A Mustachioed Pair

February’s Magill carries an interesting, if strange, interview with Independent TD Finian McGrath. I don’t know if it’s Ireland’s spirited defeat or Middlesbrough’s hilarious victory, but everything seems quiet on the blogging front today. To liven things up, I thought I’d expose some of the odd similarities which Independent TD Finian McGrath shares with Respect MP George Galloway. Most obviously, both men have big dirty moustaches - such moustaches, I believe, are to be condemned. Secondly, neither of the men are members of a mainstream political party and stand alone in their respective parliaments. Thirdly, they both classify themselves as Socialists, and consider Fidel Castro a great man. Finally, they’ve both appeared on obscure national television shows - McGrath on something called You’re a Star, Galloway on the appropriately named Big Brother.

Now, to McGrath’s credit, he perhaps isn’t as extreme in each of the above cases: his moustache is not as thick as that of Galloway; McGrath is an Independent, Galloway setup an obscure alliance of Socialists and Islamic fundamentalists called Respect; McGrath considers Castro “a great guy”, while Galloway names the Cuban autocrat “the greatest man” he has ever met; Galloway emerged from Big Brother with his integrity at an all time low, McGrath came out of You’re a Star with an enhanced reputation, or so I’m told.