Essential advice from Póilín on holidays and democrats

Dear Póilín,

I wish to add my voice to the compaints about the failure of this Government to have a national day of mourning for Pope John Paul II.

It is bitterly ironic that the country that refused to "down tools" in memory of a great spiritual leader will, in two weeks, down tools in memory of a spiritually-bankrupt idealogy.

I am refering, of course, to the Stalinist fellow-travelling of the May Day bank holiday. A national holiday to celebrate "workers"! How can you holiday to celebrate people who (supposedly) work?! This is just another manifestation of the Jesus-creeping pinko crypto-fascist fingerless-gloved liberal left theocracy that thinks it runs this country.

These are exactly the people who are encouraging economic migrants from the Arab world to think they have rights in this country – what Irish migrant ever cared about his rights? All he cared about was his faith and his family, and sending the money he earned in hard labour home, and more power to him. Not for him the pansy-wansy placard-waving protests of the allegedly "exploited" Turkish employees of Gama. Sure aren't they earning half again what they'd earn in Turkey? And they get to live in a country with shopping centres and real toilets. You'd think they'd be grateful. Yet the lefties are encouraging them! Have none of these people seen Midnight Express?

So May Day will no doubt see the usual celebration of Stalinism by the unions in our cities, while the greatest world leader of the twentieth century goes unmourned in this post-Catholic, proto-socialist state. It's a disgrace.

Yours,

Brigín, Westport

Dear Brigín,

You have touched on a number of vital issues there that merit greater popular discussion. I myself felt there was not nearly enough comment and argument on the issue of a day of mourning in memory of John Paul the Great. Yet another example of the cosy media consensus, no doubt.

Myself, I don't understand why we employ Turkish workers in the first place – aren't there plenty of decent, hard-working Poles and Czechs who can do the labour on our building sites? But perhaps we should give Turkey a chance – they're making a strong effort to catch up with the European Union, and I gather the Turquoise Coast along the Meditteranean has some divine little resort towns with villas going for next to nothing.

Yours in advocacy,

Póilín

Dear Póilín,

Oh, what a thrill! Mary Harney is even more impressive in the flesh than on the telly. My wife organised a surprise trip for our 20th wedding anniversary to the Progressive Democrats' annual party conference last weekend. We've always been fans, but to see our Tánaiste live on stage us gave us both goose bumps.

It was like hearing the young John F Kennedy make his famous speech, when Mary Harney said: "The choice is not between self or society. The real choice is about what type of society each of us wants and each of us contributes to."

Exactly! We're very happy to contribute to our community in Dalkey, and also to the development of a little rural hamlet we visit in the summer in West Cork. If that means higher prices for lattés and Châteauneuf du Pape, we're prepared to pay our way.

Of course, her speech was uplifting and made many trenchant points, but the conversation on the ground amongst the ordinary members and supporters was invigorating also. There was much debate about the best way to kick out sponging asylum seekers, and how minimum wage legislation forces costs up and makes us uneconomic, leaving everybody worse off. Whatever about minimum wages for foreign workers.

Anyway, we just wanted to share our "travel log" with your readers.

Good luck,

Dessie, Co Dublin

Dear Dessie and Mary,

Many thanks for your invigorating view from the ground at the PD's conference. I practically got goose-bumps myself from your account of the inspiring rhetoric. Readers, if any of you have your own accounts of ground roots politics or local events, please send them in.

Slán for this week,

Póilín