SMOKES & DAGGERS

A mischievous mix of political asides and (mostly) news

THE Telegraph’s chief political correspondent, no less, optimistically wrote this week that President Joe Biden wouldn’t hold a grudge against Boris Johnson for being Donald Trump’s BFF because: ‘Biden’s great, great, great grandfather Edward Blewitt left Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland, for America during the Irish Famine 170 years ago, which could mean he’s well disposed towards Great Britain.’ Who wants to break it to them?

A MEMBER of the diplomatic corps gave Smokes an interestiing insight into what we can expect from Mr Biden. A decade ago, when Enda Kenny met the then-Vice President, the diplomat said they were ‘like peas in a pod’, adding, ‘as to whether that is a good thing or not, the jury is still out… on both fronts’. Indeed.

MORALE amongst the few remaining Greens is unlikely to improve following claims that the party with the mostest – well when it comes to leader’s advisers anyway – is considering the acquisition of two more. One would have thought that when it comes to spindoctors for hire there are hardly any Green ones left. But like the Monty Python character Mr Creosote, below, when it comes to the Greens and jobs there is always room for just another wafer. Hopefully, there won’t be a similar denouement.

TWEET of the week goes to Barry Cowen after Paul ‘private school-boy’ Murphy weighed in to support complaints about RTÉ showing the US presidential inauguration. In four words, Cowen summarised the mood of the nation over our Twitter furores with a pithy request of: ‘Give it a rest.’ It was, alas, a request that, yes, you’ve guessed, kicked off another Twitter furore. ‘Enough already,’ wailed Smokes, but without much hope.