Things are getting curious and curiouser.

Lewis Carroll would be proud of Dr Leo Varadkar.  The best way to understand this country is to use a looking glass.  When this week Brendan Howlin stepped into the debate about when the new president would be inaugurated, I thought it strange.  We have a presidential commission, we can inaugurate a president on the day or as close as possible to November 11^th. That could have allowed our president to attend centenary events to mark the end of WW1 as acting President and come home to be inaugurated on November 12^th.

But November 12^th was already in the diary for Donald Trump. So we’ll get the president inaugurated in the wee small hours of November 11^th rushed off to Flanders Fields and home to tug at the forelock of one of the world’s great misogynists, bigots and liars.

Exactly a week ago, social media was wall to wall with FG supporters clapping Dr Varadkar on the back as to how well he’d done by putting the pope in his box over historic child abuse cases in Ireland. The Donald well be a much bigger fish to fry.

The real measure of Leo’s thoroughly modern Ireland will be if he has the political guts to tell Trump as he once promised what’s what in an international context. But nobody is holding their breathe on this one.

Because at the back of it we all know that Dr Varadkar is the luckiest of our Taoisigh ever. He has the EU negotiating for him, he has a divided opposition and thinks he is popular. How anyone could get to be Taoiseach without serving in an economic ministry is unusual. Sure what could possibly go wrong?

His problem might be that when luck runs out as it eventually must, it runs out like a light and is gone before you know it. There will be demonstrations and it will negatively impact on Varadkar’s popularity. And all the blarney and ballyhoo won’t hide it this time.

It never does, not even in wonderland.

Time for us to grow up when it comes to the bare truth

Vico Road, now there’s a blast from the past.  In the day there was a lot of controversy as a legal eagle with an address there tried his best to hold on to the plush property that he’d put up as collateral against his property portfolio. The banks no longer respect privilege or entitlement as they moved to recover their pound of flesh. That didn’t stop many populists who rushed to protest as the bailiffs arrived.

When the fuss all died down Vico Road in Killiney returned to being an aged bastion of all that is middle class about Ireland. Until of course earlier this year when it was proposed that a small section of beach should be reserved for naturists by the local council. The locals are by all accounts aghast at the prospects of the riff raff arriving down to a little cove to get their kit off and to enjoy the sun in our unpredictable climate.

It seems that they are concerned that peeping toms with high powered binoculars will disrupt the quiet of the leafy suburbs.  The reality however is that any peeping tom who fancies a cheap thrill can 24/7 go online to view enough flesh on adult websites.

So, little of this phases me anymore.  I smile when i read how Victorian and prurient values still exist in some people’s minds. For decades naturists areas on beaches have been accepted on the continent. People there consider it as normal. Peeping Tom’s don’t seem to have discouraged topless sunbathing there.  Indeed Irish sun worshippers leave their discretion at the departure lounge as they fly abroad to top up the all over tan on the Med.

If Irish people abroad can use clothing optional beaches, why not at home? Why not in Co Wexford? Ireland for its own conservative reasons down through the years has resisted ear marking areas along our coast as clothing optional.  As recently as 2 years ago our then Mayor vehemently opposed any suggestion that a section of Wexford’s coast should be designated clothing optional on the grounds that if he walked down Main St naked he’d expect to be arrested. To be fair to him, he is right. Most people would expect an arrest of anyone who strips off on Main St in any town anywhere.

But that was not what was proposed. Wexford has 220Km of mostly sandy and in many cases secluded coastline. Surely it is possible to find a small area secluded area to facilitate naturists?  I doubt if there are many naturists in the country, let alone the county. But perhaps it’s time for Wexford County Council to show a bit of leadership and consider areas that might be suitable for clothing optional sun worshippers and put it out to public consultation?