In Ireland we don't need aliens; we already have a race of higher beings with strange powers who gaze deep into our eyes and force us to have babies against our will. We call them priests. A loopy Protestant, on the other hand, has to make it up as she goes along. And no one makes it up better than your American Protestant, driven mad by all that sky. I am talking about the alien-breeding programme affecting 'up to two million' carefully selected Americans. You have to be white to qualify.

LRB 21 September 1995 | PDF Download