TO talk to Michael D Higgins is to walk with giants.Within minutes he has compared himself to Picasso and name-dropped friends such as Yehudi Menuhin and Peter O’Toole.

AFTER the de facto failure of the recent climate change conference in Copenhagen, I am reminded of Mark Twains dictum: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

Harry Potter creator JK Rowling was awarded Spain’s Prince of Asturias Concord Prize today “for having helped children of all races and cultures to discover the joy of reading.”