Ryanair boss and Angus breeder Michael O’Leary was right to ask for “a sensible question” on RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline last week.

The man who invented good humour must surely have been from Duhallow.

The singer Madonna used to have a song a few years back, called Rain.

While the Oscar ceremony on Sunday night was nothing but a confusing mess, at the marts the scene is anything but confusing.

It looks like Enda Kenny’s forthcoming visit to Washington will be his last high-flying trip as Taoiseach.

In this week of Halloween, it seems the real horror stories are to be found at the beef factory.

I headed to Macroom mart on Saturday morning, but unfortunately I had to endure Macroom’s rush hour traffic first, which stretched from Hartnett’s cross to the town itself.

The mad cow, the rain, the thunder, even the Greeks voting no, nothing it seems can put the breaks on the runaway train that is the high flying cattle trade.

The first person I met in Bandon mart last Monday morning was former mart manager Pat McCarthy, promoting the virtues of the Hereford breed.

Many businesses closed up on Tuesday — although some of the Tuesday marts went ahead as usual, including Kanturk.

The cattle and calf trade at the marts this week remains very strong. Or in the words of Kilkenny mart manager George Candler, “the good news continues, at least for the sellers.”

Before I begin this week’s mart report, I feel I must remind those involved in the business of buying store cattle that we are in the month of February, it’s not May.

In the marts this week, there has been a weakening in the store trade.

I thought things were right bad in the beef farming world, until I heard the news regarding former media tycoon Tony O’Reilly.

I took myself off to Dungarvan mart on Monday morning. And in fairness to me, I made a conscious decision not to mention the match that had taken place the previous day.