With indefinite strike action due to commence in the community and voluntary sector tomorrow, I spoke to RTE's Colm Ó Mongáin on Saturday about the planned strike and developments since the Dáil debate on the issue last Thursday. 

Unions issued a statement on Friday about final strike preparations which was picked up by RTE and a number of local media outlets, while Emmet Malone has this report in the Irish Times, featuring a service user and her home carer, and the Irish Examiner has this FAQ.

Meanwhile, there's continuing coverage of the widening of the recruitment freeze in the HSE, as a reduced budget for health services begins to exact its toll, and the Irish Times has this report on Saturday's ICTU housing event.

On Saturday we learned that voters in Australia overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give greater political rights to Indigenous people in a referendum, revealing a polarisation in the country's public opinion comparable to Brexit's legacy across the way. In other antipodean news, the Kiwis pivoted to the right over the weekend, and that's not even a rugby reference.

Elsewhere, just a week after the far-right surge in German state elections, Polish voters look to have given the ruling nationalist party the elbow. Meanwhile, Martin Wolf documents the death of corporate Britain via the Financial Times.

Zen

It wasn't until I watched the film Sing Street that I ever gave any real thought to the music of Daryl Hall and John Oates. What often seemed a bit cheesy and a bit too...well...Reagan-era American (soft rock, saxophones, too much reverb on the drums, big hair, expensive goofy videos etc) turns out to have been a suite of modestly durable classics. Samples of their work available by clicking above and below. This one is, I think, particularly good.

Have a great week.