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A case of life imitating art?
Read more about: Dublin South Central, Irish Politics, Progressive Democrats, Satire 
I subscribe to The Phoenix magazine and received their ‘election special’ in the post this morning which, as you guessed, has a slightly heavier political slant than usual.
Their actual ‘election special’ section, however, was little more than an extended edition of the very hit-and-miss “satire” pages which grace every issue.
Regular readers of this section will be aware of their “Enforcing Justice” comic strip which is usually a three or four panel, bottom of the page comic which lampoons Michael McDowell. In fact McDowell himself referenced it during a recent appearance on Ray Darcy’s Today FM programme.
This issue, however, Enforcing Justice gets a full page to itself and follows the embattled justice minister as he attempts to salvage himself from electoral disaster. I’ve scanned the strip in for your enjoyment as we see how life really does imitate art (hopefully its artists and copyright holders won’t mind as long as I make it clear that it’s their work and was originally published in The Phoenix, Vol. 25, No. 10 – May 18th to 31st).
Before you read it, it’s worth keeping in mind that with the issue hitting my doormat this morning, the chances are it went to print on Monday or Tuesday at the latest – well before The Rumble in Ranelagh.
I was surprised that McDowell was trundling the ladder trick out again. If anything signalled a lack of ideas it was regurgitating the ladder, even if he sent Liz up to do the hanging (lovely job Liz…). Fair play to the lads, a very prescient strip, and the timing of the Pole Up the Hole (TM) makes the gag even better.
I wonder will we see Bertie on a soap box too (or maybe a beer crate). The soap box is what won the 1992 UK election for John Major, confounding even the BBC’s exit poll prediction.