THIS year has seen the deaths of many cultural icons both here and abroad, among them music legends David Bowie and Leonard Cohen, novelist William Trevor, actor Frank Kelly, and the irrepressible TV star Terry Wogan.

JUST like the death of novelist Mark Twain, reports of the demise of books in print have been greatly exaggerated. While electronic books enjoy steady progress, book stores and publishers are reporting a rise in the sale of the real thing.

THE idea of gender quotas seems almost an anachronism, something clumsily outdated and unnecessary in our shiny, all-in-it-together world. 

THE figures showing how effective the (relatively) new national DNA database has been as a tool to fight crime begs an obvious question. Why did it take so very long — eight years of government prevarication — to put in place?

A HUGE, welcome, cultural shift among farmers means that fish kills, once so very regular, are almost novel events now.