Firemen's ideals mockedLast Wednesday, as Mark O'Shaughnessy and Brian Murray were entering a smoke-filled, disused factory in Bray, another kind of…Tue Oct 02 2007 - 01:00
Jail fails to halt 'Stroke' politicsYou'd have to be an extremely sad political anorak to be able to name the chairman of the Limerick Prison visiting committeeTue Sept 25 2007 - 01:00
How redemption sidelines US dramaCultureShock: American culture emphasises new beginnings over the power of the past, which is one reason why cinema is its dominant…Sat Sept 15 2007 - 01:00
The future is forever disregardedOne of the great cliches of political journalism is the notion that governments are thrown off course by, in the words of Harold…Tue Sept 11 2007 - 01:00
The shock of the rawCultureShock: Does RTÉ's new series, Prosperity, signal that the station is finally getting the hang of making urban drama?Sat Sept 08 2007 - 01:00
Back to the future - againHere is a typical left-wing critique of the Celtic Tiger delivered in a major speech last week: "The modern problem is the conflict…Tue Sept 04 2007 - 01:00
Why an Abbey hit man was painted out of the pictureCulture Shock Yeats expected George Fitzmaurice's first play to cause riots - but unfortunately for the writer's future career…Sat Sept 01 2007 - 01:00
A musical bridge linking tradition and modernityAssessment: In his biography of Bob Dylan, Down the Highway , Howard Sounes describes an evening in 1992 when Dylan walked alone…Fri Aug 03 2007 - 01:00
The blunt instrument of warIn his brilliant book, The Telling Year : Belfast 1972, journalist Malachi O'Doherty describes the kind of experience that is…Tue Jul 31 2007 - 01:00
The richness of Roma in European cultureCulture Shock: The Roma people are the classic example of the way cultural impact can co-exist with political and social contempt…Sat Jul 28 2007 - 01:00
How killer led media coverageEveryone remembers, of course, the young mother who met a violent death in her own home in the Dublin commuter belt in 2004, …Tue Jul 24 2007 - 01:00
Affordable homes? Not in my yardPublic discussion of housing in Ireland is dominated by a single assumption: high prices are good, lower prices are badTue Jul 10 2007 - 01:00
A knock to the traditional notion of traditionCultureShock: A new book about song on Tory Island debunks the myth that tradition is simply passed on unchanged, impervious…Sat Jun 30 2007 - 01:00
Inequity of for-profit healthcareWhen it comes to the formation of a government, one issue matters more than all the othersTue Jun 12 2007 - 01:00
A big ask for Bertie this timeThe leader had a stunning treble of victories behind himTue Jun 05 2007 - 01:00
Let down by a flawed parliamentWhat, exactly, are we electing on May 24th? A government, of course, though none of us can be sure how our vote will translate…Tue May 08 2007 - 01:00
Migration must be a poll issueSome of the most important people in this election campaign will not be able to vote because they are not Irish citizensTue May 01 2007 - 01:00
Universities are becoming places of restricted learningCultureShock: The current short-sighted trend of treating our third-level institutions as if they were businesses is causing…Sat Apr 14 2007 - 01:00
A fresh look at the first World War? Very novelCultureShock : That the first World War remained almost virgin territory in Irish fiction for so long lends Sebastian Barry'…Sat Apr 07 2007 - 01:00
Ideas that can changethe worldLast week, the Task Force on Active Citizenship produced a fine report, reminding us that democracy demands a culture of engagement…Tue Apr 03 2007 - 01:00
Our collective memory has blanked out slaveryCultureShock: We have forgotten that St Patrick was a slave, that slavery was practised here until recently and that the sex…Sat Mar 31 2007 - 01:00
Private prosperity, public lossGetting the language right is always the key to convincing people that common sense need not applyTue Mar 27 2007 - 01:00
St Patrick's Day - celebrating a wider, vaguer IrishnessCultureShock: Paradoxically, we're getting better at celebrating St Patrick's Day precisely because we no longer really know…Sat Mar 17 2007 - 00:00
Free press essential in democracyOver the last fortnight, the Seanad has been debating the Defamation Bill and its long-awaited reform of Ireland's absurd libel…Tue Mar 06 2007 - 00:00
Paedophilia: the last great award winnerCultureShock The play Blackbird is more a self-congratulatory game of taboo-breaking than a real confrontation with the unspeakable…Sat Feb 24 2007 - 00:00
Build them up and knock them downCulture Shock: We use our great writers as a unique selling point, but we can't even be bothered to preserve the houses they…Sat Feb 17 2007 - 00:00
How Charlie came to be painted as a man of the artsCultureShock: For the arts in Ireland over the past 40 years, Charles Haughey's presence is almost as unsettling as it is for…Sat Feb 10 2007 - 00:00
How Charlie came to be painted as a man of the artsCultureShock: For the arts in Ireland over the past 40 years, Charles Haughey's presence is almost as unsettling as it is for…Sat Feb 10 2007 - 00:00
Is it now okay to call Goody subhuman?Stupidity is less common than people thinkTue Jan 23 2007 - 00:00
On the trail of US democracyBiography: How many of those who analysed the political and social institutions of bygone centuries are still widely read today…Sat Jan 20 2007 - 00:00
Forgetting about the childrenLast May, the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health and Children issued the report of their joint taskforce on…Tue Jan 16 2007 - 00:00
How Enda Kenny blew itFor those who aspire to political leadership, there is usually a moment of truth. Enda Kenny's came on October 3rd last yearTue Jan 09 2007 - 00:00
The weight of Yangtze waterSome 1.4 million people have been relocated as part of the Three Gorges Dam project, which has been undertaken in an effort to…Sat Nov 11 2006 - 00:00
In this land of 'tea money', the public gets a bad pressLetter from Beijing: During the summer, I went out to one of Beijing's working-class suburbs to look at a curious eventMon Nov 06 2006 - 00:00
China attempts to revive the spirit of Mao's long marchBeijing Letter: A few months ago, I interviewed a middle-aged teacher in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong who had gone…Mon Oct 30 2006 - 00:00
Flush of success drowns out bigger issues in rural ChinaLetter from Beijing: Wei Xien Shang showed me the new room in his house as if it were a new wing recently added to a royal …Mon Oct 23 2006 - 01:00
Peering down a telescope at Kim Jong's strange domainManchuria Letter: Last month, when I was in the Manchurian province of Jilin, I took a detour to see one of China's most beautiful…Mon Oct 16 2006 - 01:00
Memory of hunger the sauce for China's well-fedLetter from Beijing: If you order a roast duck in a restaurant in China, a roast duck is exactly what you will getMon Oct 02 2006 - 01:00
China's soundtrack: the clearing of smokers' lungsLetter from Beijing: One of the things most guide books to China will tell you is that it is customary for a guest to be greeted…Mon Sept 25 2006 - 01:00
Mao makes karaoke comeback as Chinese join chairman for sing-songBeijing Letter: Wherever you go in China, you can be sure that a town will have at least two kinds of prominent buildingMon Sept 18 2006 - 01:00
Mao still a touchy subject despite economic revolutionLetter from Beijing: Shortly before 7Mon Sept 11 2006 - 01:00
Feeling the pulse of traditional Chinese medicineLetter from Beijing: Recently, when I visited Tibet with a group of Chinese tourists, I joined them on a trip to a traditional…Mon Sept 04 2006 - 01:00
Internet now making 'Great Firewall of China' very porousBeijing Letter: Before writing this piece, I wanted to read the recent Human Rights Watch report on state censorship of the …Mon Aug 28 2006 - 01:00
Exhausting art of shopping in China makes it the real dealLetter from Beijing : I've always had a phobic attitude to helpful shop assistants, regarding even the most polite "Can I help…Mon Aug 21 2006 - 01:00
Chinese tradition of selling fakes is alive and wellBeijing Letter: Since he uses a European name with his clients, let's call him JamesMon Aug 14 2006 - 01:00
Motoring madness puts spoke in China's wheelLetter from Beijing: For the benefit of intending travellers, here are some Chinese rules of the road:Mon Jul 31 2006 - 01:00
Tendering a fantasy life, albeit in name onlyLetter from Beijing: Where's Times Square? The Champs Élysées? Beverly Hills? Yosemite? London? Windsor Park? The Riviera? …Mon Jul 24 2006 - 01:00
A short back and sides tale from an above-board Chinese barberBeijing Letter: The time came, as it must to all of us, when the hair had to be cutMon Jul 17 2006 - 01:00
We choose what to rememberRecently, after I had written about the official neglect of Daniel O'Connell's role as the founder of Irish democracy, I had …Tue May 23 2006 - 01:00
We really think we're rolling in itThe great economist JK Galbraith, who died on Saturday, coined the phrase "conventional wisdom"Tue May 02 2006 - 01:00
