GOOD WEEK
Prof Robert Kelly: The star of the BBC blooper, in which his children invaded his news interview, laughed off the error, saying the family were happy the viral clip had "brought so much laughter to so many people"
Jack Kennedy: The 17-year-old jockey from Dingle announced himself on racing's big stage this week when he rode Labaik to victory in the first race at Cheltenham – the start of an auspicious career
BAD WEEK
Geert Wilders: The Dutch far-right leader had been proclaiming himself in the vanguard of a populist revolt sweeping the West, following in the wake of Brexit and Donald Trump. In the event, although his party did gain some seats, his support fell away, and he came a distant second to Prime Minister Mark Rutte's party
Katie Hopkins: The British provocateur was on the wrong end of a landmark legal decision when a London court found she had libelled the blogger Jack Monroe on Twitter by falsely accusing her of scrawling on war memorials. The former Apprentice contestant has spent the week unconvincingly trying to laugh off the £24,000 award and significant legal damages
GIVE ME A CRASH COURSE IN . . . SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE 2.0 Why are we talking about Scottish independence again?
Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced this week that she would ask the Scottish parliament to authorise a second independence referendum. Her Scottish National Party will, with the support of the pro-independence Scottish Greens, have enough votes to win the vote in parliament at Holyrood next week.
Didn’t Scotland say no to independence in 2014?
Yes. But Sturgeon says the UK's decision to leave the European Union, which most Scots opposed, has materially changed the circumstances since the last referendum. She claims that Prime Minister Theresa May has ignored Scotland's interests in preparing for Brexit, arguing that Scots should be able to choose between a "hard Brexit" and an independent Scotland.
Can she decide to have another referendum just like that?
No. For a referendum to be binding it needs the approval of the UK government, at Westminster, as well as of the Scottish parliament. May said this week that there is no need for a second referendum, no evidence that Scots want one, and every danger that it will be bitter and divisive. But if the Scottish parliament calls for a second independence vote Westminster is unlikely to block it outright.
When would the referendum be held?
That’s the key question. Sturgeon wants to hold it between autumn 2018 and spring 2019, after the shape of an exit deal between the UK and the EU is known but before the UK has actually left. May is likely to insist that the Scots wait until after Brexit, or even until after the next Scottish parliamentary elections, in 2021. Sturgeon is also demanding that every aspect of the referendum be “made in Scotland”, including the timing and the framing of the question.
Could an independent Scotland stay in the EU after the rest of the UK leaves?
The European Commission says no. Even if Scotland votes for independence before the UK leaves the EU it would have to apply for EU membership afresh. Some in Brussels suggest that Scotland would have to join a queue with other accession states. Scots say that, as the country is already in the EU, and is applying all its rules and standards, accession should be quick and easy. Their biggest problem could be countries such as Spain, which will not want to encourage their own secessionist movements by making things too easy for Scotland.
Will the referendum be all about Europe?
No. Sixty-two per cent of Scots voted to remain in the EU last year, but many of those who wanted to stay in the EU also want to remain in the UK. And one in three who backed independence in 2014 voted to leave the EU last year. So Brexit alone will not win the referendum for Sturgeon. The first minister made clear this week that she will use the weakness of the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn to warn Scots that they face a generation of Tory rule from Westminster. The pro-union side will point out that the economic case for Scottish independence is less attractive now that the price of oil has slumped.
Which side is likely to win?
Polls show that most Scots would reject independence, but the margin is narrow. In 2014 Scotland voted to remain part of the UK by 55 to 45 per cent. Most recent polls show support for independence at 47 or 48 per cent, and there has been no surge in support for independence since the Brexit vote. Nationalists point out that they started the 2014 campaign at 27 per cent and almost closed the gap.
SOUNDBITES
"We are all grateful for the courage, resolution and exemplary commitment to the aims of the Coast Guard that Capt Fitzpatrick and her colleagues have consistently displayed"
President Michael D Higgins after one of the Irish Coast Guard's helicopters went missing
"I did not refer to the person, the now president, as being racist. My comment was in respect of his language. Language and words can be used by people in many regards"
Enda Kenny clears the air ahead of his White House meeting with Donald Trump
"Some of his actions caused great hurt, and the circumstances giving rise to his resignation in 1992 have been the subject of ongoing analysis. He asked for forgiveness from all those he hurt"
Canon Michael McLoughlin of the diocese of Galway on the death of its former bishop Eamonn Casey
SEVEN DAYS: IN NUMBERS
59.9%
Percentage of people who owned their home in Dublin in the final quarter of 2016, the lowest level since records began, in 2000
34
Dublin’s ranking in the annual Mercer Quality of Living Survey, ahead of Paris (38), London (40) and Rome (57)
3
The Republic of Ireland’s position in a ranking of EU countries’ cost of living. Prices here are 22.5 per cent above the average
19%
Percentage of Irish people who smoke daily, according to the Tobacco Free Ireland action plan
$36.5m
Amount in federal income tax that Donald Trump paid in 2005, on an income of about $153 million, according to a leaked return
67cm
Amount of snow – or 26.5in – that Storm Stella dumped in parts of the northeastern United States this week
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8: Coast Guard search: Sonar equipment to scan seabed arrives at Blacksod
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THE QUESTION: IS ST PATRICK’S DAY TRAVEL A WASTE?
It's as much part of the St Patrick's Day experience as the parade and too much Guinness: complaining about the cost of Ministers travelling the globe to sell the image of Ireland Inc. Those perennial complaints have been exacerbated this year by the sight of Taoiseach Enda Kenny yucking it up with Donald Trump at the White House.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is highly sensitive to the perception that the trips are exotic junkets, repeatedly emphasising cost-saving measures. This year the Cabinet has fanned out to 27 countries, with seven Ministers visiting the United States alone. Last year Irish Embassies and Consulates helped deliver 348 promotional events and engagements. The entire cost of sending all those Ministers around the world? Since Kenny became Taoiseach, in 2011, about €1 million.
And the upside? In 2015 Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan claimed that the previous year’s programme helped to secure €5 million in new business for Irish exporters.
But such a calculation misses the real value of the programme, which is a prime example of soft power. As conceived by the Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye, soft power is the way countries can influence other actors through attraction rather than coercion, whether through its political values, foreign policies or cultural influence.
It is in the latter sphere that Ireland excels, with a cultural reach far outstripping that of many much larger countries. How successful is Germany, say, at packaging and selling its immense musical, intellectual, culinary and literary heritage?
Soft power is notoriously difficult for governments to wield – it’s a highly mutable resource, after all – but the St Patrick’s Day programme of ministerial travel, leveraging the single day when the world pays just a smidgen of attention to us, must count as one of the most focused and successful exercises of soft power in modern diplomacy.
