looks great from the limo

Obama, Merkel and all the other G8 illuminati are coming to Eniskillen for a G8 meeting. They will see a thriving prosperous small town in the heart of the rolling Northern Irish countryside:

What they’ve done is they have filled the shop front window with a picture of what was the business before it went bankrupt or closed. In other words, grocery shops, butcher shops, pharmacies, you name it, they have placed large photographs in the windows that if you were driving past and glanced out the window, it would look as if this was a thriving business. It’s an attempt really by the local authority to make the place look as positive as possible for the visiting G8 leaders and their entourages, and it’s really tried to put a mask on a recession that has really hit this part of Ireland really very badly indeed.

Werman: So it’s kind of like a trompe l’oeil, and I saw a picture in one newspaper. I’m a little confused because the door looked open.

Keenan: Yeah, it looks as if the door is open and inside you can see a well-stocked shop. It’s nothing of the sort. That door has been locked shut for well over a year because that particular business went bust this time last year, and that is an image to make it look as if everything is normal in the town and in the county, but unfortunately it’s not. The County of Fermanagh has suffered terribly as a result of the credit crisis and the resulting recession.

This being postmodern potemkinism, the local peasantry hope that the coverage all this is getting will be such that the news gets through to the leaders, so as they whizz through the town they will know the real story; and their hearts will be touched. My bet is they go another route, excpet Putin, who'll sit there laughing like a drain..."very funny, Mr Cameron...may I call you Grigory?"

Well,  we've got the village. Will we ever have the mutiny?

Comments

[Phil]

You don't need to go as far as Enniskillen - there's tons of that stuff in Altrincham. The trompe l'oeil open door is a particularly nice touch.

[Laura]

The reason I'm called Laura is down to the chemist shop in Enniskillen called LJ Hughes. Hope it's still there. Your blog has made me very sad for a place I used to visit every school holiday.

[hellblazer]

Someone'as been rewatching Blazing Saddles again...

[ajay]

He said the president is near!