Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week

I see there’s already one nomination in the comments on another thread for this week. Some might feel the coverage of Brian Lenihan’s death reflects the Sindo at its best – not afraid to be controversial, leading the way in challenging accepted ideas and slaughtering sacred cows; others might feel it’s the Sindo at its worst – hypocritical and inconsistent, hysterical and hyperbolic. So we see the same people who first adored Lenihan, then denounced him as an incompetent failure, now tell us that he was a great servant of the state, whose handling of the crisis will be seen in a much more positive light in future. For example

If Mr Lenihan was to be upset at some of the subsequent decisions taken by the new Government, it is a testimony to the policies he had pursued as Minister for Finance, that the Fine Gael/Labour Government is, to a large extent, pursuing those same policies, however right or wrong they may prove to be.

Given that the paper has spent so long telling us those same policies were wrong and dictated from Berlin, one wonders about the logic here.

There’s no need to dwell too much on the coverage of the death, but, as noted by Captain Rock last night, the Sindo has chosen to use his death to push its own agenda.

Whatever it was, he is the only minister in recent history to have done unpopular — even unthinkable — things. He tackled public sector pay. He stood up to the unions. He tried his damnedest to create the circumstances for a recovery, Clearly, hope and optimism were his watchwords, in life and in politics. We can forgive him for saying we had turned a corner.

I don’t remember the paper’s coverage of the Croke Park agreement being so positive as this suggests.

On another note, Nick Webb has a list of who is being hit hardest by the inflation and cuts. And who might that be? You’ve guessed it. It’s the middle classes (and young families). And who can afford to take further hits?

Major cuts in social welfare payments are needed to fix the economy. It’s going to get really nasty. But the estimated cost of living for those on welfare has only increased by half the national average, so there could be some wriggle room.

It seems that the only class that still exists is the middle class. The working class has become young families or social welfare recipients, or has just vanished altogether. Incredible.

Meanwhile, among the British upper class (they still have it there), we find Ruth Dudley Edwards praising Will and Kate.

Fiercely protective of each other, they present a united front to the press and the world, they draw on the wisdom and resources of the family firm to defend their privacy and, so far, they call the shots. William fell in love with Kate Middleton’s warm, secure, informal family as well as with her, and well he might, for they have brought her up confident, resilient and capable. Unlike the unfortunate Duchess of York, the Duchess of Cambridge has a head as well as a heart.

Heartwarming.