IT must have seemed like a good idea at the time, when a video using material from a dashboard camera in a taxi was uploaded to Facebook and YouTube showing a guy jumping out of his car without paying his fare.

JUNIOR minister Roísín Shortall should be congratulated on trying to stimulate a national debate on alcohol consumption, especially among young people.

YEARS ago one of my best friends told me that “all people are mad, it’s just a question of degree”. It has stuck with me ever since. What is “normal”? What is “mad”? Is one better or worse? Who decides?

POSSIBLY the most impressive book of last year — the best I read anyway — was about one of the most significant people to have died during 2011.

THE new year is likely to be horrible for the Government.

THE suggested sale of State assets is normally met with howls of indignation and opposition. Don’t sell the family silver, no matter how much the money is needed.

BACK in the late 1980s one of the most contentious fundraising decisions made by the then Fianna Fáil government was the introduction of charges for holding a fishing rod licence.

TWO men in the pub are discussing the issues of the day.

MANY businesses are struggling at present, but particular sympathy should be reserved for retailers, particularly smaller independent and domestic ones who can’t depend on the support from profitable multi-national owners to protect them from the ravages of recession.

THE country needs an editorially strong RTÉ but the self-inflicted wound caused by the dreadful libel against catholic priest Father Kevin Reynolds has the potential to seriously injury the station’s future ability to delivery strong and original current affairs material to suit the public interest.