Highlights From Moncrieff

It’s time for How To, and this week’s edition is adult in its content so if there are little ears in the vicinity, maybe distract them or turn this podcast down slightly. This week, Sean was joined by Richie Cullen co-owner of PlayBlue.ie to discuss how to buy a sex toy.

Known as the Coffin Confessor, Sean was joined by Bill Edgar, who carries out the dying’s last wishes, which for many involves gatecrashing funerals to pass on messages the dead couldn’t get off their chest when they were alive.

Last week a Google engineer made the startling claim it's company's AI appeared to have developed consciousness. Prof of AI at UCC, Barry O’Sullivan, joined Sean to discuss if it is really possible for artificial intelligence to come alive.

Love Island is one of the most popular tv shows with millions of viewers six nights a week. Things are not always as they seem though, Orlaith Condon journalist and host of Love Island podcast My Pod On Paper, she joined Sean to explain what we get as viewers is totally different to how things played out in reality, and it’s not really a catch up on the previous 24 hours.

When it’s suggested that we allow those living abroad to have a say in politics at home, it generally triggers a negative reaction. Ted Smyth, former Irish diplomat living in New York and president of the advisory board of Glucksman Ireland House, New York University joined Sean to discuss what it might look like if we had a system of representing the Irish diaspora around the world in our everyday politics.

Reports have emerged on social media of what is described as a 'Eucharist miracle' occurring in an east Mayo parish. Tom Kelly Editor of the Connacht Tribune, joined Sean to relay the story of how a parish priest has alleged after dropping communion bread and placing it into water, he witnessed it changed into a fleshy substance that some have taken as a sign from Jesus.

In France it’s written into law that you must eat out for lunch and eating at your desk is banned. Martin Bruegel Historian and Director of Research at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment in France joined Sean to explain why eating at desks is banned and and when it first appeared in French law.

Antonella Gambotto-Burke aims to transform our understanding of birth, and its profound connection with a wide range of personal and social issues. She joined Sean to discuss her book “Apple: Sex, Drugs, Motherhood and the Recovery of the Feminine."

Larry Donnelly Law Lecturer at NUI Galway joined Sean on the show today to recap the stories making the headlines this past week.

Tourists are who are struggling to hire cars have turned their attention to an Airbnb-style app that lets them rent a car from private citizens at a greatly reduced rate. Kevin Nolan Chief Commercial Officer at Fleet, joined Sean to discuss the app and the surge it has seen in popularity.

Hannah Bourne-Taylor, author of Fledgling loved nature, but she became physically intertwined with it when a rescued wild finch nested in her hair for 84 days. Hannah was feeling isolated and without purpose after moving from London to Ghana, the finch gave her purpose, and she became very bonded to the bird. Hannah tells of their love story in her nature memoir ‘Fledgling’ which she sees as the finch’s legacy.

Sean spoke to Kevin Beresford Britain’s dullest man. He’s the president of the Car Park Association of England, he was named anorak of the year in 2018, and he joined us today in the middle of his latest calendar photoshoot – Benches of Birmingham.

Dr. Paul Bain, the lead researcher and a reader at the department of psychology at the University of Bath joined Sean Moncrieff to discuss why people don't want to be billionaires.

Sean was joined by Gary Saurin who works full time streaming videogames on the live streaming service Twitch. He told Sean that since quitting his factory job 9 years ago, he now has a partnership with Facebook gaming, over 200,000 Facebook followers and makes €10,000 per month.

Sean was joined by Sam McConkey, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at the RCSI, to discuss how we name new viruses.

When Carmel Harrington became a stepmother seventeen years ago, she realised children's entertainments such as fairy tales portray stepparents in the Cinderella-esque evil stepmother role. She joined Sean to discuss how her new book ‘A Mother’s heart’ attempts to change that narrative.

The Houses of the Oireachtas is planning to spend up to €300,000 on its own brand of wine over the next four years. A tender was advertised this week, seeking suppliers to provide wines that will be sold in the Dáil bar. Gavan Reilly from On the Record, dropped Sean over a bottle of Oireachtas red and white that is currently available in Leinster House, and gave it a taste test with regular wine reviewer Mick O’Connell.

Environmental groups around the country are taking a stand against chronic light pollution they say is ruining our night skies. Mayo Dark Sky Park Development Officer, Georgia McMillan joined Sean to explain how we can reduce light pollution and promote responsible lighting in villages and towns.

With the cost of living at an all time high, Darragh O’Connor, Owner of O'Connor's Texaco in Shannon, joined Sean to explain how the increase in the price of fuel could lead to smaller garages going out of business.

Microsoft has announced it will kill off internet browser Internet Explorer, nearly 27 years after it first appeared on our desktop computers in 1995. Sean was joined by Elaine Burke editor of Silicon Republic, to explain what Internet explorer looked like when it launched and what Microsoft plan to launch in its place.