Political correctness was developed as a shield against ignorance and boorishness.

THIS may not be the best week for anyone who feels overwhelmed almost to the point of despair by the travails of this small Republic to look beyond these four green, damp fields in the hope that, elsewhere, better angels prevail.

JOSEPH BRUCE ISMAY, once chairman of the White Star Line, the owners of the Titanic, won infamy, deserved or otherwise, for dressing as a woman to get a place on one of the last lifeboats after the liner hit an iceberg and sank almost 105 years ago to the day. 

A DOG may be a man’s best friend but, apparently, the reverse of that old saw may not be true, or at least as true as it might be. 

DESPITE the reassuring, reinvigorating march of Spring, nature’s greatest expression of optimism, it is increasingly difficult to hope that the culture of evasion and bloody-minded opposition to accountability might ever be confronted much less eradicated from public life.

A WOMAN was, last week, awarded €20,000 — increased from €18,000 by the High Court — for knocking her knee on a table leg as she sat down in a hotel dining room. It is difficult to understand the imperative behind these rulings.

EVEN if it was never easy to put a roof over your head it was always more challenging to buy a home no matter how modest your ambitions were. 

IN terms of scale, Ireland has always been and always will be a tiny television and radio market. 

THE decision by the High Court yesterday to reject businessman Denis O’Brien’s action over statements made by two members of the Dáil about his banking affairs is to be welcomed.

THE Vatican confirmed, yesterday afternoon, that Pope Francis plans to visit Ireland in August of next year. Francis will bridge a gap of nearly 40 years.