When all else fails — blame the media

It all goes back to Flann O’Brien, of course, as most column-related innovations do.

The great man was fond of celebrating an unsung hero of Irish life, a little-known lady named Bid. Flann pointed out that there was hardly a problem on the island of Ireland which this brave woman shrank from.

‘Bid to stop strike’; ‘Bid to intervene in dispute’; ‘Bid to save jobs’.