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• Saturday, June 21, 2008 02:15 PM

  NY Shooter, I don't think you're any kind of a fish, not even a cod

  Look, we're living in parallel universes. It's dark here now and the rain is pouring down, even though it's the summer solstice. Those with a spirit of equanimity just shrug and say "It's good for the grass". Others more easily exasperated, such as myself, are wondering about all this talk of climate change. I got fed up of this relentless carry-on about Obama being a Muslim or not and departed, having written to Nordal about the recently-deceased Nuala O'Faolain. In the US, the sudden death of Tim Russert was big news but, outside the United States, he was unknown. For instance, Russert's obituary in "The Times" (London) was a single column and Nuala's (2lst May) covered a whole page.

  On the other hand, (I hope that's not a platitude!), nearly everyone in the developed world is interested in the American election because we all know about the might of the American military-industrial complex. It certainly is interesting to learn that Barack is changing horses mid-stream on a range of issues - from funding to supporting a representative in the Georgia elections in July who made the "monstrous" mistake that Hillary also made in trusting Bush, Cheney and, let's not forget, Colin Powell. Powell came before the UN and tried to cajole the member states into backing the invasion of Iraq. There is huge bitterness in Britain about Tony Blair (former Prime Minister) swallowing the bait and British soldiers being killed in what is perceived world-wide as an American adventure. That is the perception; maybe objective historians will eventually be able to persuade us otherwise.

  You know what, NY Shooter, I'm quite glad that I come from what a NYT columnist this week described as an erstwhile "Beer-soaked backwater", using his pique at our rejection of the Lisbon Treaty as a weapon of derision. One of the reasons it was rejected was the voters' objection to the idea of a European army but I'm not going to bore you with all of that. Yeah, we're little but that doesn't stop us from being passionate in our ideas.

  I'm off now. Good night and I'll try a bit of Spanish this time, in the hope of impressing, "buena suerte".

  —maureenodonnell Read maureenodonnell's other letters
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