Bringing Cute Hoors and Pious Protestors to book

All credit to Sunday Independent political hack John Drennan for the timing of the publication of his excellent new book Cute Hoors and Pious Protestors: Traits and Characteristics of Irish Politicians.

The book comes out this weekend as the election campaign begins and the series of essays looks at questions such as: "While the electorate increasingly chafe against the unbearable lightness of Enda, could it yet be the case that he has the resilience and the character we actually need? And is pink but perfect Eamon Gilmore a national Sir Lancelot or a Sir Talks-a-lot?"

British gutter press not very sporting on our woes

Breakfast Roll Man has left Ireland for work in London. Throughout the boom he got his daily fix of politics from Terry McGeehan in the Star but now he reads the Daily Sport at tea break. Amidst the soft-porn images and the celebrity gossip, it carried a full-page on Brian Cowen's departure last Monday. It opened: "Wanted. One idiot to run a small bankrupt republic of 4,500,000 superstitious drunkards. Apply: Rialtas na hÉireann." And continued, "Cowen has looked more out of his depth than an unwanted kitten at the bottom of the Shannon since the Irish economy imploded under the weight of a billion booze-fuelled fantasies." Breakfast Roll Man must be delighted to see age-old bigotry is alive and well in the English gutter press.

Louthman Gerry Adams makes break for the border

Sinn Féin's spin-doctors were eager to point out a fortnight ago that Gerry Adams has moved to Louth, where he will contest the general election.

But The Insider noticed that after the Greens pulled out of government last weekend, Adams was interviewed by RTÉ on a Belfast street in front of a wall displaying the message ? "Truth and Justice" and pictures of H-block hunger strikers. While his new home is in Louth, he obviously goes 'home' for the weekends.

Apart from Micheál Martin, the big winner of last week was Fianna Fáil's Éamon Ó Cuív, who came second in the party's leadership race. He couldn't hide his smile around the Dáil after the vote as he has established himself as a politician who is under-rated by the 'Dublin Meeja' yet highly-rated within his own party ranks. The fact that Ó Cuív spent most of the last decade generously dishing out monies from the Dormant Accounts Fund and the Clár programme is also thought to have helped his leadership bid. Unlike Brian Lenihan, who is seen to have opened the door for the men from the IMF, 'DeV Óg' was able to call in favours from numerous rural TDs.