Sunday 13 October 2013
From time to time in Britain you get newspaper headlines declaring that the British marriage rate has plunged to the lowest level on record. Here in Ireland we imagine it could never get like that. In this country, we imagine marriage is in rude good health. But it's not.
Well, isn't that a relief. After the final whistle in last Saturday's All-Ireland Final replay, I asked my companion: "I wonder was that hurling match any good at all?"
TEN years ago, the government was warned that the age profile of the civil service was mounting, which presented serious challenges to the running of the country.
Despite the outrage and theatrics in the partisan TV studios, last night the average New Yorker seemed more concerned about how 'Breaking Bad' ended than what was happening down on Capitol Hill.
IT’S 32 years since an All Star hurling team featured nobody from Kilkenny and Tipperary, but it’s likely to happen later this month when the 2013 selection is announced.
I received a note from someone, claiming to be involved in the 'Women On Air' group, teasing out the fact that I had acted as MC at a recent 'Women in Business' charity event, which was sponsored by my employer.
SO WHAT would a 6pc showing in a general election do to the Labour Party's Dail seat total? Last time it polled such a low total – in the 1987 General Election when it got 6.4 pc of the vote – it returned a mere 12 TDs. A repeat of that outcome next time out would mean a 25-seat loss when compared with its all-time high in 2011.
MAJOR questions hang over the political leadership of Gerry Adams following the conviction of his brother Liam for child sexual abuse. By not informing Sinn Fein of the sexual abuse allegations against his brother when he was first told them in 1987, Mr Adams broke his own party's rules.
It is not surprising that Sinn Fein would abolish Seanad Eireann. This so-called Republican Party did not recognise our State or its institutions until recently, refused to take up seats in Dail Eireann and turned a blind eye as the IRA murdered gardai, army personnel and citizens of our Republic. Respect for our State, its founding fathers and democratic principles does not come easily to Sinn Fein.
AFTER a prolonged balmy summer, it was a gloomy, sodden morning commute to work for denizens of the capital yesterday morning.
Like many people in their 20s, most of my brother's mates have emigrated. Few of them have any plans of returning soon, if ever.
Right now very few people in Ireland know that the movement 'One Young World' exists - but I guarantee that this time next year you will.
Cheryl Cole's giant rose tattoo painted across her bum and lower back has genuinely affected me.
We're against child abuse, aren't we? Then why is Universal Royalty's kids' “beauty pageant” coming to Ireland?
NOT being a huge tennis fan, I was surprised to learn that being a tall leggy blonde is as important as the ability to hit a ball
It’s the VMA performance everybody’s talking about this morning... and probably not for the reasons Miley Cyrus was hoping for.
The current blast of sunshine is like going to Spain for free - every beach has its own traffic jam
Abortion legislation is a subset of something which has recurred with shameful personalised abuse masquerading as national debate
Samantha Power faces her first US Senate confirmation hurdle as a conservative alliance in Washington works to derail her nomination
IN these soaring Mediterranean temperatures, spare a thought for the peoples of southern Europe
Every now and then sanity prevails. Fine Gael TD Aine Collins has proven herself completely sane by trying to calm the Lapgate storm.
I remember being struck how similar Nigella was to Jackie Onassis: a glamorous but tragic young widow with two small children
THERE are two questions every journalist (and their editors) must ask when they receive radical, game-changing information, the likes of which the Irish Independent laid before you in this week's Anglo Tapes.
Europe’s debt-crisis strategy is near collapse.
I am a qualified nurse and midwife, having worked most of my life in England and recently returned to work in an Irish hospital.
When it comes to the daily sightings of the capital's army of the living dead, and apologies to that mawkish Cockney ditty, maybe it's because I'm a northerner and I live in Dublin town. Because even though I have lived in this city in different time bursts over the last 30 years, there is still one phenomenon that you never ever get used down south: the physical evidence of the abject failure of drugs prohibition policy.
IN the late 18th Century in the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King of France, a doctor named Francois Quesnay met Adam Smith. Adam Smith wrote the founding text of economics in 1776 and influenced Quesnay as much as Quesnay influenced Smith. Quesnay was a scientist, one of the first of the medical profession who learned from scientific experiment as much as from direct, clinical experience.
MY best friend and I turned 50, just over a year ago, in January 2012. On our big birthday we vowed that from now on, we would keep a bottle of champagne in our respective fridges at all times. Why? Basically, because we felt we were worth it. But also because with the wisdom of our great age, we know there are times when you just have to sit down and say, "I'm bloody well great and I am going to have a glass of bubbly for the hell of it!"
AS the Federal Reserve moves closer to scaling back its monetary stimulus, central banks in the rest of the world may get another reminder this week of just how tough it is to decouple from U.S. interest rates.
THE brilliant English economist John Stuart Mill, writing in the 1860s, noted that "a crash doesn't destroy wealth, it merely reflects the extent to which wealth has already been destroyed by stupid investments made during the preceding boom".
THE Anglo Irish Bank lads were rogue bankers – unscrupulous, heartless and prepared to say anything to get their way. Other bankers are not as bad.
On the Monday morning after his son Donal appeared on The Saturday Night Show, Fionnbar Walsh got a call at home from a Kathleen Lynch. This woman, whom Fionnbar presumed was from the HSE, was wondering if Donal would record a video talking directly to his peers about suicide.
Join X Factor's Melanie McCabe along with Independent.ie's Brian O'Reilly as the X Factor's first live show kicks off.
Professor Donal O'Shea on the measures he believes the government should take in the upcoming budget.
Since the ‘Age of Austerity’ began, society’s most vulnerable have been hit hardest.
The owner of family business Timber Trove has fought to stay solvent throughout the depths of the financial crisis and is terrified that Budget 2014 may set them back again.
THE parents of inspirational teenager Donal Walsh said they could hear their son's message to appreciate life at the funeral for Limerick girl Chloe Kinsella who tragically took her own life last week.
Video preview of the big kick-off
A statement of affairs is supposed to be a kind of last will and testament of a bust business.
#MindYourself - Reaching out for help is vital in beating the ‘black dog’
Hi °C | Lo °C 