IN the final line of Sean O’Casey’s classic play Juno and the Paycock, which was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin just over a century ago, Captain Jack Boyle says: “Th’ whole worl’s in a terrible state o’ chassis”.

It is hard to guess what the captain would make of recent international and domestic developments, but it is quite possible he might conclude that not much has changed since then.

There are certainly indications that, despite the bizarre twists at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, we remain alarmingly close to a global conflict, with Russia, China and the United States all taking an increasingly bellicose stance.

While the difficulties at Stormont are completely trivial in comparison, it is still depressing that the power-sharing structures, which were so painstakingly established, appear to be drifting ever nearer towards a final collapse.

DUP circling the wagons around embattled Lyons says it all - The Irish News view

What we need are individuals of insight and experience who can assess the full picture and tell us which issues have real substance and which are surrounded by nothing more than political posturing.

There are some observers around who fall into such a category, but it is at times like this that the loss of Éamon........

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