Good morning colleagues, 

In this morning's papers there's news of an ECB interest rate cut and a big pharma investment in Cork.

The Irish Times top stories include news that Waterways Ireland has started 24-hour patrols of the Grand Canal in Dublin to stop homeless asylum seekers from erecting tents, predictions of air fare hikes as Dublin Airport passenger cap issue remains on the boil, the provost at Trinity college warns of the “quiet and gradual decline” of Irish universities due to lack of funding, rents continue to climb, and there's this feature article about how community groups have been set up to volunteer services for asylum seekers "in the face of official inaction and an increasingly hostile atmosphere."

Elsewhere, Keir Starmer has promised to deliver a 10-year plan to fix the NHS, saying there would be no more money without reform to a system an independent report found to be in critical condition, while a rescue helicopter is being forced to land more than three kilometres from Donegal’s main hospital because of health and safety concerns at its helipad.

Zen

This week we learned of the passing of Herbie Flowers. A bass player and self-described 'old jazzer', you'll be familiar with his unique bassline on Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side. The album on which that song appears was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson and is a thing of beauty.

What I didn't know was that Flowers was a member of the band Blue Mink who had a hit with The Bannerman in 1971. Despite the title, the song is not about a man from County Clare, it got to number three in the Irish charts and was a radio staple throughout the 1970s.

Have a lovely weekend.

Niall