WATCHING live sport provides a welcome respite from the realities of life but examining the business models behind English soccer provides an opportunity to witness fantasy.

AT the start of both 2006 and 2008 I decided to give up drinking alcohol for six months and I intend to repeat the experiment from today, with one get-out clause which I will get to later. It will be hard not because of my own desire for alcohol, which is relatively limited and occasional, but because other people are likely to make it difficult for me.

THE trade union movement is in a very difficult place. Angry at the way its members have been treated by the budget it has to find a way to respond that protects their interests.

THE unofficial and undeclared contest to become the next leader of Fianna Fáil has taken more than a few twists and turns in recent weeks. There is no vacancy – as yet.

THERE was a time when people in Fianna Fáil regarded Brian Cowen as a brilliant public performer. From an early stage in his political career — having been made minister at a young age — he was used as a “warm-up” act for the party at árd-fheiseanna, rousing the delegates to a crescendo before the emergence of the leader for his annual address.

THERE’S so much talk of the economy contracting, of jobs being lost, of incomes falling and of taxes rising that I’ve decided to recall a positive story this morning. A story of a business being started 20 years ago that nobody said could succeed but which has created jobs for its employees, wealth for various owners and a product that has provided a useful service to the public.

RUGBY fans should well remember what Neil Back did to Munster in 2002. It was the closing minutes of the Heineken Cup final between the Irish team and his side, Leicester. The English side is winning by 15 points to 9, but Munster have a scrum in front of the Leicester posts, in a perfect position to launch a final assault on the Leicester line, to score a try that would have left Munster with a conversion to win the cup.

WHO really needs to buy a new car? Needs to buy one, as opposed to wanting to do so. This difference is one of the central dilemmas facing the beleaguered Irish new car sales sector at present as it seeks desperately to persuade people to buy.

ONE THOUSAND construction jobs for north Tipperary for three years, followed by 2,000 more jobs in the finished development sounds like a good deal that no government could object to, especially when no government financial assistance is being sought.

THERE’S a section in Donal Óg Cusack’s excellent autobiography where he details how the Cloyne senior hurling squad and its management held “truth meetings”.