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.

I SUGGEST that the Taoiseach should nominate Ulick O’Connor for the Seanad.

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’.

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.

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?”

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.

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.

I STILL miss him, that great actor, singer, raconteur and proud Corkonian, the late Joe Lynch.

THE Oscars brought back an old memory last night. A liner set out for New York bound for France, calling to Cobh en route (No, not that liner!).