ANY link between the Grenfell inferno — at least 58 dead — and a black plastic bag made by a company that has not existed since 1956 being unearthed, in pristine condition, on a beach may seem tenuous. 

IT is very difficult to balance the attraction and the high cost of a revolutionary drug that may or may not help a patient with the wider obligations of those responsible for service resources. 

VOCABULARY and nature constantly evolve. 

That old Irish joke, that the first item on any agenda is ‘the split’, has been superseded by the never-ending debate around the wisdom of amalgamating Cork city and county councils or of extending city boundaries to encompass growing dormitory towns and villages. 

If it is confirmed that Russian forces did kill Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last month, any sense of achievement must be tempered by a report that suggests we face a “predominantly homegrown” jihadist terror threat, that repressive measures were “inevitable” and that Western countries need better intelligence co-operation. 

The scale of the Grenfell Tower disaster — at least 30 confirmed dead but as many as another 50 still missing — is frightening. It must lead to renewed concerns over building standards and the role some materials may have played in turning an apartment building into a deadly inferno.

Forty years ago today the country went to the polls and gave Jack Lynch’s Fianna Fáil 84 seats, which represented a 20-seat Dáil majority, a level of autonomy that today’s administration must envy. 

Anything that might make things easier for those among us struggling to lead a normal life despite having a disability is to be welcomed. 

It seems far easier to define excess than it is to define art — one is obvious enough, the other may not always be. 

IN ANY accession there is always that brief shining moment where we are all engulfed by optimism and friends and gainsayers alike gather to provide best wishes and high hopes as the heir apparent takes on the trappings of power.