Status of the Irish language from 40,000 up to 80,000 people. Areas in which the language remains a vernacular are referred to as "Gaeltacht" areas. Irish is the least widely spoken among the 24 official languages of the European Union. The use of the language in the Irish diaspora has been declining steadily. Irish speakers outside the Gaeltacht include both second-language speakers and native speakers who were raised and educated through Irish. They are sometimes known as and constitute an expanding minority, though of uncertain size. They are predominantly urban dwellers. Present trends make it likely that they represent the future of the language and
Thought for the Day as "The Guardian", "The Independent" and "Daily Telegraph" and as far afield as Australia. Since 2007 the website Platitude of the Day has offered a daily humorous, critical and erudite counter to The Thought for the Day. Thought for the Day Thought for the Day is a daily scripted slot on the "Today" programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7:45 each Monday to Saturday morning. Nowadays lasting 2 minutes and 45 seconds, it is a successor to the more substantial five-minute religious sequence "Ten to