Kevin Myers received some unexpected praise this week on the very day a collection from "An Irishman's Diary" was being published. Bertie Ahern, launching yet another book, Ireland and the Great War by Prof Keith Jeffery, said that "notwithstanding inevitable disagreements with one of the country's foremost polemicists, I think it would also be appropriate for me to join Keith Jeffery in paying tribute to the positive contribution made by Kevin Myers in The Irish Times in creating and sustaining a lively public interest in Ireland's engagement with the Great War." The Taoiseach then paused, put down his script, and repeated his words of praise.