Sky falling in on St Patrick's Day

Regular followers of me here or on my sporting blog will be aware of my love of cycling. But something that has happened as a result of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York has thrown me a moral curve ball.

Guinness decided at the eleventh hour yesterday to pull their sponsorship of the parade in New York. This was after they requested that the organisers allow LGBT Irish Groups to march in the parade. Before others say they are allowed to parade, or that other groups don't march behind a banner, this is not the case. Groups do march behind the banner indicating who there are. Many of Ireland's LGBT people did emigrate some to the UK others to America when those places were less LGBT friendly than they are today. Like all such immigrants to the states they are as staunchly proud of their Irish roots as anyone else.

Guinness as part of their decision said:

"Guinness has a strong history of supporting diversity and being an advocate for equality for all. We were hopeful that the policy of exclusion would be reversed for this year's parade.
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"As this has not come to pass, Guinness has withdrawn its participation. We will continue to work with community leaders to ensure that future parades have an inclusionary policy."

This is good and a brave decision especially as there was a 1.4% drop in share price of Diageo (the  parent company). However, it is the reaction of one media tycoon that leads to my dilemma.

Rupert Murdoch has said on twitter:

Where will this end? Guinness pulls out of religious parade bullied by gay orgs who try to take it over. Hope all Irish boycott the stuff 

It is a pity that Murdoch appears to be boycotting the 21st Century, I think we should boycott all of his stuff. This is easy as Eurosport cover cycling. But there is one issue. The title sponsors of both the GB Cycling Team (pictured) and the British UCI World Tour team is Sky which of course if out of the Murdoch stable. Most of the top British cyclist race for them, they are coming to Belfast in May for the Giro d'Italia and Yorkshire in July for the Tour de France.

After comments like this from Murdoch I'm going to find it very hard to support my favourites with a clear conscious.

Obama gets a taste of Ireland which the Queen didn't

Last week the Queen was actually at St. James Gate brewery home of the most famous stout of the world. She was poured a pint of the black stuff but didn't even touch the glass, now did HRH the Duke of Edinbuirgh.

However, in a small pub in County Offaly earlier the following conversation took place.

Leader of the free world "I have been told that is makes a difference, who the person behind the bar is. I mean, that people are very particular about who is pouring your Guinnesss. Am I right about that?

His many cousins in the bar "Yeah"

The Leader of the free world "The Perfect pint. So can people vouch for this guy?"

Cousins Yeahs and laughter

One of the counsins "He's the Greatest, the best just

Leader Just like Mohammed Ali, he's the greated. Well we like that. It is quite an honour for me. You think it's ready?

Fiddlers Start playing in the background

Leader Now I want to get it perfect now. What do you think? Alright. Sláinte.

He then tips the pints of the men behind the bar, before putting the pint of Guinness to his lips and supping his pint. To cheers all around.

He promises to buy one of the ambassador and then jokes that "The President always pays his bar tab."

The first lady asks how many of the staff were in here. To which the President joked "How much advance work did they do?"

You can view Barack Obama enjoying the hospitality of the Irish in his Great-Great-Great-Grandfather's village of Moneygall here on the BBC Website. I expect there will be plague outside the door very soon honouring the place where the USA's first black president drank his first pint of the black stuff.

So yet again the Daily Fail has failed.

Update Later at College Green in Dublin he greeted the crowd with the words. "I'm Barack Obama, of the Monegall O'Bamas. I've come to look for the aportrophe that we lost somewhere along the way."