WE didn’t realise it, but there are two comedians in the White House. The other is Laura Bush.

THERE are not too many bosses who would pay the staff more than themselves, but then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is a rare one. In more senses than one.

IT’S hard to know which conclave was more important - the one in Rome which only had to decide a new Pope, or the one in Dublin to decide whether or not to open the most sacred temple in Ireland to the unconverted.

ANYBODY who happened to listen in to a particular RTÉ radio programme during the week would be forgiven for thinking they had come across another appeal for some Third World country hit by another disaster.

THE revelations from the Travers Report this week into the nursing homes debacle could be a worthy episode from Yes, Minister, except that the title would have to be changed.

CORK city has become dotted with something resembling an outbreak of big black mumps which many foreign visitors probably imagine to be an avant-garde art exhibition staged as part of the European Capital of Culture programme.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen is not known as a penny-pincher, certainly not where the taxpayer’s money is concerned.

IT SAYS a lot when the country’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) is worried about Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s daft idea about recruiting wannabe gardaí.