IF every generation is destined to have its Ladysmith, its Nanking, its Stalingrad or its Sarajevo, then it is not hard to identify the most recent stage for atrocity and barbarism. 

THE news that biopharma company GE Healthcare will create up to 500 jobs through a €150m investment at the GE BioPark in Cork deserves the warmest of welcomes and must provoke a considerable degree of optimism around the region’s future. 

ANY political party with realistic ambitions of office must at least give lip-service to the idea of transparency. 

THIS morning, Ireland’s great harvest festival — the National Ploughing Championships — opens on an 800-acre site in Offaly. Described as Europe’s foremost outdoor event, last year’s record attendance of 281,000 is likely to be surpassed over the next three days.

VERY few societies can be as sensitive as Ireland to suggestions that young people held in State care might be in jeopardy. 

IT may seem churlish to suggest that we have too many charities focussed on social work using up scarce resources, but it seems that we may have.

TOMORROW a policy document signed by former president Mary McAleese and 130 other international signatories will reach a UN conference in New York. The document supports efforts by a Catholic lobby group to convince the Vatican to lift a 48-year-old veto on contraception.

THE disenchantment with conventional politics and the sense of betrayal felt by millions of people around the world towards today’s almost uncontrollable — and certainly less socially conscientious — capitalism has manifested itself in many ways. The dread prospect of President Trump is one. 

THE decision to end pay inequity among teachers is to be welcomed.