THIS year, instead of going to see A Christmas Carol at the Gate Theatre, I took my seasonal dose of Dickens by visiting Mountjoy men’s prison.

IF Charlie McCreevy wants to save us all money — now that we’re back in the land of cutbacks — he could do worse than take the advice of one Ulster Unionist Party official who believes investment in the family is the way to keep society intact, while saving the taxpayer a fortune into the bargain.

HOW is it that Bertie Ahern manages to thrive on bad news? Last weekend’s flooding on the east coast brought misery to residents and frustration to commuters, but the Taoiseach, yet again, was a net gainer.

IT’S a pity many of us in Ireland only discuss religion when we are very drunk or very angry. Right now, anger has the floor.

OUR Roman taxi driver was talkative and his view of the Church was negative.

I READ recently about an American school principal who found he was prohibited by law from saying a prayer over the public address system at the start of a high school football game. This was on the grounds that the prayer would offend non-Christian minorities.

HAVE you checked your post yet? By now the first Referendum Commission booklet on the Nice Referendum, The EU and How It Works, will have arrived.

FORMER British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan put it this way: “Events, dear boy, events.”

AMERICANS present in Europe today will be struck by the ambiguity of many people towards their homeland, as September 11 is being commemorated.