Let them eat cheese

Less than 24 hours after the government’s 4 November announcement of a staggering €6 billion in budget cuts, Ireland’s Agriculture Minister unveiled an EU-funded scheme to give away 52 tonnes of free cheddar to poor people for Christmas. The minister’s declarations that cheese was a "good, nutritious product” did not go down well in the economically beleaguered nation dreading a new round of cuts and tax hikes that the Irish Independent has already dubbed a "bloodbath". “Ireland entered the Twilight Zone yesterday – tipped into another dimension by a gaffe-prone Government’s cheesy attempt to butter up the electorate,” wrote one Irish Times columnist. As the “Cheesegate” story provoked an outbreak of puns on Twitter, switchboards jammed on Ireland’s popular phone-in radio shows. One caller said, "The fact that Marie Antoinette said 'let them eat cake' was the beginning of the revolution – is that what they want?"