This week on Taking Stock Mandy Johnston Mandy discusses just how hard or easy it is to set up a new political party. We hear from Political Consultant Stephen O’Byrnes and from Frank Fitzgerald from UL.

Newsgroups are in the grip of a long-term battle to retain their audiences, that’s according to the latest Reuters Institute Digital News Report. Liam Collins a former news editor for the Sunday Independent and Emer Connolly is an academic who has looked at the media landscape here in Ireland and they join Mandy to examine the plight of journalists caught up this struggle.

Plus we hear we hear what exactly the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund is and why it’s dollars are spreading into all sorts of places.