SMOKES & DAGGERS

A mischievous mix of (mostly) news

THERESA MAY visited the White House this week. Donald Trump’s team managed to get the visit off on the wrong foot by spelling her name Teresa. And the Brits thought we Irish were bad for dropping Hs.

AT THE White House, the visiting British press corp got into a spot of bother. Many were left locked outside by the Secret Service because their birth dates were submitted in the DD/MM/YY format that we all use, confusing the Americans who put month before day. One Brit was scolded by an agent: ‘One person put their birthday as 01/08. Why would we be expected to think that means August 1st? Why?’ Perhaps the reporter could have used the example of the fourth of July. Not an un-American date, surely?

SMOKES was impressed by the passion with which Labour senator Denis Landy, left, slammed Simon Coveney’s changes to the allowances and expenses of councillors on the grounds that they were not sufficiently generous. It’s often mistakenly said that senators are unelected. In fact, the vast majority ARE elected… by councillors. But we’re sure that has nothing at all to do with Senator Landy’s public-spirited concern…

A WOMEN’S caucus has been instituted in Leinster House. A powerful new crossparty force to be reckoned with? Maybe not. One of the women told Smokes of the first meeting: ‘There wasn’t a great turnout: just eight of the 25 turned up.’

TODAY’S Red C opinion poll for the Sunday Business Post finds that support for Renua now stands at 1%. However, there’s a margin of error of three points, so theoretically the party could be on -2%.

FINE Gael TD Bernard Durkan is well known for his enthusiasm for asking endless Parliamentary Questions and he was at it again this week. It makes us nostalgic for the days of Brian Cowen. Asked back when he was taoiseach about the cost of the provision of umbrellas for civil servants, an irritated Mr Cowen, left, noted that the cost of responding to the question exceeded the cost of the umbrellas.