Sheryl Sandberg’s encomium to her mentor, Lawrence Summers, could hardly have been more effusive. Summers has found himself in perhaps the biggest mess of his life – much of it of his own making. Jonathan Parker, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said Summers’ “creepy abuse of his professional power” was “infuriating”. [ Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary, slammed Trump in Epstein emailsOpens in new window ]Still, few would question his brilliance as an economist. After his stint at the World Bank, he joined the government, working as treasury secretary Robert Rubin’s deputy in the Clinton administration.

My friends range in age from 30 to 86, but naturally there’s a concentration around my own age, and few of us threw parties. Children can also find birthdays hard: so much anticipation; the hope and fear of so much attention; the pressure of being a year more grown-up, which is sometimes exciting and sometimes unwelcome. It’s sometimes hard to tell what it means when someone says they don’t want any fuss about their birthday. Do they truly find attention embarrassing, feel afraid of ageing and would rather repress the whole business? Enough fun happened, partly because I shamelessly named the quality and quantity of what I wanted.

Cop30 president André Corrêa do Lago interpreted smart casual to mean you could leave not just one but two top shirt buttons undone. In keeping with this theme, Lula’s government issued official advice that formal business attire was not needed and “to ensure everyone’s comfort, the recommended dress code for the COP30 is smart casual”. He agreed the forbidding heat made the case for this wardrobe choice thin, but as he told me later, when it comes to smart casual, “I never know what it means”. I knew that for women, the idea of smart casual, or the equally confusing business casual, is ill-defined to the point of uselessness. Although the general state of Cop attire tends to veer more towards the casual than the smart, there are limits.

Barry Mason from Kilternan takes the L26, which is scheduled to run every half an hour, to work in Blackrock. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish TimesResidents of a south Dublin suburb say the area is being “left behind” and “forgotten by those that make the decisions” due to infrequent and unreliable bus services, despite its recent population growth. Cristina Gheorghe, originally from Romania, has lived in the Kilternan area, in the foothills of the Dublin mountains about 1.5km from Carrickmines and 6km from Bray, since 2009. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish TimesLocal Fine Gael councillor Pierce Dargan sees it as a “failing” that the Luas is not supported by bus routes. Barry Mason, who lives in Kilternan, takes the L26, which is scheduled to run every half an hour, to work in Blackrock.

The modern history room at the Little Museum of Dublin. Photograph: Chris MaddaloniDublin is not a “bargain bucket” destination for tourists and probably never will be, the director of the Little Museum of Dublin has said, but tourism and hospitality operators must deliver value for customers to win repeat business. Mr White was speaking to The Irish Times after the Little Museum filed new accounts with the Charities Regulator for 2024. Income at the Little Museum increased from €1.4 million in 2023 to almost €1.7 million, largely due to an increase in revenues from charitable activities. The Little Museum, which employed 17 people last year, received €545,202 in capital grants in the year and €70,000 from the Department of Tourism, the filings reveal.

The premise of An Taisce’s annual Climate Ambassador programme is that there is real power in uniting people in climate action. There is real power in uniting people in climate action, and applications for Ireland’s 2026 Climate Ambassadors are now open. If you want to be part of the climate conversation but don’t have the words, becoming a climate ambassador is a good place to start. Become a climate ambassador in 2026 and it could bring you to all kinds of places. If you want to learn more about climate change from experts, and find community in effecting change, then An Taisce’s climate ambassador is worth a look.

The new pedestrian entrance to Deer Park in Mount Merrion, featuring upgraded handrails and a ramp for access. Construction works to renovate the entrance to Deer Park was needed due to problems with accessibility, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has said. The council said the work at Deer Park, which was completed recently, had cost €753,528 inclusive of VAT. It said the main civil engineering contractor’s works cost €700,862.50 while traffic signalling works and equipment cost nearly €41,500. “This was a significant engineering project that encountered many challenges during the construction, including the discovery of previously unidentified electrical cables.

A statue of Mary in a grotto at the Seán Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, which was a mother and baby home from 1930 to 1970. Photograph: Niall Carson/PAThe records from mother and baby homes, where more than 100,000 Irish women and children stayed between 1922 and 1998, are being held in a database which is “not fit for purpose” and which is not designed for the long-term preservation of the important documents. Mother and baby homes were religious institutions where women who had children outside of marriage were sent by their families, local authorities or the Catholic Church. The mother and baby home records were originally collected by the commission of investigation into what happened to women and children in mother and baby homes. She added that the system holding adoption records, which was set up by the Health Service Executive before 2014, was also in need of review.

It all began with a hat, handmade from fake fur with a silk lining. “I felt it expressed me and made me feel better, and was a way of coming through Covid. Her floor-length fake fur bubble coats in bright blue or pink are similar scene stealers. The long unisex faux fur coats, printed suits with faux fur trim, lace dresses, ruffle skirts, cargo pants, camouflage and pop art prints delivered great impact. Fake fur duffle bags, furry boots and couples connected by fur ropes were par for the course.

The Professionals is a series of articles in which three people from one field share their views of Ireland today. Fatima Ahmed: Has worked in trust, safety and compliance in companies including Storyful and Stripe. I’ve seen a power shift post-Brexit where a lot of functions have moved to the Middle East, specifically to Dubai. I think tech also provides an opportunity for us in Ireland to work towards a decentralisation. Ireland has taught me that while I continually expect the worst, things frequently work out.

Photograph: Sally HaydenWansa Mohammed Nassar (80) has moved back to Ayta al-Shaab, close to Lebanon's border with Israel. Photograph: Sally HaydenThe ceasefire that came into force on November 27th, 2024, is referred to as “one-sided” by many Lebanese citizens. ‘May your village burn’A destroyed mosque in the Lebanese village of Ayta al-Shaab. Ibrahim Ali Awada (50), his mother, Noor Abbas (86), and other relatives eat a meal in the mostly destroyed village of Ayta al-Shaab. Photograph: Sally HaydenThe family is sitting on cushions on the ground together, eating a meal of mujaddara – made with rice, lentils and onions.

In a packed function room of a Belfast hotel, there were audible gasps when a Co Meath doctor addressed Northern GPs last weekend. For Stout, a GP based in east Belfast, an area of the city once a bastion of unionism, healthcare transcends politics. Key to “things being flipped” in the Republic was increased public funding for patients entitled to free GP medical care, he added. Those with chronic diseases were proactively managed by GP surgeries instead of hospitals and the results were “transformative”. “I severely doubt that either of them will stay in the North,” she said, while younger Northern GPs living in Border areas are choosing to work in the Republic.

Last year, courts found it contrary to international law when it resurfaced as the former UK Conservative government’s since-abandoned “Rwanda plan”. The Netherlands announced it had signed a deal with Uganda in September to trial a system whereby rejected asylum seekers would be sent to a “reception location” in Uganda. [ ‘Grave concerns’ over rights for asylum seekers under EU migration pactOpens in new window ]“From there they will be expected to return to their country of origin,” the Dutch government said. This week, the Greek government said it was pursuing a joint deal with Germany to find an African country to take rejected asylum seekers. It is intended to act as “a deterrent” to asylum seekers, migration minister Thanos Plevris told Greek media.

For now, the steady pace of life rolls on, insignificant birthday to insignificant birthday. Photograph: Getty ImagesI have an insignificant birthday today. For now, the steady pace of life rolls on, insignificant birthday to insignificant birthday. On this day I remember my mother and how, on her 89th birthday, she sang us “happy birthday to me”. It could prompt those less privileged McGarrys to thoughts on making this insignifant birthday my last.

Employers should need no more than 10 minutes to register details of employees who will be subject to auto-enrolment. Photograph: iStockI will be affected by the introduction of auto-enrolment next year but as an employer. Anyone who meets those criteria above and who is not paying into a workplace pension already will be automatically enrolled in the fund. So what do you need to do when the MyFutureFund employer portal opens on December 1st and what details do you need to have to hand? It’s fairly long but the piece on how the employer portal works kicks in at 34 minutes 40 seconds.