In other news, students in Trinity concluded their protest at proposals to introduce repeat fees yesterday. Earlier in the day Fórsa had expressed its support for the students.

Elsewhere, the Labour Court has rejected a pay claim of 5% for construction workers, while the Indo and RTE report that Ryanair is to stop using self-employed agency pilots in Germany, and will instead offer direct employment contracts to all pilots based there. The Irish Times reports that Hiqa has withdrawn its proposal to cancel the registration of the Áras Attracta care facility.

I went to see Peter Daly's excellent one man show Money, earlier this week. He presents the nation's economic biography, from the formation of the Free State to the current recovery, and headlines like 'Ireland fastest growing economy in European Union again with growth of 7.8%' almost prompt a shudder of cautious familiarity.

It was with genuine sadness I heard yesterday about the closure of Filmbase, which had provided training, information and advice to emerging film makers for three decades. Filmbase helped to enable the earliest efforts of some of Ireland's most accomplished filmmakers, and was part of a vibrant creative and social scene around the Irish Film Institute in the early 90s. Happy memories, my better half was working for them at the time.

As we head into our weekend of shamroguery, wrap up warm if you're going to the parade, and brace yourself for an almighty clash of wills at Twickenham tomorrow.

Zen today marks the the week we bid farewell to two men whose work managed to plant a flag in the popular consciousness.

Not having paid attention to Ken Dodd for years, I find myself frequently laughing out loud at his one-liners as they re-surface on Twitter this week ("I knew there'd be war because I drove past Vera Lynn's house and heard gargling" / "I have kleptomania, but when it gets bad I take something for it" / "I just read a book about Stockholm Syndrome. It started off badly but by the end I really liked it" etc.)

The other cosmic departure this week was made by the most famous physicist since Einstein. Stephen Hawking's significant role as a popular cultural icon is examined here. If you find time this weekend, I thoroughly recommend treating yourself to Errol Morris's 1991 documentary, A Brief History of Time, part biography and partly based on Hawking's book of the same name (though ultimately a more navigable version of Hawking's thoughts on the universe). The score, by Philip Glass, is hypnotically beautiful. You can watch it here, or embedded below.

Have a great bank holiday weekend.