School is finishing up, the packing is done, even the Portapotti is disguised. Maxine Jones and her sons are ready to go on their summer camper van trip

I went to Israel from Kilkenny in the autumn of 1983 and for the first few weeks I lived the life of a non-driving, single Irishwoman, meaning that I kept a close eye on my watch when I was out at night in order to avoid being on the streets alone around or after closing time. After a couple of nights of chats too good to end, I discovered that all there was to be feared was the manic bus drive down the almost empty steep roads of Mount Carmel.

That was a cruel trick the Irish Times played on the opposition parties. On Saturday 11 June they published the first instalment of an opinion poll which seemed to have evidence to back up Pat Rabbitte's assertion that a pre-election pact would give a spur to new support for the opposition. but the second instalment on the following Monday demolished this illusion.

The last of the great news organisations that once dominated Fleet Street has left, signifying the end of an era. By Conor Brady

Eddie Fullerton was a friend of mine. He was also a Sinn Féin councillor in Donegal, the husband of Diana and the father of their three daughters and three sons. Eddie Fullerton was older than me. He was born on 26 March 1935 to John and Mary Fullerton and he grew up on a small farm in the townland of Sledrin, just north of Buncrana, in Inis Eoghain. At the age of 18 Eddie went to find work in Scotland and from there to Birmingham, England.

He was hospitalised, robbed and teargassed, but Shimmy Marcus was making his film if it killed him. Colin Murphy talks to the director of the newest Irish feature film, Headrush

I am trying to learn how to avoid unnecessary situations that raise my blood pressure above comfortable levels. Not an easy thing to do when there is so much pulse-racing material hitting you from every angle – corrupt and possibly criminal gardaí, Portmarnock patriarchs who have shown that their bad taste in sportswear is only matched by their prehistoric and unpalatable attitudes to female golfers, and egos the size of Mars trajecting towards full-on collision in the Dáil.

William Laffan reviews William Orpen's Politics, Sex and Death,
running at the National Gallery until 28 August

Róisín Shorthall is anti-abortion, thinks curfews should be imposed on young people and has said the social welfare system encourages some young women to have babies by rewarding them financially. Yet she is seen as one of the strongest female left-wing voices in the Dáil.

When Michael McDowell opened his address to the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary meeting on Tuesday with the words: "Taoiseach and friends", they were greeted with hoots of laughter and someone shouted: "It can only go downhill from here".