Politics

WHAT WOULD CHARLIE HAVE DONE" WAS THE QUESTION ONE CABINET minister posed whenever preparations for the National Plan ran up against a problem. And the plan produced was Charlie-shaped, guaranteed to float any government past the rocky waters of immediate electoral crisis. The Great Survivor paid it its greatest compliment when after a stinging attack on its lack of purpose, he admitted it would keep them in office for the next eighteen months, and more important, keep him out.

I JOINED FINE GAEL BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT to beat the green tambourine," said the young Fine Gael activist. He was bewildered by the more strident nationalist tone which has marked government stateements on Northern Ireland over the last eighteen months.

OVER THE PAST YEAR the leader of the opposition Charles Haughey has been meeting senior executives in the newspapers and RTE in an effort to' improve the coverage he receives in the media. Those who previously would have taken the view that breaking bread with C.J. Haughey could be compared only to supping with the devil have been converted.

Young Fine Gael is distressed about Garret's neglect of policies. Mark Brennock reports.

"THANKS," SAID THE WOMAN HANDING KEN Livingstone a copy of his new biography to sign. "Thanks for everything you're doing for us." She was neat, spinsterish, and timid. Livingstone handed her the signed book. "I hope we can keep on doing it," he said gently.

Three chapters of ROUND up THE USUAL SUSPECTS by Derek Dunne and Gene Kerrigan, published today by MAGILL, outline the political background to the Nicky Kelly case. The section printed below is taken from the second of these: 'A State Of Siege',

NOW that the dust has settled and the losers have been consoled and the winners are deciding what to do with all the money they can fiddle on their expenses, it's time to assess the real results of the Euro elections. The newspapers and the parties have given us the cooked version of the figures, Wigmore is as usual ready with the real story.

Shane No More:
The most significant result in the European election was John Noonan's victory over Shane Ross in Dublin. With 14,604 first preferences the Sinn Fein man had a thumping majority of 6,505 over the wasp-waisted flibbertigibbet from TCD, a decisive outcome in this crucial struggle for the soul of the capital city and one which has not been given nearly as much attention as it deserves, probably because the media are terrified to face up to the implications, whatever they are.

In November 1982, before the last general election, the Labour Party published its election programme. We have identified thirty-one major commitments from this programme and, as the following article shows, progress has been made in only six of these. By Colm Toibin

AT A RECENT PRESS CONference to announce the settting up of the Whittaker Commission into the Penal Services, Michael Noonan refused to answer a question about what he is doing to treat prisoners in Mountjoy who are drug addicts. At the moment there is no treatment. for prisoners who are drug: addicts. Heroin is also availlable in the prison, as it has' been for some time.