As we Irish grit our teeth . . .

The Republic of Ireland, where I'm from, is in grave financial trouble, as many know, and is being bailed out to the tune of €85billion by the EU-IMF. The UK also announced recently that it would lend us £7billion. Joan Burton TD, the Irish Labourt Party's front-bench spokesperson on finance in the Dáil, the Irish parliament, described the state last night as 'banjaxed', which means 'in a right mess'.


Britain - and Ireland - are getting Arctic weather at the moment. Above is Matt's comment in today's Daily Telegraph. Matt is a genius.

I don't know if the late John Wayne had any Irish blood in him, though Maureen O'Hara, with whom he starred in a number of movies and who turned 90 a few months ago, God bless her, is as certifiably Irish as they come by birth and by virtue of her glorious red hair. But I presume the bag we are sending is 'True Grit'.