Tuesday’s Prime Time discussion on sports sponsorship by alcohol companies, largely between TD Roisín Shortall and an industry representative, totally missed the main point of the argument.

As usual, the public rarely even come into the thoughts of our ruling class except at election time.

I am bewildered by all the negative comments on the current arguments inside the ruling Coalition.

The household charge is developing into one of the biggest fiascos ever.

I would like to ask the thousands of “public servants” one simple question: Where does the money for your salaries come from?

I am becoming increasingly fed up with the sympathy being shown to people who gambled on property and lost — 80-90% of us did not.

I BELIEVE that it was Francois de la Rochefoucauld who once said that it is great cleverness to know when to conceal one’s cleverness.

I CAN’T imagine why anybody is surprised that another company is leaving Ireland.

THE suggestion that FF might nominate a candidate for the presidency was made for the same reason that people such as Biffo and Bertie now live on large pensions, after destroying the country’s economy and many thousands of the lives that are/were forced to pay for their luxury.

RICHARD D BARTON calls dealing with the issue of the under-representation of women in the Dáil “insanity” and reduces discussion on this topic to “hormones and dresses”.

YET another wonderful example of the sheer inanity of our bureaucrats is this recent bleating for more women in government.

I RECENTLY came across this quote from Sir Ernest Cassell (1852-1921) “As a young man I started to be successful and was known as a gambler. I increased the size of my operations and became known as a speculator.

I BURST out laughing when Brian Cowen said that he was not motivated by personal ambition.

CHURCHILL and Hitler, always so scathing of the voting masses, would have been astounded at the way that so many Irish people are helping Bertie with yet another diversionary tactic.

JUST when I thought the Government, and in particular Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, could not get any more absurd, they announce illegal entrapment measures for teenage drinking.

NOTHING illustrates the mentality of politicians and the reason the country is heading down the drain better than the Fine Gael leadership squabble.

I UNDERSTSAND RTÉ needs to speak very carefully in order for the Government to keep giving it all our licence fees, but recently the station’s grovelling has been getting out of hand.

WE have always been told the billions of our children’s and grandchildren’s money that was given to the parasitic banks was to assist our recovery.

WHILE carrying out research recently, I came across this: “Imagine – if you can – not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the wellbeing of strangers, friends, or even family members.

I’VE just come to understand one of the main reasons for the approaching oil shortage here, and it’s easy to correct.

SO swine flu was yet another deadly pandemic that never materialised, exactly as I and many others have been saying for four or five months.

HAS anybody else noticed how this Government has furtively (as usual) managed to persuade a few menials to start suggesting that we the people are the real reason for the recession because we were too greedy.

I CAN’T say I ever thought much of Maggie Thatcher, but I am starting to understand her dislike of unions.

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy needs some new staff.

TWO comments on the Government’s latest fiasco. Firstly, there are dozens of products widely available that are known to cause illness and death, for instance alcohol and tobacco.

THE dishonest campaign to force GM crops into Ireland continues unabated for one simple reason.

JUSTICE MINISTER Brian Lenihan’s response to the recent savage attack in which a man’s hand was severed from his arm has to be one of the funniest in years, even for this Government.

APART from genetically modified foods, I can think of no area where voters in this food-producing country have been so misled and so let down by the Government.

FOR saying that black is white, this Government is marvellous.

RECENTLY I read that most young people turn to crime to pay for their drugs and alcohol.

WHAT are the Government’s real priorities? Almost every department is in complete disarray — health, transport and the environment are worst.

ONE of the many con tricks that the far right (Bush, Blair, etc) pull on us through their spin doctors is that they are something to do with freedom while the left is something to do with government control.

SO our Taoiseach has ordered yet another review, this time of school buses.

GIVEN the possible illegality of many airline charges and the increasing arrogance with which they impose them, I am concerned for the future of low-cost air travel.

I WAS enraged when reading recently about a survey “showing” that adults are judgmental and that they hassle, demean and mistreat the young.

A FEW days ago, I read how the adult education system was being abused to let dozens, if not hundreds, of illegal aliens into our country. This was clearly a bad thing, everybody seemed to agree.

I HEAR that the Government, hot on the heels of the electronic voting system fiasco, is now trying to introduce postcodes.

ON Monday night (April 9) RTÉ News reported the horrendous death of the daughter of an Irishman in England.

WE were told lately that drivers of many 30-tonne trucks cannot see pedestrians in spaces around them.

THE Government has admitted it will have to pay about €250 million as a fine for exceeding agreed pollution limits.