Noel Dempsey

MONDAY


The government's attempt to whip up an economic rescue plan with the social partners is met with derision. The unions describe the convoluted language of the framework document as "blancmange".


Dublin buses must take a cut in numbers, says transport minister Noel Dempsey (right). The network is "overly complex, with significant duplication", he said, calling for an end to 'bunching' – where several buses arrive at the stop simultaneously. Weary commuters hope those will be the ones going to the city's most over-supplied destination: 'Out of Service'.


tuesDAY


"He took the novel to another plane of intimacy," said Martin Amis on the announcement of the death of John Updike (below), one of America's most influential men of letters. "Several times a day you will say to yourself, 'How would Updike have done it?'"


How is Brian Cowen doing it? His way. The Dáil is finally back from its Christmas holidays, but the economic crisis hasn't gone away you know. The Taoiseach is in no mood for criticism. "As long as I am running this government, I will run it as I see fit," he thundered at the opposition.


"The feeling of many... was there was a lot wrong with it and it was flawed in many ways." Not the assessment of the government's economic framework document this time, but the appraisal of one of the Costa Book of the Year judges, Matthew Parris, on the winning novel, Irish author Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture (right).To add insult to ungraciousness, Parris also said, "Almost no-one liked the ending."


An unexpected ending in a California delivery room. The odds on giving birth to octuplets are apparently greater than being struck by lightning. (Which some women who are already mothers might prefer.) Dr Harold Henry, chief of maternal medicine at the Bellflower Medical Centre hadn't anticipated a surprise eighth. "It's quite easy to miss a baby when you are expecting seven," he said.


wednesDAY


A glamorous black mother and her two young daughters photographed in today's papers are on a quest for their own happy ending. It's not Michelle Obama with Malia and Sasha – but Nigerian-born Pamela Izevbekhai with Jemima and Naomi, whose latest legal battle with the state against deportation has failed.


"I'm off," a disgruntled Noel Dempsey told the opposition. The minister for transport was in the Dáil to explain 'Delivering Sustainable Economic Renewal and Securing Our Public Finances', but decided it was too big a mouthful, picked up his papers and headed off to find one of those surplus buses. A lot of people wish he would hold his breath while waiting.


"We are sorry for your troubles," said Lord Eames, explaining the controversial £12,000 payment to families bereaved during the Northern Ireland conflict. The launch of the report by the Consultative Group on the Past was disrupted by emotional protests as victims clashed with victims.


thursDAY


The Taoiseach heads to the hills for some fresh ideas on fixing the nation. The theme for the assembled brainiacs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is 'Shaping the Post-Crisis World'. Post-crisis?


An avalanche of tax reforms advised by a frosty Central Bank includes a residential property tax of €1,000 per annum. But speaking from the Alps, the Taoiseach was on a bit of a Swiss roll and finding much to yodel about. The talks with the social partners back home are "going well".


friDAY


Switching on Pat Kenny (€850,000 a year) or Gerry Ryan (€550,000 a year) is a bit of an expensive habit for a skint nation. Eamon Dunphy (above) threw broadcasters' salaries under the spotlight, saying he is taking a €30,000 pay drop.


Taking a 37-storey drop, and probably a lot more, is Seán Dunne (left), whose Ballsbridge tower has been refused planning permission. Reports show house prices are tumbling. Public confidence in the government's handling of the economy is on a slippery slope. An Economist magazine report on Davos says global capitalism needs rebooting. Maybe the government should try that: switch everything off. Then switch it all back on again.