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PINCHING the bridge of his nose while expelling yet another exhausted sigh, son-of-two James Prendeville took a moment to steady himself in a bid to answer his father’s latest question as to why he was staging this intervention.

“So, when you say it’s run by a right-wing nutcase, what exactly do you mean, son?” dad Tony Prendeville asked, seemingly oblivious to the blatant racism he has been reading on the Liberal.ie website for the past 5 years.

“See? This latest story they have about a black taxi driver picking his nose while driving shouldn’t even be in the news, dad,” James exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief at his normally sane parents, “it’s all written by just one guy, he regularly comments under his own articles using fake Facebook accounts to incite racism in other readers – this information is widely known – you’re helping to spread his nonsense”.

“So, I suppose you’re saying that the iPhone competition I shared yesterday is racist too?” mother Geraldine pointed out, sharing it again for good measure as ‘she never wins anything’.

“It’s fake, mam, don’t share it for Christ’s sakes… I just give up, we’re doomed, we’re all fucking doomed,” he said now realising all hope was lost for his middle Ireland parents, before standing up and bashing his head off the nearest wall in frustration.

“Christ, okay, one more time,” Prendeville said, exhausted.

“Dad, you know the way I wouldn’t have much time for the Daily Mail? Yeah? But they employ actual journalists, to go out and actually interview people, they research, gather facts, have an editor – whereas the Liberal…it does and has none of those things… it’s not a fucking newspaper Dad!”

After collapsing back into his chair Prendeville began to see the first flicker of realisation in his father’s eyes.

“But son, the Liberal tells it like it is”.