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EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #LONDON: Security has been stepped up at all army barracks in London following a “terrorist attack” on a British soldier yesterday. The man in his twenties was hit by a car and then decapitated by two men wielding knives and a meat cleaver on a busy London street. The men, who shouted Islamist slogans, carried out the attack a few hundred metres from the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London.
2. #ATHENS: The Taoiseach Enda Kenny will meet with the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Athens today. Talks are expected to focus on securing economic recovery in Europe, as well as Ireland’s priorities for the remaining weeks of its Presidency of the Council of the EU.
3. #CRÉCHE: Gardaí and the HSE are investigating claims of poor care at a number of Dublin créches. Allegations of children being strapped into chairs for hours and their heads being held down until they slept are being reported in The Herald. A Prime Time Investigates programme is set to broadcast the standards of care at the créches next week.
4. #TOO POSH TO PUSH: Women who attend private consultants are more likely to have a Caesarean section. A study by the Health Research Board published this morning in The Irish Times has shown a concern for unnecessary C-sections, because they cause infection and there’s a higher risk of hysterectomy in later life.
5. #RESCUE: Two men in their late 60s have been rescued off the coast of Cork after an unanswered ‘mayday’ call left them stranded at sea for five days. The Castletownbere RNLI spokesperson said “the survivors are very happy to be on dry land”.
6. #SCIENCE: The government is set to announce almost €7 million in funding for 62 early stage scientific research projects this morning, according to RTÉ News.
7. #PAINTINGS: Renoir, Manet, Morisot and Pissarro paintings are making a welcome return to Ireland from the National Gallery of London today. There was a dispute between Dublin and London over the collections possession but it was decided to split the collection between the two cities.
8. #POWERFUL WOMEN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has topped Forbes’s list of the world’s most powerful women for the third consecutive year. In second place was Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, followed by Melinda Gates, US First Lady Michelle Obama and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
9. #HONEY BOO BOO: Could your child be the next Honey Boo Boo? An American beauty pageant are reported to have spent €20,000 to stage their first ever Irish show in September. According to The Herald the show will be kept under wraps to prevent media backlash.
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The bit where the inlaws go home is my personal favorite.
The family around the table and the laugher is the best part of the Christmas Dinner
The End of it.
@Terry Cunningham: yes definitely
Some people mentioned Croquettes. That is a big thumbs up from me. Turkey and Stuffing always wins
Roses and after dinner coma.
I think a vegan option should have been included
@Clark Griswold: completely taking the piss obviously!
@Clark Griswold: You couldn’t help yourself and ruined the joke
@Clark Griswold: feck off with ur vegan humbug
Piggies in Blankets
Everything I can’t just pick one thing my wife is an awesome cook nearly as good as my mother god rest her
Has to be the sausage meat!
Spiced beef. Despite it being available year round, I really only eat it at Christmas, which makes it extra special.
Krabby patty
@Eugene H. Krabbs: I cant hear you
@Jonny Chip: AYE AYE CAPTAIN
Bread sauce.
@Kieran: homemade only
Brussels Sprouts, par boiled for a few minutes and fried with smoked streaky bacon!!!!
Croquettes…..hands down
Stuffing without doubt
All of it, none of it is off limits at any time of the year to be honest. You can get Turkey and ham at any carvery on any given Sunday.
@Reuben Gray: You seem like good craic, do you write the jokes in the crackers
@Reuben Gray: might be able to have it any time during the year, but christmas is the only time we do it with the all out extras!!!
Cabbage
Has to be sausage meat stiffing
All good except the farts on a fork. Aka sprouts.
Sprouts
Just having the one meal a year where I turn on the cooker and cook a meal…
Turkey curry. It means the whole thing was yesterday.
8 hrs later visit to the loo wit the rte guide
Croutons and cream in the soup
The Goose
@David Grey: With you there. Far superior to turkey.
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