The State is obliged to check that a minimum educational standard is being applied...writes Michael Clifford

LOST leaders were mourned to varying degrees last week.

THE past rose up to meet the present this past week. Albert Reynolds’ passing and the furore over the latest abortion story to convulse the country brought to mind how the actions of yesteryear still resonate in today’s world.

ALBERT REYNOLDS was a unique taoiseach in that he was also a highly successful businessman. Unlike any of the other taoisigh who held the office since the foundation of the State, he came into politics on the back of a career as an entrepreneur.

AS the slaughter of the innocents in Gaza has increased in recent days, some people have been making comparisons between the Israelis and Adolf Hitler.

IT’S that time of year again. The great and good of public life pack their buckets and spades and head off to the wilds of Donegal to muse over the road less travelled.

THERE were two hearings last week about one Ireland. Both told plenty about who we are and how we are governed, and, not least of all, how we want to be governed.

DID you know that Bert and Ernie were a couple? It’s amazing what can be learnt on a fair to middling July week in the throes of the silly season.

TIME and again, over the last few years, the powers-that-be have been well-versed on the price of everything, but on the value of nothing. With each cutback, cost-savings have been invoked. Oftentimes, a little creative accounting has been engaged to push a so-called reform that purports to be for the long-term common good.

IT WAS a spur-of-the-moment thing. On Tuesday evening, as the sun beat down, I got a sudden notion to wander in and see how Bob Dylan was doing.