Shortage of intensive case nurses is a key healthcare blockage here

AN RTÉ newsreader, at the races and well tore into the bargain, suddenly remembered he was due in studio 20 minutes later to read the 6.30pm news.

He asked the guards to help. Up went the blue lights. On went the sirens. (Bring up the sound of screaming tyres.) Still well-tore, but now in a squad car, the newsreader composed himself. Arriving at the studios with minutes to spare, he concentrated on projecting serious sobriety. The red light came on. He read the bulletin, start to finish, perfectly. Then he turned to the weather forecast. "The north of Ireland," he intoned, "is moving in a southerly direction."

It was a long time ago and the statement wasn't true. But a version is happening in the US right now. The north of America is moving in a southerly direction. The populations of warm cuddly states such as Florida are growing enormously.