THERE can scarcely be a more overworked cliché about the North than Churchill’s words during the House of Commons debate in 1922 on the Irish Free State Bill.

LAST weekend, we joined friends and their children, 13 and 11, who are holidaying on the Cornish coast.

IT is a sign of the times — and a tribute to the political deftness of Ireland’s man in London, David Cooney — that the embassy in Britain will hold its first reception at a Conservative party conference this autumn.

IN Gulliver’s Travels, the King of Bobdingnag — the land of the giants — claimed that whoever could make two ears of corn grow where only one grew before was a greater patriot than all the politicians put together.

IRISH soldiers are risking their lives in Africa as a consequence of China’s thirst for political muscle and oil.

IF you have been reading recently about the salaries of Ireland’s university presidents you might not be feeling very well disposed to academics. For the record, they are all on between €200,000 and €300,000 a year and have a pay award of up to 19% pending.

The trouble is because Obama has set himself up as no mere politician, his willingness to make a casual promise he cannot keep makes voters doubt all his other promises.

THERE are some words you just can’t really imagine yourself writing. A few of them are “Iris Robinson has a point”.

CONFESSION being good for the soul, I admit to being slightly off the mark last week. True, I predicted a no to Lisbon, predicted the usual suspects would call the Irish thickos and ungrateful illegitimates, and even forecast the Taoiseach would start talking about the need for “a period of reflection”.

IF IT’S yes tomorrow, cue mutual backslapping all round. Brian Cowen will be owed 26 glasses of Leffe beer by his counterparts at the next European Council meeting in Brussels. And then the Germans, French and Brits will get down to the serious business of actually deciding the interpretations of the Lisbon Treaty — and who gets the plum jobs.