WILL he go? Will he stay? Will he jump or will he be pushed? Will we ever be rid of him? Will he haunt soccer for ever?

THE litany of disturbing disclosures about abuse, mismanagement and inappropriate use of sedatives at homes for the intellectually disadvantaged or the old has reached a point that demands decisive, culture-changing action.

THE tragic deaths of two brothers following a work-related accident in Portmarnock, Co Dublin, on Wednesday is yet another reminder of how very dangerous workplaces can be.

THE decision by the Alfred Beit Foundation, which runs Russborough House in Wicklow, to sell paintings by Rubens and other old masters to raise funds to maintain the house is not the first time such a crossroads has been reached.

THE idea of smaller, leaner government has long appealed to people of a certain disposition even if the Reagan/Thatcher years, the high water mark of that philosophy, are hardly a ringing endorsement; their legacy is not as empowering and freeing as they and their supporters imagined it might be.

JUST as America continues to pay an inordinate and irrational price for its bizarre beliefs around citizens’ right to own and use military-grade weapons we pay an equally high, though less bloody, price for our absolute capitulation on openness, transparency or accountability in public life.

THE discovery of a suspected BSE case on a dairy farm in Co Louth must be a cause for great concern. It casts a shadow over the optimism generated by the end of milk quotas and the ambitions central to Food Harvest 2020.

LOVE him or loathe him, there is little doubt that the big band maestro James Last, who died yesterday, was a phenomenal worldwide success, both commercially and artistically.

If anyone imagines that serious drug crime happens in other countries but not here, the latest Garda operation should give them pause for thought.

THE tragic death of teenager Ronan Hughes highlights not just the ongoing problem of cyberbullying but the growing phenomenon of criminal gangs extorting money from vulnerable individuals.