Batt-man to the rescue after Brian gets Shanghaied

A QUARTER of humanity held its collective breath and hoped the Taoiseach would change his mind.

But Shanghai Bri’s little local difficulty back home meant that Sino-Hibernian relations would have to go down as just the latest victim of an emergency budget that was short on everything — except creating emergencies.

They handle internal dissent differently here and Brian Cowen’s no show will be taken as a sign of weakness, just as it will by the Gang of One — Finian McGrath.