Things aren't any better in the Middle East this morning.

In other news, racial and homophobic abuse, drug dealing and sexual harassment were among the complaints submitted by Irish Rail users through its antisocial behaviour text alert service last year. 

Elsewhere, more than half of Irish businesses raised their prices in the past year, at a slightly higher rate than their European counterparts, while

nearly half report that customers have "reduced their overall spending or are not purchasing as frequently."

Finally, belated congratulations to our friend and colleague Martin Bridgeman on the birth of his grandson Félim last week, fantastic news. 

Zen

My holidays last week were book-ended by gigs by John Maus (loud, heavy and eccentric) and Nine Inch Nails (loud, heavy and cathartic), with Iggy Pop (loud, heavy and romantic) at In the Meadows festival in between. Iggy got a lot of love in Kilmainham, and deservedly so.

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Have a lovely day.

Niall Shanahan