SO the ESRI predicts an end to house price insanity (Irish Examiner, July 3).

FORTY shades of Green — but not a colourful character in view.

TWO Southern politicians above all had the courage to stand against the IRA murder machine: Conor Cruise O’Brien and Michael McDowell.

NEXT Saturday may not change our view of the English one way or another, but it should profoundly change our view of ourselves.

NO giveaway budget this time, Mr Cowen?

BERTIE is a proper Charlie. Right, boss?

THE IRA should be recommissioned and hooded for one final little bit of active service: a volley over the grave of the man to whom they owe so much.

NOW tell me this: is Irish boxing gone to the dogs?

WELCOME to the centenary of the great ‘Frisco quake and, here, the impending Ice Age II. Happy new year.

IF the Government doesn’t know what it’s doing and has no problem wasting millions on consultants as a result, perhaps they should now consult with the people whose money they’ve so scandalously wasted.

TO hell with Big Oil.

I WAS relieved to read Sheila Griffin’s letter headlined ‘What’s wrong with pensioners having to contribute towards their care’ (Irish Examiner, August 22).

LONGEST day, summer half gone, first butterfly visits my thickly scented garden.

LIES and the lying liars who tell ‘em: “Of course I can’t speak for the IRA.”

WANT a quick conversion from Northern Bank notes to euro?

I SEE the farmers are once again well ahead in the tax defaulters’ premier league (Irish Examiner, December 22).

DEAR Santa, please pass over the chimneys of all those winking idiots who have exposed you and the rest of us to the shock/horror effects of their garishly lit houses.

PAISLEY and McGuinness, Bush and Bin Laden, Hitler and Stalin, Laurel and Hardy.

I WISH to congratulate Sinn Féin on the introduction of their first budget in the Free State.

THE new US education secretary is Margaret Spellings.

THE daughters of Cork are out of their heads from alcohol and something called Devil’s Dandruff (Irish Examiner, October 4).

Not so much a reshuffle... more a death rattle.

CLIFF RICHARD is reported to have invited Tony Blair to take a break from his foreign and domestic conflicts at his Caribbean island retreat.

IF ever I’m caught ‘speeding’ on the N8 from the Jack Lynch tunnel all the way past Watergrasshill, I’ll try my luck on appeal.

AS the Provos needed Paisley, so bin Laden needs Bush.