Lack of photographic evidence of decommissioning remains the major obstacle to the restoration of the North's political institutions, writes Suzanne Breen

I'm sitting in a small room in the semi-derelict upper storey of an old house. I am one of a group of parents which has gathered to hear when and how the upper storey will be refurbished. The problem is pressing because the sixth form has no classroom to go into in September.

Brace yourself for a media "Bertie-blitz" this weekend and next week as Fianna Fáil cranks up the PR machine to mark the Taoiseach's 10th anniversary as leader of Fianna Fáil on Friday.

The USA is a complex country with many contradictions. How could it be otherwise? In other land masses as vast as this regional or national rivalries are taken for granted. But here despite ethnic or racial background, all share a common nationality – one flag – one President – one United States.

Conor Brady contrasts coverage of two recent murders of women in Ireland and finds a revealing case study that does us little enough credit

Harshly reviewed in these pages for his production of Death of a Salesman, Joe Dowling takes on the critics with a review of Fintan O'Toole's collection of theatre criticism

Three years ago the Government committed almost €2 billion to help regenerate disadvantaged communities. The communities are still waiting, Hilary Curley reports

Dear Póilín,

It's strange how many things, aimed ostensibly at children, seem to creep out such a big proportion of adults. Clowns, for example, are considered pretty unnerving by many people, despite the fact that they're meant to be figures of fun for kids. The medieval harlequin is damn scary, with its manic grin and crazy hat. And marionettes can make the skin crawl, all jerky movements and ugly, exaggerated features.

I was once briefly employed on the confused periphery of an odd Euro-pudding-esque Channel 4 film, the plot of which presumably made sense to somebody but not to me or, I suspect, to many reviewers because when I spied a copy of it years later in a video store, the only quote they could muster for the cover read "Deserves an Oscar for best use of snow."