Prose and Con — Frank McNally on the rise and fall of a famous local newspaper
In its brief existence, The Taxpayers’ News achieved the distinction of giving John B Keane his print debut
Souper imposed - Frank McNally on Famine insults and Flann O’Brien’s debt to Con Houlihan
Under the influence
Pint of order – Frank McNally on getting to the ballot box
At 9.30pm, mid-pint – and mid-point too – I tore myself away to vote
Swift justice – Frank McNally on the height of the Drapier’s Letters controversy
Jonathan Swift also fanned the flames with songs and poems written for a popular audience
Parallel projection – Frank McNally on watching Gladiator II and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat back-to-back
Extreme violence and European imperialism
When hospitality begins at home – Frank McNally on having a great welcome for yourself
The great self-extended welcome seems relatively modern
Conflict of many colours – Frank McNally on a finely illustrated atlas of the Civil War
On a colour-coded map, Kerry’s grim ratio of deaths is represented by a shade that looks like dried blood
Lunar quest – Frank McNally on moon missions, misinformed quiz questions, and mountweazels
Revenge of the anoraks
The Dromcollogher cinema fire disaster – Frank McNally on a fateful day in 1926
The death toll of 48 represented a tenth of the village’s population
A Head of its time – Frank McNally on the bicentenary of Howth Road and more about wakes
I now belatedly realise that the road starts in London
Alive and kicking – Frank McNally on the continued survival of the great Irish wake
There were of course mountains of food brought by friends and neighbours
Ogham thoughts – Frank McNally on a new artwork, an old alphabet, and the longest word in Irish
The scribes of medieval Ireland, unlike Sinatra, never found their regrets too few to mention
Imposter Boy – Frank McNally on another appearance of the Flann O’Brien who wasn’t
A case of mistaken identity in the Devonshire Arms
Push notification — Frank McNally on an “offensive” cycling term that refuses to die
There is, for some cyclists, a principled objection to the term “push-bikes”