Harris is an old school public servant, not some coasting twit trying to get in the local paper
THERE was much attention in the UK press given to the elevation of Simon Harris to the top job in Irish politics. The ubiquitous ‘Tik Tok Taoiseach’ headline was too much for any copy editor to pass by and it travelled across the Irish Sea where the curious media quickly moved from why Leo left to who’s this young man about to take over?
I don’t know Simon Harris very well but any dealings I’ve had with him have always been very pleasant. He’s courteous, interested and seems to be an old school public servant rather than some coasting twit trying to get a mention in the local paper.
I noticed a few headlines trying to belittle and diminish him before he even put his key in the door but my inclination is to give him a chance and then, when he’s had time to settle in, we can all decide on his abilities or otherwise as the nation’s Taoiseach. Until then, this is a proud time for his family, his friends and himself and I wish him well.
Another school tour for one last week but this time to a morbidly fascinating spot in the shape of Highgate Cemetery in north London. Before I got there, I had to visit a quaint little cafe nearby called Norman’s that I’d been hearing quite a lot about. This is a tiny but perfectly formed ‘caf’ that serves up eggs, beans and chips and makes no apologies for it. It was recommended to me by a producer who now knows me well enough to see that I’m not into ‘posh’ food and prefer to keep it simple. Thank God for Norman’s because food doesn’t come less complicated nor more delicious than that!
Onwards then to Highgate Cem- etery, a place I’d heard and read about over the years. I knew that Karl Marx was buried there and smiled to myself as I wondered what he would have made of the £10 admission fee or indeed the fact that at the fork in the road en route to see his enormous head on a pedestal, you have to turn right!!
On turning left and making my way through the leafy path with only the sound of birdsong for company I found myself passing the grave of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian national who was poisoned in 2006. I stopped to ask a man in a high-viz jacket where I might find the final resting place of the singer George Michael. He pointed to the ground over my shoulder and said, ‘right there’ and sure enough, I was standing in front of a very discreet trio of headstones placed into the ground but the name featured George’s original name which explains why I passed the tombstone with ‘Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou’ on it. He’s buried beside his mother and sister and continues to be one of the most visited graves in Highgate.
I then asked the man in the highviz jacket what his role was in the cemetery and he said he was on security detail for the filming of a TV show there. He asked me had I ever heard of Strike. As a new fan of the Strike series of books by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) I was thrilled to hear this news so went up for a poke around and sure enough, there they were, a massive crew working away on turning The Ink Black Heart into a TV drama. I haven’t got to that book yet but when I posted a story on my Instatubridy account, lots of fellow readers pointed out that the book in question features Highgate Cemetery very often so it was all very pleasantly serendipitous!