I’m not one for rolling over and giving in…trust me I’m not. But my recent trip home to Ireland at Xmas was a difficult one. To read the newspapers there, you would be forgiven for thinking that everything had been resolved. Done and Dusted. Reams and reams of irrelevant copy. Anything, and I mean any story other than the BIG story hogged the column inches. There appeared to be a uniform conspiracy of silence. I can appreciate that people do not want to read about the depth of the mess everyday, particularly at xmas and sustained coverage could hurt circulation….but the silence was palpable.
At first, I viewed this as the D4 Meeja classes closing rank. But soon realised it was wider spread. When I tried to raise the subject down the local…everyone suddenly found the skirting boards and light fittings of more interest. At home I even managed to upset my dear ol’ mum with some casual comments regarding the Ship of Fools book she bought me for Xmas. This was strange and getting stranger, because my friends and family are politically and financially astute. In hindsight this was an emotional and not an entellectual response. It was a public display of genuine HURT. They could reason the current situation on an intellectual basis but they were having real difficulty dealing with the facts on an emotional level. In short they are so sick of it , they just want it to go away. Which it won’t of course.
Personally I have followed David from the start and offered my pub evangelism where required over the years…but the current political purgatory is stifling. Outside forums such as this the Irish nation seems incapable of speaking at the moment. A mixture of guilt & incandescent rage, where property investment has become the new original sin. As I said at the top of this comment, tenacity is one of my better characteristics but even I am losing interest at this point. It’s either Revolution in the streets or nothing as far as i’m concerned. But the middle classes don’t do revolution do they? because they don’t know whose side they’re on.