Nice quote from the Irish Times to begin the morning:
“When you borrow, you lose a little bit of your sovereignty, no matter who you borrow from.”
So said Brian Lenihan, last Finance minister of the sovereign Republic (sic) of Ireland. From a government that had promoted reckless borrowing, a property boom and general fiscal anarchy, you can either take it as a belated admission of guilt or a unique moment of clarity. I would like to believe there has been a note of shame in the way that the government have denied that talks were taking place like most normal people who break under financial strain. Whoever, I suspect that, as ever, they simply don’t believe the little people should be told what is really going on, so while most senior EU figures are discussing the bailout, the governing coalition of FF and the now invisible Greens are adopting a position of implausible deniability.
Mick has been doing a great job of mapping the various opinions and serious commentary around this in his blogburst reviews (here and here). For those who are breaking under the strain (or their sides laughing) – what status should the Republic now have: Protectorate? Mandate? Economic Zone? Free State? Car Park? Commonwealth? Islamic Republic? Museum of Capitalism? [This list isn’t exhaustive, so feel free to add to it.]
Please support your answers with something light-hearted…
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