Howlin’s political shocker

WHEN it comes to sexual orientation, the Irish are like the English – stiff upper lip and all that.

Hence, it was a shock to the system to read that Brendan Howlin had gone into Labour’s leadership race without having first secured his future with a striking partner of his party’s choosing.

A single man in politics can’t hope to compete with a double act, like our own government’s usual Abbott and Costello, or Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Even Stanley would never have discovered the Nile without Dr Livingstone, I presume.