Roses

It's that time of the year when the lovely girls from all over the world gather to express their Irishness by going on national (international?) television, answering some questions and doing a party piece. Yes it's the Rose of Tralee. No swimsuits, no Miss World type "I want to save the children", no sexy clips with the girls in the pool telling us what country they come from.

Each Rose gets 5 or so minutes in an evening dress talking to Ray Darcy telling "funny" anecdotes and feeling the mortification that comes from knowing a nation is watching. Seeing cows on the road and loosing ones make-up seem to be the highlight of some Roses week in Kerry. It's daft, it's naff, it's twee, but in a bizarre way it is consistency in a world gone mad after all it has been running, in what seems the same format, since 1959. Hundreds of thousands of people will watch it but does anyone know or care who won it last year?

However someone should double check party pieces before letting the Rose on stage. I think I just saw the Cork Rose do her party piece which was her ability to dislocate her shoulders. WTF? What ever happened to traditional party pieces like Irish dancing, singing or martial arts in an evening dress.

RTE is doing a live web cast for those people who think being out of reach of the RTE transmitter would save them. I've had my fill of it now and am switching to Newsnight.