Latest news with #McNamee
BBC News
30-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Bolger and McNamee picked by BC Lions in CFL draft
Irish kickers Ross Bolger and Mark McNamee have both been selected by the BC Lions in the CFL global was the fourth pick in the first round whilst McNamee was drafted in the second round by the Lions, who are based in native Bolger had a two-year College career at Idaho State as a kicker and punter after his talent was discovered and honed by the Irish kicking coach and mentor Tadhg man McNamee previously played goalkeeper for the Ballyboden St Enda's club in players were part of a six-strong group of specialist position players in the NFL's latest International Player Pathway programme this Irish duo impressed at the recent NFL Combine held in Indianapolis earlier this year, where McNamee was good for all but one of his kicks - and Bolger was successful in 12 of his allotted CFL is the Canadian equivalent of the NFL in the USA and consists of nine teams, with the season starting in June and running through to October.
The Australian
24-04-2025
- Business
- The Australian
CSL chairman Brian McNamee hits out at Labor's unrealised capital gains tax proposal
You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Labor's plan for an unrealised capital gains tax on superannuation accounts has been denounced by CSL chairman Brian McNamee and veteran UBS dealmaker Brett Paton, who say it will cost jobs, cause a drought in funding for new businesses and could be a 'Trojan horse' for government to tax other assets such as residential property. Labor wants to slap a 30 per cent tax on unrealised capital gains made in superannuation accounts worth $3m or more without any indexation. The Greens are willing to back Labor but want the threshold to be lowered to $2m, which would leave 100,000 superannuants from day one paying the tax and eventually as many as 1.8 million Australians paying it if it remained unindexed. In the most stunning intervention by a business leader in the election campaign so far, Dr McNamee said the Albanese government did 'not understand the consequences' of the 'frightening, shocking' unrealised capital gains tax policy that Jim Chalmers was championing. 'I am deeply troubled about what it will do and how it could make Australia a less attractive place to invest,' Dr McNamee told The Australian. 'It's a frightening, shocking precedent and yet there are some people who would want to see it on other assets too,' he said. The Australian reported this week that up to $25bn could be withdrawn from the self-managed super pool to avoid paying the tax on unrealised gains. Financial advisers have been fielding calls from clients about shifting money out before Labor's planned July 1 start date. 'I don't think the policymakers truly understand the consequences,' Dr McNamee said. 'Start-ups need people to give them capital and the self-managed superannuation funds are a big part of that,' he said. 'The last thing we need to do is make it harder for start-ups. That's where the new jobs in the economy come from.' Dr McNamee was made chairman of Australia's third largest company, having been chief executive for 23 years, and is regarded as a leader in raising up small technology and drug companies. 'The problem with UCGT is that every time you raise capital for a company, it can take place at a higher valuation and every time that happens you would get taxed, but the trouble is the company could still fail, it could go to zero and yet you have paid all this tax on what wasn't even there and there is no refund,' he said. Experts in raising money for companies say an unrealised capital gains tax would be a disaster. Mr Paton, the former UBS and Citi dealmaker who with his team assisted in raising more than $200bn in capital for companies, said Labor's new tax was a 'wrecking ball' for small and medium-sized business capital. Brett Paton. He said Labor risked the pool of savings created for emerging industries in Australia, which had been augmented by former Labor treasurer and prime minister Paul Keating and supported by Liberal treasurer Peter Costello. 'The big industry super funds who manage a large part of this do not have the flexibility and mobility to back early start-up ventures because their mandates usually dictate a minimum investment size of about $50m and a shareholding constraint of less than 10 per cent of a company – so that's a $500m company which is hardly a start-up,' Mr Paton said. 'What we need is a pool of capital that can take small licks in early stage companies who often need just $5-$10m to keep growing and that pool exists in the larger SMSF community. 'The wrecking ball of Labor's division 296 tax on unrealised gains is that in the world of backing entrepreneurs who create jobs, opportunities and taxes down the track, the massive pool of funds that can embrace risk capital will become barren. 'My prediction, after 25 years in raising capital, is that this is a game stopper for entrepreneurial spirit in Australia unless Treasury finds a way for big industry funds to fill the space of providing long term risk capital for small early-stage companies.' Anthony Albanese on the campaign trail in Western Australia. Picture: Mark Stewart/NewsWire Mr Paton, who is now chairman of Escala Partners, said that if such a tax were implemented it would make it tempting for government to apply it across other assets such as property. 'This tax is a Trojan horse which could extend itself to the second home or negative gearing,' Mr Paton said. Investment managers across Australia – including regional areas where people with illiquid assets such as farms and warehouses would also have to pay unrealised gains – are raising the idea that Labor's new tax would eventually be used on the family home. Clime Investment Management founder John Abernethy said such a tax was 'absolutely, totally outrageous'. 'They are clearly testing to see how far it will go,' Mr Abernethy said. 'This is a Trojan horse that current generations under a so defined $3m limit may commit future generations to significant consequences. 'This is just the beginning. Superannuation accounts over $3m would only be worth tens of billions but if you extend unrealised capital gains tax even at a small rate on residential property you've got a pool of $11 trillion there to tax the unrealised gains.' 'If $3m is the suggested trigger point, then how many residences valued above $3m today and into the future, without indexing, would be caught? Remembering that residential home ownership is a key plank of retirement policy. 'They really should have put this to the people like they did with the voice referendum. They should ask whether having unrealised capital gains tax on assets is fair.' Other investment managers such as Geoff Wilson, the architect of the Coalition's successful attack on Labor's franking-credits policy at the 2019 election, have been stunned by the lack of campaigning by the Coalition on the issue. The Coalition is against the unrealised capital gains tax while some teal members of parliament are open to some aspects of Labor's policy. In the US, former Democrat president Joe Biden wanted to impose a 25 per cent minimum tax on unrealised capital gains accrued by wealthy Americans but it was shot down by his own party and billionaire entrepreneurs such as Mark Cuban in the lead-up to the November election. Read related topics: Csl
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School leader retiring after leading expansion. What's next for Tri-Cities Prep?
A titan of the Tri-Cities' tight-knit private school community is calling it a career. After a decade at the helm of Tri-Cities Prep Catholic High School, President Lisa Jacobs says she plans to retire after the 2024-25 school year. 'It's been a privilege and an honor to work at Tri-Cities Prep. It's been great,' she told the Tri-City Herald this week. In her place, a hiring committee has selected Scott McNamee, 52, as the school's next president. The Indianapolis-area leader will take over in June. Jason Sweesy, chair of the Tri-Cities Prep board of directors and search committee chairman, characterized McNamee as a 'highly accomplished leader with a deep passion for Catholic education and a heart for high school students.' 'On behalf of the search committee and the entire Tri-Cities Prep community, we are delighted to welcome Scott McNamee and his family,' Sweesy said in a news release. Tri-Cities Prep is the region's sole Catholic high school, welcoming students of all faith backgrounds. It was founded three decades ago, in 1994, as a private, independent, co-educational school approved by the bishops of both the Spokane and Yakima dioceses. The nonprofit school offers college-preparatory academics to students in grades 9th-12th in a faith-centered environment. It does not receive any public funding, but is approved by the Washington State Board of Education and Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Jacobs previously served on Tri-Cities Prep's board of directors and was a volunteer before serving as its president. She also previously taught at Berney Elementary in Walla Walla Public Schools, and has been involved with Catholic education throughout her career. 'You don't replace a person like Lisa Jacobs; you strive to find someone who can build on what she accomplished here at Tri-Cities Prep,' Sweesy said. 'Lisa achieved a great deal in her 10 years leading the school.' That includes two building expansion campaigns, overseeing the school's highest-ever student enrollment and guiding the school through the pandemic. Sweesy said she also established a community presence that earned Tri-Cities Prep recognition as 'the best high school and private school over the last three years, as voted by the community.' 'Lisa has given us a strong foundation to move forward,' he added. McNamee will be handed the baton in June. He currently works as the director of campus ministry at Marian University, a Catholic university that serves more than 5,000 students in Indiana and Tennessee. He doesn't have ties to the area, but says he and his wife, Kristy, are looking for a long term home and somewhere for him to serve out the twilight years of his career. 'It looks like it's an up and rising community, but also has some pretty cool traditions established. So we can't wait to be a part of the overall community,' he said. McNamee's served in Catholic schools, universities and parishes. He worked 14 years at Guerin Catholic High School, in Noblesville, Indiana, first as the director of student life and campus ministry, then as its director of operations. He holds a bachelor's degree in business from Marian, and an MBA from Anderson University. The Tri-Cities' smallest high school is undergoing the largest expansion that its 26-acre campus has ever seen. It's currently 10 months into a $3 million project to erect six new classrooms, a state-of-the-art biology lab and enhanced security upgrades. Half of those new classrooms will open this fall, according to previous Herald reporting. In total, the project will add more than 10,000 square feet of new education space. In an era of plateauing public school enrollment, private schools are seeing a boom in student enrollment driven by school choice popularity and families seeking alternative learning environments for their kids. Much of the interest stemmed from in-person learning disruptions during the COVID pandemic and shifting sentiments around public school. Like other private schools in the region, Tri-Cities Prep saw double-digit percentage increases during the pandemic years. And while it continues to raise its student enrollment cap, the school's facilities — a one-floor, seven classroom building, plus two portable buildings — are lagging behind. The school is located at 9612 St. Thomas Drive in Pasco, Washington.
BBC News
25-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
McNamee and Bolger the latest Irishmen chasing NFL careers
There are currently two Irish kickers in the NFL but that figure could be about to last season, there had not been a kicker from Ireland in the NFL for 37 years when Neil O'Donoghue finished his career at the then St Louis Cardinals back in 1987. That changed in 2024 when Newry's Charlie Smyth signed to the practice squad of the New Orleans Saints and Jude McAtamney was picked up by the New who hails from the county Derry village of Swatragh, was elevated to the Giants' gameday squad and successfully kicked a field goal and extra points against the Washington Commanders in had their roots in gaelic football and the 'second wave' of Irish kicking talent in this year's class of 2025 consists of two more from that man Mark McNamee, who played goalkeeper for the Ballyboden St Enda's club in Dublin, and Laois native Ross Bolger who arrives via a two-year College career at Idaho State. They are part of a six-strong group of specialist position players in the NFL's latest International Player Pathway programme with their big audition coming on 26 March when they will be put through their paces before NFL scouts at Pro Day. 'You're definitely an underdog' The two Irishmen have already impressed at the recent NFL Combine held in Indianapolis, where McNamee was good for all but one of his kicks - and Bolger was successful in 12 of his allotted 14."It went very well. As a kicking unit we wanted to go there and flash our talent, let the scouts know that we are there for a reason and on merit," said McNamee. "I wasn't overly focused on the numbers but more the process of kicking and making sure we came across well."The pair know that being in the international class, they have to work just that little bit harder than their American peers to catch the scouts' eyes."You're definitely an underdog," said Bolger. "There's a low expectation but then there is a really high ceiling. When you're going kick-for-kick alongside Americans and then are doing better than them, that's when the scouts here are impressed." Unlike McNamee, who went straight from gaelic football into the IPP programme, Bolger has just completed two years' college experience as a kicker and punter with the Idaho State Bengals after his talent was discovered and honed by the Irish kicking coach and mentor Tadhg Leader."Once I got a full scholarship, that was the time when I really believed I could do it. I gauged myself against American lads and that gave me the confidence that what Tadhg was saying was right," added the Laois man."And I have great memories – two years playing college football in the States was a class experience. I played in front of 35,000 against Oregon State in the opening game of last season in a great atmosphere."As Pro Day approaches, McNamee says they have taken much inspiration from Smyth and McAtamney's path to the big time this time last year."It was amazing to see someone could go from playing gaelic football to competing at the NFL Combine. Once I saw that I knew I had a skill that would transfer well if I was given time to prepare," the Ballyboden GAA goalkeeper added."Charlie was the trailblazer for me. He's incredible and confidence just radiates from him. "He was the youngest in the group last year and to be able to come in and compete as well as he did at the Combine and Pro Day and then get signed... it's unbelievable he was able to do it." 'Unbelievable opportunity' As for making that same transaction from Gaelic to American football, both McNamee and Bolger have worked hard on mastering a different kicking technique, with both likening it to perfecting a golf swing."The sweet spot in the ball in Gaelic is lower than on a ball in American football," McNamee explained. "Initially, I started kicking the ball too low which meant it was over-rotating and getting no distance. So it was adjusting my angle and swing and once I'd found where the sweet spot was I was able to introduce power into it and dive a bit deeper into the foot angle, follow through, aim and finish. "I don't really think about it now – it's more natural and I kick that ball like I've been doing it for years. As my technique's improved, I've added distance and there's more to come."For Bolger, it's about doing the hard work in the gym away from the field. "Once I was at college I realised there was more to it than biceps curls and looking in the mirror. At Idaho State, I was in the gym with the heavy weights on my back every day. That has helped with my kicking distance. "A lot of it is mastering technique too, of course. You have to learn to keep swinging your leg the same and keep your technique. You can overthink it sometimes, definitely."
Telegraph
12-03-2025
- Telegraph
‘I was punched in the face': The teachers navigating a tidal wave of parental abuse
When a head teacher calls in a parent because their child has assaulted another pupil, they might reasonably expect a reaction of shock, embarrassment, upset or, at worst, defensiveness. What Sean McNamee got was a punch in the face. 'The boy was getting into trouble and getting involved in fights, but I knew there were pressures at home,' says the primary school head. 'I had to suspend him for the attack on another child, and I hoped when his mum came to collect him, we could have a chat and form a plan of what to do. But she arrived at school, came in the door, saw me and punched me.' Shaking with disbelief and concerned for his staff, McNamee followed the parent as she marched up the stairs into the classroom, got her child and marched out, all the while hurling abuse at horrified staff and children. Despite its appalling nature, the head's experience is not rare. Survey findings released in the first week of March by the National Association of Head Teachers reveal that four in five school leaders have been subjected to verbal or physical abuse, threats, harassment or online trolling in the past 12 months. Like McNamee, one in 10 suffered physical violence. The vast majority of the 1,600 respondents think that this abuse is on the rise, with more than a third warning it is becoming almost endemic. 'When certain parents phone up, staff in the school office recognise the number and want to let it ring because they know they will have to face a torrent of expletives,' says McNamee, who runs St Paul's Primary, in Belfast. School leader Debra Walker has been slapped across the face by a parent, threatened with murder by another and had to call the police when a woman came into school 'screaming and shouting' after taking exception to a psychologist's report about her child. Walker, the chief executive of the Iris Learning Trust, which runs three primary schools in the north-east of England, cites a parent, upset about a coat going missing, screaming in the face of a teacher who was seven months pregnant. Another colleague was spat at. In yet another case, Kevin Flanagan, the head teacher of Pensby High School in Wirral, was subjected to a campaign of harassment by Keith and Stephanie Critchley, including turning up at his family home and verbally abusing him at the school gates, after their daughters were given detentions. What such incidents seem to demonstrate, coupled with worsening pupil behaviour and high absence rates across the country, is the collapse of the social contract between parents and schools. Experts such as Amanda Spielman, the former head of Ofsted, point to an undermining of trust and a growing perception that school is 'optional', fuelled by the Covid school lockdowns and a series of strikes by teachers. Progressive school policies on sex education and gender identity have left some families suspicious about what is being taught, while others argue that schools are not 'woke' enough. At the same time, a wider culture which prioritises individual needs, desires, self-expression and wellbeing is increasingly at odds with traditional notions of discipline and with school rules and structures; the kinds of rules and structures that seem to apply less and less to other areas of work and life. Making matters worse is social media, where one parent's grumble can spread like wildfire, creating a 'them versus us' mentality that breeds discontent. Mini mutinies among parents abound, from complaints about children having to change into PE kits to unfounded claims of bullying, says McNamee. And in an era when there is hypervigilance about safeguarding, parents are also increasingly inclined to believe whatever their child tells them. ''My child does not tell lies' is a phrase I hear quite a lot,' says the head. 'That might be so, but their perceptions of an event are often very different to the reality.' Other teachers report similar issues: 'Pupils sometimes misreport incidents and parents immediately resort to aggression rather than discuss the situation and identify misunderstandings,' says one NAHT member. Barry Smith, a former school leader known for his strict discipline policies, thinks that what happens in schools reflects what happens in society. 'Authority has been eroded in schools, and across society and teachers can be on the receiving end of that,' he says. For some parents, taking to Facebook and criticising the school is 'how they demonstrate to their peer group 'Look what a good parent I am''. 'You get lots of likes, and positive strokes and people respond with 'Yeah, you tell them'; it gives them validation,' says Smith. Geraint Edwards, the head teacher at Hitchin Priory School, in Hertfordshire, has also noticed an increasing readiness to use the school complaints procedure, sometimes vindictively. 'Parents often won't be satisfied by the answer. They just won't let things go,' he says. 'They contact the governors and Ofsted. Every complaint becomes incredibly time-consuming, drawn out and energy-sapping, and detracts me from the strategic work I should be doing.' At the heart of many parental challenges – on everything from toilet breaks and uniform policy to the sanctions used by schools – is a feeling that their particular child's needs are not being met. And the list of 'needs' is expanding exponentially. At McNamee's school, the number of pupils flagged up because of concerns about social, emotional and behavioural development is rapidly increasing. A recent check on one class revealed it applied to 18 out of 21 children. Yet St Paul's Primary is allocated just six educational psychologist slots a year and there are 14 children on the waiting list, with increasingly frustrated parents. 'We have no extra resources to deal with this explosion of special educational needs [SEN],' says McNamee. 'We spend all our time and effort trying to maintain the status quo. Every corner you turn there is another obstacle.' Smith, too, highlights the rise of the special needs agenda. 'There is an explosion of people being diagnosed with autism or ADHD or anxiety,' he says. 'It is an expanding market; at one point it was naughty boys, then it was girls who were undiagnosed and now it is adults. It's a money-making industry.' School must make 'reasonable adjustments' for children with additional needs – needs that do not necessarily have to have the official diagnosis that can trigger extra funding. But who decides what 'reasonable adjustments' are? Should a child prone to outburst or who has anxiety be allowed time-outs, a part-time timetable and no detentions? If a child has 'sensory issues', should the rule on school shoes not apply to them? 'Heads feel they have to bow down to an increasing set of demands and unrealistic expectations because they are afraid parents will go to Ofsted, turn up at the school gates or attack them on social media,' says Smith. 'They are afraid they will be seen as not being inclusive and breaching the law around protected characteristics. But these demands chip away at the rules and structures that maintain order. Schools can have up to 2,000 teenagers milling around each day. The rules and structures are there for a reason; it risks the whole thing breaking down.' According to Smith, 80 per cent of senior leadership's time is spent dealing with 20 per cent of pupils and parents. 'If you have a school of 1,000 children, with 10 per cent from difficult families; that is 100 families you have to handle day in, day out,' he says. 'The time that schools are devoting to these children and families is time not being spent on other pupils.' Some parents are deflecting their own shortcomings onto schools, suggests Hitchin Priory's Edwards. 'In the society we live in, it is sometimes very difficult to criticise, openly, the parents and their roles and responsibilities,' he says. 'There are parents that delegate their responsibilities and look for who to blame. That is a generalisation, but it is also a fact in some cases.' He points out that children spend only about 18 per cent of time in school: 'The rest of the time they are with their parents – what are they doing?' he asks. 'Some parents need to reflect rather than blame – I've said that a few times and it doesn't go down very well.' McNamee feels teachers have no choice but to 'move forward because there is no escape'. Schools cannot exclude a pupil because of the behaviour of their parents. The 'punishment' for the mother who punched McNamee was a ban from school grounds and a visit by police. In time, there was even a degree of rapprochement between the pair. McNamee believes the world around us mirrors and even condones the kind of aggressive behaviour that some parents are subjecting schools to. 'Look at how JD Vance and Donald Trump rounded on President Zelensky,' he says.' It worries me; that willingness to pick a fight. Children see it and it legitimises that behaviour. It is a dangerous way for us to be.' Meanwhile, the head teacher does his job, but the environment takes its toll: 'Your body gets used to being on high alert' he says. 'I don't know the last time I had a full night's sleep; Sundays are terrible.'
