Calling an election now would be nakedly cynical, but nobody cares [Video]

WELL, I HOPE you’ve all managed to survive without Surrealing in the Years for three whole weeks while I was in Japan.

While away, I did, naturally, from time to time, check in on what was happening back in Ireland. We have a spy in the Dáil, I notice! That would have made for some fine material. Alas, I was busy taking notes on how they conduct themselves in a society typically thought to be more advanced than our own.

The cross-country bullet train does travel at a top speed of 320km/h but they don’t put your names above your seat, so, score one for Iarnród Éireann there. Another weird fact is that when you ride the bus in Kyoto, you get on in the middle and get off at the front, and when you disembark, the driver thanks you. This sounds like a joke but that is what actually …