'Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers. I though ten thousand swords must have leapt from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult - but the age of chivalry is gone."
These words of Edmund Burke's, on learning of the demise of Marie Antoinette, came to Drapier's mind as he watched Fine Gael turn a defence of its wronged former deputy leader Nora Owen into an attack on the Government.
The resulting pantomime did no justice to Nora Owen, who deserved better than this in response to Tom Gildea's outlandish accusations. Nora is a person of great substance who would certainly make a bigger impact on the front bench than some of those brought in, by her new best friend Michael Noonan, to replace her.
The attempt to eschew established procedures in favour of a censure motion may have excited our large resident political press corps, but it excited few others. The net effect of what may come to be known as Gildea Incident was to spread unfounded and irresponsible charges far beyond anywhere they would otherwise have gone.
The crisis du jour opposition politics of the past few years are truly wearying. Perhaps never before in the history of political endeavour have so many been so indifferent to the manufactured outrage of so few. How, the public wants to know, can politicians get so excited about the internal politics of the Leinster House village yet be so sanguine about the day-to-day problems of the citizenry.
They are switching off with a vengeance and there is little to signal that the current strategies will win them back. Assertions regarding the academic courses Bertie Ahern took smack of pettiness and snobbery. Drapier was surprised to see Richard Bruton's name associated with some of these. They may not plumb the depths of the nasty personal rumours which used to spread, but it shows that the "get Bertie" rumour factory is still in production.
The studied outrage of Mssrs Noonan and Rabbitte when others make allegations is wondrous to behold.
This is all the chaff of politics, but the wheat is still there. This charge and counter-charge should not distract people from the next election's key policy foundations which are falling into place.
Most comment during the week was on how the health strategy launch went better than the Government might reasonably have hoped. The PDs did a bit of undignified self-congratulation.
Gay Mitchell risked repetitive strain injury as he took his spectacles on and off to punctuate his condemnation of everything in sight. This contrasted with the unprecedented praise emanating from the likes of the IMO and patients' groups.
The one real blemish, on Micheβl Martin's best week in the Angola of Hawkins Street, was the medical-card minor fiasco. The justification that you can't expect everything to be done in year one is OK, but Drapier noted Mary Harney's statement on Thursday that she wouldn't pre-judge what the Budget might contain on this matter. She is probably one of the few people who knows what Charlie McCreevy has in store for us next Wednesday.
Every year we say the Budget is important, but this year it will be defining. Charlie will, he has already said, be looking after both infrastructure and health in the Budget. Most people believe that he will cover the vulnerable points on these issues but he simple doesn't have the money to splash around that he had before.
Anyone who follows his actions rather than the commentary on them knows that the right-wing ideologue caricature of him is a travesty. The huge spending increases he has presided over put the lie to that.
He may court trouble by attacking "the poverty industry", but he is just saying what many people, other than Dick Walsh, think. The real fight against poverty isn't to be measured by relative percentage spends. It is measured in absolute spend per capita .
Back in the 1980s all our relative percentages were what we are told they should be, yet we had mass unemployment, emigration and absolute poverty. Charlie believes that you need an economy that generates enough resources to invest in schools, hospitals, pensions and welfare payments.
A lot of people like to ignore the fact that Charlie is a boy from a modest family who never had the sort of breaks in life that many of those who condemn him have had.
It is at times like these that Drapier wishes Charlie had not turned to healthy living and foresworn the evils of the odd pint. Drapier misses the old days of quietly supping a pint with him while discussing everything from obscure points of tax policy to the fortunes of his beloved Lillywhites.
As Minister for Finance he has been the all-purpose whipping boy for bloated expectations. He may not be able to sign off this term the flourish he had hoped for, but Charlie won't shrink from justifying his record.
Drapier has no more real knowledge than the average person about what will be announced, but here's what a lengthy consultation with the auguries suggests:
Minimal tax reductions, concentrated on the lower paid
A welfare package well ahead of inflation
Extra spending on roads, houses and health
Maintenance of the pension reserve fund
It will all be politically astute, probably. If the Government has gauged it right, the public is in no mood for cutting loose on borrowing. If it hasn't, they're in big trouble.
Wednesday will be a big test for Jim Mitchell and Derek McDowell also. Both have to try and get their parties into the view of the public. The biggest difficulty will be landing blows without lapsing into the sort of hysterical negativity which undermines credibility.
They have both already advocated new spending, so its difficult to see them saying that too much is being spent. They're unlikely to advocate increasing tax, but will say that the low paid should receive relief beyond whatever is proposed. So what's the basic tack? This is a tough one and perhaps explains why there has been such a delay in the publication of comprehensive alternative budget proposals.
Much of the debate will be determined by the recipients of our 23p-a-day licence fee. Drapier can't quite figure out what Montrose's political coverage is all about. They are still incredibly sore about not getting their demand and there is a huge sense of grievance against the Government mentioned by every RT╔ employee whenever they get within earshot of a politician.
But what are they up to using their number one newsman, Charlie Bird, to cover Young Fine Gael photo-ops and straight to camera speeches by Michael Noonan? Many colleagues suspect an effort to get a contest going. Drapier wouldn't dream of being so cynical. Six months and counting.
