Verity is only updating a method from the 1950s, as espoused by a New Zealand doctor, Frederic Truby King, based on the belief that children subject to a strict routine are more likely to thrive than those who are not — those my mother refers to dismissively as “free-range” kids.

IN light of the embarrassing position Kathleen Lynch TD has found herself in after supplying a character reference for a rapist awaiting sentence, the decision by the Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore to urge his party’s TDs to exercise caution when supplying such letters is a sensible one.

BY 1990, there was a general consensus that the office of president was worthy but dull, and there was no sign of debate or discussion in the 1980s about the possibilities of expanding the role of the president or a sense that its profile could or should be increased.

THERE seemed to be a sense of relief and a sense of expectation in many quarters last week as the end of the era of Bertie Ahern was announced.

THERE was a great sense of pride in the achievements of the historian and Dominican sister Margaret MacCurtain at the launch of her collected essays in Dublin a few weeks ago on International Women’s Day.

IT IS not surprising that the ghost of Donogh O’Malley, the Fianna Fáil minister who introduced free secondary education, was invoked this week at the annual teachers’ conferences. On Monday, INTO president Angela Dunne urged the current minister, Mary Hanafin, to emulate O’Malley in standing up to the Department of Finance on the issue of overcrowded classes in primary schools.

IT WAS difficult to stomach some of the more generous tributes paid to Ian Paisley early last week after he announced his impending retirement, but the balance had certainly been restored by last weekend.

I WAS lucky enough to find myself in a comedy cellar in Greenwich Village in New York last week, listening to five different comedians satirising modern American life, and in particular the current presidential election campaign.

THERE is no good reason for Bertie Ahern to stay in politics much longer.

THIS week Fine Gael has been remembering John A Costello and the 60th anniversary of the Fine Gael-led coalition government that came to power in February 1948.