A chequebook in one hand and an aye in the other

It's already an eventful week for Irish (or Oirish) meddling in Britain's affairs. As we posted the other day, reclusive Oirish businessmen seem intent on showing the door to Man Utd manager Alex Ferguson. Today brings news (subs. req'd) that another pair of Oirish businessmen, although less reclusive than Magnier and McManus, are bidding for another piece of English heritage:

Waterford Wedgwood directors "Sir" Anthony O'Reilly and his brother-in-law, Mr Peter Goulandris, have sparked takeover speculation on the London market by, between them, taking a 3.3 per cent holding in Royal Doulton.

The 200 year old china firm has been in financial difficulties recently despite its exalted reputation (not least through the hugely influential Hyacinth Bucket), but they own a lot of property, so one view is that "Sir" Tony would buy the firm in order to shut down the core operation and speculate with the property assets. Which would be a weirdly accurate reflection of how Ireland's crony capitalists accumulated their wealth even when the productive side of the economy was in the tank in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, with reference to Man Utd, it didn't take long for someone to comment explicitly on the spectacle of two Irish businessmen tinkering with the winning recipe at a famous English football club:

[BBC online] And fans in Northern Ireland have give [MU manager Alex] Ferguson their full backing, saying they are disappointed by the actions of Magnier and McManus.

"We are embarrassed about the problems these Irishmen are causing Manchester United."

To this we can only say: Dudes! They're not Irish, they're Oirish!

And there was one other Irish intervention in English affairs today. As widely reported, PM Tony Blair's government only survived the Commons vote on university fees by five votes. And amongst the little details on who voted in which direction:

[RTE website] The fee system will not apply in Northern Ireland, and all the Northern Ireland parties had been expected to either abstain or vote against the bill.

However, it is thought that at least two SDLP [moderate nationalist] MPs supported Mr Blair.

So for a brief moment it was back to the glory days of Parnell when Irish MPs held the balance of power in the House of Commons. Immediately following the vote, the Tories made a lame point of order, questioning why Scottish MPs were allowed to vote on a measure that did not affect Scotland (they could of course have said the same thing about Northern Ireland). It's your Union, lads, play by the rules.