Dr Paul Cavanagh of Ireland's department of health and children was invited on to brag about the "huge success" of the smoking ban in Ireland. He said the ban had succeeded in "denormalising" smoking. Aren't civil servants mighty the way they coin new words every day?

"Ireland is very proud of the fact that we have been European leaders in this area but also pleased to be able to share the story of our success with other countries, " he boasted, emetically.

Cavanagh cited all sorts of surveys to prove the great news (and, notice, when it comes to smoking, you never seem to have to establish the reliability of the research). He said that more people are quitting, that more quitters are staying off, and even that more smokers are refraining from smoking at home (being forbidden to, more like, in all those shoes-off houses around the country).

It's official then. No one misses the days when going to the pub didn't mean spending half the evening on your own, while your companions take flight every 10 minutes like municipal pigeons. Noone misses conversations that last longer than the lull between cravings. No one is nostalgic for the romance in a Lucky Strike.

Anyway, that's enough self-justification, even for an ex-smoker. But there was even more selfjustification . . . a lot more of it . . . on Tuesday's Tonight With Vincent Browne. The programme was meant to be a discussion among a group of Seanad candidates, but before they got round to that, Browne wanted to defend himself against his critics.

Well, what's the point of having a radio programme if you can't stand up for yourself on it?

"In one of the programmes last week, " began Vincent, "I made an observation about politics which was wrongly ridiculed by the people in the studio . . . which was very hurtful . . . and more so it was ridiculed by several of the people who texted in."

Browne's contention was that "politics is not about getting into office and implementing one's policies, as everybody says it is; it is about persuading people to a point of view, and then, when a constituency is persuaded, that policy will be automatically enacted". He complained that people had accused him of being "utterly naive" for holding with this idea, and asked, "can I just draw attention to a few things?"

He drew attention to the abolition of slavery, Catholic Emancipation, women's liberation, and democracy itself, all of which had been brought about, he said, by mobilisation outside of the political establishment. That's it Vincent, you let those faithless pragmatists know what's what.

"That is why I argue that real power exists not through office but through the power of persuasion. . . Ivana Bacik wants to come in on this.

Let me just finish my rant first, Ivana."

When he'd finished his rant, Ivana began hers, and the whole exchange called to mind nothing so much as a meeting of the L&H. By the time the candidates got round to discussing the supposed usefulness of the Seanad, we had become quite accustomed to the idea of a group of privileged people talking among themselves and persuading no one of anything.