Mention 'blackberry' nowadays and many people think of mobile phone accoutrements. I still think of juicy berries, 'free to air' as they say in TV programming circles.
I think of the jams, jellies, additions to sauces and desserts that those berries can produce, not to speak of blackberry wine. Even in recessionary straithened circumstances it is great to find something that is free and healthy growing wild by the roadsides and hedgerows. No matter how many berries we pick, there are still plenty left over for birds and

The Would You Believe special, 'Faith in Crisis', shown on a recent Sunday night on RTÉ, after much hype beforehand, disappointed many. A woman I met on the street summed it up well with the words: 'It was all over the place.'
There was a genuine effort to hear as many voices as possible, but this

"August Is A Wicked Month" is the title of an early novel by Clare born writer Edna O'Brien, some of whose books were banned by the Irish Censorship Board in the early '60s of the last century.
I hope this August does not turn out to be wicked from a weather point of view, as July was a disappointment after a glorious June.