Patriot Realm

Wine snobs are a bore, don’t you think?

As a one-time food writer, I was often asked to suggest specific wines to go with this or that type of food.

The pretentiousness connected to that sort of business leaves me mostly confused. 

Predetermining the taste of an unopened bottle and matching it to a sauce yet to be savoured I leave to prophets and others who take delight in fooling none but themselves.

I expect such blatant heresy leaping from the chronicle of a food writer will send wine bores and budding oenophiles bolting to the nearest maison de vin for spiritual reaffirmation. The truth is, ever so few of us have the  well-tuned palate of a Master of Wine.

This is the story of the story of Ireland's trailblazing seafarer – Grace O'Malley. She met with Queen Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace. 

Grace O’Malley (a. 1530 - 1603) is one of the most famous pirates of all time. 

From the age of eleven, she forged a career in seafaring and piracy and was considered a fierce leader at sea and a shrewd politician on land.   

She successfully defended the independence of her territories at a time when much of Ireland fell under the English rule and is still considered today ‘the pirate queen of Ireland.’

Back in 2016, millions, from throughout America and around the world, rejoiced when President Trump defeated the favourite, Hillary Clinton.

Millions more cried, screamed and raged tears of unfettered agony to learn that their beloved Hillary had lost the unlosable election.

We enjoyed 4 years of relative calm on the warfront and global economies seemed to prosper. Inflation was low and life was good. But along came the " pandemic. " 

If we believed everything we read, we would probably all be dead. Or worse, vaccinated.

These days, for the vaccinated, it must be like waiting to die every day. 

I truly feel sorry for them because they believed in what they were told by the government and the media. But it is not a new phenomenon. It has been with us for a very long time.

The manipulation of truth has been with us since some stupid bugger came up with the idea of having a government.

And we have been fed lies ever since. All veiled and sugar coated in that thing called "Puffery."

Consider this.

Valentine's Day. The time of year when love is in the air, and florists start seeing dollar signs. But have you ever stopped to wonder how this holiday of hearts, flowers, and overpriced chocolates came to be?

Legend has it that Valentine's Day traces its roots back to ancient Rome. There are a couple of different origin stories floating around, but one involves a Christian martyr named St. Valentine who was executed by Emperor Claudius II for secretly marrying couples against his decree. 

Another tale suggests that Valentine was a rebel saint who defied the Emperor's orders and continued to perform marriages in secret because, well, love conquers all. 

St. Valentine, the mysterious figure at the heart of Valentine's Day, has captured the imagination of romantics and historians alike. While the details of his life are shrouded in mystery and legend, his legacy as the patron saint of love and affection has endured through the ages.

In Australia and across the world, hard working ants are seeing a plague of grasshoppers - who consume at such a fierce rate of knots that a Canberra parliamentary smorgasbord would disappear faster than a fact in an ABC documentary about climate change.

And a Washington DC or a Wellington Beehive could cut off the food and shut down the bain marie faster than Hunter Biden issuing some pipes to use for rather strange reasons and his father shutting down pipes that could have saved America.

Let us be honest: