IT was Christmas Eve babe, and I wasn’t in the drunk tank.

HERE’S a tale of two cities, and two men, and how the more things change, the more often they stay the same.

TOMORROW, the Green Party celebrates. At a gathering in the Central Hotel in Dublin, members will raise a glass to 30-years-a-growing.

THE gravy leaks out of all sorts of strange places. Everybody is now familiar with the gravy flowing through the ranks of senior politicians and public servants. But what about other sections of the elite?

IT’S been a year now since our economic sovereignty went west.

THE sound of feet on the street is reassuring, particularly at a time when democracy is blowing in the wind like a fragile flower.

EVER got the feeling that you’ve been down this way before? Ever wonder why the future sometimes bears a canny resemblance to the past? Take a look at the Government and you might turn away with that nagging feeling trailing in your wake.

ALLEGED murder plots and Israeli conspiracy theories. Allegations of sexual abuse. Awkward discussions about paedophilia and pederasty. A candidate accused of being a “bagman” and a political ambush on live television.

THE State yesterday handed over €713m to unsecured Anglo Irish bondholders and will pay out €1.25bn in January.

DAVID Norris was in manic form. He leapt from voter to shopper, pressing his bumptious charm on everybody.