HOW do you prove a negative? How do you satisfy the world that you no longer have weapons of mass destruction, that you haven't been developing a nuclear arsenal, that you aren't fully equipped with the means to pursue chemical and germ warfare?

WE didn’t elect our Government to generate a crisis, did we? And we certainly didn’t elect them to start a whole series of crises, surely.

HERE’S a piece of spin. It’s actually a piece of political guff, from a master of the genre. It mightn’t look like it on the surface, but it shows how devious and cunning its author is. And how much he deserves to be watched.

By Fergus Finlay

WE are about to discover the importance of public spending to Irish life. That’s the real, but largely ignored, story of Budget 2003.

JIM MITCHELL was a remarkable, perhaps a unique, politician. Famous for his willingness to take risks with his own seat on behalf of his party, he also never shirked taking risky political positions.

MEAN-SPIRITED, cheese-paring, but above all dishonest. That is the only conclusion you can come to when you take the time to read the Book of Estimates in full, and think about the rationale behind it.