Hugh Linehan is joined by Cormac McQuinn and Jennifer Bray to discuss the week in politics:

· The last fortnight has seen several incidents of councillors being verbally and physically attacked while out canvassing for the forthcoming local elections. A disturbing trend that hasn’t been a feature of previous elections.

· The panel dig into what the Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll results say about the volatility of public opinion right now.

· And neither current First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, or former First Minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, came away from the UK Covid-19 inquiry unscathed.

Christmas digestifs: buckle up for the strong stuff once dinner is done

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Western indifference to Israel’s thirst for war defines a grotesque year of hypocrisy

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Why do so many news sites look so boringly similar? Because they have to play by Google and Meta’s rules

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Christmas dinner for under €35? We went shopping to see what the grocery shop really costs

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And the panel pick their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

· Ronan McGreevey writing 50 years on from the Dublin-Monaghan bombings.

· Laura Kennedy does the arithmetic of emigration.

· Stephen Collins writes of Micheál Martin’s political enemies postponing their big move.

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