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• Thanks Jonathan Ross, for making BBC clean up the airwaves

It’s an ill wind ... I am hopeful that a new sense of responsibility and concern for public taste will now emerge out of the ashes of the broadcasting standards which you and your friend, Russell Brand, set on fire.

• Robert Fisk: British should not forget the massive debt they owe the Irish

I had almost forgotten what a **** Yeats could be. I don't mean his flirtation with Italian fascism, which Conor Cruise O'Brien first publicised; after all, Churchill was a bit enamoured of the younger Mussolini.

• Laurence White: This is why nationalists are plagued by dissidents

The fanaticism of the dissident republicans out there seems to know no bounds. This week the Continuity IRA threatened to kill nationalist community workers who co-operate with the PSNI in north Belfast.

• Eamonn McCann: Days when Mickey Mouse was black and blue and red all over

It was the radical ambience of Paris which made Mickey Mouse an industrial militant.

Columnist Comments

• Pol O Muiri: Why we must fly the flag for shopping in the north

Ah, partition. Don't you just love the confusion it causes?

• Gail Walker: Say what you like, so long as you’re PC

It’s been a bad few days for free speech. First, we had the sacking of TalkSport DJ Jon Gaunt for calling a Tory councillor a “Nazi” and an “ignorant pig” during a discussion on a ban on smokers fostering children.

• Eric Waugh: Dear voters, I trust that you’ll always feel indebted to me

The name's Brown — Gordon Brown — and I regard it as a great honour and privilege to address you as your Prime Minister.

• Hamish McRae: A monumental debt that takes us back to the 70s

This is not going to work, is it? Having got us into a jam by borrowing too much, the way out is to borrow yet more. This is a gamble of monumental scale, a bet on the world economy growing again by the second half of next year.

Columnist Comments

• James Lawton: Immature Ronaldo is no Pele or Cruyff

So all glory, then, to Cristiano Ronaldo, crowned Europe's best player and assigned by his manager Sir Alex Ferguson, to the company of Pele and Johan Cruyff?

• Joe Kernan: Take it as red, McEntee should play for Crossmaglen Rangers

The well-being of club football in Ulster is invariably a hot topic of discussion. The cynics - and there are many of them — tend to accentuate the perceived negatives while playing down the positives.

• Steven Beacom: Roy Coyle is a legend, even if we did fall out sometimes

It’s true to say that Roy and I have not always seen eye to eye, but I’m a big admirer of his achievements as a player and, especially, as a manager.

• The Punter: Hatton v Pacman looks a thriller

Ricky Hatton certainly lived up to his reputation as ‘The Hitman’ as he hit the bookies for six with his stoppage of Paulie Malignaggi in Las Vegas at the weekend.

Odd Box

• Man divorced over Second Life affair
• Japanese man wants to marry cartoon character
• 'Hundreds' of animals and jewellery found in raid
• Hero dog saves kittens from house blaze
• Swedish ice hockey game delayed by sex toys
• Naked man wedged in chimney
• Zoo animals found in suspected drug den
• Girl changes her name to 'Cutout Dissection.com'
• Monkey works as waiter
• Ban for viewing sci-fi film while driving truck
• Man punches shark to save pet dog
• Politician and pilot spot UFO in Meath
• Dog rescues owner by calling police
• Police use Taser on nude man walking his dog
• Burglar attacks with sausage and spices
• Man with 86 wives vows to marry more
• Outback mayor urges 'ugly' women to move
• Spanish monarch replaced by Homer Simpson
• Pooh blocks drains in Ballymoney
• Britain's smallest burglar: It's a tall man's world
• Couple fined over 'sex games' at war memorial
• Nevada brothel entices visitors with free petrol