Henry and Maria Farrell’s new title for their blog, “Gallowglass,” is so apt that I’m tempted to petition to join up as a fellow ex-pat Irish person. Might be a sensible career move, too. The Volokh Conspiracy, for instance, is rapidly becoming something like the Hoover Institution of the blogosphere. (I expect to see it appearing on people’s vitas: “May-June 2003. Visiting Blogger at Volokh.”)

On the other hand, it might be a bad idea. Alliances of this sort have a poor history in Ireland. As Brendan Behan once observed, the first item on the agenda for any Irish political organization is the split.