THERE seems to be some glee at Seán FitzPatrick’s bankruptcy in the media and elsewhere.

RATHMORE’S Wayne Telford (27) continues to wait for a first men’s senior cap despite claiming the Magners North of Ireland Championship at Royal Portrush last year.

NOW that we have life-sized cut-outs of garda cars on roadsides in Co Kildare when can we expect cardboard versions of gardaí on our streets, decoy health professionals in our hospitals and elsewhere.

THE ludicrous attempt by estate agent ‘experts’ to promote an optimistic outlook for a greatly overblown housing market is akin to listening to people prattle on about the quality of the equipment on the bridge of the sinking Titanic.

AFTER Belfast, is the proposed Dublin IKEA store now a case of “too much, too late”?

THE cold and calculated way the information about the unfortunate additional 97 women was disguised in the overall cancer review patient figures given to the Oireachtas Health Committee was indecent and inhumane.

AS a member of a family affected by breast cancer, I am appalled at Keith Nolan’s cheap shot that “if these were cases of male breast cancer, the machines and systems would have been sorted out years ago” (Letters, November 9).

IF these were cases of male breast cancer, the machines and systems would have been sorted out years ago.

WAS Frank Dunlop’s horse any relation to Shergar?

I PRESUME the Government and various lobbyists will be keeping statistics on the number of people killed or maimed in car carnage involving provisional licences between now and next June?

US President George W Bush is to be lauded for speaking out about human rights violations in Cuba.

SADLY in recent years, there have been a number of high-profile criminal and civil court cases where certain sectors of the media and public have self-appointed themselves as judge and jury.

THERE seems to be a campaign by certain individuals suggesting the replacement of our national flag with a design featuring a harp.

TG4’s and director Declan Recks’ The Running Mate is the most refreshing piece of television drama and satire I have seen in years.

THE nights are closing in and the Late Late Show is back in revitalised form.

IN its feline cartoon series, An Post has left out the stamp which would have truly represented our nation today — the skinned cat.

THERE are already too many scaffold-type structures along the Liffey without adding an ungainly 48-metre lattice work by Anthony Gormley.

SINCE the foundation of the State, generations of politicians and governments have been promising to drain the Shannon.

I SUPPOSE the Government can now concentrate on upgrading Shannon to a full-scale US military airbase.

MORE and more in recent times I hear TV and radio newsreaders, and other commentators, talking about our ‘police’ when discussing crime and other matters.

NOW that the iconic Swiss army knife is going to be made in China, what will happen to the cuckoo clock?

A WEST Belfast audience was recently told by the Taoiseach’s man in the Seanad, Eoghan Harris, that “cultivation of victimhood is not going to bring any peace to this country”.

WHILE they celebrated at Clandeboye Golf Club last night after the inclusion of Jonathan Caldwell in the British & Irish team to play the US in the Walker Cup at Royal Co Down on September 9 and 10, there was disappointment at Banbridge when Richard Kilpatrick was omitted.

THE attempt to curb excessive drinking and late-night street violence by reducing the hours of licensed premises is useless and will never work. In some instances, it exacerbates the problem.

WHEN will we confront the root cause of global warming — massive world population growth?

I VOTED to get rid of a tiny, unrepresentative, extremist political party — the PDs — and had presumed it would not be joined by another — The Greens.

ROAD deaths are down 23% since the start of mandatory tests. Gaybo and Co, keep up the good work.

I JUST love this New Ireland hypocrisy.

JOHN WATERS’ explanation for Ireland’s dismal Eurovision performance is akin to some years ago when the English were continually losing major international soccer games.

BERTIE’S furtive Sunday morning trip to the Phoenix Park says it all.

ONCE again a teenage girl’s dilemma is being manipulated by adults who should know better.

ONCE again the media is dominated by another self-induced American tragedy.

IF we erected memorials to victims of automobiles at the location of the tragedy in the same way we remember those lost by boats or aircraft, our country would now resemble a necropolis.

I CAN understand paying an online premium for a select theatre seat —but for a seat on a vehicle that could plunge out of the air at any moment?

IRELAND beats Pakistan at cricket. God Save The Queen played in Croke Park.

ACCESSING information from the internet always leaves a trace and trail, even after deletion by the recipient.

AS a one-time producer of audiovisual experiences for interpretative centres like the new one at the Cliffs of Moher, we in the business used to aptly call some of them ‘interruptive centres’.

NOW that an EU committee has named Ireland as one of the worst offenders regarding its assistance to CIA ‘torture flights’, it is time for the Irish people to demand an end to all American military and their covert agencies utilising Shannon and any other national facilities.

ASBOs — like asbestos before them — are being hailed as a cheap, wonderful, fireproof and insulating substitute by their promoters.

WAS the rope used to hang Saddam transported through Shannon?