WHATEVER else you may say about the present Fianna Fáil–PD conglomeration, their innate sense of political preservation is very sharp.

WHEN he announced this week in the Dáil that he was contemplating a referendum to cap the price of housing land, it seemed that our revered Taoiseach had finally qualified for a grant to retire to a home for the bewildered.

I’M NOT sure what the second-hand value of a US Navy C-40A military aircraft is, but there’s one down at Shannon airport at the moment which the Government might be interested in acquiring.

THE assurance from US Secretary of State Colin Powell must come as a major relief to the people of Iraq.

THE NEW plan which Health Minister Micheál Martin has apparently presented to his cabinet colleagues will, reportedly, have as revolutionary an effect on our health service as the invention of the trolley did.

THE gardaí weren’t the only ones to have upset people

AT this stage the turkey looks rather like the economy — skimpy and pared to the bone. But despite the fact that we are heading into 12 months of stringency and hairshirts, it is comforting to know that some of our former ministers are well able to lead the good life and will continue to do so, courtesy of the taxpayers.

THE prospect of another long and expensive tribunal loomed this week after it appeared that Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne was allegedly to blame for the dramatic rise in crime last year.

YOU would imagine that the Church of England has enough to contend with than trying to knock Santa off his sleigh.