Irish Examiner view: Brian Cowen's recovery a reminder that politics is a human game

In the normal course of events Brian Cowen, who has just turned 60, might well have been a formidable candidate in last Saturday’s election. It was not to be. He, like so many of his peers, called time on his political career almost a decade ago.

At that time he and his colleagues were the brunt of criticism, not all of it measured.