During the 19th century, Punch was known for its caricatures of the Irishman as Paddy O’Caliban, a Simian brute with bended knees and a shillelagh, barely civilised and prone to emotional violence. From stereotypes, it is a small step to creating “suspect groupings”, after which demonisation can follow and, for a tiny minority, the violence that then becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.There is nothing new about the derogatory stereotyping of the Irish. Next day, Woolhead, who it turned out was not on the bus but walking by it, had become in a Sun exclusive the “innocent Irishman” and the “hapless Brendan”.There is surely a lesson to be learnt from all this. The Sun, which referred to O’Brien as “the fiend”, called Woolhead “his accomplice” and “the injured Provo”.But the proximity of the two men was simply an extraordinary coincidence. Policemen in bullet- proof vests armed with Heckler and Koch machine pistols were posted at the end of his hospital bed.The media reports the next day accepted the police account The Daily Mail called Woolhead a “suspected IRA bomber”. Within hours, the police told the press that it looked like an “own goal”: it would be an extraordinary coincidence if he was not involved along with O’Brien. It becomes a breeding ground and the IRA have become experts in spotting them.”And for 24 hours this week, the world assumed the IRA must have spotted and recruited Brendan Woolhead, the other Irishman rescued from the bus bombing.Woolhead was badly injured in the explosion.

“A young guy going to a strange city – he’s lonely; he’s also aware of his ethnic background. Far from being a home-grown IRA member sent abroad as a “sleeper”, Father Ford is convinced O’Brien was recruited in London. Today, the only visible sign of the nationalist cause is a memorial to insurgents who marched through Gorey en route to join the 1798 “year of the French” rebellion in Wexford.Father Ford, the local priest, is highly sceptical of suggestions that Ed O’Brien could have formed any Republican links in Gorey “This is not an especially Republican place,” he says. With no criminal record and no known Republican links, he would have fitted perfectly the “clean security profile” required for the IRA’s most critical work on the British mainland.The IRA handbook stipulates “Your prime duty is to remain unknown to the enemy forces and the public at large.” O’Brien came very close to meeting that expectation: his family did not even have an address for him when he died, and his identity remained uncertain for almost two days after the bombing.But on Tuesday lunchtime, at 17 Allenwood Drive, Gorey, O’Brien’s parents, Myles and Margo, opened their door to two local police, who said: “Prepare for the worst.”The “worst” was that the man killed in the Aldwych bus bomb was almost certainly their son, and that he had been an active IRA member implementing the most lethal form of the Republican “physical force” philosophy.The Irish police, the Gardai, believe there are just six active Republicans living in this part of Wexford. A relative said: “The only thing he lived for was hurling and drink. He was a very shy, gullible kid who wouldn’t even raise his finger to anyone.”A neighbour said: “I kept telling myself he must have been a passenger who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”In London, O’Brien was just another unremarkable young Irish emigrant living among thousands. But one of them was – Edward O’Brien, the 21-year-old from Co Wexford, who rang home every month and whose last reported words were on the phone to his mother a few hours before he died: “See you ma, I love you.”
Ed O’Brien had come to Britain in search of work after a long period of disgruntled unemployment in his home town of Gorey As a youth, he had never talked about politics.

Both of the young Irishmen who had apparently been travelling on the 171 to Aldwych were the kind, their families and neighbours insisted, who could not possibly have been responsible for the bomb on the bus. For jokes deal in stereotypes and what the past week has revealed is the extent to which such thinking continues to bedevil the relationships which have imploded into this latest desperate stalemate. My point was that many prestigious arts organisations are all competing for a limited pot of money. I did not imply that any of them were having a greater or lesser success with fund-raising.Yours faithfully,Ian AlberyChief ExecutiveSadler’s Wells TheatreLondon, EC1.

There were these two Irishmen on a bus… Tasteless, certainly, but it’s not such a bad starting point after this week’s IRA explosion on a London double-decker. Due to the extraordinary amount of money being raised by the lottery for good causes, there is a great deal of demand being put on the limited sources available for partnership funds.
May I clarify one matter? I did not suggest that “other bodies in similar difficulties were the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Opera House and the Tate Gallery”. From Mr Ian Albery

Sir: Your article “Sadler’s Wells closure threat” (21 February) points out that our theatre is required to raise pounds 9.5m in order to qualify for its pounds 30m grant from the National Lottery.

This was obviously a heartfelt remonstration against the entire shallow sham.Yours faithfully,Fenella Davidson, Product Manager, Logic Records; Tony Piercy, Managing Director, Logic Records; Biff Worsley, General Manager, M&G Records; Mel Brown, Press Officer, Arista Records; Georgina Capp, Head of Special Projects, Telstar Records; Anthony Cavanagh, A&R Manager, Warner Chappell; Andy Prevezer, Director of Press, A&M RecordsLondon, W1. Many people left during the performance and many more watched in disbelief as the show reached biblical proportions Jarvis Cocker reacted by invading the stage. We had been led to believe that Michael’s performance of his No. 1 hit “Earth Song” was to be the climax of the show.To compound this sin with the grotesque, melodramatic use of multicultural children was the final straw. In actual fact, he was unbalanced by a security guard who was attempting to remove him from the stage.What seems to be overlooked is why Jarvis went on stage.