THE Government’s stubborn propensity to take the wrong budgetary option time and again is graphically illustrated by the latest cutback in education.

THE Government’s stubborn propensity to take the wrong budgetary option time and again is graphically illustrated by the latest cutback in education.

YOU don’t have to be Cicero to work out that Taoiseach Cowen’s government has more than enough on their plate without making unnecessary trouble for themselves.

THIS week opened to a crisis in the Irish meat industry and closed with an EU deal to protect the environment. The two issues may seem unrelated but it is unlikely that will remain the case for much longer.

WE HAVE an unfortunate, unenviable record on referendums. Not because we voted in any particular way, or that we rejected or endorsed any one proposition over another, but rather that we allowed all sorts of irrelevant issues to take centre stage during pre-poll debates.

AS A society we are terrified of suicide.

SOMETHING strange happened during the economic boom. We never built so many new houses, we never had so many new house buyers and we had a doubling of the number of families in need of social housing.

YOU could be forgiven for believing that Ireland was at the forefront of internet technology.

THOUSANDS of livelihoods in jeopardy in a shrinking labour market; businesses built up over generations under threat days before Christmas; our meat industry fighting for what remains of its priceless credibility; the prospect of a beggared exchequer having to pay millions in compensation without little or no EU support; China bans our pork, Italy our beef.

THIS Christmas very many parents will give children gifts that will allow them to exploit the wonders of the internet and the joys of modern communications.