Thanks, Boss

This country gets to look more and more like Putin's Russia every day. Eoghan Harris, the journalist whose column in the Sunday Independent offers a weekly window onto the fascinating, intricate anatomy of the human brain in the late stages of acute delusional lunacy, and whose lovelorn, jealous devotion to Bertie Ahern and Fianna Fail was one of the most entertaining aspects of the run-up to the General Election, has just been nominated to the Seanad by Ahern himself. Fair enough, it's not like he can actually do anything from there - isn't the Seanad just an ante-room to the Dail bar? - but it's still somewhat staggering to see such a blatant display of Government-media mutual masturbation at work. And to think that just this week people were complaining that there was no official honours system in Ireland...

If you don't know what the Seanad is, you really don't need to know, and never will, but you can read about the new appointments (including that other seeping-wound-of-corruption, John Ellis, here). And there are some choice (and diverse) opinions on the wonder that is Harris here.