It is not long ago since a late-morning DJ, on RTÉ Radio 1, tormented us by playing ‘Cows With Guns’. No, Ronan Collins, I have neither forgotten nor forgiven.

Chris Froome’s performance in the Tour de France seems superhuman.

It looks like Joan Burton is the sole member of cabinet who does not have a Government death wish; everybody else is tripping over themselves to implement bad decisions, presumably at the instigation of the troika.

In the year that’s in it, perhaps we could just reflect on the last couple of years rather than the previous hundred.

AS Europe stands on the brink of disaster as a result of politicians being unable to come up with a solution that might avert calamity, might I offer an answer that is:

FOLLOWING the rejection of the referendum on Dáil investigations, it strikes me that a lot more than bankers, ex-attorneys general and politicians were scared witless about being called to account for their actions, however unlikely that event might be.

FOLLOWING the disclosure that Rosemary Scallon is a closet US citizen, is it now appropriate to refer to her as “Dana International”?