Kevin Myers: Love or loath him?

therecklessone

Just wondering what people think of the bloke.

Personally I think he's a prat, but he can be funny at times, and I have found myself agreeing with some of his diatribes in the past.

What y'all think?

mike65

Any journo that can piss off BMW drivers, his own newpaper and the left is okay by me!

Seriously, he's a neccesary attidote to the PC touchy-feely ****e which threatens to make robust, argumentative discorce a thing off the past. He does'nt give a toss who he offends if he belives he's right and has presented the arguments well. Which he usually does.

Mike.

sceptre

I put Kevin Meyers in the same category as PJ O'Rourke: don't agree with the guy a lot of the time but damn, he's funny.

DapperGent

I think he's brilliant. He says what he believes and couldn't care less about the criticisms and he's hilarious.

You have to admire that kind of fearless honesty though An Irishman's Diary has made me wince once or twice.

It really is nice to read someone who pays attention to political correctness only to insult it.

I may not always agree with him put he never pens an article on anything that doesn't leave me with a more rounded opinion of it by the time I'm finished.

A genius.

Dónall

I don't think I've ever really agreed with him, but he's bold, nasty provocative, entertaining sometimes and probably neccesary. I don't think he believes alot of what he says.
He's not nearly as good as PJ O'Rourke though, as a writer. And not nearly as funny either. There's a genuine bitterness there sometimes, a ranting. I think he's more like Julie Birchill.

I miss Dick Walsh.

Biffa Bacon

He's the greatest living Irishman.

Dónall

Hello Biffa Bacon,
why do you think Myer's is the greatest living Irishman though? I don't have any greatest living Irishman candidates myself. But what makes him better than, say, Garret the Good or, well, Mary Robinson - or, oh I dunno, Bono or someone.

Biffa Bacon

Originally posted by Dónaill
Hello Biffa Bacon,
why do you think Myer's is the greatest living Irishman though? I don't have any greatest living Irishman candidates myself. But what makes him better than, say, Garret the Good or, well, Mary Robinson - or, oh I dunno, Bono or someone.

Hello Dónaill.
He is the greatest living Irishman because he speaks the truth about what a badly-run country this is and the hypocritical cant that passes for political debate in this country. Just contrast him with bull****ting fools like Mary Robinson or Bertie Ahern and tell me he wouldn't be a better leader than any of them.

Although that said, I didn't agree with his article about euthanasia a couple of weeks back.

Sand

The guy is a legend to be honest - dont always agree with him but he has no problem saying what he wants to say, which is often common sense and pragmatic, and hes refreshing compared to all the other journalists and opinion writers who seem to take the positions straight out of some text book of PC politics.

sceptre

Originally posted by Biffa Bacon
He is the greatest living Irishman because he speaks the truth about what a badly-run country this is and the hypocritical cant that passes for political debate in this country.

Hmmm, plenty of people around here do the same.

clipper

ah kevin's great. a man who knows **** about ****. attractive too in a bizzare kind of way. you know, like gerry fleming. or jon snow.
subtle genius

Mighty_Mouse

Can't stand him. Can't recall one Irishmans Diary I agree with.
But in saying that I usually can't bring myself to read them.:D

strawberry

I used to like him. Until his common sense approach to the Americans became replaced by insanity. But then again I may just be envious.

Blitzkrieger

Who's Kevin Myers?

Stephen

He writes for the Irish times, and I think he's on today FM sometimes. You may have seen hom on "Challenging Times" on the telly in the past. Poncy bloke

Blitzkrieger

It's quite possible I used to read his articles back when I had time to read the paper.....but that's beside the point. I was sorta making a joke about celebrity and how one person's celebrity is another person's nobody.

Biffa Bacon

Originally posted by Biffa Bacon
Although that said, I didn't agree with his article about euthanasia a couple of weeks back.

The latest issue of the Phoenix alleges that this article was prompted by Myers himself assisting a suicide. If this is true, I will have to revoke his greatest living Irishman tag.

DapperGent

Whats the difficulty that you have with euthanasia Biffa?

I don't understand the idea of denying dignified and painless death to someone who is suffering a terminal illness.

o sleep

Originally posted by DapperGent
A genius.

I think people overuse this word. Calling a columnist in the irish times (as the less said about his book, the better) a genius somewhat takes away from the word. personally, i don't agree with little (or any) of what he says, and his argument technique is less than honest. however, he can be amusing at times. and just for the balance factor alone, i think his articles are useful.

Dónall

The funny thing is while I rarely if ever agree with the guy, unlike some of the people on this thread who like what he says alot of the time but think he's a prat, I reckon I'd probably like the guy if I knew him. I mean he couldn't be that bad in reality - and if he was he'd probably try and hide it in public.
There's also something bracing about reading someone you disagree with that much. The late Auberon Waugh, for instance, was great fun too sometimes, a bit of a f*in' fascist but stimulating and entertaining.

Speaking of geniuses writing for the Irish Times, there was Great Myles of the little ponies of course.