There are only 12 short weeks to the local and European elections and while our roads and streets haven't yet become paved with posters of politicians and wanna-be politicians inviting us to back their team, some are making their presence felt by kicking political footballs up against the gable. Galway City Mayor Padraig Conneely has called on the city's two leading fuel suppliers to make it their "civic duty" to ensure that the success of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Galway is not jeopardised.

Behind every good man is a good woman, so the saying goes. And behind every good leader, it would seem, is a good idol. Barack Obama has Abraham Lincoln and An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, it would now appear, has John Fitzgerald Kennedy. In his speech to the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis at the weekend, Mr Cowen quoted the 35th president of the United States of America on his visit to Ireland many years ago. Mr Cowen said Mr Kennedy had spoken some words in the Dail at the time that still ring true today.

It being Pancake Tuesday yesterday, it occurs to us that Lent is upon us again and not a thought given to what we will give up this year. Of course we would have been forewarned of its approach had we been keeping up with all things ecclesiastical, but ironically, attending mass was one of the first things to go, as we circled the wagons on our failing finances. Despite the prospect of our souls to heaven springing, the coin in the coffer has proven too much of a high risk bet in these straitened economic times.

The case of the Galway family who were tied up and held at gunpoint in a so-called 'tiger raid on their home in Lackagh-Turloughmore on Sunday night goes to demonstrate how vulnerable we all are as we go about our daily routines. So preoccupied have we all become with keeping our jobs, keeping our businesses afloat, keeping money in our pockets, house prices, bank shares, bank dealings with other banks.

Harvey Norman Chief Executive Gerry Harvey got into a spot of bother late last year for comparing Ireland's worsening economic situation to the famine. But with union chiefs warning that the 'employer's agenda' will pit worker against worker, one wonders if you could be justified in comparing the impending union revolt on the pension levy to the Irish Civil War?

With the economy shrinking, more people now signing on and subsequent increased demands on the health system, it was a matter of when rather than if restrictions in health services would be announced. And so we had it last week, with the HSE West Service Plan for 2009, which indicated that staffing levels, disabled services and acute inpatient beds for mental illness patients are to be hit by cutbacks in 2009 as part of budgetary measures.

Sky News and the BBC's decision to refuse to broadcast an emergency appeal for Gaza has provoked heated debate across the water, with commentators and bloggers alike calling into question the stations' decisions. Informing the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella organisation for 13 humanitarian aid agencies, of its decision, Sky News said the conflict in Gaza forms part of one of the most challenging and contentious stories for any news organisation to cover, and that the station's commitment was to cover all sides of the story with uncompromising objectivity.

Former US President Bill Clinton is said to have once complained that his time in office did not send him the epic crises against which the greatest presidents are measured. As the people of the United States, and indeed the world at large, celebrated yesterday as the country's first mixed race president was sworn into office, there is no fear that the same fate will befall the incumbent.

At around midday last Monday, 5 January I received a text from my photographer Alan to say that he was down with the flu and therefore out of action for a couple of days. It being the first week back after the Christmas break, and the photo diary being fairly scant, I texted him back to say not to worry and to let me know when he was feeling better so I could arrange cover if necessary.

For thousands of Galway people, returning to work on Monday was a painful wake-up call after the slumber of the Christmas period. The return was made all the more difficult by the pressure we felt to feel overjoyed to find ourselves in employment given the number of our compatriots who have fallen, and continue to fall, by the wayside.