Having won the Eurovision Song Contest more times than is respectable Ireland has spent the last several years trying to become Europe’s most racist society. Then a small town decides to elect a Nigerian former asylum seeker as head of Portlaoise town council. I have absolutely no idea what is behind this but I find it hard to imagine something similar happening in Norfolk.

RTE reports:

“Forty-three-year-old Rotimi Adebari arrived in Ireland seven years after fleeing religious persecution in his homeland along with his wife and two children.

He has been a councillor in Portlaoise since 2004 and reports this morning say he is set to be elected as mayor this afternoon under a pact between Fine Gael, Sinn Fein and independent councillors.”

Thank to Ruairi, Belfast’s leading Emmanuelle Beart fan, for this.