BERTIE Ahern’s back out of Africa fighting fit. The opponents who scent blood as they circle for the kill will find renewed vigour in their would-be prey as he makes it clear he does not intend to go anywhere in a hurry.

IN hurricane season, you track the storm as it moves on. The place that was devastated yesterday is becalmed today. Some place further up the line is now bearing the brunt of its fury.

I DON’T know about you, but early on Wednesday morning I assumed the worse.

WHEN I was a child growing up in suburban Galway in the late 1970s and early 1980s, disposing of our waste was a relatively simple matter.

THERE are times when stories crop up in print that seem just too good to be true.

JIMMY SANDS we will never forget you, went the joke about the status of the 1981 hunger strike in Irish history.

AT THE end of every Dáil term, I tot up the topics that have come up during Leaders Questions — the two slots every week where Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore ask Bertie Ahern a question without giving him notice.

THE latest opinion poll tells us that Fianna Fáil is on the way out and if we’re patient enough to wait out the 1,500 days between now and the next general election, we can collectively wave it goodbye.

Why was Transport Minister Noel Dempsey not informed of the note on Aer Lingus? asks Political Editor Harry McGee.

THERE are four years, eight months and six days left until the next general election.