Irish Voice
01-03-2006
THE year 2005 will go down as one of the most interesting of recent times.
Here's my annual eclectic list of 10 winners and losers.
Winner: Bono, named as Time magazine's Person of the Year along with Bill
Gates and his wife Melinda. It is an incredible achievement for the rock
star, whose extraordinary abilities are sometimes taken for granted. Bono
is worth the Nobel Prize, given some of the nonentities who have won it in
recent times. (Who was that woman from Honduras a few years ago?)
Loser: Colin Farrell. He's everything Bono is not, a spoiled brat who has
made bad movies recently and is constantly partying and carousing and
generally making a fool of himself. The drug addiction is just the latest
sad chapter in a tale that started off with such promise.
Winner: Frank McCourt, who ended the year atop The New York Times
bestseller list again with Teacher Man. It's an extraordinary performance
by the 75-year old Limerick native who already climbed the Olympian heights
on two other occasions.
Loser: Pierce Brosnan. I know he has said it was the best thing that
happened to him when he lost the Bond role, but the suave and dangerous
secret agent role was made for Brosnan. Best of luck with his indy career,
however.
Winner: Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain. Their courageous immigration
bill points a way forward to give undocumented a path to legality and
finally deals with a major question confronting America.
Loser: All those other representatives and senators who played to the
gallery with draconian legislation (stopping immigration, legal and
otherwise, criminalizing the undocumented, denying citizenship to
American-born children of undocumented, deporting 11 million illegals)
rather than addressing the fundamental issues.
Winner. Tom Brady, the incredible New England quarterback who has now won
three Super Bowl trophies, despite being drafted in the sixth round.
Loser: Brian Kerr. The former Irish soccer manager failed to get his team
into the World Cup, then blamed everyone except himself.
Winner: Senator John McCain, ended the old year as by far the most popular
politician in America according to a new Zogby poll. Third party candidate
for president anyone?
Loser: President George W. Bush had the year from hell. Hurricane Katrina,
New Orleans, Iraq, wiretapping and torture etcetera. Will be hoping for
better in 2006.
Winner: Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern, who spoke out boldly on behalf
of Irish undocumented on frequent trips to the states.
Loser: Irish Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, who leaked raw Gardai
(police) files to the newspapers in an attempt to discredit a journalist
Whatever happened to presumptions of innocence?
Winner: Celtic Tiger. The Irish economic boom continues uninterrupted. Long
live the Tiger!
Loser: Celtic Tiger. Everyone knows this can't keep up, but people just
keep spending and borrowing at a frantic rate.
Winner: Irish Americans, because under the new EU/U.S. agreement, there
will be many more airlines and flights to Ireland as well as new
destinations on both sides of the Atlantic in the next few years.
Losers: Irish travel agents in America whose ranks have thinned noticeably
because of the Internet booking phenomenon.
Winner: Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland because they have opened
Croke Park up to soccer and rugby after a century long ban.
Losers: The GAA in North America as the numbers of young emigrants heading
home permanently to Ireland meant far fewer teams.
Winner: Celtic for signing the best player of his generation in Roy Keane,
even if he is a little past it.
Loser: Manchester United for bringing such an abrupt end to Keane's
magnificent career with the club. Which part of legend do they not
understand?
Article copyright Irish Tribune.
V.19;
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