DAITHÍ DOOLAN says the election was over at Christmas. The newly-elected Sinn Féin councillor for Dublin’s South East Inner City felt confident going before the people.

WHAT was the secret of Ronald Reagan’s success? Was it his timing and theatricality? His charisma? His optimism? His circle of advisers? Or was it that, time after time, people underestimated him?

A FIANNA FÁIL candidate in the local elections told me an interesting story when I asked him about the citizenship referendum.

IF Gianna Beretta Molla were alive today, she would be 82 years old. But she’s not, having chosen to perform a rare act of heroism.

AT first sight, it might not seem that Beverly Flynn and Martin Cullen have a lot in common. She’s from a dyed-in-the-wool Fianna Fáil family and he’s a political waverer.

THE Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, has a rather forthright way of warning young people about AIDS.

WORKING for Cardinal Desmond Connell, Archbishop of Dublin, meant that life was never dull or predictable.

IN August 2001, Mary Robinson made a dramatic gesture of solidarity with victims of anti-Semitism.

THE former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, came in for criticism recently over comments he made about Muslim culture.

TO JUDGE by recent newspaper reports, the Government has scored a remarkable diplomatic triumph. They have revived hopes for a European constitution. Where there was doubt, they seem to have brought faith.