Ireland

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Storm in a Taoiseach…

We knew everything we needed to know about Bertie Ahern from the moment his mentor Charlie Haughey declared that of all the young thrusters in Fianna Fail, Ahern was “the most skillful, the most devious, the most cunning of them all”. It’s tempting to conclude that this endorsement provided sufficient grounds for barring Ahern from public office. Then again, the Irish electorate seems to prefer its leaders crooked. There’s a fine old story – only possibly apocryphal – in which a little old lady tells a journalist that no, she wouldn’t dream of voting for Garret Fitzgerald: how can you trust a man who lives in the same small house

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Video of the Day

“It would give me the greatest of pleasure watching non-compliant tax-payers going to jail. That’s the kind of person I am.” Bertie Ahern, then Minister of Finance, 1993.

Monday

Alex Massie

Wherever the Green is Worn

The ten worst Irish accents in cinema history? Check ’em out here. Amazingly, Tom Cruise doesn’t take the top spot… So, yeah, Happy St Patrick’s Day. Time then, to dust off this unnecessarily dyspeptic take from a few years ago: When I was a student in Dublin we scoffed at the American celebration of St. Patrick, finding something preposterous in the green beer, the search for any connection, no matter how tenuous, to Ireland, the misty sentiment of it all that seemed so at odds with the Ireland we knew and actually lived in. Who were these people dressed as Leprechauns and why were they dressed that way? This Hibernian

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Too Late It Should Be, Too Late

I’m indebted to an old college buddy for alerting me to this description of David Irving’s recent appearance on Irish TV’s venerable The Late, Late Show. As the programme’s website put it (emphasis added): In 2006 David Irving was jailed for denying the holocaust ever happened. Despite being branded an anti-semitic, active holocaust denier in a court of law Irving continues to offer his own unique perspective on history, particularly the history of the Second World War. Well, yes, particularly the Second World War indeed. I can understand why undergraduate debating societies would – mistakenly in my view – chase public attention by inviting Irving to appear, but why should

Friday

Alex Massie

Get a grip, Ron Burgundy

Will Ferrell: clown. Top Hollywood star Will Ferrell last night appeared in University College Dublin to accept a prestigious award in front of 1,500 students. The 40-year-old star of ‘Anchorman’ was dressed in the full Irish rugby kit as he accepted the James Joyce Award from the Literary and Historical Society for his outstanding contribution to comedic acting. Ferrell had a packed O’Reilly Hall in stitches throughout his 40- minute speech where he joked: “As I look out at this crowd, I see the future of Ireland, the future of Europe. And let’s face it, the future looks pretty bleak.” [Editorial note: given the location, this was clearly a serious

Tuesday

Alex Massie

A Boy From the County Hell

Shane McGowan celebrates his 50th birthday today. Who would have thought it? Comfort and joy all round. This must rank as one of the most unlikely anniversaries imaginable. As the great man says himself: “Smoking, drinking, partying – that’s why I’ve stayed alive as long as I have.” That’s the spirit lads. Give it a lash. Happy birthday Shane… And a merry Christmas to all of you out there, wherever you may be.

Sunday

Alex Massie

Clinton: My Wife’s Part in Ulster’s Downfall

Daniel Larison points out an extraordinary passage from Bill Clinton’s appearance on The Charlie Rose Show on Friday. Bafflingly, Clinton seems to believe that the Northern Irish peace process qualifies his wife to be President: Clinton:…The only way to overcome our differences is not basically to try to erase the past, it’s to get used to working together. I mean it’s kind of a metaphor for the Hillary argument. If you look at last Monday, the… Charlie Rose: You are people are pushing me, so it’s not my — Bill Clinton: The new leaders of Northern Ireland came to Washington to see the president. They — it represents a stunning

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Rudy Giuliani, the Terrorists’ Worst Enemy?

Well, not always. From the New York Times, September 29th 1994, less than a month after the declaration of a (temporary as it proved) IRA ceasefire: Artfully casting off his old role as official outcast, Gerry Adams, the political spokesman for the Irish Republican Army, beamed from the steps of City Hall yesterday as New York politicians vied to be at his side and hail him as honored guest and newborn statesman… …A relatively small lunch-hour crowd of a few hundred cheered him, but the domestic political value of Mr. Adams’s official turnabout was demonstrated by the throng of local politicians who crowded about Mr. Adams. They pressed him to

Saturday

Alex Massie

Baltimore-Limerick connections…

This interesting story about jury duty in Baltimore brought to mind that old and favourite line from an Irish judge: You have been acquitted by a Limerick jury and may leave this court with no other stain upon your character.

Thursday

Alex Massie

The Greatest Non-Reader of Them All

As a coda to yesterday’s posts on Not Reading Books, it was remiss of me not to quote the man who may make a decent claim to being the greatest newspaper columnist of the 20th century. I refer, of course, to Myles na Gopaleen (“Myles of the Ponies”) better known to posterity by one of his other pseudonyms, Flann O’Brien.  Here’s his solution to the reading problem: THE WORLD OF BOOKS YES, this question of book-handling. The other day I had a word to say about the necessity for the professional book-handler, a person who will maul the books of illiterate, but wealthy, upstarts so that the books will look