YOU ALL remember that famous election poster, don’t you? It appeared in the 24 hours before polling began in both the 2002 and 2007 general elections. It was believed to be a clincher.

Behind all the bonhomie and judicious score-settling, Roy Keane’s books are discreetly aimed at Premier League bosses, says Michael Clifford

THE old reliables had mixed fortunes in last Tuesday’s budget. Booze was left alone, while cigarettes went up 40c a packet. Isn’t it gas how these two highly dangerous drugs are known as "the old reliables", as if they were a beloved caberet duo on a never-ending tour across the country?

SO THIS is what the far side of austerity looks like.

Sinn Féin may well offer a genuine alternative to the establishment parties, but it would be reassuring to know the real story behind the closed doors, suggests Michael Clifford.

Whoever emerges as victor in tomorrow’s Dublin South West by-election, this particular poll could well be a weather vane for the shifting winds of politics, writes Michael Clifford

This State would appear to have little time for anybody who stands apart from the herd. Time and again, whether it’s the musings of economist Morgan Kelly or the revelations of a number of whistle- blowers, organs of the State tend to close ranks and shut out dissonant voices.

Enda Kenny isn’t the only one having his commitment to "new politics" questioned these days. Look at poor Phil Hogan, who thought he had sailed away from all that stuff, into the lucrative waters of the EU Commission.

CHANGE is a serious dose. Change is difficult and painful, and it can be excruciating. So it goes for an individual. For an organisation in which resides great power, change can be the harbinger of tremendous upheaval.

I ONCE spent a month waiting for Bono. Every lunch of October 1981, I sidled into Golden Discs, on Cork’s Patrick Street, in search of the new U2 album.