100 reasons (including Carla Bruni) why we should vote ‘yes’

By Juno McEnroe

Thursday, August 20, 2009

IT may not bring an immediate smile to most people’s faces, but the subject of the pending Lisbon treaty has been turned into a comic book.

So, before you decide to try chuckling to yourself wading through the treaty’s gripping pages, sneak a peak at a new publication which gives some, er, rather zany but at the same time interesting reasons to vote "yes".

The book by Dublin comedian and writer Nick McGinley offers 100 mini-chapters (some clearly tongue in cheek) on reasons to back the October 2 referendum.

"Carla Bruni wants us to. And What Carla wants, Carla gets," declares one chapter about the model wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Describing Carla’s place at the heart of Europe in the Elysee Palace and her desire to see Lisbon ratified, the writer warns us "she’s never been denied anything before and we’re kind of scared by her voracious appetites".

Another chapter tells voters about the continued airing of the often overlooked Euronews.

"Euronews is mesmerising entertainment, even if you’re only slightly stoned."

The book, 100 Reasons to Vote Yes to Lisbon II, even relieves anxious voters who may fear one of Ireland’s favourite entertainment contests could be dumped.

"Calm down now – there’s nothing in Lisbon that harms the status of the Eurovision Song Contest," declares McGinley.

The book, released in shops this week, also tells readers how the treaty will help offer Irish citizens cheaper mobile phone calls, cheaper airline tickets, but it also tackles, with some seriousness as well as humour, the thorny issues of workers’ rights, taxation and Ireland’s neutrality.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, August 20, 2009