However superficial the comparisons between Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin may appear, the chilling similarities between their mutual strategies have become more ominous by the day.

Yesterday’s Cabinet skirmish over water charges, if that is what it really was, can be interpreted in several ways.

Yesterday’s announcement by the Irish Sports Council that it will spend €7.4m to support major field sports’ governing bodies — the FAI, GAA, and IRFU — is very welcome but it would be even more welcome had more money been available.

Yesterday’s announcement that TV3 has secured the rights for all 48 games in next year’s Rugby World Cup is another blow for public service broadcaster RTÉ. It rubs salt into the wound left by the divisive GAA decision to sell a number of significant inter-county matches to pay-to-view broadcaster Sky.

It would be nice to imagine that the good-cop bad-cop routine around yesterday afternoon’s fiscal policy document was no more than the transparent choreography usual at these events. It would be nice to imagine that it is possible — and prudent — to plan for an October budget that reflects the growing sense of optimism around the economy.

The generosity in the consoling line — better late than never — is stretched to its utmost by the fact that it has taken 21 years to introduce child protection legislation. They are, even if tremendously overdue, more than welcome.

We have “at most two decades to save the world”.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland has reported that teachers face a growing spiral of classroom violence, intimidation, and verbal abuse by students.

The confirmation that the Midlands wind farm project, involving anything up to 2,300 turbines, will not go ahead was inevitable once the British government lost faith in the capacity of wind to meet a significant proportion of Britain’s energy needs.

It is outrageous that garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe is subjected to ongoing harassment by fellow gardaí following his exposé of malpractice in the force.