Mick Clifford: Where did it all go wrong for Mick Wallace and Clare Daly?

Three public figures have taken off for the hill country way out in the wilds beyond the public square, up there where conspiracy theories roam free and all reason is culled

Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, along with John Waters, would, in all likelihood, have once given short shrift to the kind of conspiracies which now command their fidelity.

Last week, reading a piece about Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, I couldn’t help but think of George Best. The footballer loved to retail the anecdote about the occasion, sometime after his premature retirement, when he was holed up in an expensive suite with Miss World.

Following a winning day at the races, the bed was papered with banknotes. Then room service arrived with the champers. The waiter looked around at the money, the bed, Miss World, and then at the man himself, and asked: “George, where did it all go wrong?”