Cowen elected

Last week Brian Cowen was crowned as the leader of Fianna Fail. The Party was overjoyed to find he was unopposed and avoided an election never mind a divisive contest. A recording emerged of the Tiaoseach-elect singing ‘The town I loved so well’ which proved he wasn’t as bad a singer as most but that he should probably stick to politics. There were numerous articles commenting on how Mr Cowen had been politically charmed – always moving on from a Department before it was hit by difficulties. Others claimed that Cowen wouldn’t devote much time to Northern Ireland but then why would he? The deal is done, the power-sharing Executive is in place so why would he, or Gordon Brown devote much attention to NI. One suspects they will both have more pressing economic problems to deal with closer to home.