There Are No Heroes in this Crisis - Only Victims and Villains

The last 24 hours were eventful, to say the least. Yesterday, we began with comedy, when a protestor blocked the gates of Leinster House with a massive concrete lorry painted with anti-Anglo slogans, in a futile gesture of rage against the banking bail-out.  The period ended in tragedy this morning with the Government finally beginning the process of actually facing up to how much trouble the country is in, effectively nationalising Allied Irish Bank, and announcing that our Budget in December will not only cover 2011, but will set out how frugality will reign in Ireland for the next 4 years.

Last night, David McWilliams (Hail to the Mighty Ginger One!) claimed on Vinnie Browne's show on TV3 that the truck driver in question will be hailed as a hero by some - a trend that Fionnan Sheehan claimed would be irresponsible and dangerous, given that a member of the Gardai or the general public could have been seriously injured in the stunt. While I would have some sympathy for McWilliam's dismissal of Sheehan's "po-faced" complaints, the Indo journalist did hit on a simple fact here - no matter how much the general public might sympathise with the "Man in the Cement Lorry ", none of those who are truly responsible for this mess would suffer from this protest, novel and eye-catching though it was. A Garda may have been injured, or a Dail steward hurt, the traffic in Dublin may have been snarled for a short period, but would Cowen, Lenny and co. suffer? Not one jot. The "Man in the Cement Lorry" has already, after his time in a Garda cell last night, spent as much time in custody as Sean Fitzpatrick, and much more time than PJ Sheehan, who richly deserved the hospitality of the Boys and Girls in Blue for his drunken threats. There is no justice to be had in this "Republic".

Our ruling class are safe and snug, insulated from life in the real world. As evidence for this claim, I offer the following video:



For God's sake, even in the face of sex toys, these buffoons waffle away! They spin and spin and spin, until they have completely forgotten where the truth lies. Fibs are only useful if the teller can keep hold, in the back of their mind, of what the truth actually is. Otherwise, instead of allowing the lie to buy them the time or space to figure out how the country can get out of this mess, the fibber becomes obsessed with the falsehood, and substitute reality with their handmade fantasy. Our Government, indeed all of our politicians, have fallen in love with the wonder of their own lies.

It is because of their inability to get used to reality that,  also on Vinnie B last night, Peter Matthews was estimating that we would be on the hook for €65 billion (before we knew AIB would be nationalised). That's why Paul Somerville of Delta Index was saying that if we play dead and don't go to the bond markets for the rest of the year, then the gig will be up, and the world will know we are broke (oh, and what does the Government announce this morning? This PIIGSie won't be going to the market till January). Their fear of actually having to lead and govern is why AIB has been nationalised this morning.

There are no heroes in this country any more - not the Man in the Cement Lorry, not McWilliams, Matthews and Sommerville, not anyone. There are only those who will suffer, to varying degrees, from the path this nation has embarked on,  and those villains who are responsible for laying us so low.