In his first year as Director (of the Arts Council), 0 Briain gave a memorable lecture/performance at the National Gallery in Dublin. Sitting in a dentist's chair and wearing a crash helmet he held forth on the state of the arts in Ireland. The same year he opened the Living Art Exhibition sitting in a deck chair with his back to the audience, wearing a pair of swimming trunks. Sunday Tribune May 8

Not doing too bad, are we? Most political movements burrow away for years and all they have to show for it is a few TDs elected. And, as all but the lame-brained will tell you, TDs are not so much an asset as an affliction. But we in the Spontaneous Aggravation Party have managed to destabilise the country in the space of a couple of years.

The guy with the scraggy mustache nicked another of my cigarettes and said, "Of course, Ballagh is an excellent technician, but, well, one looks for more ... more heart really. Don't you think?"

The double-week bonus paid at Christmas to long-term social welfare recipients is to be withheld this year, according to an official source. Fergus O'Brien, junior Minister at the Department of Social Welfare, has also confirmed that the scrapping ofthe payments is being "contemplated".

Garret FitzGerald is ruining the art of conversation. Was a time you went down the pub and you chatted about work and movies and music and people you knew and what was on the Late Late last week and guess which TD I just saw throwing up inside in the jacks. Must have been all the words he's had to eat since the last election. That kind of thing.

A review of the relationship between Haughey and the media, and the allegations of press bias.

The question was: once they'd voted Charlie out, would they hang on to vote in the new leader? Do that and we could be here all night. No way, they'll do that tomorrow or the next day. Lord, I hope it's Dessie. He's a nasty little get, but at least he's got reasons for wanting to be Taoiseach. Not like the because-it's-there merchants. Dessie you could have some fun with.

Christmas day came and the usual group of idiots went swimming in freezing water, knowing they'd be on the TV news because there's no real news at Christmas. And the Pope, as usual, gave his seasonal blessing and he got his regular spot. What was unusual was the news of a riot in Limerick on Christmas Eve, with windows smashed, shops looted and a Libyan caught up in the fighting, stabbed and killed.

So, now you suckers know what they meant when they promised us a stable government. They're going to tax us so much we all end up living in stables. Only thing you can afford to eat is hay. We in the Spontaneous Aggravation Party did our best to warn you but you made your bed and now you'll have to lie in it - shivering, when they cut off the electricity.

Gene Kerrigan went to the Great Contraception Trial in Kildare.

A couple of gardai were smoking in court at a minute past eleven, but that didn't matter because it would be at least another five minutes before Justice Frank Johnston arrived on the bench. There's no law says the law can't take it's time. An Inspector suggested to the gardai standing near the door that they might move those TV people out of the hall. They shouldn't really be filming in there at all, you know.

The chaos following the collapse of Express Couriers casts a harsh light on the decline of the P&T and the firms which are trying to take its business. A Dublin solicitor, Quentin Crivon, with the firm of Hugh J. O'Hagan Ward, received a letter on November 9 which suggested that he might recommend Express Couriers as letter carriers for a number of organisations with which he did business. Mr.