First, let's congratulate former RTÉ Washington scribe Brian O'Donovan who will replace Ingrid Miley in the national broadcaster's newly-branded role of 'work and technology correspondent' next February.

And now back to pandemic pandemonium-land, where children's jabs are in the news along with the prospect of extra Christmas travel restrictions, new financial supports for business, and December boosters for the over-30s. Amid the a host of other angles across all titles, we learn that kids aged five to 12 accounted for over 20% of cases last week.

Across the water, the Johnson Gang announced new catch-up precautions yesterday, seemingly in a vain attempt to divert attention from No.10's 'the rules don't apply to us' Covid Christmas party that's now claimed its first scalp.

In economic news, Ibec's latest survey predicts strong growth this year and next.

Elsewhere, Tesco workers have overwhelmingly rejected a pay deal brokered by the WRC, the cost of having a disability has been put at up to €12,000 a year, and new fears have emerged over the Garda Protection Bill.

Going continental, an era officially ended yesterday when Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Olaf Scholz took over from Angela Merkel as German chancellor, and the Finnish PM Sanna Marin is under fire for clubbing after a close Covid contact.

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of Rudyard Kipling's 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature win; he was the first English-language writer to get that gong. The Jungle Book remains his most-loved and Zen-rich work. You could say it's a bare necessity.