SMOKES & DAGGERS
A mischievous mix of (mostly) news
THE Taoiseach was quick off the mark with a tribute to electronic dance music star Avicii, who died suddenly this week aged 28. He tweeted: ‘So sorry to hear of the untimely passing of Avicii. Wake Me Up was the song of 2013 and my song on the Camino.’ His knowledgeable response contrasted with his tweet marking the death of Big Tom earlier in the week, in which he failed to mention any Big Tom hits. Smokes suspects that the Mainliners’ music didn’t feature so prominently on that Camino walk.
A NEW Netflix drama is being filmed at Troy Studios in Limerick, Nightflyers, based on an RR Martin novella. The studio put out a call this week for women who have a petite figure and are aged 38 and older. The physical specifications for the job are exacting: a 26-inch waist; an A to C cup size, and a shoe size of two to five, the Limerick Leader reported. Petite indeed!
SMOKES enjoyed this tweet from journalist Lise Hand: ‘Watched a fellow hack interview a mourner at the Big Tom funeral yesterday. “Can I get your full name please?” he asked the woman politely. “Philomena Begley,” said she. Dubs, eh. You can’t take us anywhere.’
THE RTÉ News team of courts correspondents lost legendary VT (that’s videotape) operator Tom Fleming to retirement last Tuesday. Tom was a good VT Operator, but not a great one, according to Eamon Dunphy, who paid homage to him in a video clip. Smokes believes the Mountbellew man will spend his retirement on a number of courses – golf courses, that is – and wishes him all the best.
LEO VARADKAR had to endure a Dáil leader’s questions roasting over Denis Naughten and his debacle. Would the opposition attacks ever end? His saviour came in the form of a question from Michael Lowry, who apologised for troubling the Taoiseach with mundane matters, but explained that ‘some city representatives would not recognise or realise the huge problem we have with rural and county roads’. Smokes has never seen the Taoiseach grasp the issue of country roads with such
enthusiasm.
THE formidable Barbara Bush, left, who died this week at the age of 92, was referred to by her children as ‘The Enforcer’. Why the nickname, an interviewer once asked the former first lady. ‘Because someone else you and I know well does not enforce anything,’ she said, gently slapping down her ex-president husband.