For most people, though, I suspect this kind of thing simply adds to the sense of a Government and a country that has given up on trying to fix hard problems, and is increasingly simply trying to paper over the cracks with rainbows.
It does not speak well of Mr. Bakhurst that he would try something like this.
While I am not permitted to attribute quotes to the diplomatic outpost in question, it’s fair to describe the reaction as withering.
What I will say is this: Village is in the financial position it is in precisely because nobody is buying what it is selling.
A year ago, there was an opportunity to offer the electorate something really different. Instead, the choice has been made to offer the electorate some empty rhetoric.
The Israelis, I’m afraid, do not always make life easy for their friends.
After all, one might also argue that given that this mess happened on her watch, the Minister for Communications has a moral obligation to resign and repay her own salary. Right?
A politician with the balls (forgive me) to stand up and say what a lot of people are thinking – that RTE should be cut loose from public funding and left to its own devices – might quickly win the hearts and minds of a great many more voters than conventional wisdom suggests.
Ultimately, none of this will impact the outcome of the conflict one way or another.
There’s a general and measurable shift in attitudes toward the sanctity of life.
Arguments about misinformation cannot be sustained when the Government itself is openly misinforming voters about the consequences of what they are asking the public to vote on.
They both have a big challenge in setting something up to begin with. And they’ve both made different sacrifices to go about it differently.