Two Tánaistes on very different wavelengths

WHERE the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea sits the mock gothic splendour of the Slieve Donard Hotel – the setting for Daniel Craig and Toni Collette’s adventure into repressed sexual longing in the film Hotel Splendide – and yesterday home to the rather less exciting British-Irish parliamentary forum.

But it was here – as the torrid waves smashed against the rocks beneath a sky bursting with rage and menace that Nick met Mary: A touching tale of two Tánaistes on two very different trajectories. Nick Clegg – a political joke who became a player, Mary Coughlan – a player who became a political joke.

Nick’s learned a lot since his early blooding when he foolishly revealed the number of his sexual conquests to a noisy interviewer.