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For those born after 1970, irony and humour became the sole cultural outlets, writes John Waters 

FROM THE low-key coverage of the Russell Brand-Jonathan Ross controversy on this side of the water, you would think Ireland and the UK were two different cultures. Yet, on any given night, half the Irish audience watches British television. What happens there today will arrive here tomorrow, and what happened yesterday is, right now, the most happening thing in the land. This lends an anomalous tint to the comparative lack of interest among Irish media in one of the most shocking and salutary episodes in the history of the BBC. Perhaps the reticence arises because the controversial episode occurred on British radio, which, though once a vital lifeline, is now a marginal influence here.