It’s that time again.

WHEN we are asked to sum up what Alex has achieved at United, the simplest method is to travel back those 25 years and do as every student: ‘compare and contrast’.

TO lose one of the world’s great managers may be regarded as a misfortune.

The Lacuna

GIVEN the appalling state of the economy, our democratically-elected Government had no alternative but to impose the most severe restrictions on public expenditure.

DOWNPATRICK today is subject to a 7.30am inspection, due to the threat of frost, and if the meeting does go west we certainly won’t be losing any sleep.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez declared he would nationalise electrical and telecommunication companies, taking a bold step toward increasing state control as he promised to transform Venezuela into a socialist country.

Russia will not extradite possible suspects in the poisoning of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko to Britain, the prosecutor general said today.

British police investigating the poisoning death of a former KGB agent have officially requested assistance from their Russian counterparts, prosecutors said, as officers arrived in Moscow amid rising diplomatic tensions.

INEVITABLY, the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising last week found both the Fianna Fáil-led Government and Sinn Féin outbidding each other to exploit the event in order to justify their contemporary political programmes.

One of history’s most famous murder weapons, the icepick used to kill Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, has resurfaced, just weeks before the 65th anniversary of his assassination on August 20, 1940.

Edited transcript of exchanges between Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dáil Éireann yesterday:

PAUL CARBERRY rode his third winner since returning from injury when Always made every yard of the running to land the Kevin McManus Bookmaker Novice Chase at Cork yesterday.