HE’S right, the Bishop of Meath, for wanting to rescue the Catholic funeral from modern misconceptions of what it is meant to be.

The Dublin Bus strike is a skirmish in a long war.

POWER is at its most potent when it is implied. Revealed it loses its mystique. What inspires awe at a distance, provokes resentment not understanding in the actual encounter. So it proved in Seanad Éireann. Largely ignored for decades, some senators forgot that the cameras and microphones fixed to the furnishings in the Duke of Leinster’s former ballroom allow others to look in as well as them shout out.

IF the people abolish the Seanad, in a referendum in October, then that outcome will most likely be traceable to this week’s act of self-sabotage by members of the Upper House.

The US report on Apple is interesting but misleading, writes Seamus Coffey.

THERE was a synergy of sorts on Thursday between President Higgins interview in the Financial Times and the hearings in the Public Accounts Committee that day about the saga of misgovernance and possibly miscreance at the Dublin Dockland Development Authority (DDDA).

"WE want to see as many of them as possible” — this was the one-line response by a grinning Enda Kenny two years ago, when he was asked if female representation would increase under a Fine Gael government.

PERHAPS Charlie Haughey was the ultimate free spirit. He did not even own his own clothes.

AS 2013 progresses, a problematic side-effect of Ireland’s six-month EU presidency will become obvious.

OH HAPPY day of sloth spent in masticating excess.