THE turbulence in Egypt and Libya, which is now spreading throughout the middle East, has some playing out to do. It is bound to have international repercussions, and it’s impossible to see the shape of all of them.

WATCH my body language.

I’VE been travelling a lot over the past few days.

WE don’t need a televised debate — or two, or three — to tell us who’s likely to make a better Taoiseach.

I’VE never begrudged paying taxes — until now. It was a friend and colleague of mine who said that, as she looked at the shipwreck that used to be her pay-slip.

ACCORDING to the last census there are 4,239,838 of us living in this republic.

I READ at the weekend that the Minister for Health had spent part of her holidays over Christmas in a luxury hotel in Thailand.

WELL, that was a year to say good riddance to, wasn’t it? The year we lost our independence.

EACH year at this time my faithful readers are invited to behold the same Shakespearean scene. Three witches, hideous to behold, their cackling voices grating on the ear, gathered around a fire in the depths of the forest. As we draw nearer, we see them dropping unmentionable animal parts into a boiling, bubbling pot.

LOOK, the truth is that I get a kick out of it, even if no one else does.