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IT Sunday: Making sense of the economic ‘horror show’ next door

‘In politics, bad ideas persist and resurface. They are found out but then refound all over again’

British prime Minister Liz Truss during a press conference in the briefing room at Downing Street, London, on Friday. Photograph: Daniel Leal/PA Wire

Welcome to this week’s IT Sunday, a selection of the best Irish Times journalism for our subscribers.

David McWilliams and Fintan O’Toole this weekend look at the UK, where the government appears to be in a spiralling state of crisis.

“The horror show across the water is both instructive and a cautionary tale,” writes McWilliams. “If the UK, for centuries the home of financial capitalism, can’t stabilise its own bond market, what hope has the rest of the world?”

Fintan O’Toole says that in politics it seems that “nothing is ever really found out for good and all. Bad ideas persist and resurface. They are found out but then refound all over again”. Liz Truss preached from the gospel of disruption at the Conservative Party conference last week: move fast and break things. “Like a lot of the nonsense that infested democratic politics in the late 20th century, this comes from business-speak,” says O’Toole. And “even when applied to businesses, it’s hit and miss.”

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And so, to Joanne Hunt’s guide on how to overcome imposter syndrome – the feeling that you’re out of your depth and that any day now you’ll be exposed. It’s not a recognised mental health disorder, but lots of us feel it, says Susi Lodola, a cognitive behavioural therapist.

In our other subscriber only articles this weekend:

Jennifer Bray looks at the Government’s rush to find space to house asylum-seekers now that it’s clear the war in Ukraine won’t end anytime soon.

Irish dancing was engulfed in a controversy around cheating allegations which, according to Gráinne Conroy, shocked everyone and surprised no one. But the controversy could still be the best thing to happen to Irish dancing since Riverdance.

In books, we have a round-up of the best children’s titles for October while Neil Hegarty looks at two new memoirs from RTÉ veterans Charlie Bird and Tommie Gorman.

Jennifer O’Connell looks at this week’s Shane Ross interview saga and says voters don’t care if Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald is posh.

Health Editor Paul Cullen has an interview with Prof Brenda Smyth, whose new job as chief medical officer is a long way from her days of playing traditional music in Neachtain’s pub in Galway.

In sport, Malachy Clerkin says the achievement of Ireland’s women in qualifying for the for the World Cup has, for young girls playing soccer here, totally changed the boundary of what is possible.

And in her column this week, Roe McDermott responds to a reader who says their partner is loving, caring and committed – but he doesn’t want to get married.

Some of the best subscriber only articles from the week:

Following a number of years of high demand for home renovation, not to mention fast-rising materials costs, embarking on an extension or energy upgrade is not for the faint-hearted. In this piece during the week, Fiona Reddan outlines the details of a recently-published guide, designed to act as a check-list to help make building projects run a little smoother.

In her advice column, Trish Murphy responds to a reader who met their partner in “slightly unusual circumstances”; when they got together ten years ago, the other person was in a committed relationship, and he had two children. “Most of my family and friends assumed we had an affair, but we didn’t: he was in an open marriage and was forthright with me from the outset.” Now, however, the man has started dating someone he met at the gym – but has neglected to tell the new woman about his existing relationship with the reader. Read Trish Murphy’s response here.

Across the country, a raft of restaurants and cafes have called time in recent months. Ian Curran speaks to some business people who are shutting up their restaurants for good.

In what became one of the most popular pieces on irishtimes.com this week, Jen Hogan explored the world of underage sport, and the “win-at-all-costs” attitude that prevails among some coaches. Playing sport can benefit children in several important ways, but what happens when the fun stops? One mother of four says the competitiveness of her son’s GAA coaches was devastating to her now-teenage son. “We nearly lost our boy to sport, and from our lives, due to the small mindedness of men who needed the win at under-12 to make them feel they were great.”

As always, there is much more on irishtimes.com and there are plenty more articles exclusively available for Irish Times subscribers here.

We value your views. Please feel free to send comments, feedback, or suggestions for topics you would like to see covered to feedback@irishtimes.com.

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