RADIO REVIEW:MICHAEL SODEN, who resigned as Bank of Ireland chief executive in 2004 after a log of him viewing an adult website was leaked to the press, has returned to the public eye. On Conversations With Eamon Dunphy(RTÉ Radio One, Saturdays) a more complicated self-portrait emerged. No longer chief executive, Soden said: "I'm free to do what I want. In other words, I'm a commentator now." And he wanted to big himself up. "When I left the bank the share price was at €13.70 and I could tell you there are a lot of people who would like it there today."
But that was a different world and, as he didn’t deny, who’s to say anything would be different had he stayed. Soden said his exit from Bank of Ireland “was a very, very painful situation” and he was now drawing a line under it. Surprisingly, Dunphy just moved on. Then Soden got one of several digs into his predecessors and successor: “If I’m saying certain things that upset my colleagues, I’m saying it from a professional perspective. Anybody that oversees the destruction of 99 per cent of the value of the two great banks of Ireland, and says, ‘We’re not accountable’ or, ‘We’re not responsible’, get off the bus right here.” Later, he added, “I’m retired and I look at what I have today and I am really, really compassionate for so many people out there who have lost a fortune . . .” So his former colleagues (and Brutus in IT) now know he’s done all right, but he’s compassionate? That’s for the gods to decide.
Dunphy asked the ubiquitous ego-stroking question, the kind that that other born-again oracle Ben Dunne loves to be asked. What’s the one lesson to be learned from this financial crisis? “Um . . .” Soden said, “Don’t have all your eggs in one basket and be very cautious as to what you do to protect yourself for the future . . .” That’s it? Hold the fridge magnets!
Brian Cowen had no control over how he was portrayed in his nude portraits, which were found hanging in the RHA and National Gallery, but he could control how he reacted to them.
The Ray D'Arcy Show(Today FM, weekdays) named Conor Casby as the artist on Monday. On Wednesday.
By Tuesday, a Garda showed up at Today FM looking for Casby’s e-mails. Producer Will Hanafin refused to hand them over. Hanafin said the Garda told him, “The powers-that-be want action taken.” One texter pointed out that it took gardaí less time to get to Today FM than it did to Anglo Irish Bank. The Garda quoted three possible offences to Hanafin: incitement to hatred, indecency and criminal damage.
“The criminal damage involves the hammering of a nail into the wall of the National Gallery, I kid you not,” D’Arcy said. “This is like The Thomas Crown Affair.” In an e-mail, Casby said he painted them, but said he didn’t hang them.
If RTÉ’s decision to issue an apology on the Nine O’Clock News wasn’t bad enough, Fianna Fáil’s heavy-handed Cold War response made Cowen look more insecure, absurd and naked than any piece of pop art ever could. On the plus side, D’Arcy said of the artist, “He’s kind to him in the manhood department.” Casby wrote a final statement to D’Arcy on Wednesday, saying he’d sell the art for charity to the highest bidder.
On Wednesday's Today (RTÉ Radio One, weekdays), an indignant Fianna Fáil TD, Michael Kennedy, asked Pat Kenny how he'd feel if someone did a nude portrait of him. "I'd want to buy the picture and hang it on the wall at home because I have a sense of humour," Kenny replied. Kennedy claimed it was Cowen's mother, wife, children, and the office of Taoiseach who were hurt. Kenny said that Cowen celebrating his election by drinking pints in Offaly and "singing off the back of a truck" could be regarded as demeaning and an affront to his office too, but nobody got upset about that. Touché. Plus, Kenny pointed out that a naked Gordon Brown caricature once appeared on BBC's Politics Show.
In what appeared like a further blatant attempt to guide editorial policy, Kennedy said, "My difficulty is the Nine O'Clock Newsshould deal with serious news." Funny that, because most listeners had that very same problem with the Garda, our esteemed leader and his Fianna Fáil henchmen.
qfottrell@irishtimes.com