Page 9 - John Downing News Today

They were “the best banned in the land”, Brendan Behan joked after he joined the list in 1958 following the prohibition of his prison memoir, Borstal Boy.

There is a certain type of smug satisfaction I try to avoid – but not always with success. An example is delaying reading the sports pages until after teatime on Sunday, once the bulk of results are in, and taking mild but malign pleasure in counting how many pundits’ predictions were badly wrong.

Irish EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has brushed aside speculation that she will contest MEP elections next June.

Anita D’Attellis, a pianist, will be playing at a special event to support Sue Ryder Celebrate a Life Thames Valley this December.

Irish people don’t need much research to find their rural roots, and even our more urban politicians generally travel with “a metaphorical pair of wellies” in the boot of the car.

Pedro Sanchez is a renowned political gambler, but when he called a snap general election in Spain last summer, many said it was a punt too far and the opinion polls predicted defeat. On Thursday, he returned as prime minister, despite his party coming second in the July election, and he is determined to lead his country for a second time.

Soon after being appointed communications minister in 2004, Noel Dempsey told this writer that the TV licence system for funding public- service broadcasting had about eight years left before it was abolished. He said it had been overtaken by technology and was outmoded.

StockNews.com upgraded shares of NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning. NetScout Systems Price Performance Shares of NetScout Systems stock opened at $21.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a […]

I thought strongly about joining a new political party back in what now seems like another lifetime. But I got a start on a local newspaper around about that time and decided political activism would not be much help in this trade, which has paid the rent for me ever since.

My first exposure to the beautiful language of Goethe came via the Victor comic and its tales of derring-do by British forces mainly from World War II, but at times also from World War I.