FARMERS, in Ireland and right across Europe, have a long and successful tradition of protecting their businesses by protesting on the streets.

IT might not be immediately obvious that there are heroes all around us but in coastal towns and villages all across these islands that is often – and reassuringly – the case.

IT may not be occasion enough to break out the champagne but the fact that energy prices are to fall is reason enough to give a small cheer.

Many people faced with exceptional family events, down on their luck, or in dire need of money, feel that they have no choice but to borrow from moneylenders, loan sharks, or even use credit cards, because they cannot get the money through normal lending agencies.

The parents of most teenagers were not exposed to the dangers of the internet, or mobile telephones, while they were growing up. Moreover, this country was renowned for the level of censorship, which at times descended to the level of absurdity.

SOME human qualities defy understanding and, occasionally, the less we understand these qualities the more they, and the people who enjoy them, inspire us.

THE Organisation for Economic Co-Operation (OECD) finding that a third of Irish children are exercising regularly is reassuring but not as reassuring as it might be.

THE co-operative movement, founded by Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett in the late 1880s, was one of the truly groundbreaking and empowering initiatives in Irish agriculture and food production.

IT seems completely unnatural to do anything other than celebrate when an increase in population is recorded.

THIS week we mark the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the most momentous and appalling conflict in human history.