The Hard Shoulder

As the final leg of July approaches, it is safe to say that this Irish Summer has been a damp squib.What has been the general assessment of the weather, and what effect does bad weather have on you?Comedian Jim Elliot, Mary McCarthy, Columnist with the Irish Independent and Iseult White, Psychotherapist and author join Kieran to discuss.

IT systems worldwide were hit today by an outage as a result a bug in an update by Cybersecurity giant Crowdstrike.It caused havoc the world over from grounding flights, TV stations stopped broadcasting, transport was delayed and some banking systems had difficulties.To discuss the impact, Kieran is joined by Paul Delahunty, Chief Information Security Officer at Stryve and in studio Jess Kelly, Newstalk’s Technology Correspondent. 

This Sunday, Clare and Cork face off in Croke Park to decide who gets to lift the Liam McCarthy Cup.Joining Kieran to discuss the excitement is Broadcaster and Presenter Jacqui Hurley and Newstalk’s own Henry McKean, who was out gauging interest from the public.

For a news update from the United States, Kieran Cuddihy is joined by Jeff Kuhner.The Kuhner Report on WRKO AM680 Radio in Boston is hosted by Jeffrey T. Kuhner, "Liberalism's Worst Nightmare," he is a conservative nationalist, who champions God, country and family.They discuss Biden’s chances at winning following new polling and how health reasons may be reason for an ousting in the Democratic Party.Image: Reuters

Newstalk Reporter Josh Crosbie joined Kieran on The Hard Shoulder to discuss some of the people he’s met at the Republican National Convention, including those who witnessed the attempted assassination, student Republicans and even a Trump impersonator!Image: Megan Smith

Keir Starmer and Simon Harris met yesterday to discuss strengthening ties between the UK and Ireland. One thing on their agenda was the ‘Legacy Bill’ and Labour's plans to reform it... How do victims feel about this scrapping of the bill? Is it performative? Or will justice be served?Joining Kieran to discuss is Joe Campbell, whose Father was a Catholic RUC officer shot dead in Cushendall, and Raymond McCord, Victims Advocate for both Unionists and Nationalists.

There have been multiple stories over the last few days of Strictly Come Dancing dancers being axed from the show...Well, new footage has emerged from 2006 of former Strictly pro James Jordan training actress Georgina Bouzova, and following, the BBC have now announced every partnership will have a chaperone, and the show will be hiring 2 welfare producers.Joining Kieran to explain what is going on is Founder and CEO of Goss.ie, Alexandra Ryan. Image: Zara McDermott, Instagram

The TV licence fee is to be retained and topped up by exchequer funding. This is the deal being agreed on by the cabinet regarding the future funding of RTÉ.Joining Kieran to give the latest on what’s being agreed is Seán Defoe, Newstalk’s Political Correspondent.

What can we expect from Ursula Von der Leyen’s second term as President of the EU Commission?To discuss, Kieran is joined by Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union to discuss.

Early signs are that the government will look to expand incentives and alternatives to driving such as the bike to work scheme in a hope to break Ireland’s car addiction.Is this a realistic hope to transition from cars to bikes? And is the current biking landscape safe and fit for purpose? Newstalk Reporter Bella Finn gets reactions from the public.To discuss, Kieran is joined by Brian Caufield, Professor at the School of Engineering in Trinity College Dublin, Transport Commentator Conor Faughnan and Newstalk’s Technology Correspondent, Jess Kelly.