A Different View
Takes a wise man to know when to leave the stage
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
It’s easy to throw stones at Nigel Farage – metaphorically of course before any of his many enemies goes off in search of a catapult – because he may well epitomise the reptilian world of politics.
But you have to say one thing for him; he was a man with a plan which he stuck to for two decades and then executed with clinical aplomb.
Then, on the crest of his finest hour, he left the political stage – because he set out with one aim, one job to do, and now his work was done.
And that’s a rare thing – someone who has a clear vision, who executes that vision and then vacates the stage because the job is oxo.
The temptation is to wait, to enjoy that taste of success, to bask in the glory, to enjoy a little while at the top after all of the struggle to get there.
You’d be forgiven for living off your success for a little while, for taking it easy and putting your feet up on the desk that you’ve coveted for so long.
There is one anomaly to Nigel of course because he hasn’t quite left the stage entirely – irony of ironies for a man whose avowed ambition was to get Britain out of Europe, he still draws a salary as an MEP.
And as reprehensible as he may be, you couldn’t help but doff your cap begrudgingly in his direction as he told his fellow European Parliamentarians: “When I told you what I wanted to do 17 years ago, you all laughed. Well who’s laughing now?”
There is something in all of us that makes us hang around too long; we’ve become familiar with our work, comfortable in our surroundings; we feel we’ve earned the right to coast just a little bit after coming through such choppy waters.
Our own political Machiavelli, Charles J Haughey, liked to think of himself as Ireland’s equivalent of a Chinese Emperor which, he was quick to point out, meant he could effectively go on for ever.
In the end, he fell back on Othello instead in his resignation speech, his final day as Taoiseach: “I have done the State some service; they know’t. No more of that”.
The service turned out to be of the self-serving variety but that’s for another day – in Haughey’s defence, he just wanted the same as the rest of us….to hang around a little longer.
Sports stars do it all the time; eek out one more year at the top to enjoy the adulation and forget that the knees are showing more signs of wear and tear than an eighty year old man’s.
Pop stars will go on at least one farewell world tour – only to follow it with the comeback concerts and eventually the farewells all over again.
Politicians won’t necessarily leave even if they fail to get elected – they’ll bounce back come the next election, only to eventually prove that other reptile, Enoch Powell’s pronouncement that all political careers ultimately end in failure.
Of course there are practical reasons to hang on too; you continue to get paid, for one thing, whereas a pension wouldn’t pay you enough to feed the cat, never mind the family.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
The only time in your life that you should ever utter the words: “Do you know who I am?” are if you’ve just had a bang on the head or you are unfortunately suffering from dementia.
Because, otherwise, the phrase ‘do you know who I am’ only serves to make things a whole lot worse.
Normally, the phrase is unleashed towards late night door staff on a wave of alcohol – and never once in the history of time has it produced the result the utterer had intended.
The doorman may well know who you are which is often the very reason you’re not getting into the place in the first instance – or if he doesn’t know who you are, he won’t be unduly influenced when he does, unless you’re a famous movie star or his long-lost cousin.
‘Do you know where I am?’ might often be closer to the phrase you’re looking for, because that would serve you well when you’re looking for a taxi.
‘Do you know who I am?’ is a threatening phrase that in truth wouldn’t frighten the cat. But if you’re anxious to dig the hole a few shovels deeper, you should follow up with ‘I’d like to speak to your manager.’
Managers can be elusive at the best of times, but they’re normally rarer than hen’s teeth when it comes to the small hours of the morning – and even if they’re there, they are most likely watching proceedings on CCTV…just so they know who you are, in case you yourself can’t remember.
‘I’d like to speak to your manager’ suggests that you and he or she are from the one social sphere which is several strata north of the one occupied by door staff.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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A Different View with Dave O’Connell
As it turned out, we were much closer to a Eurovision win than we could ever have imagined – not Ireland, of course, because we’ve now mastered the art of just sending cannon fodder to be blown out in the semi-final.
No, this was just two of us – myself and our eldest – who were lucky enough to be at Anfield for the Reds’ recent win over Brentford, where positioned in the seat right in front of us were four happy lads from Finland.
One of them, we now know, was Käärijä, the singer of the catchiest song at Eurovision, Cha Cha Cha.
But just a week before 7,000 people sung his catchphrase at the Eurovision Arena, he and two his mates – accompanied by an older bloke who had to be either his dad or from the national broadcaster – sat anonymously in the same corner of the lower level of Anfield’s Main Stand.
He was utterly unknown to us as well of course, and the only thing that saw him stand out was his green nail varnish. Live and let live, of course, but it still ensures that you make an impression even if it looks like you were just very late for St Patrick’s Day.
Käärijä may well be Liverpool’s greatest Scandinavian fan, although the bar for that is set fairly high, given that they invade the city in greater numbers every two weeks than the Vikings did just once during the first millennium.
Equally, he may not be a football fan at all – although, as the rest of the week proved, he sure loves a crowd.
Positioned as we were in the corner of the Main Stand, the next section to us, around the corner in the Anfield Road Stand – currently adding a top layer – was occupied by the visiting Brentford supporters.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
Contactless payments reached a record €17.9 billion in Ireland last year – up by 31 per cent on 2021, as people came out from under their Covid shell and appear to have left their cash behind them.
Figures from the Banking & Payments Federation found that – despite the cost-of-living increases – the Irish public made three million contactless payments a day, worth an average of €53 million in the final quarter of 2022.
Given that there are 3.8 million people in Ireland over the age of 18, that means that almost every single one of us tapped the card every day last year.
And again, on the presumption that there are a few who still prefer peeling a fifty off a wad of notes, the true figure may be even higher, as we eschew actual money every time we go into a restaurant, bar or shop.
Then comes the monthly morning of reckoning when you open your statement – electronic of course because, like paper money, banks don’t deal in paper statements anymore either – and your guilty secrets unfurl like a rap sheet before your very eyes.
Five taps of a Friday night in the local, followed by a five-ounce burger meal on the way home.
And just why did you need a family-pack of crisps when a small bag would have done? Was all that beer and wine really for a party, or a night in just for one?
Cash provided plenty of dark corners to ignore your profligacy, but there are no hiding places in the contactless world.
Worse still, until that morning of reckoning arrives, you’ve no clue how much you’ve spent, and handing over the card doesn’t hurt half as much as parting with hard cash.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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