A YEAR ago tonight Chicago’s Grant Park was the place to be. Barack Obama had defied history, racial prejudice, America’s Grand Old Party and, not least of all, the Clintons, to be elected President of America.

CHURCH of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Paul Colton has reported that he has received anonymous, sectarian letters related to the campaign on funding for Protestant secondary schools.

IN the last year or so virtually every bank CEO and chairman in the country resigned in ignominy.

AS winter closes in and as the consequence of excess begins to come to a head cheering news is indeed welcome.

For more than a year the Government has been talking about cutting back on expenditure, because the country is clearly living beyond its means.

A Minister who stays overnight in a hotel while in Dublin is entitled to claim for maintenance under the dual abode perk, on top of their other expenses claims.

EVEN if you want to believe that Ireland’s glass is half full it’s likely that, just occasionally, you’ve been disappointed or angry with the institutions or individuals who have done so much to damage our country.

IT may not represent the rejuvenation shoots we all crave but it does represent a considerable advance along a road we must travel.

OUR Environment Minister John Gormley yesterday launched a website to help us reduce our carbon emissions. The site is to encourage all of us to commit to a 10% cut in carbon emissions by next year.

ANY society that records a 43% increase in suicide rates in a three-month period must ask itself serious questions. What has happened, what great sea change in attitudes has taken place, that so many people feel utterly despondent, that they feel there is no point in living?