IN the midst of all the negativity, it is nice to read something positive for a change.

SHORTLY before he died, according to his son Seán, Charlie Haughey said: “I never broke my word in politics.”

BY describing the kerfuffle on the prospect of a property tax as “speculation” Taoiseach Brian Cowen, speaking in Davros, is either firmly focussed on the long game or, as his detractors suggest, is once again dodging the hard question; once again freezing in the headlights.

MR JUSTICE Paul Carney’s annoyance at the Court of Criminal Appeal is understandable. In January 2007 he sentenced Gerard Kelly to life in prison for rape, but the sentence was for more than that crime.

BARACK OBAMA’S first test as president came as he was being sworn in. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, got the presidential oath wrong.

THE pub culture has been changing in this country in recent years. The drift from the bars is matched only by the drop in vocations and the attendances at Sunday mass, which can probably be attributed largely to the culpable arrogance of prominent church people.

IT SEEMS like the Celtic Tiger has fled and we are floundering in tiger crap. Things are obviously going to get much worse in coming months, especially as the Government appears to have completely lost the plot in so many matters.

IN preparing a timeline for the publication of 1978 State papers, I looked at the front page of the daily newspaper for every day of the year.

NINE years ago, on December 22, 1999, I said here that the “economy is booming and this country will be enjoying unprecedented prosperity at the start of the new century.

CONOR Cruise O’Brien would probably have been proud to think that his passing this week would mark the end of an era.