This is my final column for The Irish News. To my own astonishment, I’ve only missed one week in the seven years I’ve been writing for the paper.
Some of you may have noticed that two weeks ago, my column didn’t appear, with a wonderfully succinct explanation at the bottom of the page which said, ‘Jake O’Kane is away’. Some of you no doubt may have thought your long-held suspicions that I was ‘away in the head’ had finally been realised.
The truth is more mundane: I’d been rushed into the RVH by ambulance after a 40-year-old back injury flared up in dramatic fashion. I won’t go into the details; suffice to say it took three cylinders of gas and air and as much morphine as allowed to get me to hospital. The pain was such I’m now certain Dante failed to discover all the circles of hell.
My thanks to the wonderful paramedic team of Stephen, Audrey and Lara who saw me at my worst during our four-hour wait to get me from the ambulance into the hospital. Thanks also to A&E nurse Chrissie who kept my spirits up during the 12 hours I spent on a trolley before being admitted to a ward early the next morning.
Above all, thanks to the doctor who realised my treatment with analgesics wasn’t appropriate and changed to anti-inflammatory medication. This had a speedy effect which allowed me to eventually leave the hospital.
Not all those who treated me where originally from these parts, a fact I only mention because if the racist thugs disgracing our community had their way and we were denied the services of such medics, then what’s left of our NHS would implode within days.
Returning to the subject of my column, I’ve no doubt that my mix of politics, social commentary and comedy may have been for some a somewhat esoteric read. I wish the new inhabitant of this page a fair wind and every success going forward, and I hope they enjoy as much as I have writing for what I believe is the best wee paper going.
If I’m being honest, I’ve often felt something of an interloper in the company of the other erudite and courageous journalists and columnists who make up the Irish News staff. I view it as a privilege to have been given the opportunity to contribute in some small way to the newspaper I read as a boy and will continue to read into my dotage... which is not long off.
Having been used to working as a stand-up comic - where feedback from an audience is instantaneous – I did wonder at times if anybody read my column, and if they did, what they thought of it. I was therefore always especially touched to have people stop me for a chat saying they’d enjoyed something I’d written.
What makes the Irish News of unique value is the fact it remains one of the few remaining independent news outlets, untethered to some larger media conglomerate.
If I’m being honest, I’ve often felt something of an interloper... it’s a privilege to have been given the opportunity to contribute in some small way to the newspaper I read as a boy and will continue to read into my dotage... which is not long off
I can bear personal witness to this as over the years I wrote my column, there was never one occasion where I had it censored – apart, of course, for the times when what I had written would have resulted in me ending up in court.
My thanks for that oversight goes to the ever-patient Will Scholes whose arduous job was to keep me on the right side of the libel law, and to my wife, Caroline, who not only corrected my atrocious grammar but invariably answered, “No!” when I’d ask, “Can I write this...?”
If I’ve offended anyone in this column – especially local politicians - then be sure I didn’t do so unintentionally. I remain convinced that my job as both a comic and writer is to, on occasion, scream: “The emperor’s got no clothes on.”
I will continue to do this on my social media channels if you’d care to tune into them on YouTube, X or Instagram, and I look forward to seeing some of you at my ‘Alternative Intelligence’ tour in theatres around the province at the end of the year in the company of the brilliant comic Terry McHugh, when thankfully, I don’t have to check with my wife ‘Can I say this’?
I wish friend and foe alike good health, good luck and goodbye.
And so, after 237,659 words…
(Jake O’Kane is away).
