With house prices rising way faster than inflation again this year, there is once again a clear need for action on the housing crisis in the 26 Counties. Leaks in Dublin newspapers over the last week have hinted at new radical proposals in the third report on housing by economic consultants Bacon and Associates. The proposals on tax measures to target speculators in the housing market are an important validation of policy proposals on housing made late last year by Sinn Féin. Free article

I've never been into TV soaps. I never pondered why I've remained immune, despite the widespread addiction among seemingly sound people. I've discovered solid comrades who have been secretly living in Brookside and on Deep Space Nine for years. It's at time like that you realise you are a little different to your fellow humans - it's actually a nice feeling. Free article

The governments of Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and the United States are currently consider extending official export credits or guarantees of about $850 million to the Ilisu hydropower project in Turkey. Free article

Chaith taidhleoireacht de cheathrar ball déag ó Coiste na nIarchimí cúig uair a' chloig sna blocanna an tseachtain seo ag caint le cimí atá le scaoileadh saor ag deireadh na míosa seo chugainn. Bhí Eoghan Mac Cormaic i measc an tslua. Free article

It's good to see that my precocious powers of predictions remain undimmed. Free article

LOYALIST gunmen were almost certainly responsible for the assassination on Wednesday evening of John Turnly, founder member and joint chairman of the Irish Independence Party, which broke away from the collaborationist SDLP three years ago. Free article