The Taoiseach will be making a terrible blunder if he tries to exploit the innate decency and compassion that people feel for him by abusing those who did their job in exposing his wrongdoing.

THERE is a story doing the rounds about Alexander Tyler, a history professor at the University of Edinburgh in the 1780s who assessed the collapse of the Athenian Republic.

ON THE first St Patrick’s Day while at university in Texas in 1964, I was interviewed by the local daily newspaper as I was the only person from Ireland among more than 15,000 students.

CIVIL servants are often called the permanent government. They are the faceless men and women who implement policy and frequently formulate it, but political decorum requires that they keep a low profile rather than outshine their nominal masters.

MANY people have been comparing Barack Obama with John F Kennedy, and they are also comparing his wife, Michelle, with Jackie Kennedy.

We have long moved on from the position of unfounded allegations and speculation.

IAN PAISLEY Jnr had to resign this week as a junior minister in the Northern Executive headed by his father.

PAUL GOLDIN, the hypnotist who died this week, was greatly mourned by many people. I saw him perform in the early 1960s when I was still in secondary school. It was probably the funniest live show I ever attended.

I WENT to university in the USA in September 1963. It was a tremendous culture shock going from Tralee to Davenport, Iowa.

Ahern left himself wide open to the suspicion that he was under obligation by appointing several people to State boards after they gave him money.