Mary Wilson, RTÉ's legal affairs correspondent, recalls her 10 years at the Four Courts and looks forward to presenting a new drive-time radio programme. In interview with Vincent Browne
We all know, in this part of Ireland, that the North is awash with sectarian hatred and bigotry. However, we prefer to close our eyes and our ears, pretending either that both sides are just the same, or that republicans have in some mysterious way "provoked" the sectarianism that is endorsed by unionist politicians, especially in the DUP but not exclusively so.
Children pry up our rotting bodies with cries of earn earn earn, says the American poet Jim Harrison.
Privacy legislation is necessary because of the conduct of journalists and newspapers, and no other reason. This needs to be loudly asserted in the debate that follows the publication of the Defamation Bill 2006 and the Privacy Bill 2006, both designed to address the situation pertaining to libel and related issues. If journalism had been capable of voluntarily behaving decently and responsibly, it would not be necessary to create a formal legislative framework to protect privacy.
Charity Queens squints through the flashing cameras at Ireland's most generous fashionistas, while Townlands takes a look at the growing popularity of cricket
I phoned the aunt just now and asked about Tom McGurk. She laughed awkwardly and said it was "nothing". I asked had the memory of McGurk caused her three divorces and she laughed even more awkwardly. She remembered McGurk had very big feet. The last time she saw him he was making a collection after a civil rights demonstration/riot in Newry, to pay for damage to police tenders that had been thrown in the canal. She thought this was sweet. Rodney Rice was there the same day, she says. She didn't fancy Rodney, she says. My aunt begged me not to reveal her name. I forebear, for now.
Hot on the heels of their prolonged attack on the legacy of 1916, Ireland's 'revisionist' political commentators turned their attention to the battle of the Somme. Editorials in both the Irish Times and the Sunday Independent deplored the "amnesia" which has surrounded this history of Irish sacrifice. The ideological positions of some commentators towards the two conflicts required them to rapidly invert their values.
Meejit spends some time in the Ukraine and dissects the media there.
The Chinese government has announced it will monitor the blogs of its citizens. The government of the second largest population of Internet users had previously displayed its suspicion of the Internet when it forced search engines like Google to censor politically-sensitive content, and this measure is another step in its effort to "purify the environment of internet and mobile communication networks". The feasibility of the plan is questionable though, as reportedly 100,000 blogs are created in China daily.
According to the BBC news on 10 September last year, the cost of policing the controversial Orange parade to the Whiterock Loyal Orange Lodge on the Springfield Road in west Belfast and the subsequent rioting cost £3m sterling. The rioting by members of the 'loyal' orders lasted for days after an Orange Order parade was barred from going through security gates into an area of the Springfield Road which is almost entirely Catholic. Not surprisingly these residents resent the sectarian abuse heaped on them by some elements associated with these parades.