Society

The Eurozone has now reached an advanced stage of disintegration, and markets are already planning for the post-euro era. By Yanis Varoufakis.

The camp outside the Central Bank on Dame Street has been there now for 100 days. If it is to remain relevant it must do more than simply survive. By David Johnson.

The Government’s confidence that a second bailout will not be necessary is far-fetched. By Vincent Browne.

28 November, 'Dependence Day', should be commemorated each year as the most crucial date in the calendar of the Irish state since independence.

2011 was a big year for Gypsies in the media. From the ratings success of the controversial Big Fat Gypsy Weddings series in February, to the 24 hour international news coverage of the eviction of Britain's largest illegal Travellers site at Dale Farm in September, my community has never got so much attention. As a Romany journalist and a campaigner for better representation for my community in the media, 2011 has provided an enormous number of threats and some great opportunities. But have we become any better understood as a result of it?

Hundreds attended a lunchtime rally outside the Dáil yesterday in support of former Vita Cortex employees in Cork. The rally was organised by SIPTU.

A century and a quarter on from his first print appearance Sherlock Holmes curently has not one but two new incarnations, Robert Downey Jnr in the cinema and Benedict Cumberbatch on television. While countless other fictional heroes have come and gone, Holmes has never been more popular. But the greatest mystery remains: why do so many readers fall in love with the wizard of Baker Street? By Ed O'Hare.

The EU and the IMF have got it badly wrong in their predictions and projections for the Irish economy thus far. Time for them to own up to their mistakes. By Michael Taft.

There’s nothing wrong with saying, hey I got it wrong. We all get something wrong from time to time; never more so when the subject matter is economic and fiscal forecasting. When people and institutions don’t admit they got it wrong, especially when they got it demonstrably wrong, when the policies they are advocating are not hitting their target - that’s when cynicism and resentment arises.

A focus on rogues - whether rogue bankers, journalists or states - blinds us to larger, systemic failures. By Daniel Matthews.

The large and ever-growing gap between the richest and the rest is not talked about enough here in Ireland. It should be. By Vincent Browne.

If any readers stayed up last night to watch the post-New Hampshire primary candidate prayer meetings, they probably will have been struck by the banality of the rhetoric and the disconnect between the Republican candidates and the state of America.

Do we really believe that building and selling houses to each other is a pathway to recovery? The Government seems to think so. By Michael Taft.

There’s been a lot of discussion about whether 2012 will see property prices hit the ‘floor’. The Government and NAMA are doing their bit to help stimulate house purchases through budgetary measures and negative equity insurance schemes. Unfortunately, there has been little debate about the optimal level of house property prices. Few have been asking if it would be a good idea if property prices stopped falling this year.