Brinkmanship that almost caused Armageddon

Today, I wish to focus on an incident that occurred 50 years ago and brought the world to the edge of annihilation.

John F Kennedy brought the world to the brink of a nuclear holocaust over something which made no difference to American security.

Today, I want to overlook the great issues of our time: the forthcoming austerity budget; the jailing of one of our foremost business icons; the bank debt that is not ours; the shame of Angela Merkel's commendation that our austerity makes Europe stronger.

I even wish to ignore the outrageously disproportionate 96-week ban imposed by a GAA county board on a conscientious father, who had merely remonstrated with a Newcastle West player for ...