A bitter feud to the Enda
QUESTION Has Vincent Browne ever managed to nail down an interview with Enda Kenny?
VINCENT Browne and Enda Kenny have had an incredible feud going back nearly 40 years, which has meant the chances of Browne doing an interview with the Taoiseach have remained slim.
Kenny was first elected to the Dáil in 1975, following the death of his father. He had been a TD for just seven years when his first row with Browne erupted.
Just before the 1982 general election, Browne appeared on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show to discuss the effectiveness of Dáil deputies and he singled out Kenny for a verbal lashing.
He said that in his first seven years as a TD, Kenny had done nothing of note for his Co. Mayo constituency. He also said that since the previous election, Kenny had made zero contribution to Dáil debates, as he hadn’t uttered a word on any topic.
Kenny took the remarks as a grave personal insult and it was the start of a feud of unrivalled length between a political correspondent and a politician.
Browne has had many spats with public figures, including businessman Denis O’Brien, but none of his other quarrels has had such epic longevity.
A year after that initial spat, Kenny challenged Browne to travel with him round his constituency and see the work he had been doing on the ground, but nothing came of the invitation.
The bitter row between the two men rumbled on for years and on occasion, Kenny has made it absolutely clear that he would not take part in any programme involving Browne.
Then in October 2010, Browne took the row too far, when he said that Kenny should go into a dark room with a gun and a bottle of whiskey. Shortly afterwards, Browne apologised to Kenny and said that his remarks has been stupid, silly and inconsiderate. The apology did nothing to soften the feud, instead having the opposite effect.
In the run-up to the 2011 general election, TV3 planned to have a three-way debate between the leaders of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour, but Kenny refused to take part, because Browne was to be the moderator.
Browne stepped aside, but even with a new moderator in the chair, Kenny still refused to participate.
Last year, Browne had more harsh words to say about Kenny, claiming that the Taoiseach’s move against his former health minister, James Reilly, showed a cruelty in the heart and mind.
Browne also pointed out that Kenny had heaped humiliation on Dr Reilly by telling journalists first, rather than Dr Reilly, that he was no longer the deputy leader of Fine Gael. Kenny later reappointed Dr Reilly to the role.
So, 36 years after it had started, the feud between the two men is as bitter as it has ever been and there appears little if any chance of a resolution to the dispute, meaning that Browne will never get his interview with Kenny.
Ian Lowther, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
QUESTION Many people claim to have seen heaven. Has anyone seen hell?
IN LIFE After Life (1975), Raymond Moody coined the term ‘near-death experience’ to describe the mystical, transcendental, often bizarre experiences associated with impending death.
One of the best known is from George Ritchie from the Second World War, published in his 1978 book Return From Tomorrow.
Ritchie described his affliction with pneumonia and being brought to an army hospital in Richmond, Virginia, US, where he was pronounced dead but finally revived nine minutes later.
Part of his vision, which he described as hell, included a description of a barren wasteland where hideous creatures were engaged in battle: ‘Even more hideous than the bites and kicks they exchanged were the sexual abuses many were performing in feverish pantomime. Perversions I had never dreamed of were being vainly attempted all around us.’
This experience later inspired Ritchie to work in psychiatry, which he wrote books about.
Angela Dyer, Lancaster. MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER was a very nasty and selfish woman in her old age. Even at her 90th birthday party she was unpleasant, accusing the family of not being able to wait until she died – and she very nearly did that day due to cardiac arrest.
Her son (my grandfather) gave CPR while someone called an ambulance, but within minutes she was so pale and still, she appeared to be dead.
Just as the ambulance services arrived, she let out an ear-piercing scream and grabbed hold of the medical professional’s arm as he kneeled down beside her, screaming, eyes closed, if anyone could hear her and begging to be saved.
She seemed determined not to let go, but after yelping ‘just pull me out’, became motionless again, though alive.
She recounted to us later that she felt herself floating then falling at a speed into almost complete darkness where angry voices tormented her – trapped in nothing and so trapped in hell.
It was an experience that seemed to cause deep trauma because she became a very anxious and subdued person before passing away the next year.
She was not schizophrenic, nor do I believe she went to hell. The electric surge in a dying brain can lead an individual to believe they are anywhere. Perhaps unpleasant people are doomed to see unpleasant things. Eric Carpenter, Bath, Somerset.
QUESTION Under the Soviet regime, people used humour to express their desire for freedom and reform. What were some of these jokes?
JOKES (Russians call them ‘anecdotes’) are an essential part of life. Here’s two from the Seventies.
The mole takes his young son out from their burrow onto the surface. They enjoy warm sunshine, soft grass, fresh air and the pleasant smell of flowers.
The youngster says: ‘Daddy, it is so nice here. Why do we live in our burrow where it is dark, cold, cramped and stinks?’
‘Because that is our Motherland, my dear,’ the mole replies.
And the other one: How could you know a woman is rich? In Britain, a rich woman would buy a car matching her eyes; in France, a rich woman would buy a car matching her lover’s eyes; and in the USSR, a woman is rich if she can afford to wear brand-new tights under her trousers. Sofiya Finbow, Cheltenham, Glos.
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