Corrupt. Us? No. Inept. Us? Yes.
I write this post with a nod and a wink to Holemaster who asks, “what’s wrong with Ireland?”.
We are. Says he.
But I think we were once upon a time, ie, in the not too distant past. But not now.
Really, now we’re more clueless and badly led. By people who don’t know the first thing about governance. People who were democratically elected unfortunately. So maybe we, as a whole, are to blame on that front alone.
But to my mind, corruption requires great knowledge of the systems you’re corrupting and a certain mastery of those very systems. Our social leaders (TD’s, bankers, etc) and those who oversaw the boom, and the subsequent bust, don’t have that mastery. They’re too stupid to be corrupt. And thus they have made us the laughing stock of Europe. We’re gambling our grandchildren’s future due to their ineptitude and incompetence, not because of corruption and the nod and a wink culture.
As an aside, an article in the Irish Times yesterday states that there’s ‘little corruption’ in Ireland. In fact we’re on a par with the Germans on the world corruption table. Make of that what you will.
Let us pray…
There’s a feeling welling in the pit of my stomach. A tension. A nervousness that won’t abate. I can’t sit still. Something’s stirring. I’m fidgeting like a bastard.
And I’m not a religious man. Not at all. But today I’m calling on God. All the Gods. Allah. Buddha. Anyone who’ll listen. Everyone.
Please, please let us beat the Frenchies. Just this once.
Allez les verts.
UPDATE:
So it wasn’t to be. Just didn’t have enough to edge ahead or keep them at nil all. But there’s always Paris right?
At half time this song was played over the loudspeakers in Croke Park. Kinda sums it all up.
Sharp, very sharp…
During the summer I spent a fantastic week in the company of family and friends at a wedding in Eastern Europe. Much fun and frolics ensued. And only yesterday I was talking to a cousin about it all. It transpires that 3 of the couples who were there have, in the past few days, broken news of impending arrivals so the stork will be busy in Springtime it seems.
Then it struck me that it’s almost exactly 3 months on from that trip.
“Jaysus there must’ve been something in the air in Slovakia”, says I to the cousin.
And quick as a flash, without so much as a breath…
“Yeah, legs” says he.
As I say, sharp, so very sharp.
