Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the government is going ahead with plans to decentralise Irish Aid to Limerick in the face of consistent opposition from the government-appointed advisory board to Irish Aid.

The recently published interim census figures have generated a certain furore – or at least a bit of a kerfuffle among politicians – as regards their significance for the current constituency boundaries.

I heard a tabloid editor on the radio recently repeating the canard about newspapers being reluctant to apologise under the outgoing libel regime for fear of admitting liability. But to the best of my knowledge, it has not once happened in the history of Irish libel litigation that a newspaper which apologised in good faith had that apology used unfairly and damagingly in an ensuing trial.

I must own 40 books about the Beatles, 30 about Bob Dylan, and maybe 20 more about Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Then there are the CDs and DVDs by these artists overflowing my meager New York City shelf space, not to mention the back issues of Mojo and Uncut piled up beside my bed.

Pankah Mishra's vivid, uncompromising look at the modern Indian subcontinent might not win him many friends, but it lays bare Western cliches and rhetoric about south Asia. By Ben Macintyre

Sometimes, public readings or book launches can be all about the venue. Any journalist will tell you how dim a light is shone on a book from a grey cold hall or plastic cups of warm Chardonnay. A bit of imagination can go a long way, writes Ronan Browne.

I never got to meet Yasser Arafat. And I regret that, especially given the way he was treated towards the end of his life. I talked to him by telephone: once when he was in Camp David, and on another occasion when he was under siege in his compound in the West Bank. We put together plans for me to visit Palestine on a few occasions, but the demands of the process here at home meant that each trip had to be aborted because it coincided with some crisis or other in the Irish peace process or in the Middle East.

Colin Murphy sent off a ten-minute script to Fishamble Theatre Company, and found himself caught up in an attempt to turn Temple Bar into one great theatre

Susan McReynolds could be that new voice which Radio One desperately needs. She is bright, polished, but just that bit prissy. Perhaps it's the scripts but there is a hint of that sugary, goody-two-shoes about her that has gone in John Creedon. But she's new to the schedule as a substitute for Marian Finucane on Saturday mornings. She has promise but the material with which she had to deal on 15 July, would have challenged a Terry Wogan or a Gerry Ryan.

For three consecutive days, the situation in Lebanon made frontpage headlines in the Irish Times. On Thursday 13 July "Israel promises 'severe response' to Hizbullah" was the headline. The following day it read "Hizbullah retaliates with rocket attack on Haifa". Then, on Saturday, the story was "Hizbullah leader vows 'open war' on Israel". The trifling matter of the Israeli state's massive act of military aggression against a foreign country didn't make the headlines.