REGARDLESS of who happens to be flavour of the moment at the Oscars in this or any other year, Anthony Hopkins remains the world’s greatest actor.

Whether addressing a business function here or the House of Representatives in the US, President Mary McAleese makes an indelible impression.

GIVEN some of the not-so-funny stuff — including sketches bordering on the obscene — from certain ‘comedians’ who appear on RTÉ, there is a case for editorial control of their material.

LETTERS by Brendan Cafferty and Thomas Studley (August 28) gave us a different perspective on the attitude of RTÉ to recently-retired Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern turned his hand to sports journalism on RTÉ television last Thursday night (August 21).

AS an advocate of the necktie as a sine qua non in male attire, I admit complete defeat as the open-neck shirt has now become acceptable at all levels of society.

UNLESS some popular car manufacturer has the integrity to advertise its leading model as having a controlled maximum speed, the carnage on our roads will continue.

I WAS saddened to hear of the passing of former government minister Seamus Brennan.

THE coveted Tony award to actor Jim Norton for his role in The Seafarer was well earned after a long and distinguished career.

I THINK that, as a specialist broadcaster, George Hook on rugby is in a league of his own.

ASSUMING most broadcasters have not studied Alistair Cooke, may I point out that Leinster is not pronounced ‘Linster’ and Ranelagh is not ‘Renelagh’. There is no such verb as ‘to host’ or ‘to chair’. The split infinitive is not acceptable and anything said in parenthesis is bad broadcasting.

“He let the little wealth he had

LA BOHEME, I Pagliacci, Panis Angelicus — nothing fazed the great Luciano Pavarotti.

THE life of the controversial Dublin priest Michael Cleary was graphically depicted in an RTÉ television documentary recently.

MUCH is made of Bertie Ahern’s diction.

THE term “soap opera” should be removed from the English lexicon.

MEET the Taoiseach, Bartholomew Ahern.

THE ‘Playboy riots’ in the Abbey Theatre 100 years ago bring to mind how Barry Fitzgerald, later one of the most famous of all Irish actors, engaged in fisticuffs with a member of the audience, all because of the use of the word ‘shifts’.

IN the recent case involving three frozen embryos, Mr Justice Brian McGovern raised the fundamental question — when does human life begin?

MAY I suggest Fr Peter McVerry SJ as Man of the Year for his work among the Dublin poor.

A FRIEND of mine who recently retired from a powerful position in the business world was approached by his nephew for advice about an interview for a job.

THE recent TV mini series on the life and times of Pope John Paul II was a masterpiece.

THE term ‘soap’ is one of disparagement used by the cognoscenti to display their superior knowledge of television drama.

THE horrific road toll proves that young male drivers especially are either not getting or are ignoring the shock-horror crash ads and the media’s everyday coverage of these tragedies.

TELEVISION is by far our most powerful medium, but the inclusion of Big Brother in the schedules is hard to understand.

WE’VE had much coverage lately of the RTÉ Radio shake-out.

A MEMBER of the European Parliament recently said he couldn’t understand what Charlie McCreevy was saying.

RIVERDANCE is a far cry from De Valera’s comely maidens at the crossroads.

A LISTENER to a radio programme on Dublin’s Newstalk 106 station recently suggested that Senator David Norris should have a programme of his own.

THE famous broadcaster and journalist Alistair Cooke was frequently stopped in the street by people asking: “Are you who I think you are?”

A MAGNIFICENT portrayal of Winston Churchill by Albert Finney showed the great man in his morning bath with his personal valet testing the temperature of the water.

NOTHING succeeds like success.

TRUE humility goes with true greatness. Albert Einstein, living alone in a cottage at the end of a peninsula, was discovered by two men who set out to find him.

LENNOX ROBINSON, Abbey Theatre dramatist and director, and a distinguished Corkman, was asked once what were the essential elements in a play.

THOMAS STUDLEY (Irish Examiner letters, June 30) bemoans the fact that the attire of our public figures is “flouting decorum” and is in “extremely bad taste.”

BY not wearing a tie in the Dáil, Tony Gregory has been making some kind of statement for many years now. Many public figures have followed suit.

OSCAR WILDE once said there was only one thing worse than being talked about. That was not being talked about.

RADIO is the medium of the mind and still remains a powerful force.

THE indomitable Niall Tóibín has done it again... this time in bronze (Irish Examiner, May 12).

THE Irish love a rogue. He was a contemporary of Frank McCourt.

THE appointment of Condoleeza Rice as US secretary of state was a great step forward for women on the political scene.

DISTINGUISHED Cork man, playwright and director, the late Dr Lennox Robinson, travelling home one night spotted a butterfly at the window of the tram.

HE was a master of television as an intimate medium.