Two notable announcements from two notable people over the weekend. Queen Elizabeth (II) did a five-minute broadcast to ‘the nation’, and Leo Varadkar (acting Taoiseach) announced a return to medical practice.
The royal statement was greeted on BBC and RTÉ with gasps of admiration and talk of inspiration. I watched it myself and I gasped a bit too. This woman is nearly ninety-four, and there she was delivering a five-minute talk without even glasses. There is no doubt: she’s a pretty good advertisement for old age. And, of course, for being waited on hand and foot all your days.
The broadcast had two purposes. One was to rally ‘the nation’ and cheer them up, which it appears to have done, even to those parts of ‘the nation’ that aren’t part of ‘the nation’, if you follow me. The other purpose was to provide a commercial for the monarchy, and the continuity and steadiness it represents in a world of turmoil and change. It did that cleverly, with shots of QE2 when she was fourteen and did her first broadcast. Nice one, Lillibeth.
Leo Varadkar announced, (or someone did it for him) that he was returning to his practice of medicine. Not full-time, of course – one session, which I presume means one shift, per week. Why has he made this decision? Well, mixed motives.
It’s perfectly possible that he feels he has some medical skills and should put them to use in the service of the people, now that they’re struggling with this virus. Commendable motive. But politicians never do or say anything without at least a part of their brains saying “How will this play politically?”
Leo almost certainly believes it will play very nicely, thank you – the good doctor dons his scrubs and murmurs “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!” [Yes I know Virginia – the remainder of that quotation is ‘Or fill the wall up with our English dead”, but I didn’t think that either necessary or fitting.] A great number of voters will remember that when they’ve forgotten a lot of other things. And it’s a much more vivid and accessible memory than the fact that, with Micheál Martin, Leo is plotting to shut out from government the party which gained more first preference votes than any other in the recent general election. Nice one, boys.
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