swagger’, ‘critics’ or ‘gossip’.

Prof Stanley Wells, honorary president of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said: ‘The English lan-

To celebrate, or not to celebrate… that is the question. He is known as the greatest writer of all time – but as the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth arrives, are we finally getting bored of the Bard?

HAYLEY LEAVER reports. guage is full of Shakespearean expressions. He helps us to articulate our deepest emotions.’

He went on: ‘A lover may quote Sonnet 116: “Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds”.

‘Worrying about something that cannot be remedied, like Lady Macbeth, we may say: “What’s done cannot be undone”.

‘And faced with the death of a loved one, we may echo King Lear: “Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life / And thou no breath at all”?’

With almost 40 plays and 154 sonnets, it is estimated that Shakespearean works are being performed somewhere in the world every minute.

It certainly feels as though we cannot go a few months without another famous thespian taking on

one of his soliloquies – Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Kinnear and David Tennant all spring to mind.

But are these plays, with their iambic pentameter and old-fashioned words, still relevant to modern audiences?

Gregory Doran, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, certainly thinks so.

‘If you have ever been in love, or felt the pangs of jealousy, or the fierce drive of ambition, if you’ve ever grieved for a lost friend, or rejoiced at the promise of the future, then you will find Shakespeare intensely relevant to your life today,’ he said.

‘Shakespeare never criticises his characters, like a writer such as Ben Jonson often does.

‘He does not thump out a message, or push a particular point of view.

Shakespeare was also an actor and performed in many of his own and other playwrights’ plays. He performed before Queen Elizabeth I and King James I

‘He sees human life with great compassion, from a 360-degree perspective, no black and white but infinitive congruities of grey.’

F

OR Prof Wells, Shakespeare’s are far richer in language and deeper in human understanding than most other plays. He believes they have stood the test of time because they are about timeless events and emotions – love, death, courage, joy, jealousy, youth and old age, laughter and grief.

New reforms revealed by Britain’s education secretary Michael Gove will see Shakespeare play a more integral role in the national curriculum. From September, all pupils aged 11 to 14 will be required to study at least two complete plays.

The RSC believes engaging children from an early age is key, offering resources to help introduce the Bard’s work to pupils as young as five.

Mr Doran is also encouraging the national curriculum to follow the

RSC’s plan to work through the entire canon of plays over the next decade – not just the most famous ones, such as Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear.

‘Shakespeare is absolutely vital to education,’ he said. ‘He gives us the words when our own fail. Once encountered, Shakespeare is a passport for life. He appeals to every age.’

But what about those who are less enthusiastic? Is it acceptable to admit you are simply not a fan?

‘All children should be given an opportunity to see whether Shakespeare is for them,’ said Prof Wells.

‘But no one has a moral duty to like him any more than they do to like Mozart or The Beatles.’

The RSC will celebrate his anniversary with a pyrotechnical display after their jubilee performance of Henry IV, Part I, on Wednesday, while thousands are expected to line the streets in Stratford-uponAvon the following Saturday for the 450th Birthday Celebrations Procession.

Mailbox

D

Email:

R

TREnDing

vated – gave its most alarming report about the future, saying we need to act now. They tell us climate change is real and happening. This is true, but what they don’t say is that climate has always changed for millions of years. anyone who believes they have the power to put a stop to Mother Nature by taxing the most greenfriendly gas (CO2) in our biosphere, is not a true friend of the earth. EB ■ I am a bus driver on the No.40.

The antisocial behaviour on this route in the Neilstown end is out of control. I asked a passenger to stop smoking hash and he came downstairs and abused me until he got off. a roof slate was thrown through a window of another bus and a passenger injured. Something has to be done quickly.

40 Driver

#TommyBowe

@metrohnews #metromailbox

● Tommy Bowe got engaged. I may as well stop washing now. #heartbroken @vjessjohnston

● Tommy Bowe got engaged! This warrants a national day of mourning. @Caoimhe_McC

● Accepting Tommy Bowe is engaged would be easier if his girlfriend wasn’t so hot. @gracemck7

● The mother will be devastated to hear Tommy Bowe is engaged. #offthemarket #roide @_intoxikayted

Quick pic

Text:

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

GOLDEN DAWN: Richardas Kybartas was sauntering through Phoenix Park over the weekend and caught this golden Easter sunrise

gOOD On yA

● To the good-looking security guy on duty at McDonald’s on O’Connell Street this day last week between 9am and 10am. Thank you so much for running after me and my friends with my iPhone 5S. I cannot believe good people still exist – you restored hope and happiness to my heart so thank you very much. Hope you had a great Easter.

Lady P

RAnDOM AcTs Of kinDnEss

11

‘Mail’ to 53131* Facebook.com/ metroherald

*Please include a name and location. Emails with attachments cannot be received. 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

Turbines can’t stop the winds of climate change...

eal Tree Hugger (Mailbox, Wednesday), you’ve answered your own questions. You correctly identify the climate change scam as a political issue. The issue of wind turbines is indeed controversial on many fronts.

They are a blot on the landscape, are a major concern for those living in their shadow, and have impacted on the habitats of wildlife, particularly birds, which suffer significant fatalities by turbines worldwide.

They’re also an expensive and inefficient option for power generation.

They become even more expensive when put out to sea. all this is based on the notion that CO2 is driving the global climate into a downward spiral. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – which is politically moti-

mail@metroherald.ie @metrohnews and #metromailbox

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

in the know, on the go

yEH big RiDE

● To SuperValu Sam on Talbot Street. Honey, you are the meat selection! From the girl who didn’t drop the bottle.

Feeling Minty Fresh

● To the beautiful girl working at the social welfare office in Thomas Street on Thursday. I’d sign-on every day if it meant seeing you. Unless we can do something else...

WC ● To the gorgeous blonde with the shades beside me on the Luas on Thursday (well, beside me on the other Luas as the two pulled up along side each other on Stephen’s Green).

Molloyski Perhaps we can ride the same Luas one day?

yOuR RusH-HOuR cRusH

12 METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

D

television

★ Must see

Film a good Year Film4, 6.30pm

ever dreamt of owning your own vineyard? well you can live out that fantasy via Ridley Scott’s sun-dappled adaptation of Peter Mayle’s bestseller. A miscast Russell Crowe is the City trader who learns to sup a more fulfilling life after he inherits a Provence vineyard from his uncle (Albert Finney). Marion Cotillard plays his feisty French love interest.

sister act E4, 8pm

masterchef ireland RTÉ1, 8.30PM As the competition heats up in semi-final week, remaining contestants Edel, Hugh, Diana (pictured) and Niamh are set the daunting task of a full lunch service in the kitchen at Patrick Guilbaud’s – Ireland’s only two-Mitchelin starred restaurant. How will they fare in the high-pressure environment?

New oN

Culture ▲

▲

DEMAn D ghghghghgh

Available to rent/buy now

all is lost

A stoic, Golden Globe-nominated Robert Redford (below) is all at sea in this survival thriller. He’s struggling with a hole in the hull of his one-man yacht as he’s beset by storms, sharks and dehydration. A solid, rather than remarkable, watch.

the world of liberace

Sky Arts 2, 10.15pm Anyone who enjoyed melodramatic romp Behind The Candelabra should catch this kitsch timepiece.

The pianist with the ineffable fashion sense offers a guided tour of his homes and discusses marriage, religion and more.

Try reading between the lines – they’re a mile wide.

later live with jools holland BBC2, 10pm

kiss the water

It may not have lured you to the cinema but Eric Steele’s meditative documentary about fishing fly-maker Megan Boyd is a quietly spellbinding tribute to a modest life, intercut with vistas of the rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands.

It was a brave move by Paolo Nutini, having made a major breakthrough with his debut album, to disappear for nigh on five years after his second.

But the wait for his follow-up, Caustic Love, showcased here, has more than justified his decision – Nutini is now the real deal as a singer of heartfelt blue-eyed soul. Joan As Police woman, Neil Finn, Royal Blood and Brooklyn artrockers Lucius will be completing the musical ring in Jools’s studio.

★

Sport champions league live TV3, 7.30pm

Chelsea could have expected to be facing Barcelona in tonight’s semi-final first leg.

But Diego Simeone’s (above) Atletico Madrid, a side built on shrewd signings have been ripping up the hierarchy in Spain and europe this season, so the estadio Vicente Calderon is Chelsea’s destination tonight.

Can José Mourinho come up with a tactical masterplan to knock the La Liga leaders off their stride? Tommy Martin presents with Neil Lennon and Kevin Kilbane providing the analysis.

This 1992 comedy smash stars whoopi Goldberg (above) as a big haired, bigmouthed Reno lounge singer called Deloris, who is put into witness protection – in a convent – after stumbling across a Mob killing executed by her boyfriend (Harvey Keitel).

Maggie Smith gives it her best pursed lips as the Reverend Mother who disapproves of Deloris’s unorthodox approach to choir practice. It’s not mould-breaking by any stretch, but it’s feel-good, funky fun: so get prepared to shake your wimple.

what happens in vegas Film4, 9pm

Cameron Diaz is the control freak recently ditched by her fiancé. Ashton Kutcher is the random slacker she ends up hitched to after a wild night in Vegas. well, it could be worse, eh? The couple quickly start hating each other but a big casino win forces them to stay together to claim the cash.

Glittery and undemanding.

la confidential ITV4, 10.30pm

Violent thriller set in 1950s Hollywood starring Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey. Three police officers, a career-centred rookie, a cynical veteran and a suave character are sent to investigate a bloodbath in a diner. The search for the perpetrators leads them down a trail of corruption and crime which goes right to the heart of the force. Kim Basinger won an oscar for her role as a Veronica Lake lookalike hooker.

★

Drama

Factual cesar to the rescue

Nat Geo Wild, 8pm

Cesar’s back – hail Cesar! The awesome Dog whisperer returns, bringing his unique brand of doggy know-how to bear on a new set of humans at the end of their tethers with canine companions who have lost their way. Getting off to a suitably snarling start, the first challenge of the series comes from Misty. once an adorable little puppy, Misty now regularly attacks her own family as well as anyone and everyone in the neighbourhood. Can Cesar save her from being put down? we have faith!

elementarY RTÉ2, 10.30pm

Detective Bell is shot at and forced off the road while driving home from work. A recently paroled drug lord with a motive for revenge is the most obvious suspect but when Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) helps Bell the case is not so open-and-shut.

Then the drug boss turns up dead and all evidence points to Bell. Meanwhile Sherlock encourages Joan (Lucy Liu) to learn selfdefense and he offers to let her stay on as his partner.

eastenders BBC1, 7.30pm

This one is going to run and run: the mystery of who killed Lucy Beale. The main suspect is soldier boy Lee Carter but that’s too obvious, surely? Before the whodunnit truly gets going, we first have the prospect of Ian Beale having an emotional meltdown.

At least it makes a change from frying sausages.

hunting the edge of space

PBS America, 7.50pm Glorious technicolour CGI illustrates this enthusiastic swirl through the 400-year history of the telescope. This marvel of engineering has pushed back the frontiers of space, revolutionising our understanding of where we came from and our place in the universe. one for budding Brian Coxes everywhere.

living the wildlife RTÉ1, 7pm

In the final episode of the series Colin explores the habitat of mini-beasts in the woods of Tipperary. In this hidden world empires are being built and colonial wars waged. Prof John Breen from the University of Limerick guides Colin through the fascinating creatures living on the forest floor, from woodlice to centipedes, spiders and beetles. Using a special lens Colin zooms in on a nest housing more than 100,000 wood ants.

embarrassing bodies: live from the clinic C4, 8pm

with viewers getting the chance to use Skype to pose questions to the clinic doctors, here’s an idea: how about introducing that system to GP surgeries?

There’s also a cunning test that reveals the extent to which alcohol impacts on our behaviour.

jamaica inn BBC1, 9pm

The tension builds as we hit the midpoint of this atmospheric adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s brooding saga of smuggling and secrets in wild and woolly Cornwall. Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay stars as the put-upon but spirited Mary, a girl cast adrift in a sea of sadistic uncles and ne’er-do-well suitors.

★

new worlds C4, 9pm

A young generation attempting to do the right thing and undo the misdeeds of their forebears is the theme of this passionate and idealistic account of the cruel reign of Charles II. The mix of politics and passion makes for a bumpy ride but it’s a drama that feeds both head and heart, buoyed by some fine performances, not least Pip Carter’s sadistic Judge Jeffreys. Tonight’s final instalment finds Abe (Jamie Dornan) and Beth (Freya Mavor, above) oceans apart – is theirs a love that was never meant to be?

D

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

13

Anonymity of the web Fear of over-exposure nearly put Andrew Garfield off playing Spider-Man – but now he’s having a ball, writes Lauren Williams

W

hen Andrew Garfield was a schoolboy, playing rugby did not count as a highlight of the sporting week. he was a very slender chap without a great deal of heavy muscle tone and the crunching tackles caused him a fair amount of distress.

‘I was a winger when I played rugby at school,’ says the 30-year-old star of The Amazing Spider-Man films. ‘One day my coach put me at full back and that was my first concussion. It got me out of playing for the season and I was happy about that. I was always the one getting concussed because of my less than huge stature.’

➔

��� �������� ������ ��� ��� ���� ����� ������ �������� ������ �������� ������� ���� ����� ������ � ������� ���� ���������� �� ��� ���� ������ ������������������������

����������������������

14 METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

film

➔

Nowadays, Garfield could probably hold his own on the rugby pitch: he’s blessed with the lithe body of a bona fide athlete, courtesy of his stringent training for the role of SpiderMan, which sees him go from a natural bodyweight of 143lbs with 18 per cent body fat to 165lbs with seven per cent body fat.

‘Having that kind of body shape is something I had never experienced before playing this role,’ he says. ‘The effect it has is very rewarding but getting in that shape is not.

I like playing basketball. Lifting weights is not something I would call fun.’

Playing the web-slinger might involve some hard graft, then, but it is fun. Garfield clearly revels being in the role but, prior to the first film, he was apprehensive about taking it on.

After all, Garfield was building an impressive career outside the Hollywood system, on stage and screen. He even earned a Bafta for his first feature-length offering, 2007’s powerful Boy A, in which he played a young man trying to

“I’m just interested in being an actor who can disappear into the story” find his way in society after committing a heinous childhood crime.

Lions For Lambs and The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus followed, as did 2010 Facebook movie The Social Network, his impressive peformance there netting him the superhero role.

‘My main concerns about playing SpiderMan were about the lack of anonymity and being tied to a role for the rest of my life,’ he says, ‘because I’m really just interested in being an actor who can disappear into the story. I find movie stars distracting on screen.

‘But the character that people really adore is Spider-Man and when I get to wear the suit, no one sees my face. They see the mask, so I’m safe with that. Also, they relate to Peter Parker, who’s a regular dude, and that is reassuring to me.’

In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Garfield and Parker are in the same mental space, both having settled into their role as the crimespanking superhero. This time around, Parker’s having fun in his Spider-suit, spitting

D

features@metroherald.ie to advertise, call 01 7055010

Regular guy: Andrew Garfield is back for a second stint as Peter Parker; once again he’s joined by real-life girlfriend Emma Stone (below with Garfield) out one-liners with alacrity, and cracking wise while tackling the villain who will eventually become the Rhino (played by Paul Giamatti) and dubbing Jamie Foxx’s super-powerful Electro ‘Sparkles’.

‘There is more of an ownership that Peter feels of the thing he has created and there is

more of an enjoyment over the amazing things he is able to do,’ says Garfield. ‘It is important that Peter’s enjoying being Spider-Man, because it’s a great counterpoint to what he is going through in other areas of his life.’

I

NDEED, while Parker is loving his role as the slinger of webs and basher of baddies, his personal life is a little strained, with further questions about his parents percolating through his teenage mind, exacerbated by a rift in his relationship with girlfriend Gwen Stacy. Stacy is offered a chance to study at Oxford university, meaning she may well leave New York and Peter Parker behind.

‘Peter is a pretty evolved dude, though,’ says Garfield. ‘He was raised by Aunt May and he has a sensitive heart, so he supports his lady in what she needs to do.’

Garfield’s real-life belle, Emma Stone, brings Parker’s lady to life on screen. What does he most admire in Stone?

‘I admire Emma because she is a real comedian,’ he says. ‘Both she and Jamie Foxx are really funny people and there is something nice about that being inaccessible to me.’

Spider-Man producer Avi Arad, however, has said Garfield has excellent comedy chops, crediting him with some of the humour that punctuates the new movie (he came up with the ‘sparkles’ gag, for instance) – but the actor dismisses the notion.

‘Personally, I think I’m more like Robert De Niro in The King Of Comedy,’ Garfield says with a laugh. ‘Sick, twisted, not that funny but really wishes he was…’

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is out now.

YOUR DUBLIN WEEk with daragh reddin GET DOWN TO…

FEAST YOUR EYES ON....

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed

The Art Of The Brick

Eli Reed may be a young white chap from Boston but he sounds uncannily like many of his blues and soul heroes. He’s spent time playing with Mississippi bluesman Sam Carr, as well as at a Chicago church run by former Chess records star Mitty Collier. All of which should give him something of a headstart on many of his would-be soul revivalists Thu, Whelan’s, 25 Wexford Street D2, 8pm, €16.50.

Tel: 1890 200 078. www.whelanslive.com

Beyond The Bookshelf

The city’s most bijou music festival fetches up in Temple Bar’s 66seater New Theatre for three days this week, with a clutch of local headliners and support acts. On Thursday, Si Schroeder kickstarts proceedings with his glitchy blend of electronica-infused indie rock; on Friday it’s the turn of The Statics; and on Saturday, Rufus Coates And The Blackened Trees Thu until Sat, The New Theatre, 43 Essex Street East D2, 7.30pm, €12.

Tel: (01) 670 3361. www.thenewtheatre.com

Duke Special’s Gramophone Club

Peter ‘Duke Special’ Wilson will be dusting down his vinyl collection – and his smoking jacket – this week as he takes to the decks for the second of his ‘gramophone club’ evenings at The Liquor Rooms. Expect a dance-floor friendly evening of jazz gems, big-band standards and bluechip rock’n’roll Thu, The Liquor Rooms, 5 Wellington Quay D2, 8pm, free. www.theliquorrooms.com

Following the success of The Lego Movie, this timely exhibition of brick sculptures should appeal both to kids who love playing with the stuff and parents who loathe tripping over it. Having received his first Lego set in the 1970s, Nathan Sawaya never gave up the classic toy, even while studying to be a lawyer. But, 14 years ago, the 37-year-old decided to give up the rat race to become a full-time Lego artist in Manhattan. Check out this touring exhibition Sawaya claims is ‘the only exhibition focusing exclusively on Lego as an art medium’. Who knew?

Until Jun 15, Ambassador Theatre, O’Connell Street D1, 10am to 7pm, prices. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.brickartist.com

music

15

One for the night bus sohn TremOrs 4AD HHHII

Ramona Lisa ArcAdiA

Pannonica

HHHHI

The name might not be familiar, but the voice should be. ramona Lisa is the alias adopted for her solo debut by caroline Polachek of Brooklyn duo chairlift, whose Bruises single featured in the 2008 iPod ad campaign. That rather twee earworm masked the adventurism and strangeness of the rest of their album, but here Polachek – who’s written for Beyoncé – underlines her leftfield leanings as well as her way with a melodic hook. Arcadia is an alluringly dreamy set of pastoral electronic pop that’s been tricked out with subtle effects and sent on some intriguing detours. Take the wonderfully titled Lady’s Got Gills – with its sounds of lapping waves and seagulls and notes of chinese pop – or closing epic i Love Our World, which suggests ancient equipment emitting signals from some longabandoned space station. it’s poignant and peculiar, in equal parts.

Sharon O’Connell

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

D

Wallis builds on a new sound THE big RELEASE

WaLLis BiRd ArchiTecT Bird Records HHHHI

T

hrough her career, Wexford’s Wallis Bird has been hampered by an excess of quirkiness. The cover of her album Spoons featured – sigh – a photograph of two spoons, while her singer-songwriter persona, an image that screamed Whelan’s support slot, saw her pigeonholed as a less interesting Gemma Hayes. This is a shame because, get past the picture you have of Bird in your head, and it is obvious she is a tremendous talent. On her (self-titled) 2012 album she was feisty and self -possessed; now she has embraced her inner

Teutonic ice queen with a synth-steeped LP that feels compellingly dislocated (having split from her long-term girlfriend she was, by all accounts, in a strange state of mind writing the record). Inspired by a relocation to Berlin, Bird’s biggest innovation is her use of electronic beats and machine-tooled melodies: opener Hardly Hardly is a bare-boned pop heatseeker, like Britney Spears fronting LCD Soundsystem; I Can Be Your Man sees her shrieking soulfully while grooves roil and bubble. It isn’t all so innovative – there are unfortunate echoes of the tie-dyed Bird of yore on Daze and the strummy The Cards.

Happily, the ghost of open mic evenings past is exorcised by the thrillingly atonal Girls and the Euro-trance thump of Gloria. Who would have imagined she had it in her?

Eamon de paor

Already a hotly-tipped producer for the likes of Kwabs and Banks, sohn removed himself from the dirty London hustle to record his anticipated debut in Vienna – turning entirely nocturnal to do so. so it’s small wonder that lonely yearning and paranoia loom large in this crisp, crepuscular electronic soul record, which bears comparison with sBTrKT and a more regular sounding, accessible James Blake. Lyrically, we’re launched into a grim and isolated place, although the minimal nature of sohn’s dark, looping production makes moments such as The Wheel’s ‘i died a week ago’ more movingly bleak than emo sob-step – just about. That track’s strangely warm future doo-wop sound, or Artifice with its quick but dark refrain, mark the most obviously singlefriendly moments of the album – but there are instances further on where the electronic soundscape is pushed into a stranger form. ransom Notes begins with deep, deep bass before something more jittery skids over the top, while Paralysed meets a piano-led melody with whoomfy ripping noises, a bit like Velcro being repeatedly pulled apart. made for rainy night bus journeys and moments of pre-dawn anxiety, this is a relentlessly comfortless, undeniably wellcrafted record. it’s just somehow difficult to love.

Amy Dawson

On My pLAyLiST Ziggy Marley iROn LiOn ZiOn by Santana

santana is family. i was honoured when he invited me to sing on his version of my father’s song. The spirituality is present throughout and the song brings me strength.

SOMEbODy HAvE MERCy

by Sam Cooke

This song – from Live At The harlem square club – is passion, emotion and an incredible performance all rolled into one.

AfRiCA uniTE by Bob Marley

the people and marvin is on fire.

This song is a call to unite the African nations as one. i played it during a free concert i held for the people of Africa in 2010 during a trip i took across the entire continent.

i puT A SpELL On yOu by nina Simone

i listen to this song when i need to take a break from the hectic world around me.

bLuE in gREEn by Miles davis

This reminds me to take a moment to slow down and appreciate everything around me.

MERCy MERCy ME (THE ECOLOgy)

by Marvin gaye

Ziggy Marley’s album, Fly Rasta (TuffGong Worldwide/V2 Benelux) is out now.

marvin Gaye is one of the best male vocalists of all time in my opinion. This is a message to \

buy pOpCORn fOR…

Diner

One of the greatest comic-dramas of the 1980s is a hymn to an altogether different time – Baltimore, 1959, where a group of high-school buddies turned twentysomethings shoot the breeze about music, sex and food in the all-night Fells Point Diner. The banter between a fresh-faced cast that includes Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke and Steve Guttenberg throws up some of the most quotable dialogue of the decade. Screened as part of the IFI’s ‘gastronomic feature’ series, with post-show, diner-style meal Tomorrow, IFI, 6 Eustace Street D2, 6.30pm, €20.

Tel: (01) 679 3477.

CuRiOuS AbOuT....

Certain Three Tour

Psychedelic Euro rockers The Altered Hours (pictured) are one of three acts touring Ireland this month, as part of the Certain Three showcase, organised and curated

by Word Of Mouth as a means of promoting up-andcoming Irish and British indie outfits Tonight, The Workman’s Club, 10 Wellington Quay D2, 8pm, €12. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.theworkmansclub.com

Part-time Evening Study Diploma/BSc and Master's in Information Systems

Open Evening Wednesday 30th April at 6 p.m.

Lloyd Institute Tel: + 353 1 896 1765 IS-info@scss.tcd.ie www.scss.tcd.ie/is

16 METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

D

tech&gaming

editorial@metroherald.ie to advertise, call 01 7055010

Raising the game to feed off your fears e In the video gam ges Nevermind, chan art rate in a player ’s he using d re are monito nology ch te k ac db ee biof

The best horror video games make players frightened, but also scared of putting down the controller. Yet what if a game got progressively difficult as you became more scared? The creator of Nevermind tells ROSS McGUINNESS how she hopes to create a terrifying future for the genre role of a Players take the o ‘Neuroprober ’ wh al vit for ch ar se st mu nds clues inside the mi s of trauma victim

I

F YoUR idea of a frightening video gaming experience is creeping through a Ghost House level as Super (scared) Mario, you might want to look away.

The developer of Nevermind has come up with a terrifying concept: a horror game which recognises how frightened you are as you are playing it.

‘When Nevermind senses that someone is becoming scared or stressed, it responds by becoming more difficult,’ said Erin Reynolds, the game’s creative director.

The game started life two years ago as Reynolds’s thesis project at the University of Southern California and is now at a ‘polished proof of concept’ stage, where one level is playable. In Nevermind, players take on the role of a ‘Neuroprober’ who delves into the subconscious of a victim of extreme psychological trauma. Players must search the victim’s mind for ten photographs that hold the key to their condition. However, five of the photos are red herrings – players have to identify the five correct images and place them in the right order to save the trauma victim.

The idea of Nevermind is that each level represents the psyche of a victim you must help. The difficult part is keeping your cool.

The scary beauty of Nevermind is that it knows when a player is afraid and reacts accordingly. To complete each level, players have to conquer their fear.

Many video games have a virtual ‘heart bar’, but in Nevermind, you use your real one.

The game uses biofeedback technology to monitor heart rate variations – when a player gets anxious, Nevermind knows. This is accomplished through a Garmin cardio chest strap, worn by the player, that monitors heart

More than

2,400

a total of backers pledged imately ult an 3,000 in £7 €97,0 tarter ks Kic ul ssf cce su un the nd fu to n campaig nt game’s developme

Pictures: Nevermind

rate, and an ANT+ USB stick that reads that data and feeds it into the game. A player’s fear manifests itself in many different ways on screen as the game becomes more taxing.

‘The environments dynamically respond to the player and become harder to manage the longer he or she stays stressed,’ said Reynolds, 30, who is based in Los Angeles.

‘Every part of the level reacts in a different way. For example, one area is a kitchen-like room.

‘When you become scared, milk will pour out of the cabinets and toaster and will start to flood the room. If you aren’t able to calm down, it will then flood over your head. If you stay too stressed for too long, you’ll start to drown.’

She added: ‘In order to beat Nevermind, you’ll need to learn how to challenge yourself to face the great unknown – even when you know it may be unpleasant or scary – and manage those sensations of fear and anxiety.’

Nevermind has been built through the Unity game engine and Reynolds wants to raise enough funding for her and her team of developers to expand its universe and bring the title to a multitude of gaming platforms.

She is currently in talks with several hardware providers about making that

happen.

Last month, the game missed its target of $250,000 (€180,000) on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, but the fact more than half that amount was pledged means Reynolds is positive Nevermind can become a reality.

‘While we were disappointed that we didn’t hit the financial target of the Kickstarter, we actually saw the campaign as a tremendous success,’ said Reynolds.

‘The overwhelming amount of support and enthusiasm we saw from the community proves that the public is hungry for a game like Nevermind.’

The team is in New York this week to pitch to a panel of investors and industry gurus at the Games For Change Festival.

B

UT Reynolds wants the game to educate as well as entertain. She plans to work closely with therapists and those in the medical profession when developing Nevermind, both to ensure the narrative is accurate and to explore ways in which the game could help people with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

In addition, she says the game will be a valuable tool in helping people cope with the

stress in their lives. If they can control it in a game, could they control it in a traffic jam or a post office queue?

‘It was crucial to us Nevermind genuinely benefited players – that the player would leave Nevermind braver, more confident and more mindful of their stress and anxiety triggers than they were going into it,’ she said. The future of gaming lies in more positive experiences, she believes.

‘We’re going to start seeing games becoming more meaningfully integrated into health, education and communication. Video games are going to continue their evolution to grow beyond being perceived as simple timewasters to being seen as important and helpful tools in every facet of our culture. We have only just scratched the surface of all the good video games and immersive interactivity can offer.’

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a place for a good scare once in a while. ‘People like getting scared within the context of a video game because it gives us a chance to explore those boundaries of our comfort zones,’ said Reynolds.

‘It lets us come face to face with that which terrifies us, exposing our weakness in a safe space where the consequences are relatively mild.’

D

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

17

Las Vegas & Boston:

escape to: USA

USA A-OK P17-19

One year on: The Boston skyline as the city marks the first anniversary of the marathon bombings

Standing tall: Vegas Vic in the Nevada desert

More than a feeling...

BOSTON: It’s one year since the city was marred by tragedy when a bomb exploded at the marathon.

Ed Finn looks at how the city is coping before catching up with the mayor

I

ronman athlete nicole Gross was standing at the 26-mile mark of last year’s Boston marathon with her husband and sister awaiting their mother Carol, whom she had coached for the race, when a bomb went off. nicole was seriously injured; her shocked, dazed and bloodied image appeared widely across the media symbolising the collective terror of that day. nicole spent 34 days in hospital recovering from severe injuries; her hus-

band michael suffered burns and hearing loss; her sister Erika suffered the worst injuries of all, having her left leg amputated in addition to suffering a shattered right leg and foot.

Hard as it might be to believe, last november nicole, Carol and Erika were back in force competing in the half marathon (a Boston qualifying event). Erika completed the 5km while being pushed by family and friends in a wheelchair and nicole used a walker. This spirit of unrelenting resilience best represents

the people and the city of Boston. When Carol and more than 36,000 runners crossed the finish line of yesterday’s marathon, I’m quite sure that it must have offered her family and the entire community a ray of light in the aftermath of unfathomable horror.

When I visited Boston recently for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations, I was struck by the vibrancy and energy of this great city, a longestablished bastion of Irishness. Indeed, the Boston Irish are celebrating the

➔

p19

18 METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

travel

D

reASOnS TO LOVe DOwNTOwN

Stripping away the neon ALAMY

Music, art and a new café culture is giving Downtown Las Vegas a distinctly hipster feel, writes Kieran Yates

Downtown staged the 32nd Martin Luther King Jr parade in January. It took more than a year to organise and consisted of 130 different floats, marching bands and motorcades.

A

swell of fluorescent lights, strippers called Thunder From Down Under advertised 60ft in the air and music blaring from casinos: this is the las Vegas we’re all familiar with.

Only I’m viewing it in a taxi’s rearview mirror.

In recent years, a growing art community has turned its back on the lights and set up shop in Downtown Vegas. Today I’m following them. Fifteen minutes later I find myself in what locals call ‘real-life Vegas’.

It’s certainly a more sobering experience than the strip – or at least as much as you can expect within the surreal parameters of Nevada. The casinos here have classic names such as the Golden Nugget, reminiscent of old-world gambling, and the taxi driver advises against wandering alone after dark. walls are covered in graffiti, whether it’s Hunter s Thompson quotes or Day Of The Dead characters, a reminder of the big latino population. There are a number of alien-themed paintings, which is explained thanks to the city’s proximity to Area 51. My taxi driver José shrugs: ‘Area 51 is nearby. People go out to the desert and come back… inspired.’

GETTING THERE Kieran stayed at the MGM Grand (www.mgmgrand.com).

Doubles from €80 per night.

Neon Museum (www. neonmuseum.org) day tours from €13. www. lifeisbeautifulfestival.com, www.lasvegas.com

Atomic Liquors on Fremont Street is the oldest independent bar in Las Vegas. It was built in 1945 as Virginia’s Cafe but was renamed Atomic Liquors in 1952 when patrons used to go to the roof to watch the nuclear blasts from the Atomic Test Site.

Vegas’s first casino was built in Downtown in 1905 and is still open today. The Golden Gate Hotel Casino, one of the two hotels to accept the bitcoin as payment, charged just $1 a day for room and board when it opened in 1906.

Vegas Vic the 40ft neon cowboy that towers over Fremont Street, was erected in 1951 and is the world’s largest mechanical neon sign.

Urban planning: The art and graffiti in Downtown Vegas are providing a striking contrast to traditional views of the city The graffiti is political, too, thanks to Occupy las Vegas (OlV). A few weeks before my visit, a 1,000strong crowd of protesters marched down las Vegas Boulevard. last week, it was announced that two Downtown hotels – the D las Vegas and the Golden Gate Hotel – will begin taking digital currency bitcoin, highlighting the area’s forward-thinking attitude.

You know a neighbourhood is gentrified when you find a farmers’ market in a disused bus station.

Fremont street farmers’ market, which sells spices, locally sourced products and crafts, is an antidote to the walgreens convenience stores on the strip, with many of the sellers spending their time making art and working on community projects.

On the corner of Main and Charleston is a 30ft-tall metal sculpture of a paintbrush, which

marks the beginning of the Arts District, home to the Brett wesley Gallery. wesley is one of the most established artists in the community and his is the best known of the most notable three galleries in the Arts District, which also includes Trifecta and Contemporary Arts.

A

T Trifecta, owner Marty walsh shows me around her small whitewalled gallery displaying work by local artist Tom Pfannerstill, who replicates rubbish out of wood.

‘The art scene here has been an interesting ride,’ says walsh. ‘The underground scene was so underground, no one wanted to be found. The locals – old liberals, hippies, passion-driven people who believe in art and teenage street artists – decided to go legit and eventually started making money.

Customers followed and now there’s a lucrative scene.’

And it’s thriving. First Friday is a prestigious monthly arts festival on

Colorado street that welcomes thousands for a late-night street party with music, dancing and fire eaters.

Three months ago, the first life Is Beautiful festival sent Downtown into paroxysms. Over two days, acts such as Kings Of leon, Vampire weekend and Passion Pit entertained crowds of 20,000. Art, of course, was one of the big draws and pop-up galleries could be found in disused motels and car parks. If the festival continues to be such a success, it’s predicted to bolster the local youth culture via coffee shops, late-night bars and vintage boutiques.

You don’t have to look hard to find the art crowd. The beauty of the Velveteen Rabbit is the bar’s rubbed-off edges; Artifice, with two lounges and a performance area, is a satirical take on the strip; and Mingo serves burgers to OlV members.

Perhaps the best metaphor for Downtown comes courtesy of the Neon Museum, a graveyard for decommissioned signs that once

One of the most popular student hangouts is Insert Coins on Fremont Street, a nightclub that includes fluorescent retro arcades and a video gamethemed bar.

shone brightly on las Vegas Boulevard. I see the old stardust sign and the Moulin Rouge one, which belonged to the first desegregated casino. To relight a sign costs up to $25,000, so they’re laid here to rest instead. This outdoor museum shows beauty can be found in the unlikeliest of places.

‘Downtown is our undiscovered paradise,’ says walsh. ‘It was written off as Vegas’s graveyard but it’s where the real treasures are.’

Y Your Holiday ★Your Way EASTER SALE Low Booking Deposit Only €190pp Valid till 25th April

A

Boston

€649

Thanksgiving Shoppers Weekend

PER PERSON

4 Nights 3★ Boston Midtown Hotel Includes return flights & taxes.

Ref 904591.

Dublin Drop In!

FROM

01 673 3894

FROM

Viva €839 Las Vegas ass PER PERSON

5 Nights 4★ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Direct to €939 San Francisco is PER PERSON

5 Nights 3★ The Good Hotel Includes return flights & taxes.

Ref 904893.

Includes return flights & taxes.

Ref 896678.

americanholidays.com

FROM

Call centre open Mon to Fri till 9pm and Sat till 6pm.

Terms & conditions apply. Prices are subject to availability and include return flights ex Dublin, taxes & accommodation. All offers are based on 2 adults sharing travelling October & November.

Full travel details on website or contact the Call Centre. American Holidays is fully licensed and bonded by Commission for Aviation Regulation (TO 029).

Car Hire from as little as €25 per day

D

travel ➔

fact they have a new chieftain at the helm: the city’s recentlyelected Mayor, Martin Walsh, is the first Irish incumbent in over 19 years.

When I meet Martin Joseph Walsh at City Hall for a chat, the 46-year-old son of Irish immigrants from Connemara exudes a sense of purpose and is sanguine on the subject of how the city has weathered such a tragedy. Although he’s first to concede that nobody was prepared for such a catastrophe, like his fellow Bostonians he’s concentrates on the strengths of its citizens as they rebuild their lives. ‘Boston is a strong city,’ he explains, ‘people have rallied round and we have recovered.’

It’s hardly surprising that someone who’s had so many hurdles

“People have rallied around and we have recovered to overcomes in his own life espouses such positivity. Aged just seven, Walsh was diagnosed with Burkett’s Lymphoma, a rare form of stomach cancer. ‘They gave me just six weeks to live,’ he says. ‘The local nuns called me the miracle boy when I got better.’

Upon graduating from high school Walsh choose to join the labour union, subsequently obtaining a college degree by attending night classes, but not before a well-documented battle with alcoholism. Walsh is endearingly matter-of-fact when I ask why he went on to choose a career in public office. ‘I liked the idea of having my name on a sticker and campaigning,’ he laughs. He does point out, however, that ‘politics was in my blood: my uncle Pat rose to the top of the labour union here in Boston.’

He is deeply proud of his Irish

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

features@metroherald.ie to advertise, call 01 7055010

heritage but it is not just the Boston Irish who support Walsh.

As a state representative he has built a solid platform of all-inclusiveness over the past two decades. Given Boston now categorises 51 per cent of its population as people of colour, his broad appeal across communities is obvious. ‘As Mayor you represent 650,000 people, with a budget of over 2.7 billion dollars and over 17,000 employees,’ he explains. ‘Jobs, healthcare, law and order, pensions, all form part of the daily workload.’

I also asked the Mayor what was so unique about the Boston/ Ireland connection? ‘Well, Ireland helped build this city to be what it is today, When President Kennedy gave his speech in Galway, he said that he saw his Irish relatives waving across to him.’

Visit Boston & Massachusetts www.massvacations.com Aer Lingus flies twice daily from Dublin and daily from Shannon to Boston, www.aerlingus.com.

For the full interview with Mayor Martin Walsh go to traveltalk.ie

Strong city: Boston’s citizens are a reslient but incredibly friendly people – especially if you’re Irish

picture: thinkstock

Ed Finn’s Boston picks As a city, Boston has something for everyone.

Founded in 1630, the city successfully marries the past with the present. Quaint Georgian-style houses sidle up to modern spires of glass and metal skyscrapers.

Boston is also home to an array of museums and edgy contemporary galleries. My must do’s include the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library And Museum, The Salem Witch Museum, Harvard Natural History Museum and Boston’s most visited attraction: the Museum of Science. Boston is famous for its lobster, clam chowder and Boston cream pie! You will find all of these and more, very well priced, at the Quincy Food Market. The city has many different areas to explore, the moneyed

Beacon Hill, the Italian North End and Back Bay, Chinatown and Harvard.

You can walk everywhere and when your feet have had enough, just buy a Charlie Pass and hop on the ‘T’, the public transport system. Even before the 2013 Boston Marathon tragedy, Boston was one of America’s safest cities and remains so today. Locals are incredibly friendly and particularly so if you happen to be Irish on St. Patrick’s weekend.

There are Irish names everywhere and I even found Setanta sports showing in at least three bars where we happily watched Ireland beating France in the rugby.

Celebratory and complimentary pints of the local brew, Sam Adams went down very well indeed...

Fancy a summer trip to the States?

IF you fancy a summertime break and are looking at a trip to the United States, American Holidays have some fantastic deals. With the current exchange rate and great value on shopping, dining out and entertainment there’s never been a better time to visit.

And to make a holiday even more appealing American Holidays are offering a low deposit on all bookings made up until this Friday (April 25).

Famous for their personalised service and expertise, the knowledgeable American Holidays staff can help you organise the holiday of your dreams. With such a wide variety to choose from, such as Florida Family Holidays to exciting city breaks, train journeys or Fly Drives, Escorted Touring or Cruise and Stays, even working Ranch

19

Holidays or RV rentals, American Holidays can create Your Holiday… Your Way! Offering fantastic value in airfares with all the main airlines, including Aer Lingus, with its non-stop services to Orlando, San Francisco, Boston and New York, American Holidays can also arrange departures with other airline carriers from Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Belfast.

A representative can customise your own personalised USA holiday to suit your requirements and budget, providing you with a totally unforgettable holiday at a price to suit your pocket.

See ad on Page 18. Contact: American Holidays, 18-19 Duke Street D2.

Tel: (01) 673 3800. www.americanholidays.com.

fly to Canada and seize the summer.

Fly non-stop from Dublin to Toronto, starting May 2, 2014. And enjoy the convenience of connecting flights to destinations all over Canada.

Contact your travel agent, call us on 01 6793958 or book at aircanada.com

20 METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

D

puzzles

METROSCOPE

by Patrick Arundell

NEMI by Lise

Aries Mar 21 – Apr 20

Feelings can eclipse logic and slowing down enough to pay attention to your sixth sense could be difficult.

Today’s line-up hints that, like a river, you may be looking for the path of least resistance. Yet, taking things one day at a time might be best for now.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 70

Taurus Apr 21 – May 21

There seems to be plenty of creative tension in the air, which, when harnessed, could help you blast through any obstacles. As a result, you can feel duty-bound to force the pace. Is it worth the energy? You may find it takes more effort to do nothing.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 71

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

Gemini May 22 – Jun 21

While this may be a good time to further new projects, try not to overextend yourself, which may be a temptation. Financial planning can help too, giving you a clearer picture of what you can afford.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 72

Cancer Jun 22 – Jul 23

As many times as you’d like to forge ahead, something can hold you back from making that bold move. If you feel stuck, today’s Quarter Moon in Aquarius encourages seeking out a confidant from whom you can get feedback in a non-judgmental way.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 73

Leo Jul 24 – Aug 23

Be careful what you agree to today, as it could require more time and effort than you’re ready to commit.

Although someone’s suggestion might seem like the easy way out of a stalemate, this may not be your best move.

PEARLs BEFORE swINE

For your forecast, call 15609 114 74

Virgo Aug 24 – Sep 23

A practical response, accompanied by wise decision-making could bring what you’re after. As Mars challenges Jupiter, forming part of a dynamic aspect pattern, perhaps it’s time to tackle an issue head-on, and do something positive.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 75

Libra Sep 24 – Oct 23

As there are so many things going on in your life, the best thing to do might be to do nothing. Though you may feel you should rush around keeping all those plates in the air, it might be better not to.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 76

scorpio Oct 24 – Nov 22

Influences seem intense and edgy, so don’t be too hard on yourself, especially if instant results don’t emerge. The temptation to do even more could cause emotional crosscurrents, which certainly won’t help. Try to accept yourself just as you are.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 77

sagittarius Nov 23 – Dec 21

There’s an interactive energy in the air with an emphasis on phone calls, gettogethers and short trips in your everyday life. You can be exceptionally busy, yet could get sidetracked by surfing the net or the latest bestseller.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 78

Capricorn Dec 22 – Jan 20

Trying to control a potentially volatile situation may not be that easy. But, being the kind of person you are, you’ll likely want to have a go. As today’s line-up is particularly challenging, it’s possible you’ll feel out of your depth.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 79

Aquarius Jan 21 – Feb 19

Today, feelings of tension or frustration might encourage you to override doubts and take action. You may not have a clear-cut plan but might find the willingness to leap into the unknown puts you in that special zone in which anything is possible.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 80

Pisces Feb 20 – Mar 20

If you can be patient with someone who disagrees, a solution may be found, particularly if you aim for a compromise. Along with this, the current link between Uranus and Pluto intensifies, so you might feel that urge to splash the cash.

1 9 10 11 12 13 15 18 20 22 23 24

Strange machine (11) Non-professional (7) Subject (5) Takes notice (5) Succeed (7) Transgress (6) Parson (6) Shorten (7) Hatred (5) Master (5) Eating away (7) Compel (11)

DOWN

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 14 16 17 19 21

Declaim (5) Disloyalty (7) Sudden (6) Heading (5) Out of doors (4,3) Stylish (11) Successor (11) Abandon (7) Prospect (4-3) Merry-making (6) Ignoramus (5) Ass (5)

Thursday’s Solutions Across: 1 Adoption; 5 Acts; 9 User; 10 Strainer; 11 Waver; 12 Portend; 13 United Kingdom; 18 Building; 19 Item; 20 Agitate; 21 Stray; 22 Dull; 23 Assorted. Down: 2 Disdain; 3 Perfect; 4 Outspokenness; 6 Contend; 7 Serfdom; 8 Barren; 13 Upbraid; 14 Initial; 15 Endear; 16 Glitter; 17 Operate.

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 Another name for food or nosh, Which can be basic, good or posh.

Doing a bushtucker trial, These, when used, must taste quite vile!

WHO AM I? A TV and radio personality, I was born in Reading in 1946. I presented the children’s TV show Tiswas. I’m best known for presenting Who Wants To Be A

Millionaire.

WHO, WHAT, WHERE & WHEN? WHO… was Henry VIII’s last wife?

WHAT... is the Irish equivalent of America’s Bureau of Consumer Protection?

WHERE... was Haile Selassie emperor?

WHEN... did Bobby Charlton receive his knighthood?

SCRIBBLE BOX

ACROSS

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

Crossword No. 958 See next edition for solutions

QUIZ ANSWERS: ENIGMA: Grub. WHO AM I? Chris Tarrant. WHO, WHAT, WHERE & WHEN? Catherine Parr; National Consumer Agnecy; Ethiopia; 1994.

QUICK CROsswORd

For your forecast, call 15609 114 81

racing grand national

D

Barry’s in from the cold with shutthefrontdoor

by ZAck DARcy

JonJo o’neill enjoyed further success in what has already been a fabulous season for his yard as Shutthefrontdoor justified his position as 8-1 favourite in the Boylesports Irish Grand national at Fairyhouse.

While o’neill had already taken the famous prize in 2007 with Butler’s Cabin, it was somewhat surprisingly a first victory in the decorated career of Barry Geraghty as he stood in for the suspended Tony McCoy. Shutthefrontdoor travelled well for most of the three miles and five furlongs but had to be driven hard on the run-in by his outstanding pilot to catch Golden Wonder and score by three-quarters of a length. one of five horses running in the colours of o’neill’s landlord JP McManus, he had started the season as a promising novice but made mistakes en-route to a sixth-placed finish in the national Hunt Chase.

Lightly-weighted pair Toon River and Clar na Mionn cut out the running for the first cir-

‘Everything went right for him’: Barry Geraghty celebrates winning the Grand National with Shutthefrontdoor picture: inpHo

Photo finish: Bennett clinches the win

Bennett posts 2nd professional win Carrick-On-Suir rider Sam Bennett stormed to a sensational second professional victory at Rund Um Koln in Germany yesterday. The NetApp Endura first year professional took the victory in a photo finish with Belkin’s Barry Markus. Two more Irish riders finished in the top 20 in the 1.1 ranked race, with Sean Downey of the An Post Chain Reaction team taking 17th across the line and national road race champion Matt Brammeier, riding for the Synergy Baku squad, finishing 18th.

Dunboyne CC was the overall winner of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, which finished up after four stages yesterday in Kilorglin, Co Kerry. Overnight, Dowling was equal on time with Patrick Clarke of liquidworx Fitscience, but Clarke had better placings on the first three stages and wore the race leader’s jersey. However, Dowling put Clarke to the pin of his collar on the final stage and had an advantage of 12 seconds at the finish to claim the outright win. The final stage was won by Bryan McChrystal of Aqua Blue.

Perry wins to set up O’Sullivan tie

Hamilton ‘on a high like never before,’ says Lauda Lewis: ‘A good start and off he went’ As non-executive chairman of Mercedes, and the man who lured Hamilton away from McLaren towards the end of 2012, Austrian Lauda is

spORT DigEsT

cycLing Mark Dowling of DID/

cuit with the latter coming under severe pressure with four fences left to jump, and he was swallowed up by the closing pack.

With Shutthefrontdoor claiming the first prize of €141,000, he joins smart Cheltenham Festival winners More of That, Taquin Du Seuil and Holywell in making a major contribution to the o’neill yard this season.

‘Everything went right for him. He has done nothing wrong all season,’ said o’neill. ‘He had a great run at Cheltenham and after that we thought this was the race for him. Plan B didn’t work out too badly!

‘He will have good rest and is hopefully oK and we can look forward to next season. He needed a big leap at the last, he got it and battled on really well.’

Geraghty said: ‘I’ve never even got close (to winning before) so to win it is brilliant.

‘I thought turning in that I would win and then I was outpaced from the second-last, but going to the last I was getting going and I knew he was meeting it on a good stride a long way off.

Geraghty also helped boss nicky Henderson to a one-two in the John & Chich Fowler Memorial EBF Mares Chase, with versatile 2-1 favourite Une Artiste holding off a late rally from defending champion nadiya De La Vega.

fORMuLA 1

21

Dowling victorious in Kerry Grup Rás

‘He has done nothing wrong all season’

LEWIS HAMILTON is currently performing at the peak of perfection, according to three-times world champion Niki Lauda. He was speaking in the wake of Hamilton claiming three successive Grand Prix victories for the first time in his Formula One career.

In taking the chequered flag in China on Sunday – doing so twice as it was waved a lap early by mistake – Hamilton now has 25 wins, the same as Lauda and three-time champion Jim Clark.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD

perfectly placed to assess the 29year-old’s current form.

‘Lewis was outstanding. A good start and off he went,’ said Lauda on Hamilton’s lights-toflag win at the Shanghai International Circuit.

‘The guy makes no mistakes.

He is absolutely on top of everything, he understands the car, which is complicated, more complicated than in the past, he understands the tyres and drives in the absolutely perfect way on the edge.

‘He is on a high like I have never seen from him before.’

Hamilton said after the race he was ‘in the happiest mood I can recall’. ‘It is a combination of things; it is where you are in your life, family, girlfriend, where I live. Everything.

‘It means this year I have just been able to arrive and drive with no other worries.’

As reward for matching Lauda’s career total of wins, Hamilton earned a flight home on the 65-year-old’s private plane.

snOOkER World number 15 Joe Perry overturned a 6-3 overnight deficit to beat Jamie Burnett 10-7 to set up a clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan in the second round of the World Championship in Sheffield. Burnett beat Cao Yupeng and Ben Woollaston to qualify for the Crucible and looked set to take a notable scalp after a superb first session, but Perry (pictured) clawed his way back into the tie yesterday and secured the win with a final break of 81.

Perry said: ‘It doesn’t get any tougher than O’Sullivan. We all have to believe we can win. If we play our best and he isn’t at his best, then he’s beatable.’

Byrne’s double win

MOTO Shane Byrne powered to a

winning double at Brands Hatch yesterday in his bid to win the British Superbike crown for a record fourth time. The Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider battled from a fifth-row start in the opening race to win, before seeing off Josh Brookes in the second. Byrne now has an 18-point lead over James Ellison.

22 METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

football

D

Arsene: Reds had it easier than us gunners ARSENE WENGER has blamed a punishing schedule for shattering Arsenal’s hopes of winning the Premier League.

Sunday’s 3-0 victory at Hull kept the Gunners on course to land a Champions League spot.

But having seen his side tail off after being seven points clear at the end of November, Wenger feels a lack of European football has given leaders Liverpool an advantage in the chase.

‘The table is very close,’ he said.

‘Liverpool have played very well in the second part of the season and I wouldn’t like to take anything away from them, but they could focus completely on the Premiership.

‘If you look at the injuries, the players we missed plus the schedule we had, it was much heavier than Liverpool’s was.’

Fit-again Aaron Ramsey scored the

Starring role: Ramsey was on target for Arsenal on Sunday PicTUre: PA

opening goal and played a starring role against the Tigers in a game which also saw Mesut Ozil make his first appearance since March 11. But having also lost Theo Walcott to a cruciate injury in January, Wenger bemoaned the Gunners’ bad luck.

‘We lost Walcott on an accident, we lost Ozil – we haven’t really found why – Ramsey, maybe we overplayed him a little bit and should have rested him before he was injured.’

Arsenal have a chance to stop their trophy drought stretching to nine years when they face Hull again in the FA Cup final on May 7. But Wenger said: ‘What is important is that we finish as strongly as we can in the Premier League. After that, the cup final will be completely different.’

Ramsey’s goal was added to by two from Lukas Podolski, leaving Tigers manager Steve Bruce frustrated that a fine first-half went unrewarded.

REDs icOns PiTcH in fOR THE HiLLsbOROugH 96 Kun do: Aguero celebrates doubling the hosts’ advantage

Legends unite: Past Liverpool players came together yesterday for a charity match at Anfield to celebrate the lives of the 96 supporters who died at Hillsborough. Michael Owen, Jamie Redknapp and Robbie Fowler all played in the sell-out match between UK & Ireland and Rest of the World legends teams, which ended 2-2

Modesty’s the best policy in title hunt, says Sterling Raheem SteRling says he and his liverpool team-mates will stay ‘modest’ as they bid to complete the club’s dream of lifting a first Premier league crown.

Brendan Rodgers’ side moved five points clear of Chelsea, who they host next weekend, with a 3-2 triumph at norwich on easter Sunday. it was an 11th straight league win for the Reds, and took the merseyside club another step

‘The important thing is to keep our heads’ towards lifting the top-flight trophy for the first time since 1990.

But as title fever grips anfield, Sterling said: ‘We come in every day at melwood [training complex] and see each other, everyone knows what the dream is at the end of it, so everyone is

’Heem spirit: Sterling just keeping each other modest and we know that if we keep working hard there is this real goal at the end of it now. ‘the important thing is for us to keep our heads down, keep working again this week, then go again this weekend.’

Sterling helped lead the liverpool attack – which was without injured forward Daniel Sturridge – in impressive fashion as he scored twice and set up the other for luis Suarez at Carrow Road. liverpool manager Rodgers hailed 19-year-old Sterling as ‘arguably the best young player in european football at the moment’, with the teenager last week shortlisted for the Professional Footballers’ association young player of the year gong. and Reds midfielder lucas leiva is in no doubt Sterling can continue his startling progress. ‘he is showing he is developing and improving all the time,’ lucas said.

‘Raheem is playing with no fear. Players normally have ups and downs but he is really consistent and has probably been our best player in the past few months.’

PicTUre: AcTion

Pellegrini’s men bag a win to stay in the race MANCHESTER City breathed fresh life into the title race by keeping the heat on leaders Liverpool.

City showed they will not give up without a fight by brushing aside a West Brom side perilously perched just three points above the relegation zone.

Manuel Pellegrini’s team bounced back from their defeat at Anfield and the 2-2 home draw with Sunderland to move within six points of Liverpool, with a game in hand.

They stormed into the lead at a joyous Etihad Stadium in just the third minute when Ben Foster could only parry a fierce shot from Sergio Aguero, leaving Pablo Zabaleta to head in the rebound.

Aguero then curled City further ahead just seven minutes later with his 27th goal this season.

West Brom refused to throw in the towel, however, and clawed their way back into the match with a superb effort

PREMiER LEAguE

mAn ciTy .............................3 wesT Brom .........................1

by DAnny gRiffiTHs on the break. Graham Dorrans rounded off a flowing 16th minute move by flicking the ball past Gael Clichy with his right boot and belting it beyond Joe Hart from 15 yards with his left.

The frantic start continued with City centre-half Martin Demichelis escaping his marker at the far post to turn in a 36th minute corner and restore the home side’s two-goal lead.

City coasted home after that but Aguero left the pitch as a precaution after a knock and was there concern when David Silva was carried off following an innocuous tackle.

football champions league

D

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 METRO HERALD 23

Jose’s in the Euro zone as he refuses domestic chat by siMOn KAy

A CURT Jose Mourinho refused to discuss Chelsea’s controversial Premier League defeat to Sunderland ahead of tonight’s Champions League semi-final with Atletico Madrid.

Europe offers the Blues’ best chance of silverware this season after relegation-threatened Black Cats’ 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge ended Mourinho’s 77-match unbeaten home record in the Premier League.

The fallout is set to continue today with midfielder Ramires, Mourinho and his assistant Rui Faria all facing Football Association scrutiny for incidents during the defeat.

But, ahead of the first leg, Mourinho refused to elaborate on the veiled criticisms he made of referee Mike Dean and officials’ chief Mike Riley during a post-match statement.

‘Today, tomorrow and Wednesday are Champions League days and if you want to speak about the Premier League you have 19 teams in England you can speak with,’ Mourinho said.

‘Chelsea today and tomorrow is Champions League and we are only available to speak about Champions League. We are lucky to be involved in the Champions League, so we are lucky that in the next two days we don’t think about the Premier League and what’s happened and what is going to happen because now we only think about tomorrow.’

Asked how important it would be to keep their composure in the Vicente Calderon Stadium this evening, Mourinho added: ‘We always behave in relation to the situation.’

Experienced striker Samuel Eto’o has not travelled because of a knee injury but playmaker Eden Hazard is in the squad, despite two weeks out with a calf injury.

Branislav Ivanovic’s ban means David Luiz could play at right-back or Ashley Cole could return on the left with Cesar Azpilicueta switching flanks.

Focus: Mourinho only wants to think about the Champions League PIC: ACTIon IMAges

atletico madrid v chelsea KEy bATTLE: Thibaut Courtois v Fernando Torres

Atletico Madrid have conceded just five goals in ten Champions League matches this season and that is in no small part down to the fine goalkeeping of their Chelsea loanee No.1. Meanwhile, Torres (pictured), who looks likely to start with Samuel Eto’o injured, seems to save his best Blues form for European

7.45pm utv

did you know?

Mourinho won three of his four Madrid derbies as Real manager

8 Champions League semi-finals reached by Jose Mourinho in the last ten years

Courtois to avoid Chelsea parent trap Atletico Madrid’s on-loan goalkeeper thibaut courtois has admitted his relief at being allowed to play against parent club chelsea in the champions league. the 21-year-old is a key figure for the la liga leaders but there were reports suggesting he would have to miss the two-legged semi-final because of a clause in his contract which stipulated he would only be able to play if Atletico paid the Blues a substantial sum.

Uefa, though, have said that any such clause would be invalid, and courtois said: ‘[i was] very relieved. the fact we’ve drawn chelsea, like we did in the european Super cup [in 2012, when Atletico won 4-1], is special, because even though i’m at Atleti, chelsea are my club too. it’s better not to think about it too much, though, and play like i always do because if i start thinking, “oh, i’d better be careful”, then i’ll end up playing poorly. ‘i want to win trophies here and i’ll be an Atleti supporter for these two games, but at all other times i’m a chelsea fan too. ‘i hope they win the Premier league, just not these two games.’

FORREsTER guMpTiOn givEs sT pAT’s 4TH win in A ROw

Cracker: Chris Forrester piCture: iNpHO

chriS ForreSter scored a goal of the season contender as champions St Patrick’s Athletic made it four wins on the spin to beat Drogheda United 4-0 at United Park. lee lynch fired Saints into a 38th-minute lead before Forrester struck four minutes later, beating Drogheda ‘keeper Dave ryan from some 40yds with an audacious volley. conan Byrne added Saints third goal on 71minutes before Forrester got his second of the night a minute from time. teenager Sean heaney won a

airtricity league penalty and then scored what proved the winner as Shamrock rovers beat Bray Wanderers 2-1 at tallaght Stadium. heaney was fouled by Adam Mitchell after just six minutes with Gary Mccabe blasting hoops into the lead from the spot. heaney, 18, then headed rovers’ second goal on 56minutes from Mccabe’s corner.

Bray got a goal back when Dave Scully scored a 76th-minute penalty after ismahil Akinade

was fouled by Simon Madden. late strikes from evan McMillan and Danny North maintained Sligo rovers’ revival as Bohemians slumped to a third defeat on the spin, losing 2-0 at Dalymount Park. Jason Byrne should have got a goal back for Bohs at the death but his penalty – following a handball by John russell – was easily saved by Gary rogers.

A Billy Dennehy goal earned ten-man cork city a 1-0 win at UcD to keep them top of the table on goal difference.

Dennehy bundled the ball past

UcD keeper conor o’Donnell on six minutes. And though his brother, Darren, was sent off on 29minutes following a bad challenge on cillian Morrison, cork held out for the win.

Dundalk needed a 94th-minute penalty from richie towell to beat bottom side Athlone town 1-0 at lissywoollen. town, who slumped to a ninth defeat on the spin, had Sean Brennan sent off in conceding the spot kick for a foul on Darren Meenan.

Derry city and limerick played out a 0-0 draw at the Brandywell.

24 METRO HERALD Tuesday, April 22, 2014

D

Geraghty lands first Grand National on Shutthefrontdoor

«see pAge 21

United set to end Moyes misery damNiNG StatS 1 Win for Moyes’ United against teams in the Premier League’s top eight

11 Defeats in the premier League this season, six of them at Old Trafford

0 Times United had lost all four games to

Liverpool and Everton in the Premier League era before this season

19 Years since United last failed to qualify for Champions League football

Time’s up: One fan dressed as the Grim Reaper at Goodison Park on Sunday

n Dismal reign ‘over’ after nine months n Van Gaal and Klopp now in the frame by nick METcALfE DAVID MOYES’ nine-month spell as Manchester United manager appeared to be all but over last night, with his sacking imminent.

Reports emerged yesterday afternoon that Moyes would be dismissed, with United’s board deciding enough is enough after a miserable campaign.

Moyes, who officially took over last July from United’s long-serving manager Sir Alex Ferguson, has presided over the club’s worst campaign in a quarter of a century.

Winners of the Premier League by 11 points last season, the Reds are languishing in seventh, with the last straw for United’s board the insipid performance and defeat at

‘Moyes deserves the opportunity and time’ Moyes’ former club Everton on Sunday.

That, combined with striker Danny Welbeck’s reported intention to leave this summer, seemed to finally seal the Scot’s fate.

Among the early frontrunners to replace

Moyes in the job are Holland coach Louis van Gaal, Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp, Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti and Atletico Madrid chief Diego Simeone.

Former United defender Gary Neville hit out at the expected decision last night.

Speaking on Sky, Neville said: ‘I find it repulsive the way these rumours break. I genuinely believe that when you give a man a six-year contract, that he deserves the opportunity and time.’

United fans, who enjoyed an era of incredible success under Ferguson – including 13

league titles and two European Cups – have grown increasingly disillusioned with Moyes during the season.

An awful campaign has seen Liverpool and Manchester City beat the Reds in every league meeting, with defeats against the likes of Newcastle and Tottenham, clubs that were fodder in the Ferguson years, adding to the disappointment.

Cup exits against Swansea and Sunderland only added to the dissatisfaction.

United retained some dignity with their run to the Champions League quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Bayern Munich.