Cabinet weaker for having boxed itself in

How touching it is to see the ‘major Cabinet figures’ circling the wagons to protect the Minister for Justice and Defence, Alan Shatter, from the slings and arrows of those outrageous Indians outside The Pale.

When those inside turn the guns on themselves, as they must eventually, they will find that the laager into which they have boxed themselves turns out to be no protection at all . . . au contraire.

This pre-supposes that some bright spark outside doesn’t stop-up all the exits, and burns the place down about their ears; even that pre-pre-supposes that an even brighter genius inside the camp doesn’t decide to have a uniquely Irish re-enactment of the siege of Masada.