The Irish Times reports this morning that the leaders of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael "have made promises to deal with the pension gap for those who are contractually obliged to retire before the age of 67 amid public backlash over the issue," while Siptu has rejected a claim by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe that the State cannot afford to stop the increase in the pension age to 67 years in 2021.

DPER is to consider financial penalties for TUI members who are planning to go on strike on 4th February while in the Irish Examiner Declan Jordan, director of the Spatial and Regional Economics Research Centre at Cork University Business School, decries the empty promises about regional development that will punctuate the current election. Reading through his piece it's clear that the boosted local government model proposed in our More Power To You campaign would do much to solve the problem he describes.

In another big story today Oxfam reveal that 2,153 billionaires around the world now own more wealth than 4.6 billion people who make up 60% of the Earth's population. Ireland has the fifth largest number of billionaires (17), most of whom are men, which means Ireland is mirroring the global trend on wealth inequality.

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland tensions between the farmers and the vegans heighten, and Unite has complained to RTÉ after the broadcaster requested a different spokesperson be put forward to participate on a radio programme because “they had an issue” with the original speaker’s (Polish) accent.

Your Zen this morning is prompted by an excellent new documentary series on BBC4 presented by Stewart Copeland, the legendary drummer with The Police. He looks at the power and effect of music on the human condition. Friday's episode concluded with a performance of New York's Choir! Choir! Choir! featuring Patti Smith, singing People Have The Power with Copeland on frying pan.

Have a powerful week.