Connell’s emergence as a headline-maker once again in the last few weeks is a reminder that he was appointed Archbishop of Dublin at a time when he was the last person the Catholic church needed precisely because he was inflexible and driven by his belief in absolute truths

REMEMBER George Bush? He’s the president of the United States and will be until he leaves office in January 2009.

ONE of the ironies of the career of John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin from 1940 until 1972, and the towering figure of 20th century Irish Catholicism, was that for someone who had such presence and domination, he was a poor communicator.

THE Green party’s debate last week about whether or not to support the Lisbon Treaty demonstrated the tough task ahead for those wishing to see the referendum passed.

THE spectacular fall from grace of Marion Jones, the 32-year-old US sprinter who was sentenced to six months in prison last week for lying to federal prosecutors about her steroid use, is a reminder of how difficult it can be to take professional athletics seriously in the modern era.

Kit Ahern felt it would have been hypocritical of her to decline the invitation to enter politics given that she had spent so much of her time cajoling women into getting involved in politics.

SOME economists have been hard at work this year trying to convince us that the Celtic Tiger is only taking a rest and could be back roaring at some stage in the future, a notion encapsulated in the title of Marc Coleman’s new book The Best is Yet to Come.

I HAD a dream the other night that quickly turned into a nightmare. A prominent Dublin barrister, Michael McDowell, formerly Minister for Justice, had somehow been returned to the Dáil and was appointed Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism.

THE launch of the Dublin 1911 census website by the National Archives of Ireland earlier this week was the first stage in a project that will ultimately result in the full digitisation and indexing of the 1901 and 1911 census records, accompanied by a wealth of historical writing and visual material to help place the records in their proper historical context.

The Prime Time programme showed that councillors who vote for reckless rezoning, and who complain about the lack of other powers for themselves, are, through their actions, ultimately offering the strongest argument yet for the abolition of local government structures in Ireland.