THE political correctness controversy surrounding the recent remarks of Mary O’Rourke reached ludicrous proportions. The only thing racist in relation to her comments was the criticism.

THE resignation of Father Maurice Dillane, 73, as a curate in Co Galway after fathering a child has again put the Catholic Church in the public spotlight.

THE Christian Brothers were in the news again this week in relation to a colleague who was apparently handy with his fists.

ON October 22, 1962, when President John F Kennedy made his famous speech announcing the blockade of Cuba to prevent the delivery of Soviet missiles, the world seemed on the brink of nuclear war.

A FRIEND of mine who has been in London since we left college told me how, at a recent dinner party with his English friends, Tony Blair was one of the main topics of conversation.

ONE of the more intriguing files in the State papers opened this week concerned the appointment of Senator Vincent Gair as Australian ambassador to Ireland in 1974.

IT CAME as no great surprise that Charlie McCreevy praised Margaret Thatcher in a speech to the Association of European Journalists in Dublin.

IT was not so long ago that Michael McDowell was calling for the jailing of gardaí who leaked information.

IN selecting his generals Napoleon Bonaparte was more concerned that they were lucky than that they were talented. In recent days it is beginning to appear like Bertie Ahern may be running out of luck.

PEOPLE may have felt a sense of betrayal over the disclosure that Bishop Eamon Casey had fathered a son, but in the last analysis it was their own sense of innocence that was exposed.