On April 12, 2011 my flight from Dublin to Rome came to a standstill at Fiumicino airport. It was a short walk to the rail link that brought me to the heart of the eternal city. Already the memory of my bruising defeat in the Irish general election, a month previous, was beginning to fade. The memories would linger but the hurt had already dissipated. The Rome sunshine made me upbeat and, the following day, I would face into one of the most fateful appointments of my life – a job interview with one of the wealthiest men on the…

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