LET ME give you a scenario. Imagine you were a high-flier in a huge multinational corporation and you had, say, a billion pounds to spend on a massive building project. At the beginning of the project, your superiors give you a specification about what they want you to build and what it should achieve. Now imagine you decided to go ahead and spend all that money by building something entirely different. Free article

NATO troops killed three children in Afghanistan on Monday. The deaths of the innocents rated about three lines in one English paper. By contrast, columns have been written about homecoming celebrations for the 'Ulster 'troops of the Royal Irish Regiment (formerly the UDR, formerly the B-Specials), who are part of the NATO /United Nations forces occupying Afghanistan. Free article

Imagine the following scenario: at some not too distant point in the future, the Mexican government decides it is time for Texas, California and Arizona to leave the clutches of Washington and return home. All three states were originally Mexican territory and variously ceded (under pressure) or annexed by an expansionist United States, in the 1840s. Free article

Bhuel, tá an chéad seachtain de Mhí Mheán an Fhómhair linn arís: méadú suntasach ar thrácht agus ar thranglam le páistí ag filleadh ar scoil agus na sráideanna lán le SUVanna agus iompróirí daoine i ndiaidh 'shuaimhneas' an tsamhraidh. Do dhaoine eile, áfach, tá nasc níos dírí leis an turas scoile seo agus le seachtainí anuas ar fud na tíre bhí tuismitheoirí ag cuardach éidí scoile, brógaí nua do na cosa beaga a d'fhás orlach breise ó Mí an Mheitheamh, málaí scoile agus boscaí lóin agus ábhar speisialta, mealltach, inite - folláin agus sláintiúil b'fhéidir - le cur ann. Agus an tseachtain seo, tiocfaidh na nótaí abhaile le billí do leabhair, grianchóipeanna, treoracha faoi leabhair agus ciseán ranga agus amchlár d'imeachtaí iarscoile, Cruinnithe Cinn Bliana Choiste na dTuistí, clamhsán nó ceiliúradh faoin mhúinteoir nua agus an tuirse ar leith a thiteann ar na páistí ag an am seo den bhliain agus a bhaineann, is dócha, le foghlaim scoile. Free article

SUNDAY possibly sees the culmination of one of the epic journeys in modern hurling - the arrival of Waterford in their first final since 1963. After last year's semi-final defeat by Limerick, many were writing them off on the basis that they had missed their best chance. It was a suspicion confirmed earlier in the summer after their tame exit from the Munster championship at the hands of Clare and the subsequent sacking by the players of Justin McCarthy: an act that cost them a lot of the sympathy and goodwill which they had earned over previous seasons. Free article

We're against the occupation. But we support the occupiers. We are opposed to the slaughter of thousands. But we will back their murderers to the hilt. No, I don't understand the Alliance Party either. In Tuesday's Belfast Newsletter Alliance's Naomi Long seems to suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq would be okay if the US had strong-armed enough countries to back it. Free article

An Phoblacht's famous weekly satirical column. Free article

PÁDRAIG PEARSE, President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916, was a talented writer, an Irish-language activist and a pioneering educationalist. From his early days in Conradh na Gaeilge, Pearse had a keen interest in education in Ireland. Under his editorship from 1903, the Conradh newspaper, An Claidheamh Soluis, devoted much attention to the issue. Free article