Here's a pair of morning stars to light up your Christmas tree

RADIO REVIEW: THE CHRISTMAS tree is now up in the offices of 4FM. On Tuesday's Breakfast On 4 (4FM, weekdays) presenter Gareth O'Callaghan was having a good old chinwag with newsreader Cathy Cregan. They have what you might tentatively call "chemistry". At 6am, this is no mean feat. When it comes to the top of your Christmas tree, they asked, are you a star, fairy or angel person? When there's so much to feel down in the dumps about, I was happy to consider this. Cregan said, "There was one year we had an angel that went skew-ways. She looked sort of drunk, so we switched to stars."

Of the office tree O'Callaghan observed, "The star is very small compared to some of the stars around here." Cregan replied, "Most of the stars around here can barely get their head through the door with the heads on them!" O'Callaghan added, "That's not us, by the way, we're little meek workers like the elves in the dark." It was all very silly, exactly what you might need to get you out of bed so early in the week. When Morning Irelandwas diligently ploughing through the real news, O'Callaghan suggested that December should be "Random Act of Kindness Month". Cregan wasn't so sure. She recently held the door for customers at Marks Spencer's and people kept streaming by without as much as a thank you. "It's time for love and forgiveness," O'Callaghan said.

Note to FM104's Strawberry Alarm Clockand 2FM's The Colm Jim-Jim Breakfast Show: chemistry happens without jack-acting or play-acting, and does away with the need to give presenters or shows "funny" names. On his "Random Act of Kindness Month", O'Callaghan said he would let the audience decide. "We'll put it out there among the six listeners." Self-deprecating too? Make that seven listeners. And remind me to suggest O'Callaghan Cregan On 4 as a show idea to the station manager.

In the real world, The Spin(Spin 103.8, weekdays), a lunchtime show with direct access to a young audience, talked about abusive relationships on Wednesday. The calls came flooding in, and presenters Jonathan McCrea and Clare McKenna dealt with them responsibly. For an upbeat and hip show, with lots of music, they did a fine job.

Vicky called in about the father of her child. “He used to just kind of flip and blame it on work.” Her advice to those listening in similar situations: “Silence protects the abuser. Tell someone, a friend or family member, or go to the police.”

McCrea and McKenna gave out the help lines for WomensAid.ie and Amen.ie (for men) and were sensitive to those who phoned in. The handling of these issues can all too easily be exploitative, especially on some late-night phone-in shows, but they carefully navigated the boundaries of their callers.

“People wonder why we cover these subjects,” McCrea said. “Yes, it’s compelling radio. The reason we talk about subjects like this every day is because there are people out there in abusive relationships who haven’t left.”

Far away from commercial radio, Pat Kenny chaired a heated half-hour debate on Wednesday's Today(RTÉ Radio One, weekdays) between Irish Timescolumnist John Gibbons and climate change sceptic Ian Plimer. Kenny showed his hand when he called Gibbons an "apostle" for climate change. "This is more of the Pat Kenny ramming words down people's necks," Gibbons said. And on it went. It's online and definitely worth a listen.

On Monday, Kenny attempted a fluffy interview with Australian Nicole Buckler, editor of Old Moore's Almanac, which reminded me of his more awkward personality of TV shows past. Kenny did that thing he sometimes does of appearing to read from his researcher's notes and, intentionally or not, acting like he knew the information all along: Old Moore's was founded by Theophilus Moore in 1764, he said. Now you know.

They rattled through predictions. “Michelle Obama becomes pregnant in the White House?” Kenny asked. “She’s not doing her own laundry anymore,” Buckler said. Kenny finished up by reading out a text, which stuck it to his editorial team . . . and his guest: “This rubbish should get the critical drubbing it deserves and not this kind of publicity.”

Ah, yes. Just like old times.