Had anyone suggested on January 31, 2013, the day Barack Obama took America’s presidential oath for the second time that the billionaire developer cum television host Donald Trump — he’s worth $3.7bn — would be the next person asked to offer that loyalty to the American people and their constitution, they would have been, at the very least, ridiculed.

ONE of the phrases Bertie Ahern must regret — and there may be a few — is the one he used to try to calm a self- fulfilling panic around a collapsing property market. 

BY describing the kerfuffle on the prospect of a property tax as “speculation” Taoiseach Brian Cowen, speaking in Davros, is either firmly focussed on the long game or, as his detractors suggest, is once again dodging the hard question; once again freezing in the headlights.