THIS may shock some of you, but I believed Boris Johnson when he denied a party had taken place at Number 10 last Christmas, and I think the information subsequently leaked backs that up.
We learned the 'party' involved Christmas jumpers, cheese and wine and a secret Santa - all proving that the English couldn't have a party even if they tried.
Imagine if the scenario were shifted from London to Dublin, and the party had been held in Leinster House rather than Downing Street. There would have been no confusion as to whether or not a party had taken place, as the Gardai would have been called out to the festivities at some stage during the evening.
Plus, there would also have been a mountain of evidence bearing witness to the festivities in the shape of discarded spirit bottles, broken furniture and patients in A&E being treated for a multitude of injuries. For when the Irish have a party, they have a damn good party.
What happened in Boris's house was such a tepid affair I doubt there was even much danger of Covid infection, as it's unlikely the virus would have turned up.
No - as the assembled civil servants, politicians and staff nibbled their cheese, sipped their wine, and handed out presents nobody wanted, Covid would have been having it large at a lock-in at some Irish pub, enjoying the craic.
The English lack a core component necessary for real enjoyment, namely an ability to lose themselves in a crowd, and I'd argue this is a core component of the difference between Irish and English sports fans.
An English fan is an individual within a crowd of other individuals, whereas an Irish fan is subsumed in with his companions becoming part of that larger entity.
This accounts for the lack of trouble with Irish fans, where any misbehaving individual is immediately reprimanded and disciplined by his fellows, as his behaviour reflects badly on them all.
English fans, however, have no such sense of togetherness, so when one of them misbehaves there is no comparable sense of ownership by the group.
If you doubt my theory, go online, and look up 'Irish football fans abroad'. You will search long and hard to find an instance of misbehaviour; instead, you'll discover large groups of drinking and indeed, drunk Irish supporters, behaving impeccably.
Then, for comparison, search for English football supporters abroad and, with those images, I'll rest my case...
And yes, I'm aware I'm generalising, but to hell with it; I may as well go all the way now I've begun. We Irish are more generous than the English - there, I said it. And I've proof of this last assertion, with Ireland presently sitting at number 3 to the UK's 7th position in the Charities Aid Foundation World Giving Index. Ireland also tops the list for GoFundMe donors compared to the UK, again at seven.
I can personally attest to this generosity, having launched a Facebook fundraiser for Cancer Focus NI, for whom I've recently become an ambassador.
In just two days, my £1,000 target was reached, with the fundraiser still open for another week. So if you feel like helping this amazing charity, just go to my Facebook page. All monies raised are spent locally.
The Irish also don't forget a past kindness. In 1847, the Choctaw Native American tribe donated $170 to help the starving in Ireland during the 'Great Hunger', with a statue later erected in Midleton, Co Cork, to commemorate the donation.
Then, 174 years later, as the Navajo and Hopi Nations suffered due to Covid, an Irish fundraiser raised more than $1.8m in recognition of their past act of generosity.
Gary Batton, chief of the Choctaw Nation, said: "We have become kindred spirits with the Irish in the years since the Irish potato famine."
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I'VE noticed over the years that mothers, being interviewed by journalists about sons who've perpetrated some heinous crime, invariably start their defence of the errant offspring with the same phrase: "I'm not saying my son's a saint, but he's nowhere near as bad as they're making out."
With that in mind, and considering the continuing revelations in the Ghislaine Maxwell case in New York where she's charged with aiding Jeffrey Epstein in his horrendous crimes, there's a possibility this year's Christmas Day broadcast by the Queen could start with her saying, "One isn't saying Prince Andrew's a saint, but..."
I wish you all a happy and healthy Christmas.
