A glance at the week that was
Lisbon and the cutting edge
Among the stranger outcomes of the Lisbon Treatyreferendum was the sight of Eurosceptic MEPS in green tops and, in one case, a leprechaun hat. Given that they included unionist MEP Jim Allister, their sudden support for Irish opinions raised eyebrows - not least the well-sculpted eyebrows of Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle.
"How things could have been different if only our British colleagues had come to this conclusion a century ago," she remarked, displaying a cutting edge the Yes side could have done with two weeks ago.
Dare to bare in the name of art
Over 1,000 people turned up at Blarney Castle in the early hours of Tuesday morning and took their kit off, all in the name of art.
Photographer Spencer Tunick was taken aback by the interest, and perhaps the sight of so many pasty Paddies and Patricias. The resulting photographs will be fascinating, but the impact on participants may be deeper. Those who turned up in Dublin's Docklands this morning will by now understand just why the Cork bunch were so satisfied by this surreal, but apparently life-affirming, baring of flesh.
We now know
Global album salesare at their lowest since 1985
A team of translators is correcting Beijing's English-language menus, renaming such dishes as "husband and wife's lung slice" and "crap in the grass"
According to consumer magazine Which?, Singapore Airlinesis the world's best - the runner-up is the single-aircraft Palmair, which only flies out of Bournemouth
The numbers
6Number of severed feetwashed up on British Columbia coast since August, baffling Canadian police.
24Number of weeks Kerry captain Paul Galvin was suspended after he knocked the notebook out of the referee's hand last weekend
38,156 Number of people in this country using a telephoneat any given moment