SMOKES & DAGGERS

A mischievous mix of (mostly) news

WHITE House statement listing Donald Trump’s goals for his trip to Israel included the following glorious typo: ‘Promote the possibility of lasting peach between Israel and the Palestinians.’

IT SEEMS that every vote counts for Denis Naughten… even if they won’t be able to vote for another decade or so. The Communications and Renewable Energy Minister was pictured, right, in this extraordinary selfie pose as he enjoyed himself at the Green Schools Awards.

THE State’s official publication, Iris Ofiguil, has had to issue an embarrassing clarification. It explained that a judge it had declared a bankrupt was in fact not a bankrupt, but was the judge who had made the declaration that somebody entirely different was bankrupt. Oops.

FOLLOWING the confirmation of Lionel Messi’s conviction for tax fraud this week, the Irish Independent’s Daniel McDonnell witnessed a wonderful moment outside Cork City’s Turner’s Cross ground this weekend. As the autograph-hunting kids were milling around Cork Captain John Dunleavy, one of them, an aspiring Bob Woodward, asked: ‘Do you pay tax?’

MICHEÁL Martin’s attempt to secure the respect of his party by cracking down on leaks did not go terribly well. TDs vigorously leaked the news about the crackdown.

DAVID NORRIS still retains the capacity to surprise us. Reminiscing in the Seanad this week on the time where he hosted five discos a week to fund the developing gay rights movement, Norris reflected that he had stopped both Elton John and Freddie Mercury, left, from entering the club. The dancing senator noted, ‘I did not know who they were and asked them for their membership certificates.’ Alas, the response of those two dancing queens has been lost to history.