WITH election fever in the air, the last thing an increasingly nervous Fine Gael/Labour coalition wants to see is the sight of frustrated farmers demonstrating against falling prices in key sectors of agriculture.

HIDDEN between the lines of the annual survey conducted by Irish Business Against Litter and An Taisce, ranking how badly littered cities and towns are in Ireland, one can see the countless faces and unread names of community activists who take pride in the places where they live and work tirelessly to improve them.

AS Europe plummets towards a crisis of obesity, it should come as no surprise, especially following a series of alarming reports showing how explosive the scenario is here, that Irish people are hell-bent on becoming the fattest in the EU. Yet, considering what a sports-mad country this is, it is surprising and an apparent contradiction.

NOW that our so-called summer has come and gone, there may not seem much to light up our lives between now and winter time. Do not despair. Even if the weather is as bad this month as last, an array of spectator sports will bring a little internal sunshine.

A SURVEY by a leading American travel magazine proves that Céad Míle Fáilte is not just a tired cliché but a fact.

THE migrant crisis in the port of Calais is about to explode again as ferry workers there resume their strike after the end of la crise, the traditional month-long summer holiday in France.

THERE are many, very many, legitimate reasons to be concerned about an influx of desperate refugees into a small country struggling to provide — or establish — reliable social services but none of them carry enough weight to give us an excuse to avoid doing what is so obviously the right thing.

THE outrage generated by savage attacks on people, especially old people living alone, in rural areas is a hardy annual and the issue has been exacerbated by the closure of so many country Garda stations.

SO many social, health, and environmental issues are rooted in the food we eat that it is time to reconsider our habits.

A DUP delegation met Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers in Belfast yesterday to discuss the furore sparked by the recent murder of IRA man Kevin McGuigan in the city and a PSNI assessment that Provisional IRA members may have been involved.