I GOT one of those emails during the week. You know the kind — the round-robin, forwarded by a friend to everyone on her email list, that’s supposed to make you smile. And it did, until I read the sting in the tail.

IS it just me or is anyone else getting a bit tired of the endless round of celebrations of the only true peacemakers?

A leader whose job and whose performance is about his or her own ego never amounts to much.

BANKS tend to be big employers. For instance, most of the largest private sector employers in Europe are banks — HSBC Holdings, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse.

ANOTHER year, another military parade. Another reading of the Proclamation of Independence on the steps of the GPO.

I WANT you to imagine the publication of a tribunal report. It’s a report into the way a particular business has been supported and its publication has been long awaited.

We are going to see a period of cutbacks now.

OUR Constitution must copper-fasten the protection of children from those who would seek to harm them, according to Fergus Finlay, Barnardos chief executive.

REUNIFICATION or redundancy? That seems to be the dilemma facing Gerry Adams and the leadership of Sinn Féin. They seem to be on the verge of becoming about as important to the political process down here as, well, the PDs.

THIS year our Government is planning to spend around €62 billion. It’s an enormous figure, isn’t it? You’d think there was no problem that couldn’t be solved with that kind of money, and maybe a little more imagination, a bit more serious planning and a lot more better management.