Opinion

BY CLAIR WHITTY This time of year, many of you will be out and about partying. Some of you may end up with a hangover the next day. Here are some tips that may help prevent this. I cannot promise anything but they are worth trying! Some common symptoms of a hangover are headaches, tiredness, …

FURTHERMORE  By Gerry Moran As a child he spoke no English, couldn’t read music most of his life and played the piano in one key only – yet he became America’s greatest songwriter. Irving Berlin was born Israel Isidore Baline in 1888 in Russia and grew up in a tenement in New York City with …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS Back in the late ‘80s a colleague of mine never came into the national newspaper office without wearing a new outfit every other day. Needless to say, she wore it well. Occasionally, I would compliment her new look and she would politely acknowledge my appraisal. One day, …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Christmas week is upon us and the whole population is gearing up for one of the biggest spending sprees of the year. Many retailers and small businesses see this as the time when they make a sizeable amount of their total return for the year. Now, while we spend, spend, …

AS I SEE IT MARIANNE HERON “How did you get over the Christmas?” is an odd question, as though the occasion was a steeplechase hurdle that had to be jumped. It can be a bit mad at this time of year, with all that buying and cooking and eating, giving rise to festive memories often …

PART 4 Continuing the story of the nine County Kilkenny nuns who brought the gift of education to Australia… BY JOHN FITZGERALD Shortly before the Callan nuns at the Parramatta Convent, the Monte Sisters had left mysteriously after fifteen years of service to the community. To this day, nobody knows why. The suspicion at the …

AS I SEE IT MARIANNE HERON Judgemental attitudes to unmarried mothers are at the heart of the Gaiety Theatre’s adaptation of Brinsley MacNamara’s novel ‘The Valley Of The Squinting Windows’ brilliantly staged earlier this month. When published in 1918 the book caused outrage and it was publicly burned. Times have certainly changed, I thought after …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR For many it is unfair that having had cancer and survived you still can’t access life cover, even Mortgage Protection cover even though you have had the ‘all clear’ for years. This adds extra stress on the whole process of trying to get a mortgage to buy a home. Well, …

FURTHERMORE  By Gerry Moran My heartiest congratulations to Jim Brennan of the Club House Hotel on being awarded the President’s Award at the recent Chamber of Commerce Business Awards ceremony in Lyrath. Jim has been running the Club House for the last 46 years and is most certainly deserving of the honour. The Club House …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS Despite the apparent uplift in the economy, costs still remain high for fuel and basic foods. Many families and individuals are turning to the ever busy de Paul Society for assistance, with the local charity spending more than €8,000 a week helping those in need. The society was also …