Every blog has its day

Irish citizen and blogger Paul Staines is feared by top UK politicians. And he’s planning to move to Ireland full-time, he tells Richard Fitzpatrick

PAUL STAINES, aka Guido Fawkes, is one of Britain’s most prominent political bloggers. He’s also an Irish citizen. He drew audible gasps during recent testimony at the Leveson Inquiry into British media ethics and practice when he gave the court a brief Irish history lesson.

“Something I think you might have overlooked,” he said, “is that I’m a citizen of a free republic and since 1922 I don’t have to pay attention to what a British judge orders my countrymen to do.”