Banana Republic

As many of you will know, I refer to my home country of Ireland as "The Glorious Republic" from time to time. This is part piss-take, part nostalgia for the old country. The current Irish government, along with a long line of its predecessors, frankly couldn't find their own arse with a compass, two hands, an a judicial enquiry costing hundreds of millions.

Recently, a guerrilla artist hung a number of nude portraits of our current Glorious Leader, Brian Cowen, in a number of art galleries in Ireland. RTE, the "national broadcaster", dutifully reported on this. Someone in the current... regime didn't like this, and the next day RTE issued a swift apology.

Ten minutes of economic turmoil, and we're back to the 70s - strikes, public funding cuts, crumbling infrastructure, and infallible taoiseachs. The "celtic tiger" has been for nothing. We're right back where we started.

Sorry Brian, at least Haughey was a charmer.

Edit: Fellow ILUG blogger Donncha has put it better than I ever could.