THIS is the time of year when pike spawn. They usually travel considerable distances to do so, moving into very shallow water. The males and females travel separately, as the females are much larger and have cannibalistic tendencies.

The ritual softening up process of a population ahead of corrosive budgetary changes has begun.

David Haye has rubbished claims from Vitali Klitschko’s manager that he is “afraid” of facing the Ukrainian heavyweight.

IT was a singular pleasure to be able to show off Ireland at its best to our visitors from the balmy isles of the Canaries.

THE then German ambassador to Ireland, Christian Pauls, made the mistake of laughing at our folly when addressing a group of German businessmen in Clontarf Castle more than three years ago, almost exactly a year before the banking crisis in the US became world news.

Bernhard Langer on Friday declared his compatriot Martin Kaymer ready for the Ryder Cup after seeing him scorch to a 63 and into a five-stroke halfway lead at the BMW International Open.

CONFESSION being good for the soul, I admit to being slightly off the mark last week. True, I predicted a no to Lisbon, predicted the usual suspects would call the Irish thickos and ungrateful illegitimates, and even forecast the Taoiseach would start talking about the need for “a period of reflection”.

University students described today how a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting spree in modern US history.

THE Luxembourg prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, recently made the puerile statement that “nearly half the 454 million EU citizens have already backed the charter”.