Foolishly, as it turned out, I had hoped for better. But in the event, British Secretary of State John Reid stood amid a gaggle of journalists in Clandeboye Drive and mouthed the same old platitudes. An intelligent man might have said he was here to listen and here to learn. But that was not to be. Free article

Aengus ó Snodaigh likens the second referendum on the Treaty of Nice to the movie 'Groundhog Day', in that the people of Ireland are being forced again to debate the Nice Treaty, after having already defeated the first referendum on it. Free article

After recent articles in this paper by opponents of fluoride in our drinking water, STIOFáN LONG (Sinn Féin local representative, Balmoral) presents the case for the defence Free article

The torture of forced medical intervention has taken another life in the Turkish death fast. Fatma Tokay (Kose) lost her life in Ankara Numune Hospital on the 400th day of hunger strike, after forcible medical intervention was carried out on the 395th day of her death fast. She becomes the 56th death faster to succumb to date. Free article

This week, AN DRAOI RUA takes the opportunity to relate a few stories about the goddess of land, war and horses, Macha of Eamhain Mhacha and of Ard Mhacha (Armagh). Free article

In 1998 Clare were beaten by Offaly in the re-fixture of the All Ireland Semi Final. The match in Thurles was necessitated by a timekeeping error the previous week, but the Omagh bomb overshadowed the match itself. Free article