SMOKES & DAGGERS
Inside the corridors of power...
AMONG the trending topics on Twitter this week was #WhereIsEnda. It was a sort of digital version of ‘Where’s Wally?’ The public wondered how the Taoiseach managed to remain invisible during the flooding disaster – a time when a less-restrained leader wouldn’t have been able to resist a gratuitous display of leadership. Thankfully Enda ultimately appeared, deciding to chair an emergency meeting at which ministers were told to come up with some ideas ahead of this Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting. We feel better already.
THESE national emergencies seem far more exhilarating in British politics. In times of national emergency, British ministers have the thrill of gathering for ‘Cobra’ meetings, which sounds terribly James Bondish. In fact, it’s simply the acronym for ‘Cabinet Office Briefing Room A’.
TWITTER alerts us to a new trend in death notices in the United States. The notice for 75year-old Richard Buckman from Evansville, Indiana, rounded off with the line: ‘In lieu of flowers, please do not vote for Hillary.’ Others from as far afield as New Jersey and North Carolina have expressed a similar dying wish.
SATIRICAL site Waterford Whispers took its own angle on the Tánaiste’s boating expedition: ‘Joan Burton trapped in boat for two hours by water.’
DARA Ó BRIAIN’S New Year’s Eve celebrations appear to have been gentle. He tweeted: ‘Fireworks on the telly creates the magical feeling of standing in the home electronics department of John Lewis.’
THERE is a famous scene in the movie Papillion when Steve McQueen, below, smokes a cigar passed from the mouth of man stricken with leprosy. To gain trust, you know. Smokes experienced the very opposite of this last week. His young child contracted a nasty illness called hand, foot and mouth disease last month. Smokes was telling a senator, who also has a young child, about the illness and jokingly added that Smokes could be a carrier. The senator deftly inched back and within seconds he was 20 yards away. A
hero he is not.