You have to pick the right political medium — that’s the bottom line

Most of the time, rude gestures like mooning are done for no good reason other than the realisation by the owner that he is in possession of a bottom and can show it to create shock and awe in passersby. Mostly shock. Not many bottoms create awe.

ONE OF them is a Minister of State. One of them is a student volunteer. Each of them made a point. The minister did it by sending a letter. The student/volunteer did it by public mooning. It’s such a pity they didn’t swap methodologies, so that Éamon Ó Cuív did the mooning and the student out in Senegal sent the letter.

Mr Ó Cuív dropping — even lowering — his trousers would have ensured that the Aer Lingus re-routing to London swept all other stories off the front pages for weeks. If, by contrast, the student had crafted a letter, it might have helped us all understand what message he wished to send to the Governor of St Louis in Senegal.