Miriam can speak up for herself

MIRIAM O’Callaghan never misses a trick, bless her. After the latest listenership statistics showed that she had increased the audience for The John Murray Show while standing in for the absent presenter, Miriam, pictured, remarked: ‘Looking at recent figures in radio, it seems pretty clear that listeners really like listening to women.’ Given her readiness to throw in her tuppenceworth on any topic under the sun, however, I think we all know exactly who loves the sound of Miriam’s voice most of all. IT’S started. Over the weekend, Eamon Gilmore was quoted as follows: ‘This will be a tough Budget. I don’t want anyone to be under any illusions about that.’ You don’t say. Between now and October, we can expect plenty more of the same. Needless to say, the sole objective here is that we’ll be eternally grateful when they don’t actually introduce a tax on breathing. ON Desert Island Discs yesterday Mary Robbo omitted Simon and Garfunkel’s old hit Mrs Robinson from her selection, even though it figured prominently in her 1990 Áras campaign. She told presenter Kirsty Young that she ‘heard it over and over again on this presidential bus going around the country and it lost its charm’. There’s a coincidence. Though there wasn’t a whole lot of it in the first place, Mary’s own charm was pretty much lost as soon as we’d heard her over and over again. IF Enda Kenny had even a smidgen of principle coursing through his veins, then John Perry would have been forced to walk the plank long before now. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.