Opinion

• The real reason why drink crisis will persist WE ARE used to politicians running scared of proposals to tackle Ireland’s lethal relationship with alcohol. But this time there is even less chance of anything getting done. This time, it’s not just fear of the industry and its lobbyists, but of the escalating number of alcohol addicts this society is producing. The last thing this Government wants is a population doing cold turkey, deprived or on a reduced supply of its drug of choice.
• The Ascendancy is dead: long live the middle classes OPINION: MORE THAN half of us now flaunt the characteristics of middle-class life: home ownership, white-collar employment, third-level and professional education, association with other middle-class people, and a proportion (some say at least one-third) of net income available, after basic food and lodging needs have been met, for education, healthcare, consumer spending and other discretionary items.
• Research, analysis and debate the best means of honouring FitzGerald's legacy GARRET FITZGERALD had a pronounced impact on Ireland not only as an active politician but as a thinker and commentator – a widely respected public intellectual in a society sometimes uncomfortable with the notion. He had a deep commitment to the role of the university, to UCD where he lectured in economics, and to the National University of Ireland of which he was chancellor.
• February 10th, 1940 FROM THE ARCHIVES: A year after WB Yeats’ death someone with the initials ERW penned these reminiscences about the poet.
  

An Irishmans Diary

• An Irishman's Diary I MISS Lady Lavery, sometimes. Not that I’m yearning for a return of the punt, which ceased to be legal tender 10 years ago this week.
• Corrections & Clarifications It was stated incorrectly in yesterday's Property supplement that Alison Doody and Gavin O'Reilly are divorced.