Henry Kissinger once complained that when he wanted to talk to Europe, he never knew who to phone.

That US secretary of state John Kerry’s Davos call for an international plan to confront the roots of terrorism came as Japan faced the fact that Islamic State terrorists murdered a Japanese hostage; that Boko Haram attacked Nigeria’s major north-eastern city of Maiduguri, and as Spanish police arrested four people suspected of belonging to a militant Islamic network underlines the urgency around the proposal.

THIS week’s better-late-than-never announcement of a programme of quantitative easing by the ECB was a huge moment in the European integration project and the — so far — ineffective efforts to reinvigorate stalling economies, but tomorrow’s election in Greece may be even more significant.

HOW wonderful it would be to live long enough to hear a Government minister say, without fear or favour, “those who ignored, for invalid reasons, clear Government policy, a policy reiterated and communicated by their superiors, have been permanently removed from public service and will not be entitled to any work-related payment until they reach the national retirement age”.

THE Government decision to fly flags at half-mast on some official buildings on the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah is offensive.

YESTERDAY’S long-anticipated announcement by the European Central Bank that it would begin a quantitative easing (QE) programme to allow it print money to facilitate the purchase of up to €60bn worth of sovereign bonds from March until the end of September next year may be the panacea that struggling European economies need so very badly.

HOW very fickle public judgement can be — and how much more fickle politicians’ judgements can be.

IT is tragic that the first farm death of 2015 has been recorded so very early in the year. It is doubly so because the victim, Kilkenny man Johnny Ryan, was an ardent advocate of working in safety on the farm.

It’s a pity the Taoiseach’s call on secondary school teachers to reconsider today’s strike did not come sooner. It is moot whether there was any hope of deferring the action but there was no chance of a breakthrough because Mr Kenny left his intervention to the 12th hour.

Given the skewed imbalance of a world where the rich become richer and the poor are made poorer by the day, there is an inescapable perception that decisions made at the elite Davos club in Switzerland stand little chance of becoming reality. So, it is valid to pose the question: what is the point of 40 heads of state and government, Taoiseach Enda Kenny among them, gathering for the 45th World Economic Forum?