Charlie Houdini’s Final Escape

I had to get around to this sooner or later. There’s been a largely mixed reaction in the blogosphere about the demise of former Tea-shuck (or Irish prime minister in English) Charles “Champagne Charlie” J. Haughey, the man known as Houdini after his inimitable talent for worming his way out of any number of sticky situations. In pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland a blind eye was generally turned to the large scale corruption that went on among the political establishment, as long as favours were done in return. As a result Charlie was allowed to get away with it for years, the multitude of subsequent tribunals notwithstanding.

I could say many things about the man – that he (allegedly) took more backhanders than Kournikova and more kickbacks than Ronaldinho, that he was as bent as a nine bob note – but since I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead, I won’t say any of these things.