Back to the Ellipse on a busy Tuesday night in America. Back to the open green just south of the White House and the memory of the shocking chaos and insurrection of almost four years ago as Kamala Harris sought to reclaim the terrain where Donald Trump had delivered his notorious rallying cry on the icy afternoon of January 6th, 2021.
As symbolic locations go, she could not have made a more pointed choice to offer what was billed as her closing message of this extraordinary election campaign. Something about the evening felt significant: the wheel had come full circle on a democratic tradition that seemed stretched to breaking point.
The Harris campaign brought the country back to a patch of green in Washington which is remembered as the source of the day when the foundations of the republic itself seemed to waver. They gave out confectionery and water and played everything from ABBA to Salt ‘n’ Pepa and filled the Ellipse with the sound of people laughing and enjoying themselves.
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- Coffee seller who lost ‘500 customers a week’ welcomes Bray-Greystones cliff walk taskforce: The 7km cliff walk has been one of the most popular walks on Ireland’s east coast. Developed in the 1840s as an access route for workers building the railway line, it grew into a widely known amenity in the past 50 years or so. Wicklow County Council said some 350,000 people used the walk annually until it was closed on safety grounds in 2021.
- Up to 80,000 extra workers needed to address housing crisis, fiscal council says: Almost 80,000 additional workers are potentially needed to address Ireland’s infrastructure deficits, “mainly to build new housing” and retrofit existing homes, according to a new report from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council.
- Cabinet to clear way for election as final crucial legislation to be rushed through next week: The Cabinet is expected to clear the Appropriations Bill and also legislation providing for funding for the Houses of the Oireachtas for the next three years when it meets on Wednesday – clearing the way for these crucial pieces of legislation to be rushed through the Dáil next week.
- Lung cancer diagnosis with few symptoms: ‘Your world stops. You don’t know where to look or what to do’: Certain patients will be able to have a “full NCT” of their lungs in a bid to catch lung cancer earlier and prevent deaths from the disease under a new pilot screening programme in the east of the country.
- Weather forecast: Mostly cloudy but largely dry today. Highest temperatures of 13 to 16 degrees.
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The Big Read
- I Am Not an Alcoholic: Some friends are distancing themselves from me. It hurts, but there is nothing I can do about it: I am coming up to my second anniversary of two years of sobriety. I can’t believe it. How did I do that?
Opinion
- Kathy Sheridan: Donald Trump’s apparent misfires are part of a sinister strategy
- Even the teacher who hated corporal punishment resorted to violence
Business
- Derek Quinlan: ‘I am destined to spend the rest of my life under Nama’s shadow’: June 2017 was a crunch month for Derek Quinlan in his efforts to free himself from Nama, the State agency set up after the 2008 global banking crash to save the domestic banking system by taking over bad property debts. He had a potential deal to put to the State agency.
Sports
- Gordon D’Arcy: Munster parting ways with Graham Rowntree after six games is a massive gamble: While timing might be shining on the face of Sam Prendergast, there will be questions in the coming weeks around the timing of Graham Rowntree’s exit from Munster, who won the URC a little more than 18 months ago. While the recent run of losses was not up to Munster’s standard, the context around them feels relevant.
World
- How Russia, China and Iran are interfering with the US presidential election: When Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election, spreading divisive and inflammatory content online to stoke outrage, its posts were brash and riddled with spelling errors and strange syntax. They were designed to get attention by any means necessary.
- ‘My husband wants to sell our house, buy an RV and go travel the world’: I am approaching retirement and would be looking forward to it except my husband seems to be suffering from a late mid-life crisis and I am not sure how to manage it.
Podcast Highlights
- In the News Podcast: Which laws are being rushed through Dáil and which legislation will get left behind?
How the Government is rushing to pass new laws before the election
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