What is the heart of education? One photograph, over the past week, said it all for me. It was the picture of more than 50 parents camping out for up to two days to get their daughters into the Presentation Secondary School in Tralee, Co. Kerry. The all-girls’ school is clearly such a beacon…

With the box-office success of the movie The Iron Lady — Meryl Streep’s portrait of Margaret Thatcher — the career of the former British prime minister is being re-assessed on all sides. Maggie Thatcher always elicited strong emotions: people loved her or hated her. She is often heralded as the leader who revived capitalism, rescuing…

Perhaps, like Dickens, we will say it was the worst of years, but it was the best of years too, for like every other year it was mixed in blessings and in worries. But, some leaves from my diary remembering interesting experiences of the year In February, I visited Cambridge at the invitation of Professor…