There is a sense of apprehension now about how our country is being run that I don't recall having witnessed before, writes Vincent Browne.

Yes, we have often been infuriated by the ineptitude of governments, by the inequity and unfairness of so much they did, by the spectacular wastage of public funds.

However, it's different now - and very alarming.

There is a sense that those in power might bring down the whole show, that in this moment of crisis there is no one in charge who knows what they are doing or where we are going.

What is the point of the Labour Party being in government if it again fails to make the tough decisions to tackle inequity in society?By Vincent Browne.

Cowen and Kenny are liabilities, not just to their parties, but to the country, writes Vincent Browne.

The Irish people have no confidence in the present Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, and they have no confidence in the alternative taoiseach, Enda Kenny.

This is at a time when, because of our dysfunctional political culture, leadership matters.

Neither of their respective parties seems in the least bit perturbed that, at this time of crisis, the country is denied a leader in whom they might have confidence.

Drink is more a feature of Irish politics than politics, writes Vincent  Browne.

On Tuesday of  last week, following Brian Cowen’s unremarkable radio interview, Ministers did their usual unremarkable thing pretending there was no issue. But now some of these same ministers are saying quite the opposite: that the interview was disastrous for Brian Cowen, for the party, for the government and for the country. And that Brian Cowen will have to shape up or else.

Brian Cowen is now as beholden to Brian Lenihan as Bertie Ahern once was to Cowen, writes Vincent Browne.

Former NTMA head Michael Somers said he warned that the banks' lending practices "made no sense". But whom in power did he warn and what was their reaction? By Vincent Browne.

Issues of momentous consequence dwarf that of whether Brian Cowen was hung-over yesterday. And even if he was, so what? By Vincent Browne

Brendan McDonagh, the head of Nama, was financial director of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) in 2007. He told an audience in Tralee last Friday morning that he and his then boss, Michael Somers, became worried about Anglo Irish Bank in 2007 because its vast rate of lending raised doubts about the solvency of the bank.

We believe we have no option but to defer again and again to the financial elite, even when the elite then punish us for the scale of our deference. By Vincent Browne.

The idea that tighter regulation will prevent a repeat of bank failures is naive . . . We have to detoxify the culture of inequality, whereby there is a class with wealth and power and then everyone else, writes VINCENT BROWNE

The scariest thing in Ireland at present is the sound of Eamon Ryan waffling on RTE’s Morning Ireland, avoiding every question asked of him, with that trademark condescending verbal smirk, pretending he and his Green colleagues have even a smidgin of understanding of what is going on.