It is not necessary to be a curmudgeon — but it helps — to recognise that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are contrived marketing swizzes with a single objective — to shift product in time to get it under the Christmas tree.

IN a world where the idea of privacy is almost as quaint as a pony-and-trap jaunt from The Quiet Man, it may seem pointless to express concern over the announcement, yesterday, by Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty, that a person must have a public services card if they want to use the services provided by her department. 

As Education Minster Jan O’Sullivan had to acknowledge recently, the Government decision to change school patronage to better reflect Ireland today has hardly led to rapid change in the management of our education system. 

IT MAY be a tad unfair to describe Justice Minister Brian Lenihan as a modern day King Canute, trying to stem the tide of harmful content on the internet.