Kevin Myers occupies a valuable and provocative position in Irish journalism. A voice for free thinking individualism in a generally liberal and left-leaning newspaper, he provides the same service, by extension, for the similarly-inclined cultural landscape of modern Irish life.
It is right (in both senses) and appropriate that he has hooked up with fellow mavericks Eamon Dunphy and Shane Ross on Today FM's Last Word, where he sits in as an irascible and spunky host. His opinions, however, are not as unusual as they once were. The recent onslaught of deregulated economics and communications have served to break down the cosy assumptions of the soft Irish left, so that, these days, Myers sounds like he is defending a different type of orthodoxy, one that could almost have him accused of being a reactionary, like a brandy-sniffing old colonel bewailing the "horrors" of modernity.
This collection offers a thoroughly engaging assortment of his views, on everything from European history to the pleasures of skinny-dipping in West Cork - "with the glorious sensation of zesty clean water all over the body" (Myers has a fine prose style when he gets going). The collection is, however, curiously context-less, with no introduction and no explanations. Perhaps the edit-free publishers have settled for a narrow Irish market. But this is surprising, given Myers's profile in the UK, in many ways, his more natural constituency - he also writes for The Daily Telegraph - and where he has been introducing himself as the brother in-law of Anna from Big Brother. (Ah, the horrors of modern popular culture.)
Thus, for example, his essay on the new Southside Dublin accent is simply entitled "Dortspeak". But will all readers know that this means "Dartspeak", meaning the train, which is pronounced "Dort" in Dun Laoghaire, as in (assume Bob Geldof, nasal voice) "where's the porty, mon?" Likewise, his essay attacking the pretentious elitism of "IMMA" refers to the Irish Museum of Modern Art, but the acronym is never explained.
Other subjects are more straightforward, from the uselessness of Florida (timely when you think of recent events) ) to Western hysteria over Jorge Haider's election in Austria (Myers takes brave stands). The drawback, however, is that sometimes, buoyed up with rhetorical momentum, he doesn't know when to stop. For example, he made his reputation partly on rightly questioning the elevation in our history of the militant Republican tradition at the expense of the constitutional, including Irish involvement in the first World War, but he goes way too far, impugning the entire War of Independence while at the same time writing rapturously about the British military tradition. He can also get carried away with his own wit and, like the American commentator, P.J. O'Rourke, damage his case by resorting to smart aleck extras.
In general, however, one can applaud his assertions - and marvel at others. In "Dortspeak", he attacks as "revolting" the Magnum girl's voice which others of us find incredibly sexy (maybe it's a Southside thing) and extolls Mary McAleese for her "intelligence, ambition and charisma". Charisma? "She is", he goes on "the most impressive, most dynamic, most purposeful person in public life in Ireland" and when her eyes flash on the television screen "at home I faint in terror". One is reminded of the inexplicable effect that Margaret Thatcher used to have on backbench Tories. Perhaps it's time to get back into the cold water again, Kevin - with or without the togs.
Eamon Delaney is a novelist and critic