The news that Israel and the Palestinians have agreed a ceasefire in Gaza must be welcomed even if that welcome is tempered by experience.

The weekend suggestion from Simon Harris, the junior finance minister, that income tax should be cut adds momentum to statements made by senior cabinet ministers Michael Noonan and Simon Coveney. If that expectation is not met, then the political consequences will be severe.

The news that the Ukrainian military is battling rebel armoured vehicles that crossed from Russia and headed towards Mariupol does not auger well for today’s meeting between Russian and Ukrainian presidents in Minsk. It suggests that Russia is determined to copper-fasten its authority in the region. The Ukraine’s response, and that of its allies, will shape events, but it seems difficult to predict a peaceful outcome.

The death of anyone as young as Peaches Geldof, who died from a drug overdose aged 25, is always a tragedy, but when that death is caused by a life-controlling addiction, it seems even more so. The trauma of a premature and unexpected death is exacerbated by the incomprehension around why anyone would expose themselves to such a lethal risk.

The recognition of the contribution Albert Reynolds made to the peace and stability we enjoy today has been widely recognised since his death.

In the early 1940s died there. Yes, that figure is seven-out-of-ten — more than two children died for every one who managed to survive their time at the home.

The rail unions that caused such disruption yesterday, and were expected to do so again today, should not over-estimate the support the public might offer for their position.

The Times of London reported yesterday that there are more young British men fighting as jihadists in the Middle East than there are Muslims in the British army.

This week’s farmer protests about how powerful retailers can define the market and, to a very large degree, set farm incomes is another expression of the challenges faced by most workers today.

Despite launching campaign after campaign in a bid to alert farmers to the ever-present risk of death on the farm, the grim toll of fatal accidents continues without an end in sight.