Whenever some Fianna Fail bold boy was hauled in front of an early 21st century tribunal for misdeeds committed in the late 1980s, there was - amidst all the tut-tutting and schadenfruede on national radio - always some ould lad with an FF rossette who could be relied upon to tell the TV cameras that they should 'layve that man alone!'
It is this precise spirit which has seen so many wideboys and corner cutters re-elected in this country since the beginning of time.
The lesson appears to be that you should punish someone quickly. If you drag it out too long, then it looks you're tortuting the poor chap and people begin to feel sympathy for the man in the dock. That is the way in Ireland anyway, where the sympathy is often directed at the man in the dock.
Hence, Tom Brady and the deflategate saga.
Following an appeal, it now seems that Tom Brady will be banned for four games next season. The man who he is reported to be backing for President won't have a bar of it.
'Layve that man alone!!'
