“Like being governed by Maude Flanders”

Olaf Tyaransen seems like my sort of fellow. And since he mentions my book in his Dublin Herald.ie column — “Don’t get me started: Drinking is what we do … and it’ll take more than restricting alcohol sales to change that” — I will admit to a tinge of jealousy, as well. In his piece, Olaf describes invasive government officials as “unutterably useless gobshites.” Poetry. I wasn’t even sure what a gobshite was until I looked it up. And I’m relatively certain gobshite would be swiftly rejected by my editor. Oh well.

Apparently, some Irish officials have cracked down on “binge” drinking, happy hours and so forth … in other words joy and freedom.

With a recession just getting into full swing, what’s wrong with giving cash-strapped citizens the opportunity to save a few quid when they’re out drowning their miseries?

Amen.