Politico

Politics is no more now than a game show. Personality and style with an agenda stacked against fairness and democracy. By Vincent Browne

Nicky Kelly skipped the country after he was wrongly charged of involvement in the Sallins mail-train robbery in the 1970s. He tells Justine McCarthy about his time on the run, his abuse at the hands of gardaí, his political ambitions and his severe allergy to Clairol hair dye

The family of US-born John Hemsworth has called for an inquest into his death and for the American government to get involved in his case. By Frank Connolly

Fianna Fáil TDs are some suckers if they buy into the trade-off of libel reform in exchange for the press council. The libel reform will be exploited by newspapers to engage in further recklessness, while the press council will be treated by many papers with the contempt it deserves.

This improbable-looking spacecraft is designed to replace the great Hubble Space Telescope in the affections of a new generation of schoolchildren and astronomers around the world. It is called the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and because of a strong Irish involvement in the project, it is to be the subject of a major international scientific workshop  next June at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, Dublin.

RIVERSIDE: SPRING FEVER, reviewed by Peter Regan

Representative Charles Rangel, a member of the US Congress, has over the past few years made a number of high-profile calls for the military draft to be reinstated. It sounds at first like a right-wing rant. Conscript all the boys and girls of America. Suit them up in camouflage. Ship them into army camps, knock off their edges, trim them up. Send them off to fight for freedom... whatever the hell that means. 

In 1997 the government published a task-force report on violence against women, which looked primarily at domestic violence. Nine years later, most of the report's recommendations have not been implemented. By Emma Browne

A survey of 14 institutes of technology has found that just two institutes employ a disability officer and that in nine institutes the faculty buildings are not accessible to disabled students. By Emma Browne

Renowned from Tom Moore's melodies and the TV series Ballykissangel, the Vale of Avoca is a pleasant place for walking.

(Sléibhín) Larus ridibundus
Ireland's smallest resident gull, the Black-headed gull, is also our most widespread and numerous. By no means confined to coastal areas – which demonstrates the inadequacy of the term “seagull” – it is equally at home on freshwater lakes, moorland, farmland and upland bogs. It is found throughout the country, often far inland.

In the South Pole, a solitary penguin sets out to save the environment, while back in the city a traffic warden deludes himself into thinking he can save the whole world. By Declan Burke

It's only a theory

The Irish Independent made an early Christmas gift to this column with its bizarre editorial (30 November) on “conspiracy theories”, wherein the newspaper intoned opaquely: “No fewer than three news reports today fall into that category.”

It is grimly ironic that the long-running debates in the media about university fees, school league tables and the relative merits of private education have been conducted through interpretations of statistical evidence which are riddled with the most elementary errors. On Monday 4 December, the Irish Independent published the figures for university enrolment in 2006, which revealed, once again, the class divide in education. Although only about 10 per cent of pupils attended fee-paying schools,

 Listening to the three different accounts on Bowman Sunday Morning (RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday 8.10am) of Ronnie Delany running the 1,500m race on 1 December 1956 in the Melbourne Olympics was good for the spirit.

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In the last session of talks between the two governments and Sinn Féin at St Andrews, I proposed to Tony Blair that an Irish-language act be brought forward at Westminster by his government. That last session was a very stormy one – it was about putting together a programme to get the DUP into the powersharing arrangements, as laid out in the Good Friday Agreement.

Some must-have Christmas goodies for the office. By Malachy Browne and Grace Flanagan

What makes the perfect Christmas present? Diamonds or a Ferrari? What about an mp3 player that looks like it shops where Mr Claus gets his santa suits? With its shiny red case and snowy white earphones, it's like carrying Christmas around in your pocket.

Apple are officially the kings of capturing the Christmas market. This festive season, the must-have gadget is the Bono-endorsed, limited edition iPod nano (