I enjoyed my holidays, thanks very much. Catalonia is a nice place to be any time, but particularly in the week that Barcelona won the European Cup, with plenty of fireworks in our locality. 

Between Mr Sepp ‘Steering The Ship’ Blatter (see elsewhere on this page), Mr Patrick ‘Golf Balls’ Neary (see the finance/comedy section) and Mr REDACTED REDACTED’REDACTED (see various legal eagles), it hasn’t been a great few days for prominent personages.

You’re backing the bid for the Rugby World Cup? 

For this observer there’s a sense of the 1968 US Presidential election about the forthcoming marriage referendum.

I see verbal intimidation is now coming under the microscope of GAA discipline. Maybe under the dictaphone would be a better term, though. Or the boom microphone.

Last week we told you in these pages that the Gaelic Players Association had polled its members seeking their approval for a simple proposal — whether or not the organisation should support a yes vote in the forthcoming marriage referendum.

I met a member of the medical profession for a coffee the other day, and as we chatted I felt I had to correct her on some of the clinical terminology on offer, to tidy up the doctor-speak, if you like.

A couple of weeks ago, yours truly touched on the Páirc Uí Chaoimh funding issue with reference to the wider context, namely the Irish bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023, and the other, well-equipped challengers for that honour, like Italy and South Africa.

John Sawatsky has made a career of asking the right questions.

The time comes in every columnist’s life when he is forced to offer a glossary, and for me that time is now.