More than 173,000 Covid-19 contact-tracing calls have been made to date in January, making it the busiest month on record for calls since the pandemic began.

There was considerable weekend commentary about the SEN schools and classes situation, and it continues today with a piece by Kitty Holland in The Irish Times, who interviews Eleanor Bermingham, a mother of two children with autism, with Fórsa quoted at the conclusion of the article.

Yesterday the Sindo reported that Education Minister Norma Foley wants teachers and school staff to be prioritised for vaccination earlier than scheduled, while the Taoiseach is reported in the same piece saying schools won't fully reopen until after St Patrick's Day.

In the Irish Times today Carl O'Brien reports that most children will not be back in school next month and "may not return to the classroom until close to Easter."

Elsewhere, Dr Owen Worth, head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Limerick, writes in TheJournal.ie that the Brexit question may have been answered, but the greater concept at stake is the Union itself. A new poll reveals that voters across the UK believe Scotland is likely to become independent within the next decade.

Now that walking is the new everything, you've probably noticed that the amount of litter that greets you while you're out on your constitutional has increased, with coffee cups and face masks the most prevalent offending items, according to a new survey by Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal). They don't mention discarded bags of dog waste, but that's definitely vying for a place in the litter charts too.

Zen

While doing a bit of research into political satire during the break, I stumbled across a history of anti-establishment comedy at the BBC by a fella called Morgan Daniels. He had unlimited access to the corporation's correspondence files, including one called 'Jokes against Government', and a copy of the 'Green Book', a strict set of guidelines on what was deemed unacceptable for comedy treatment. It was around these taboos that The Goon Show circumnavigated with their absurdist style of humour, creating a brand of anti-establishment comedy that influenced generations of humourists that followed. I looked up some old Goon Show sketches to test the waters. I wasn't expecting it to make me laugh out loud. But it did. What time is it Eccles?

Have a good week, stay safe. Savour all the flavours.