‘Take the pledge’ advice

“TAKE the pledge” was the solution being offered by a Fianna Fáil parliamentary party member and long standing friend of Brian Cowen, who is advising the Taoiseach that giving up drink is the only answer to saving his reputation.

But it seemed that any advice may already have come too late.

By last night, the man once regarded as the brightest of politicians, a promising leader in whom everyone had great hope, a man regarded as a “decent, honest politician with no baggage” according to a colleague, was forced to stand at the front of Government Buildings and grovel to the people.