Emmet Malone writes in the Irish Times about remote and blended working: "The code underpinning an employee’s right to request remote working is a “toothless tiger”, according to an employment lawyer, despite the issue being a factor in a growing number of legal disputes."

Shane Lambert is among the union voices quoted in the Dublin People's feature on how "Dublin’s special education system is at breaking point."

The Indo reports that ICTU has "warned" the Government that a freeze on migrant workers’ pay could damage the “booming economy”: "It said the Government had performed a U-turn on plans to push up “out of date” minimum salary rates for employment permit holders last January."

The breaking news just after lunchtime yesterday is that the High Court has suspended the passenger cap (32m) at Dublin Airport, pending the final outcome of a legal challenge that has been referred to Europe. 

Meanwhile, it's reported that South Dublin County Council has made a public application to its own planners seeking exemptions for council-owned land, after the properties were deemed liable for tax on maps made by...South Dublin County Council.

Elsewhere, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, Fiosrú, has officially started work as the State’s new policing oversight agency, replacing the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc).

The Guardian has a report on how newsrooms across the world are in a scramble to retain readers, viewers and listeners amid what they're calling "the big switch-off" as audiences are overwhelmed by the current news agenda.

All the more reason revel in some good news from the US, as Susan Crawford won the race for a seat on the Wisconsin supreme court on Tuesday, maintaining a liberal 4-3 majority, which is is hugely significant because the court is to hear major cases both on abortion and collective bargaining rights. 

Zen 

The Dylan flick this year with Timothée Chalamet seems to have overcome the clichéd rags-to-riches-to-rehab cycle that rock music biopics usually suffer from and, it was so successful, Hollywood has opened up the coffers for more of the same. This has unleashed the production of, not one, but four individual biopics of The Beatles featuring Paul Mescal (Macca) and Barry Keoghan (Ringo) to be directed by Sam Mendes (safe pair of hands in fairness).

With Val Kilmer's passing yesterday there was also a look back at his turn as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors from 1991. It hasn't aged well (although I went to see it twice when it was in the cinema at the time), but Kilmer's performance was on the money in an otherwise silly film.

So far, so white-guys-with-guitars, which is why it's refreshing to learn that Zendaya will star as Ronnie Spector, the iconic lead singer of The Ronettes in the long-awaited biopic Be My Baby.

Have a lovely day. 

Niall Shanahan