Today's Irish Times has a rather more upbeat report on expected public service pay talks than appeared in yesterday's Examiner, with speculation that we could be balloting on something over the summer. Let's see.

Meanwhile, RTÉ reports that the Cabinet is to approve plans to introduce Sláintecare regional health areas, and the Indo reckons health service pandemic payments will be sanctioned soon. Also in health, the HSE's chief operations manager is on the move.

The morning also  brings much coverage of the UN International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) new report, which gives us three years to avoid the worst effects of global heating. Turns out David Bowie's gloomy prediction was hopelessly optimistic. 

Volodymyr Zelenskiy (how DO you spell that name?) will address the UN Security Council today amid calls for tougher sanctions on Russia and warnings that more evidence of atrocities will soon hit our screens. The Ukrainian president will be talking to the Dáil tomorrow, and the Times has this unlikely piece on his 2017 appearance in Drogheda.

Elsewhere, the IDA takes aim at Ireland's already-low tax base, the pandemic unemployment payment will wind down today, and Mandate's delegate conference heard calls for the living wage (€12.90 an hour) to become the entry point for all retail staff.

When I told my daughter I'd been to the Abbey and seen a fantastic opera about the DUP she laughed and said this was "totally on brand." Whatever that means, the Belfast Ensemble's Abomination: A DUP Opera, with a script taken word-for-word from that party's homophobic outpourings, was the best thing I've seen in a theatre for years. Zen brings you a little taste.

Have a good day.

Bernard