In the wake of Ireland’s ignominious exit from the Rugby World Cup, I considered crafting a lengthy post arguing that coach Eddie O’Sullivan is merely a very high-profile example of an Irish professional (a category encompassing lawyers, medics, politicians, business leaders, and educators) involved in an organisation that is “world-class” only in the sense of how well it pays its senior figures. O’Sullivan’s misfortune, if that is appropriate description of the fate of someone who still looks on course to pocket at least 450,000 euro a year for the next four years (or the equivalent in a lump sum payoff), is that in sport the gap between hype and reality is eventually (and brutally) exposed.

However, you might be glad to hear, I don’t have the time or the inclination to marshall the hyperlinks that would buttress my sour thesis. Anyway, I’m keeping my polemical powder dry for a post later this week on Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, which I decided to pick up after a review in the Irish Times both intrigued and irritated me (which, I suppose, are both things a good review should do.) More to come. . .

In the meantime, have you seen this brilliantly undiplomatic New Yorker cover?