Betting on the results of an election is not unusual but Polymarket is not a typical bookies. It allows punters to take and then change their position on all manner of events, from when the Strait of Hormuz might open to whether Taylor Swift will be pregnant before she gets married.

So when Irish Times investigative reporter Conor Gallagher noticed almost €1 million had been wagered on the upcoming Dublin Central byelection on Polymarket, it raised enough red flags for him to delve deeper.

Bets on Gerry Hutch accounted for the bulk of the spend by punters. And while the amount of money involved is significant, it was the activity of the Polymarket users once they’d placed the bets that was unusual. And where did all this money come from?

Gallagher explains how Polymarket works, why the Dublin Central byelection has proved such a magnet and what experts say the activity around the bets on Hutch point to.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday night for a two-day visit that both the United States and China hope will stabilise their relationship and prolong a truce in the trade war that began over tariffs last year.

The state visit – with all the pomp and ceremony that entails – had been scheduled for April but was deferred because of the war in Iran.

There is a lot on the table and, in the shorthand favoured by analysts, they are: the three Ts (Taiwan and Tehran and trade) and the three Bs (beans, Boeing and beef).

On day one, Trump flattered Xi Jinping but was that reciprocated? And what about the two superpower’s key interests outside trade and tariffs: Trump wants China to help open the Strait of Hormuz; Xi considers Taiwan as the most important issue in the relationship between China and the United States?

Is the fact that the meeting happened at all the real win for the two countries following a period of fraught relations.

Irish Times China correspondent Denis Staunton is in Beijing.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Dubliners first saw the multi-tiered, gleaming white, iron and glass shopping centre on St Stephen’s Green in the late 1980s, it was quickly nicknamed “the Mississippi showboat” and “the wedding cake”. And in a city that prides itself on its Georgian heritage and its historic buildings, it was seen by some as kitsch, an architectural pastiche and a bit embarrassing. But it grew on others.

Now that plans have been approved by Dublin City Council to knock the shopping centre and replace it with a new scheme, a campaign has begun to save the centre.

So what is planned to replace it? Why are objectors so against it? And why do so many people have a new appreciation for this “historic” building?

Dublin editor Olivia Kelly isn’t one to sit on the fence when it comes to how the city is shaping up and she explains her reservations about the plans.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.