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Holding the UK together
ACCORDING TO prime minister Gordon Brown, "when secessionist forces are loudly at work it is not the time for silence and passivity. We must be resolute in defending the Union and argue against those who put it at risk". Broadcaster Jeremy Paxman believes the United Kingdom is "like a failing marriage", with little passion left to hold England and Scotland together. Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond says that with Scottish independence "England would lose a surly lodger and gain a good neighbour". In addition, the Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, said yesterday that plans for political reform are "part of the much wider programme towards a new constitutional settlement. They will strengthen the role of Parliament in our democracy." p
Shannon water
A DETAILED study of the implications of abstracting water from the river Shannon to meet the needs of the Greater Dublin region for 2015 and beyond is due to be completed this summer. Not surprisingly, the proposal has generated considerable opposition from farming, boating and angling organisations in the Shannon region.
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Opinion
Chicago preacher adds colour to US election debate
Barack Obama's pastor, Rev Jeremiah Wright, has lent unexpected significance to the presidential campaign, writes Vincent Browne . pEU and Nato both needed in confronting threats to peace
Europe is not meant to be the civilian branch of Nato - we must be able to launch autonomous and robust military operations of our own, writes Herve Morin . pMcCain is not the old-style realist he appears to be
Europe should be thinking now about what could happen if John McCain wins the US presidency, writes Anatol Lieven . pAid is not best way to help Africa progress
There are many reasons why handouts do not work, and why the current pattern of aid should be inverted, writes Bryan Mukandi . pMotorists will have to pay for the cost of congestion
The solution to traffic gridlock is to charge motorists by pricing the cost of congestion in euro, writes Thomas Power . pBuild bungalows underground to improve our health
NEWTON'S OPTIC: THE DEPARTMENT of Health will begin receiving submissions today on the feasibility of burying bungalows underground, writes Newton Emerson .
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An Irishman's Diary
There was a dreamlike quality to our early morning passage across the velvet waters of Lake Lucerne following in the invisible wake of the craft that carried the last princes of Gaelic Ireland, Hugh O'Neill, Rory and Cahir O'Donnell, their families and servants to the small lakeside port of Fluelen where they disembarked around midnight on March 16th, 1608, writes Denis McClean . p
