Eamonn Kelly: The Week That Was

From top: Minimum unit pricing for alcohol came into effect last week; Eamonn Kelly

Brilliant, Holmes!

In the US, Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of impersonating a visionary. Visionaries, as we know, don’t blink when talking. This is what makes them visionaries. They see the stuff that the rest of us miss when blinking.

She was also found guilty of speaking in a deep voice to impress investors, which worked surprisingly well, particularly on rich old white men; along with two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy fraud, and one count of dressing like Steve Jobs.

The United States, which is big in everything from burgers to cars (but not blue-collar wages), promises a hefty prison sentence for each violation, with a generous 20 years for each count in the offing. It’s unlikely to come to that; popular gal that she was. Blink and you’ll miss it.

Careless Sarah

On Tuesday Twitter was aflame with condemnation of journalist Sarah Carey, who writes for the Indo and other established print media. It was difficult to nail down the exact infringement, except that Carey seemed to be implicated in a cover-up of a Pfizer exec running an anonymous twitter account to influence public opinion in favour of vaccine efficacy.

And even despite people requesting clarification on Twitter as to the exact nuances of the situation, no clarification was offered by anyone, with all commenters apparently happy out simply castigating Sarah Carey. There are times when Twitter really does need journalists to sum up a story.

A quick google shed no light on the twitter storm, but an archive article said that Carey, a former member of Fine Gael who helped negotiate the Esat deal with Denis O’Brien, and notably lied to an official tribunal – one looking at political corruption – about leaking of information, on the grounds that “everyone was doing it”.

But it wasn’t just that Sarah leaked, it was the way she leaked. Because Sarah leaked politically in an attempt to shift focus from herself and Fine Gael onto Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, the then opposition. She wrote a confessional article in the Irish Times in 2011 and sought public absolution.

I’m guessing this political affiliation is the root of the general twitter discontent aimed at Sarah Carey. The takeaway from all this, is that one of Ireland’s leading journalists is essentially a Fine Gael shill.

Then the elite wonder why people get annoyed at what often appears to be a rigged game.

Drink

And on that score, a conspiracy theorist might be forgiven for suspecting that the sudden hike in alcohol pricing at supermarkets and off-licences, on the pretext of health concerns, is a strategy to deter home drinking, in order to get customers back to the pubs, to be fleeced in their droves like they were in the rare oul times. Let’s hear it now for Arthur’s Day, once coincidentally placed next to Culture Night, spinning the idea that drinking is culture.

Tall Poppy

Australia came across as all tall poppyish when they placed reigning Australian Tennis Open Champion, Novak Djokovic under house arrest, when his vaccination clearance papers didn’t measure up to Melbourne’s covid criteria.

Scott Morrison, the neo-liberal Australian PM, took great pleasure in reminding everyone that champions are the same as everybody else, before revoking the Serbian’s visa and placing him in detention in a down-market emigrant hotel, one that suffered a notable Covid outbreak in recent times.

Critics accused Morrison of making a criminal of Djokovic, while interested potential screenwriters of the incident mused over the Dickens-style fact that the name of the main character in the drama is “Novak”.

Coups

Meanwhile, the US was celebrating the first anniversary of Donal Trump’s attempted coup. Security was upped in the expectation that interested parties armed to their Second Amendment teeth with automatic assault rifles, grenade launchers, surface to air missiles and tactical nuclear devices, (all acquired for personal protection against burglars), might descend on the Capitol to try it again, for the craic. This will be it now every Jan 6th for the foreseeable future. What a fitting Trumpian legacy for Nollaig na mBan.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan, home of Borat, demonstrated during the week how to stage an insurrection. Or is it all that it seems? How convenient for Russia, intent on rebuilding a semblance of the old Soviet bloc, to have the Kazakhstan leader admit inability to mange the new and totally unexpected terrorist threat and invite in Russian troops to manage the situation. And how coincidental it should all happen on Nollaig na mBan, with the whole world looking at the US and everyone busy taking down their Christmas trees.

Movie Choices

On that note, there is a really good film by Ridley Scott, though strangely under-rated on the IMDB poll, called The Counsellor (2013), from a story by Cormac McCarthy. The plot hinges on the murder of a drug mule for a Mexican cartel, who is apparently attached to the innocent Counsellor of the title. To the counsellor the connection is a coincidence, but as a colleague patiently explains to him, the Cartels don’t believe in coincidences.

Finally, the Film Director Peter Bogdanovich, died this week. He directed the classic “The Last Picture Show (1971), which was shot in black and white and brought Jeff Bridges and Cybil Shepherd to prominence, while featuring outstanding performances from Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman, and the music of Hank Williams Sr. The film is a must-watch if you’ve never seen it.

RIP too to Sidney Poitier, the actor who made startling movie history by returning a slap to the face, literally, of entitled, complacent elitism.

Eamonn Kelly is a Galway-based  freelance Writer and Playwright.

Previously: Eamonn Kelly on Broadsheet

Related posts:

Eamonn Kelly: Mileage and Morals Eamonn Kelly: This House Is Not A Home Eamonn Kelly: Monday Round-Up Eamonn Kelly: Supporting Actors