The coalition partners are likely to show adequate respect for one another’s susceptibilities since the grisly recent fate of the Fianna Fail-Labour

The coalition partners are likely to show adequate respect for one another’s susceptibilities since the grisly recent fate of the Fianna Fail-Labour coalition is an adequate warning of what happens when such respect is denied, as it was by Albert Reynolds.Some commentators are stressing the ideological gap they think will exist between Fine Gael and its left-wing partners, Labour and the Democratic Left. The Irish economy is in better shape than it has been for 30 years, and still improving; all the indications seem to show “set fair”; tax cuts can be afforded. John’s parliamentary colleagues know from personal experience, over years, that he is a person whose word is as good as his bond. And they also know that that equation cannot be taken for granted in politics.The new government has a lot going for it, quite apart from the apparently auspicious euphoria of yesterday’s proceedings. It must, therefore, have come as a surprise to the television audience to witness the esteem and affection in which John Bruton is held in the world of parliamentary politics as distinct (usually) from the politics of the media. Liam always sounded like a man who felt it would be extremely sinful to give the public what it wants.John is apt to sound and look the same way, especially on television.

His immediate predecessor as leader of Fine Gael, Garret FitzGerald, had a naturally sunny personality, and also cultivated media people to good effect.In both these respects John Bruton is less like Garret than like Garret’s predecessor, Liam Cosgrave – also a bete noire of the Irish media. The Irish media don’t like him and have consistently underestimated him. As Norah Owen, deputy leader of Fine Gael, said in her nomination speech for John Bruton: John “is not a media-driven politician”. Those qualities are one of the main reasons why his election by the Dail was welcomed by members of all the parties represented there.Throughout Ireland many of those who watched must have been a little puzzled by what they saw. In an exceptionally dignified and generous, and sometimes gently humorous speech, he did not merely wish his successful rival well, he paid tribute to his personal qualities.

It had been expected that Bertie Ahern, leader of Fianna Fail, would be Taoiseach in a renewed Fianna Fail-Labour coalition. John Bruton led the Opposition in exposing the anomalies and contradictions of the relations between Fianna Fail and Labour, and this contributed mightily to the wrecking of the attempt at renewal of that coalition – and thus to the dashing of Bertie Ahern’s personal hopes.
Mr Ahern might have been expected to be bitter, but if he was, he didn’t let it show. Even for the naturally acrimonious, a month of sustained confrontation was enough Partly the tone was set, with magnanimity, by the loser. How to Implement Change in Your Company – So Everyone is Happy with the Results! The exclamation mark must be for added impact!. I have been watching the Dail, on and off, for more than 50 years now, and I have never before seen in those precincts such an effusion of sweetness and light as that which accompanied the election of John Bruton as Taoiseach yesterday. Partly this was due to the general sense of relief that the parliamentary crisis was over. It’s not very inspiring, really .But one recent book certainly is going down a storm at Independent’s dramatic new perch in Canary Wharf.

One book begins by getting straight to the point: “There was once a bright young man who wanted to get rich.” And guess what? He succeeds. One of the books is even called Neurolinguistic Programming: The N e w Art and Science of Getting What You Want. It’s the new age: Ich bin ein data processor.But through the filter of these metaphors the immediate goal remains well-defined. The books talk of the “persuadable brain” as if it were a computer, as if self-esteem were programmable.