Though we cannot attempt to plan for change, for all the risks that we can and do plan for, it is those for which we cannot prepare that can do the most damage, writes Lucy P Marcus

THE song should never have been a hit anywhere because its title was weird: ‘Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah’. (Translation: ‘Hello Mother, Hello Father’.) It should certainly never have been a hit in Ireland because the entire song was about something we didn’t have back in the 1960s: Summer camps.

The saga of the Taoiseach, the turbulent TD, his assistant/fiancee and her diamond ring is made for TV – except maybe it would be too far-fetched for a producer to consider, says Michael Clifford

"For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" — Hamlet.

Last year ended for India on a note of public outrage that has burdened the country with anger, frustration, and pessimism.

Over the past few weeks the very worst characteristics of Irish political practice have dominated the public square.

AN abiding theme of recent letters to The Irish Examiner is the helplessness experienced by the Irish people to take effective action to redress the Government’s brazen funnelling of the nation’s wealth into the pockets of those who already have too much.

IT’S a sentiment which another Harry, the regal male gorilla at Dublin Zoo, would no doubt endorse.

IRELAND’S number one drug trafficker and his right-hand man are under arrest after a spectacular police operation across three European countries.

THE Kinahan gang operated an “international” drug and gun trafficking operation and a “global investment service” laundering “hundreds of millions” of euro for some of Europe’s biggest gangs, including his own.

I’D imagine that the vast number of impoverished Mancunians would probably need a mortgage to purchase just one of the alloy wheels belonging to the supercars, gleaming in the late summer sunshine outside the ground on Saturday.

THE Fine Gael/Labour coalition hasn’t a hope of getting into government.

I DON’T know if Machiavelli is on Health Minister Micheal Martin’s required reading list but, if not, he should be since he has many wise things to say about the nature of politics.

A COPY of Machiavelli’s political epic The Prince and an intimate knowledge of television game show The Weakest Link appear to be the prerequisites for any future bid by Ireland and Scotland to stage the European Championships.

An American publishing company is planning to release a study guide to Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.