SMOKES & DAGGERS

A mischievous mix of (mostly) news

AT AN event this week to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, sharing a stage with Bill Clinton and Bertie Ahern, Tony Blair said that he remembered getting on a private plane to a family holiday in Spain after securing the peace deal, only for the pilot to interrupt to say there was a call for him. An exhausted Blair said he didn’t want to speak to anyone and the pilot had to add: ‘She says she’s the Queen.’ FINIAN McGrath suffered quite the drama after the minister parked his car outside of St Pat’s DCU to give the lucky students a lecture. Having proudly parked the Merc outside the front door, or its equivalent, on emerging the Minister, despite assurances, found it had been clamped. Unfortunately Finian, pictured, was pencilled in for a critical appointment with a Dublin GAA club match. Smokes is told that having flirted with the Gerry Kelly option (bolt cutters first and explain later), he was last seen sprinting through Drumcondra looking for a taxi. THE Manchester Evening News this week reported the holy grail of news stories. ‘Man bites dog that mauled his four-month-old puppy in vicious attack.’ BILL CLINTON made a bee-line for his favourite Dublin restaurant, Peploe’s, when he was in town this week and happily posed for photos with the staff as well as other diners. Last year he dined there with Denis O’Brien and hotelier John Fitzpatrick. FORMER Public Accounts Committee chairman John McGuinness was up in front of the Disclosures Tribunal at Dublin Castle this week, testifying about a disputed meeting he had with ex-Garda commissioner Martin Callinan in a car park. He was asked repeatedly if it was raining and how severe the downpour was. Finally Justice Charleton interjected: ‘You don’t have to watch Kurosawa films to be familiar with the rain.’ FOR or against repealing the Eighth Amendment? There’s a growing movement that’s equally opposed to both camps: members of Tidy Towns groups across the country. Several such groups are pleading with both sides of the debate to get rid of their unsightly posters. RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary’s Tiger Roll had a big win at Aintree yesterday. And the Grand Nationalwinning owner, pictured, celebrated with a classy touch on his Ryanair flight home from the UK. He got on the intercom and announced that there would be a free bar for his fellow passengers, before adding quickly: ‘You’re all restricted to one drink.’