The gathering storm surrounding the high cost of school uniforms has taken a welcome twist with the commonsense call by Education Minister Ruairí Quinn for children to be supplied with a generic outfit.

Maeve Binchy was a conduit of the warmth, kindness, honesty and happiness we all want to, need to, believe rest at the very heart of humanity.

The extent to which sport has been diminished by drug abuse can be seen in the innuendo surrounding the amazing performance by Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen in London. Unfortunately Chinese swimmers’ failure rate in doping tests has led to inevitable suspicions.

Seán Quinn’s contention, and at this point it is as valuable as any self-serving fantasy, that because the loans he accepted from Anglo Irish Bank may be tainted with illegality that he is not obliged to repay the billions borrowed is as delusional as it is contemptible.

If a letter from the European Central Bank telling the late Brian Lenihan that senior bondholders could not be burnt exists then it should be published.

IN one way or another, the Irish banks have a long and regrettable history of overcharging their customers.

As if disabled people were not already carrying a heavy burden, it is worrying to learn that three out of every five applications for disability allowances have been turned down by the State.

The Olympic Games were formally opened in London yesterday.

Former billionaire Seán Quinn states that he made a “very conscious decision” and did “the right thing” when he put his assets beyond the reach of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, which was formerly Anglo-Irish Bank.

The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to Teagasc conducting trials on a genetically modified potato that would improve resistance to blight.