THE blame game has started in earnest with Finance Minister Brian Lenihan suggesting we have ourselves to blame for the collapse in the construction sector.

THE contrasting realities of the lives of public servants and private sector workers has been highlighted again by the news that top civil servants “toned down” an OECD report, commissioned by the Government, into the performance of our public sector.

IN A world where bad news prevails too often, the summer visits to Ireland by children from Chernobyl represented something uplifting, something that we could all take a degree of pride in.

WE ALL know the story of the boy who cried wolf too often and, because his neighbours became tired of his warnings, was ignored when it really mattered.

THE launch of heavily armed Garda support units this week marked an inevitable passage from a more innocent time. It is no longer possible to expect unarmed gardaí to confront criminals better equipped and armed than they are. Not only is it dangerous, it is ineffective.

YESTERDAY’S announcement by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan that he is to introduce the 2009 budget in October, two months ahead of schedule, is an appropriate first response to the challenges presented by our rapidly deteriorating economy.

THIS morning’s survey on our attitudes to the recession shows a reassuring combination of realism, possibility and potential for optimism.

THE Royal Irish Academy’s Committee on Climate Change has added its voice to the growing number of organisations predicting more extreme weather, more floods, more landslides, more rain and the extinction of 20% of native Irish plant species.

THE appalling, barbaric story of disgraced former doctor Michael Neary is well known.

THE credibility and judgment of politicians is once more in question following the perplexing failure of political parties to hammer out a code of conduct on the thorny issue of making representations on behalf of criminals being sentenced in the courts.