CHOICES SHAPE YOUR FUTURE By Judith Ashton When thinking about what to write this week I had many ideas about mental health ,social media, global and political troubles etc. and the list gets longer everyday… so I decided not to go there as I am heartily sick of being reminded of all that’s wrong . …

FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran So, if every dog has its day, where does that leave our feline friend the cat? Does every cat have its day? And if every cat has its day, what about big cats – the cheetah, the cougar, the lion. Do they all have their day? And what sort of a …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR As we usher in 2026, reflecting on the 2025 festive season reveals a sobering reality. If your shopping trolley felt heavier on the wallet last Christmas, the figures confirm it. The average Irish household spent roughly €700 more on celebrations in 2025 than five years earlier in 2020. This was …

BY CLAIR WHITTY With winter well underway, viral infections are placing noticeable pressure on Irish hospitals as flu, COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses circulate widely, resulting in increased hospitalisations in recent weeks. I know that many of you are seeking natural ways to support your immune defences, so you can stay out of hospital. Echinacea …

AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON We live in uncertain times. Imagine if President Trump gave Ireland the same treatment he applied to Venezuela — sending in planes, helicopters, and agents to whisk Micheál Martin and Simon Harris away in their PJs to stand trial for activities which are not in America’s interest, like …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS When I was a young journalist in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe in the late ’70s, I would regularly write home to my parents of my adventures in a country at war — and that I was okay. They were more like missives: a dozen foolscap pages every other week, typed …

CHOICES SHAPE YOUR FUTURE By Judith Ashton I hope that everyone has had a good rest over the holidays. However, I am not foolish enough to think that this is the case for all. For many people Christmas and New Year can be simply exhausting if you’ve been juggling family, work and all that goes …

AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON Auto-enrolment came in earlier this month, copper-fastening pension contributions and drawing attention to that arbitrary line drawn across our later lives. There are around one thousand people every week in Ireland tumbling over that cliff edge called retirement. Currently there are a million of us in that ‘old’ …

FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran You know those self-help publications and soppy little books of wise quotations that populate the shelves of our book stores this time of year? Well I love them. I collect them. Not alone do I collect them but friends give them to me – usually as a Christmas present. And God …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS It seems like it was only yesterday that I wrote in this column… Where did that year go, with a new one upon us? Now, here I am again, wondering where the last 12 months went. I may not be any the wiser, but I am, unfortunately, …