{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/690b5df3317c91fd9a7765c9/6a04e25c3eb64523562de503?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Ballooning national debt, women and cycling, and Patrick Freyne’s ‘history of sexy tellly’","description":"<p>Ireland’s national debt could approach a <a href=\"https://irishtimes.com/business/economy/2026/05/14/national-debt-could-hit-250bn-by-2030s-as-era-of-low-interest-rates-recedes-ntma/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">quarter of a trillion euro</a> by the 2030s, the head of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) will tell an Oireachtas committee on Thursday.</p><p><br></p><p>Aggressive driver behaviour, speeding, poor cycling infrastructure, and the increased size of vehicles, <a href=\"https://irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2026/05/14/aggressive-car-culture-puts-women-off-cycling/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">is deterring women from getting on their bikes</a>, research by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has found.</p><p><br></p><p>Allies of Britain’s health secretary Wes Streeting were phoning Labour Party MPs last night asking them to back him in an imminent <a href=\"https://irishtimes.com/world/uk/2026/05/13/streeting-seeks-backing-for-leadership-contest-starmer-to-fight-any-attempt-to-unseat-him/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">heave against the UK prime minister Keir Starmer</a>.</p><p><br></p><p>‘I have been left half a property with a sibling. What is the best way to proceed?’ Whether you sell the home and split the proceeds, or one sibling buys the other out – try not to bring solicitors into the equation, writes Joanne Hunt in the first of our <a href=\"https://irishtimes.com/business/2026/05/14/i-have-been-left-half-a-property-with-a-sibling-what-is-the-best-way-to-proceed/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">new weekly column ‘Ask a Lawyer.’</a></p><p><br></p><p>The excellent Rivals, an adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster, in which 1980s rich people enthusiastically bonk (English for having sex), is back on Disney+ this week. So Patrick thought he’d take this opportunity to write <a href=\"https://irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2026/05/14/bygone-bonking-and-retro-riding-a-history-of-sex-on-irish-tv-from-the-late-late-to-bridgerton-and-rivals/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a short history of sexy telly</a>.</p><p><br></p><p>Presented by Aideen Finnegan</p><p><br></p>","author_name":"The Irish Times "}