Opinion
Exercise Changes Your Brain Chemistry
Motivation, mood and pain can all be improved with regular exercise – brain chemistry is part of the reason this happens By Paul Bolger. Chartered Physiotherapist at Nano Physiotherapy, Kilkenny (www.nanophysio.ie). Exercise goes far above and beyond giving us stronger muscles and healthier hearts – it plays a key role in maintaining a healthy chemical balance …
Discovering a story of personal and collective significance
THE LAST WORD By Pat Coughlan On a recent visit to Salamanca I discovered ‘Remember You Are A Wiley’ by Maya Wiley [pictured] among the few books in the shop in English. I suppose I should not be surprised as Salamanca is a university city. The title intrigued me, and the cover promised a story …
Back to black Matthias, Kai and Tómas
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran I am walking up High St. when I see him coming towards me. I don’t know who he is but I know what he is. He is wearing a three-piece black corduroy suit, white shirt and tie, and he is carrying a rucksack and a large stick not at all unlike …
Ireland second-best for work-life balance!
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Ireland has been ranked the second-best country in the world for life-work balance in a recent study by Remote, a global employment expert, and is seen as a major success story. This notable jump from 21st place in 2023 to 2nd place in 2024 places Ireland ahead of every other …
You can pedal but you can’t piddle …
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON Do you ever get the feeling that the Government gets some of its priorities wrong? If you or I got an amazing windfall we would most likely spend it on something that would really make a difference rather than put it towards general expenses where it would get …
TD or not TD, that is the question…
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS Meath West TD Damien English will not be standing in the General Election. Last year, he resigned as a junior minister following controversy over property declarations. His announcement brings to 17 Fine Gael TDs who will not be running again. The departures not only raises questions about …
Why for some a winter of discontent is coming
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR The European Central Bank (ECB) has once again lowered interest rates, cutting them by a quarter of a percentage point for the second time this year which will have an immediate impact on both borrowers and savers across Ireland. As the ECB tries to take a balanced view between controlling …
Our journey through life, accumulating clutter
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS A hoarding disorder is where a person gathers a huge amount of items and stores them. This is usually in a chaotic manner and results in amounts of clutter that are difficult to manage. Hoarding can be a significant problem if the amount of clutter interferes with …
Clamping: is this form of parking punishment fair?
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON In England in medieval times stocks were a form of public punishment. The miscreant would be locked in a device on the village green where passing folk could hurl abuse and rotten eggs at the culprit. In the modern equivalent cars are clamped and the abuse gets hurled …
Kilkenny’s heritage: a treasure beyond price…
BY JOHN FITZGERALD The city celebrates a special “birthday” this month 21 years ago, Treasures of Kilkenny saw the light of day. The stunning publication offered us a look at some of the old charters and civic records of Kilkenny City, dating back to the 13th century. The Kilkenny City Archive is the oldest set of such records in Ireland after Dublin. Its …
