Minister for Finance Simon Harris has a hefty in-tray on his new desk. Most importantly, the job needs a serious minister who is focused on the work at hand, and not necessarily the day’s headlines. In essence, the department announced that Harris had spoken to the people he would have been expected to speak to on his first day. Harris has, if not big shoes to fill, then at least a man to follow in Paschal Donohoe who was clearly respected in finance ministries around Europe as someone who was on top of his brief and well-liked internationally. And unlike some ministries, making a gaffe in public can have significant, and immediate, consequences when in Finance.

The mastheads of the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph newspapers as the Daily Mail and General Trust has agreed a £500m deal to purchase the Telegraph from RedBird IMI. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA WireDaily Mail owner DMGT said on Saturday it has struck a £500 million (€568 million) deal to buy the rival newspaper The Telegraph in a tie-up that would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain. The deal comes a week after US-based private investment firm RedBird Capital Partners withdrew its bid for the Telegraph, one of Britain’s biggest newspapers. A source close to RedBird told Reuters that sustained internal opposition from senior figures within the Telegraph newsroom had prompted it to walk away. A spokesman for RedBird IMI said: “DMGT and RedBird IMI have worked swiftly to reach the agreement announced today, which will shortly be submitted to the Secretary of State.” – Reuters

“We must work very hard to end these wars, in addition to the many other conflicts,” he said. He said the World Trade Organisation (WTO) needed to be modernised to ensure all countries that rely on global trade could benefit equally. In his opening address, Mr Ramaphosa said South Africa has sought to ensure that the development priorities of the Global South and the African continent find expression firmly and permanently on the agenda of the G20. “This is important not only for the people of Africa and the Global South,” he said. In addition to the Group of 20 powerful nations, Ireland is one of 16 non-G20 countries that have been invited.

In the 2004 local elections, the highest vote in the country went to a 25-year-old candidate standing for Fine Gael in Fingal County Council. Obviously ambitious, the young Fine Gael councillor said she hoped that within 10 years she would be a “working politician who is contributing to national policy”. Photograph: Dara Mac DónaillThe three were among a large crop of young councillors among 290 elected for Fine Gael. After leaving Fine Gael, she did not retain her seat in 2016, when standing under the Renua banner. As an example, he says many colleagues in 2002 were appalled at Fine Gael TDs losing seats.

The long-term future of Irish space travel seems universally transfixed by the swivelling seats in the UCD’s George Moore Auditorium on a frosty Friday evening as they wait – not always patiently – for a “fireside chat” with the short term future of Irish space travel to start. He is one of an audience made up mostly of excited children who have assembled to hear from Dr Norah Patten, the woman aiming to boldly go where no Irish person has gone before and become the first Irish person to travel into space. A couple of smart kids shoot their hands up and suggest some very smart answers but Dr Patten shakes her head. The next question is for Dr Patten and is from a woman with a young daughter. Dr Patten starts by saying she has a three-year-old daughter.

This question is not exclusive to the United States; Ireland can’t build anything, anywhere, at any price. A lazy ideological answer is that the US and Ireland are capitalist countries and more socialist state planning is required to build infrastructure. The ability and willingness to build infrastructure cannot be attributed solely to ideology. Lawyers prize process and rights, leading to more checks, litigation, and more ways to delay and block infrastructure projects. Fast-tracking projects means appointing more engineers to key planning bodies and giving them power to do things.

Golden plovers have been on my mind ever since I stopped by to meet Frank Power, a farmer and retired butcher in Clarecastle, just south of Ennis in Co Clare, earlier in the week. In winter these birds are drawn to lowland farmland, where they forage for beetles, grass, worms, snails, berries and spiders. Any bird with “golden” in its name gets my attention, but when the summer breeding season ends, golden plovers trade their strikingly high-contrast, gold-speckled black plumage for feathers with a subtler, more muted, buttery tone. Over the past six weeks or so, golden plovers have begun arriving from Iceland, which is home to a third of the world’s breeding population. In southern Iceland, the golden plover population has declined by 6 per cent per year over the past 14 years.

Autumn Nations Series: Ireland v South Africa, Aviva Stadium, Saturday, 5.40pm – Live on RTÉ 2 & TNT Sports 2Now this really couldn’t have been scripted much better. Last five meetings – Nov 2017: Ireland 38 South Africa 3; Nov 2022: Ireland 19 South Africa 16; Sep 2023: Ireland 13 South Africa 8 (RWC, Paris); July 2024: South Africa 27 Ireland 20; South Africa 24 Ireland 25. Five-game form guide – Ireland: 34-5 v Georgia (a); 106-7 v Portugal (a); 13-26 v New Zealand (n); 41-10 v Japan (h); 46-19 v Australia (h). South Africa: W 67-30 v Argentina (h); W 29-27 v Argentina (n); W 61-7 v Japan (n); W 32-17 v France (a); W 32-14 v Italy (a). Handicap betting (Ireland +6 pts): Evens Ireland, 16-1 Draw, Evens South Africa.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and leaders in France, Germany and across Europe are rushing to respond to US demands that Ukraine agree to the 28-point plan circulated this week by next Thursday. He told the envoys that Ukraine was in a bad position and now was the time for peace, the people said. He added that president Trump wanted a peace deal now. The US has threatened to cut all military and intelligence support to Ukraine if it does not agree to a deal by next Thursday, the people said. One European official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said it was not the first time Mr Zelenskiy has found himself in a difficult spot with Mr Trump.

A few months ago, I wrote about the new independent wine shops that are springing up around Dublin and elsewhere. Of the more established Dublin wine shops such as Morgans, Findlater, Carvill’s and others, Mitchell & Son and Searson’s are probably the only two remaining traditional wine merchants. David Gallagher of Green Man Wines. Photograph: Bryan O'BrienGreen Man Wines in Terenure, Dublin 6W is the kind of shop that everyone wishes was in their neighbourhood. “From day one, we wanted to offer a range of wines that excite and have real personality,” says Gallagher.

Simon Harris: 'He conveyed Ireland’s unique exposure to the EU-US trade complications very well at the European level,' one EU Commission official said of the former minister for foreign affairs. Photograph: Simon Wohlfahrt/BloombergWhen Simon Coveney was minister for foreign affairs he used an analogy to explain his job to his young daughters, likening politics and diplomacy to building bridges. Two discussions Harris had on the margins of that foreign ministers meeting would say a lot. [ Simon Harris is a skilled politician. Excluding a trip stateside, he undertook one purely “bilateral” visit as minister for foreign affairs, to Berlin in July.

The brand is well-known among the fashion girlies for its chunky Claddaghs and watch-face rings – both available in silver or gold-plate. “One in three engagements happen at Christmas, so it is a busy time of the year for us,” she says. Laura Chambers’ relaxed, contemporary cashmere pieces are hand-loomed in Ireland, making them the ideal gift for someone who loves cosy luxury. Known for her use of deadstock materials, this year she was one of four Irish designers selected to show at Copenhagen Fashion Week. As a Christmas gift, it’s an affordable, design-conscious option for the man who wants something a bit different but genuinely useful.

US president Donald Trump and Elon Musk with the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and others in Washington this week. A collective belief in the importance and rewards of hard work is the engine that drives American society. [ Donald Trump the storyteller no longer has full control of the narrativeOpens in new window ]This week Musk was back in the White House, in black tie and in the good graces of Donald Trump again. For me that’s long term: my prediction is work will be optional,” he told the gathering at the US-Saudi Investment Forum. Right now the Trump White House has begun to plead for more time to turn the economy around.

She also says when she retired in June, 2014 – a month after turning 33 – she felt her career was a failure because she never won an Olympic medal. This is especially the case as O’Rourke spent much of her career raging against the cracks in Irish high-performance systems. “There was still a lingering sense of disappointment that I didn’t win an Olympic medal. On the flight home she was seated beside Irish Olympic sailor Peter O’Leary, also from Cork. “It did nag me for a few years, not winning an Olympic medal.

“I’ve been to Ireland twice now and it’s my favourite place in Europe,” the comic book artist and journalist Joe Sacco tells me soon after realising that I’m Irish. For The Once and Future Riot, however, Sacco arrived a year after the riots. Hindu Jats make up almost 80 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s population and are highly represented among the region’s landowners. The Once and Future Riot was supposed to be his last avowedly journalistic work. “I would rather be drawing other things, but Gaza calls.”The Once and Future Riot is published by Jonathan Cape