EVERY SATURDAY MORNING we take a look at all the best comments left on the site by you lot over the past week.

This week there was a lot of talk about the extraordinary Ohio kidnap case, the looming strike at Bus Éireann, the strange case of the TD’s assistant who took thousands of copies of a local newspaper from shops, and reasons why Cork may possibly be better than Dublin, among other things.

So here, in no particular order, are the standout comments from the week that was.

The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week

1. 11 reasons why Cork might actually be better than Dublin (336 comments)

2. Proposed bill would ban flouride from Ireland’s water(229 comments)

3. Boston cardinal says he will boycott event because Enda Kenny is going (227 comments)

4. FG and Labour at odds over possibility of amending abortion bill (219 comments)

5. Bus Éireann workers to strike from Sunday (218 comments)

Some of the best comments left on the site this week

(Image: Cmdr_Hadfield/Twitter)

Readers shared their stories about burglaries beneath this article warning that people are leaving the keys to their homes in obvious places where burglars can find them – and Gaius Gracchus had this comment about burglars with specific tastes:

A friend told me about her mates apartment being broken into and when she called over to console her she was sobbing on the floor holding a cd,and cried ‘What’s wrong with Simply Red?’ they had stolen over 100 cd’s and left the ginger ones Greatest Hits

Do you still listen to your voicemails? Readers were divided by this poll earlier in the week. Here’s Annette Temple explaining why she hated voicemail so much:

This is why I deactivated my voicemail… ‘You. Have. Three. New.messages………….. To. Listen. To. Your. Messages. Please . Continue. To. Listen. To. This. Very. Drawn. Out. Information….to. Return. To. The. Main. Menu. Press. Some. Number. Button……. Giant. Pause…. This. Message. Was. Left. today. At….six. Forty. Three. P.m…giant pause….. Riiiiiiiiinnnnnggggggttttttooone . ….to. Return. A call. To. This. Number…please. Press. 6. Now…..giant pause…
Message two…. This. Message. Was. Left…. Today….At. Six. Forty. Seven. Pm……. Riiiiiiiiinnnnnggggggttttttooone ….
To. Return. A call. To. This. Number…please. Press. 6. Now…..giant pause…
Message. Three….this. Message. Was. Left. Today. At…..six. Fifty..four. Pm…. Hi an - ‘you have insufficient funds to continue this call….’ ARRRGGGGGHHHHH

The option to bury people without coffins when they die was announced by the Department of the Environment this week. Some people had other ideas for their final act though. From Chris Neville:

I want to be shot out of a cannon from George’s head in Kilkee, dressed as a clown, arms flaying as I hit the water.

There was a lot of praise for nurses beneath this article about why they are like superheroes. Fintan Sheerin explained what he gets out of his job:

Nursing is a demanding job but one which I enjoyed for 20 years. I have always felt privileged and proud to be a nurse…i married a nurse…now my daughter is a student nurse. The privilege is in being allowed to be with other people at good and difficult times in their lives and to be able to try and make a difference. We don’t always get it right, but we are there. Now I have the privilege of teaching new nursing students. I am always impressed by the quality and motivation of these students who maintain the values that have been inherent in nursing across the globe.

Shop-owners on Dublin’s Thomas Street are pulling together to make an effort to save one of the city’s most iconic streets which has become badly run down in recent  years. Elizabeth Gibson had this story about visiting the area with her mother:

My mam used to go into Meath Street every Friday to do a bit of shopping and then onto Thomas Street to get the fish for the dinner, alway to the same two auld dears with hands twisted by arthritis but jaysus could they wield their knives, sharper than a samurai’s sword and they could split the hair off a fleas back without leaving a mark on it. They are long gone now but it will be a long time before they are forgotten.

Maggie Elizabeth Walsh summed up the views of many people with this comment about Priory Hall:

I passed this site on Monday, I remember it when it was lived in, it was a nice little place, now its just an eyesore, falling into ruin and a sad reminder of greedy developers and the corners they cut. My heart goes out to all the people stuck paying mortgages on property they can no longer live in or sell.

Someone inspected this site and passed it as safe to be sold, someone somewhere must have signed a document to that effect, where is this person, why are they not being asked questions about why they did this?

Commander Chris Hadfield is coming to the end of his time aboard the International Space Station but he’s still tweeting lots of great photos – including this gorgeous one of Ireland hiding underneath a lot of cloud. Tracey Walker had this suggestion:

Hope cmdr hadfield gets an invite to Ireland as he has cheered so many people up with his amazing pictures. Can we make him an honorary Irish man?

Finally, Alan Rothwell got more than 600 thumbs up when he explained why he has been having trouble sleeping lately beneath the article about – well, why people can’t sleep at night. Looks like today is the big day, so best of luck Alan! Hope you managed to get some sleep in the end…

I know why I can’t sleep…. getting married on Saturday! :-/

(Postscript: When people starting giving advice – and there was a lot of it – Alan came back to thank people for it all, both helpful and unhelpful):

Thanks for all the support/warnings! Gotta go ahead with it now or we’d loose the deposits! Well that and I love her!

The 5 most popular comments on the site this week

1. The most popular comment this week came from one of the most-read (and most contested) articles this week: 11 reasons why Cork may be better than Dublin. Eighties BlackGuy got more than 1186 thumbs up for his assessment:

Plus Cork has the guy who pulled the flute off himself on the plane as a direct result of having a Disprin and a pint

2. Brian Culleton had the second most popular comment this week with 1,030 thumbs up for his contribution to things only an Irish mammy can teach you:

Take off that coat or it’ll be no good to you when you get outside.

3. In third place was Alan Grouse with 867 thumbs up for his comment about the extraordinary story of the three missing women found in a house in Ohio years after they went missing:

Amazing and wonderful news. Stories like this give me hope that madeline mccann and others may one day be found

These stories are scarily frequent, i shudder to think how many missing persons are alive but being held captive around the world. God help them

4. Remember the things you used to have in your teenage bedroom? Denise Houlihan got 854 thumbs up for her description of the evil prank she played on her sister back in the day:

My sister had a poster of Jim Morrisson over her bed. She ‘made contact’ with him one day at school with a ouija board.
Myself and the other sister loosened the blu tac on the poster before she went to bed.
The whole house was awakened at 4am with her screams. Everyone ran to the bedroom to find her grappling with the poster in a pure blind panic, which brought on an asthma attack.
Oh the fun…she never went near a ouija board again.

5. Last but not least, in 5th place this week was Dave with 828 thumbs up this week for expressing his disbelief about the story of a TD’s assistant who allegedly picked up lots of copies of a local free newspaper which contained a negative story about the TD in question (who said he knew nothing about the assistant’s actions).

“Without his knowledge or consent”…… My arse

Spot a good comment on an article? Let us know: mail christine@thejournal.ie with any suggestions for comments which you think should make it in for next week.