But what are your thoughts on this?

Yeah, I mean, these despotisms pride themselves on development.

The Chinese leadership is constantly saying that two to three hundred million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty.

All of these despotisms have a middle class.

They live rather well.

by local standards.

And they do shop.

Yeah, that's what I wanted to end on is, you know, what is your optimism for the future of how these democracies, while maybe they have some fractures or some bruising, how can they repair and how can many countries, even maybe non-democracies, but how can countries really push back against this and some hope for the future so we're not having this cooperative, you know, demagogues around the world?

So John just give us a few examples of demagogues and despots who people would be familiar with

Well, let's go to Washington and There you have a man who talks in non sequiturs, weaponizes nonsense, talks constantly about the people.

This is Donald J. Trump, if you haven't clocked on yet, who is a redeemer.

What's interesting about these demagogues is that they want to make, they claim that they're making people, will make people's lives better.

They feed upon ressentiment, And when they get their hands on power, as he has done now, we'll see whether he leaves office peacefully, he, the demagogue, actually does this restructuring that I've already spoken about, a kind of simplification of power and a concentration of a monopoly of power.

And this is not just an American phenomenon.

This demagoguery is a very old problem in democracies.

I get that things have gone in the wrong direction for the last decade or so, but should we really think that we're plumbing new lows?

How are preparations going?

Thanks very much, MJ, for having me.

Preparations is going very well at the moment.

We're just after having, I suppose, an annual event we have.

And Wednesday night of every year is the blessing of the site.

And we had very Reverend Yvonne Hutchison and we had Father Peter Burke from Van doing that blessing.

So please, God, that everything will work out well from a weather point of view.

And what's your advice for people heading to the show on Sunday?

Mm-hmm

... has, I think, put his finger on it.

You know, what is going on in Washington, um, Trumpism, is not just a passing moment that's just gonna fade away.

I mean, there is a, a recalibration of American power in the world, a withdrawal from parts of the world.

They're packing up most, uh, embassies and diplomatic, um, uh, activity in the whole continent of Africa, for instance.

And under pressure from China and, um, endless wars, the United States is actually not what it was, uh, 20 years ago, and it's in decline.

And that raises the question, it's the Canadian question-

Mm.

So at this point you have no even timeframe as to when you may be able to get out of Oman?

No, not from Qatar.

What we've heard, obviously, recently, last night, they announced the repatriation flights that might be going ahead.

And what we noticed is that it kind of focuses on the passengers or the people in the UAE, and they might be getting transported by bus to Oman.

But it mentions kind of nothing of us who are stuck in Oman, and we're like, we're we're 20 minutes from the airport, you know, we're ready to go.

And, you know, I realize that they're focusing on vulnerable passengers, but we just like some sort of communication.

And having spoken with the consulate here in Oman and the Department of Foreign Affairs, they haven't really given us clear updates.

And John, what about the supports that you're getting from the airline in terms of things like food, clothing, access to your luggage, all of that?

So why are more and more Irish people choosing to move here? I met with some of those who now call Shanghai home at a trad session in the city.

My name is John Keane.

I'm from Charleville County, Cork, and I've been in China for the last six years.

I work for the Irish company Kerry Group, and I have worked overseas for them for the last 15 years.

But how I came to China is actually a love story.

I met my wife, who is Singaporean.

I met her in Singapore, and she got moved up to China for work, and I realised I had to follow.

or are new people here already I do know people come over here on their own it's a huge struggle and because you don't know where to go you don't want to get food the basic things are a struggle but once you come over here with a few people have been here before they usually help you they tell you like where to hang out or where to do things I always say like the first month is very difficult you can get through the first month it gets a lot easier