SOME people, egged on by hysterical sections of the media, suspected that ESB trade union boss Brendan Ogle had an agenda to destroy the State, to bring down the Government, to cause anarchy, that he was up to much more than defending the pension rights of ESB staffers.

IT WAS a tweet from Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan last Sunday morning that brought the issue to my attention: “Female journalist making big issue of Health Minister James Reilly’s waistline. Would male journalist write similar of his predecessor?”

THE significance and importance of Ryanair ordering the purchase of 175 aircraft from Boeing seems to have flown over the heads of many people in Ireland.

THE next time Justice Minister Alan Shatter brings up the idea of privacy legislation to regulate media shout these two words at him: “Mitt Romney”.

Operation Free-Flow could be axed because of a lack of funding, according to a Fianna Fáil Senator.

ON the first day of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s visit to Ireland they had lunch at Áras an Uachtarain, invited by President Mary McAleese as part of a small group that included Michael Ó Muircheartaigh, the GAA commentator.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked six years of continuous detention by Burma’s military regime today as she defended herself in court accused of sheltering an uninvited American.

AGAINST the backdrop of the forthcoming inauguration of Barrack Obama as the first African-American president of the US, the controversy over South Africa’s participation in the World Cup of Golf at Waterville in July 1978 is a reminder of how much things have changed in 30 years.

THE Irish market began the week in positive territory in line with markets worldwide.

BEFORE last year, the most famous descendant of Moneygall, Co Offaly, was Papillon, the horse that won the Aintree Grand National in 2000.

Bob Dylan has offered his support to U.S. presidential wannabe Barrack Obama in an interview with a London newspaper.