IS it me or is time flying by way too fast? There is news this week that a number of U.K.-based Irish artists are being honored for their accomplishments. U2's record label, Island, is releasing a 20th anniversary edition of The Joshua Tree. Gulp. Has it been that long?

The set will apparently come packaged a double vinyl album, a two-disc deluxe edition, and three disc deluxe edition including a DVD of the band performing live in Paris on the promotional tour of the album.

Then there is the Sex Pistols, the godfathers of punk fronted by the Irish punk Johnny Lydon (Rotten), whose father and mother immigrated to England from Athenry and Co. Cork, respectively. They are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here Comes the Sex Pistols.

This one is blowing my mind altogether, as I remember like it was yesterday the joy of plunking down $5.99 of my hard earned paper route money that I knew would drive my parents around the bend. Rotten told MTV News he is uncomfortable with the "R" word.

"I don't like words like reunited or reunion - we just come together every now and again, when we feel the time's right," Lydon explained. "This year, the time was right because in England they were celebrating 30 years of punk, and we let it go all year. After listening to the bands that were putting forth a load of nonsense and getting punk wrong, we thought it was about time we went back and sorted them out, and that's exactly what we're doing."

Typical punk, he took the time in his interview with MTV to bite the hand that has fed him by lashing out at the bland entertainment peddled on the last MTV awards show. "Didn't anybody take a look at Britney before she trotted onstage like dobbin the donkey?" he asked the channel.

"It was like a school play by 11-year-olds - that's what it came over as. How grim. I'd like to think it was a clever decision to let her go on like that, but sadly, it wasn't, so the event became humorless."

For my money, the greatest trip down Memory Lane comes from the Smiths, who began about 25 years ago. Formed in the spring of 1982 by two Irish kids from Manchester (guitarist Johnny Maher, who changed his name to Marr, and Stephen Patrick Morrissey), the Smiths became the one of he biggest U.K. bands of the eighties.

Johnny Marr was in Dublin last week to receive an honorary patronage from Trinity College's Philosophical Society. After receiving the medal that goes with it, the legendary guitarist settled down for a public interview with Hot Press' Stuart Clark.

During the interview, Marr revealed that himself and Morrissey have "semi-agreed" to the release of a major new box set. "The label approached me a few years ago with this proposal that I wasn't into at all, but they sent me some stuff and it sounded pretty good," he says.

"There are versions of the songs that are really stripped down as we recorded them as 'live' takes - and you'd be really surprised, we were a pretty good band!"

Let's hope that Santa brings a Smiths box set this Christmas! My copy of Morrisey's Irish Blood, English Heart is almost worn out!