The worst thing for an Irish person to be thought of is mean. The English don’t seem to mind it too much, but we would rather die than have someone call us tight.

So adept is the scapegoating machine at distraction, that instead of giving this PPE scandal the full force of our focus, we are directed towards an American actress and her princely hubby on Netflix

"The cult of presenteeism has been ruining workers’ lives since the Industrial Revolution. We have long been brainwashed with the idea that those who work savage hours are to be emulated, admired, held up as some kind of Stakhanovite ideal..."

Amid the distraction of FIFA threatening European players with yellow cards if they wore One Love armbands was the extraordinary bravery of a team whose protest went far beyond the risk of a yellow card

"New legislation would see billionaires blasted into space forever and their wealth redistributed to fix the climate crisis."

"This week I realised I desperately wanted to talk to him about interest rates, just to hear him say that everything would be ok, and not to worry."

"...for every step forward football makes – the ongoing mainstreaming of women’s football, the anti-racism message baked into the Premiership – there is a step back."

It's a case of trick or eat this year as Rishi Sunak takes on the Prime Minister's gig

When people do get active and cause disruption to highlight the fact that we are all sleepwalking towards self-destruction, they are monstered

My interest-only mortgage has gone up an eye-watering four hundred quid a month without any warning – thanks to me being stupid enough to live in the UK