SMOKES & DAGGERS
A mischievous mix of (mostly) news
AS A prominent and wealthy IrishAmerican, Peter Casey gets plenty of invites. A recent invite asked him to come and meet Gerry Adams at the Cherokee Club in Atlanta this week (Casey is a former resident of the state) for an event organised by the Friendly Sons of Atlanta. Casey’s response, revealed by Niall O’Dowd of Irish Central, was a joy: ‘I have absolutely no desire to meet Gerry Adams. Would rather have my ingrown toenail removed without anaesthesia. Please remove me from your list as well. Hope your event is a total flop!’
OLIVER CALLAN captured the mood on Friday during the Late Late: ‘Donald Trump and Peter Casey. Two lads obsessed with people in caravans.’
THE Labour Party was tackling the big issues at its conference in Dublin yesterday. It has taken a brave stand on… the Eurovision. Yes, members have voted
to boycott the show if it is held in Jerusalem next year, as planned by the Israeli hosts. Just what the plain people of Ireland have been crying out for…
ONE disgruntled Labour member told Smokes: ‘The best thing
Brendan Howlin could do is to have a Lotto with the party’s €2m in State funding. It might at least create a bit of excitement.’
LABOUR’S conference came with the dramatic slogan, displayed prominently on the stage, ‘A New Republic’. Fans of Ross O’Carroll Kelly were quick to point out that New Republic is also the name of the ultra-right-wing party of the super-rich founded by Ross’s obnoxious father, Charles O’Carroll Kelly, pictured.
WILL the Catholic hierarchy ever stop digging? After the visit of Pope Francis, pictured, the Church is blaming ‘negative media coverage’ for the €4m shortfall. Announcing another special Church collection next weekend, the third this year, the Bishop of Elphin wrote to his flock: ‘There was a shortfall in fundraising income due in no small measure to the consistent negative coverage in the media in the final weeks of preparation. Some fruit died on the trees.’ Would any of the coverage he is complaining about have been generated by his declaration that Catholics who voted Yes in the abortion referendum should go to confession before attending Mass? Bishop, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
I CAME across a bizarre Brexit statistic this week. The vote in favour of leaving the EU in 2016 was 52% to 48% but the margin was 1,269,505. Since then, statisticians have worked out that 750,000 of the 17 million who voted to leave have actually left this Earth. The boffins simply drilled into data and they reckon most people who voted yes were older (90% of over-65s voted in the poll). The recent march in London organised by a pro-EU coalition was attended by 750,000 ‘remainers’. Who said the EU wasn’t a matter of life and death?