Analysis: Lomas’s 1916 diaries – a sanguine account of warDespite the stoicism and forgiveable innacuracies in his account of the executions of the leaders of the Rising, there are glimpses of flesh and feelingsSat Aug 02 2014 - 01:00
Okay, maybe we need to stop waving at the TVGive an Irish person an RTÉ camera and Marty Morrissey and any sense of decorum goes out the windowSat Aug 02 2014 - 01:00
Do you want your old Molly washed down?Dublin’s statue of Molly Malone is an ever-stoic victim of the impulse to spray-paint, tag and otherwise deface our surroundingsSat Jul 26 2014 - 01:00
We are but the latest layer of DublinersIt’s easier to learn about the past when it pops up in front of youSat Jul 19 2014 - 01:00
Heathrow’s Irish finally exit the gates of hellSure, Heathrow still has its dignity-stripping moments, but for the Irish the longest walk is no moreSat Jul 12 2014 - 01:00
How the media stoked, then fed off, the Roma storyThe Special Inquiry into the removal of children from their parents has much to say about the media’s roleSat Jul 05 2014 - 01:00
Insert Luis Suárez bite pun hereBehind the inevitable jokes, the soccer star’s ban was part of an even grander narrative cycle: the World Cup story had its baddieSat Jun 28 2014 - 01:00
Yellow alert: a hot weather front approachesHow’s it possible to write the same weather story over and over? Try it yourself with this handy guideSat Jun 21 2014 - 01:00
Tune in for the season of the stand-inAs the summer holidays kick in, the replacements are released – and some are bigger than othersSat Jun 14 2014 - 01:00
Talk to Enda Kenny’s hand, because the Facebook ain’t listeningThe Taoiseach’s not much of a social-media person, but someone had the great idea that he should do a Facebook Q&A while visiting the company in California. The results were predictably noncommittalSat Jun 07 2014 - 01:00
If Moneygall can throw in a bouncy Barack Obama, we’re thereThe M7’s new Obama-themed service station will reveal what many parents already know: service stations can be destinations in themselvesSat May 31 2014 - 01:00
What would Rory McIlroy say to his younger self?Those five lines delivered to Caroline Wozniacki inadvertently articulated what it must be like to live a life that has become about image management and mismanagementSat May 24 2014 - 01:00
What’s another year? Another disaster is whatIreland needs to stop treating the Eurovision Song Contest as if it can be reverse-engineeredSat May 17 2014 - 01:00
The horror that is the women’s magazine marketEach cover is nastier than the one before. Should these publications be treated as emotional pornography?Sat May 10 2014 - 01:00
I love you. Let’s vandalise the Ha’penny Bridge‘Lovelocks’ are a scourge of many cities, including Dublin and Belfast. What’s the answer? Maybe it’s more lovelocksSat May 03 2014 - 01:00
The Voter’s Guide to CanvassingRule one: don’t just shout at calling politicians. Not straight awaySat Apr 26 2014 - 01:00
Rugby’s toughest conversion: switching over to TV3After winning the rights to next year’s Rugby World Cup, the channel has a chance to shake up RTÉ’s sheepskin coatSat Apr 19 2014 - 01:00
The award for worst pastiche of awards shows goes to . . .The Iftas once again reaffirmed a very important truth about Ireland: we don’t do showbizSat Apr 12 2014 - 01:00
They come over here, steal our women . . .The Vikings raided Ireland repeatedly after first visiting, in the late eighth century, taking both treasures and people. But they also put down roots – and are still among us todayThu Apr 10 2014 - 01:00
Horned helmets, long hair, bloodthirstiness and other mythsStories about the Vikings, including this half-dozen, have been exaggerated so much that they wouldn’t recognise themselvesThu Apr 10 2014 - 01:00
Welcome to the Independent Republic of FingalIt’s always been considered different, and even had its own dialect, so is it time that Fingal went solo?Sat Apr 05 2014 - 01:00
The shopping centre that came at a high priceBalbriggan’s Millfield home to the largest Tesco in Ireland, but is now in receivership. But in a struggling town, the people are fighting backSat Mar 29 2014 - 01:00
Who is more famous than Jesus? It’s not Roy KeaneMeasuring fame across thousands of years is an imprecise science. But someone’s had a goSat Mar 22 2014 - 01:00
What ‘True Detective’ might have learned from ‘Breaking Bad’There’s an extraordinary climax to the episode on Sky Atlantic tonight. Will it be the high point of the series starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson?Sat Mar 15 2014 - 01:00
Pantigate, ‘Prime Time’, Eurosong: is RTÉ stuck in a loop?Every week the broadcaster gives viewers something to talk aboutSat Mar 08 2014 - 01:00
Hey, parents, leave those kids onlineIt seems right to be snooping on your children’s digital lives, but dinah boyd, author of ‘It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens’, warns adults about sticking their noses inSat Mar 01 2014 - 01:00
Gordon D’Arcy’s beard: when, and where, will it all end?The big beard is in fashion, and Irish men are now partying like it’s 1899Sat Feb 01 2014 - 01:00
On cannabis, it’s still Ming versus the mercilessIn the US, even Barack Obama wants an open discussion on drugs. In Ireland that debate is set to stagnateSat Jan 25 2014 - 12:00
Ireland’s message to the universe: it’s all about usTourism Ireland looked at a man who had walked among the stars, and seen the great sea of humanity from the window of the International Space Station, and thought, We’ve got to get a hurley in Chris Hadfield’s handsSat Jan 18 2014 - 01:00
Enda Kenny’s quick-step guide to avoiding the camel in the roomYou’re on a trip to the Gulf and everyone is asking awkward human-rights questions. Just think of the cash and you’ll be fineFri Jan 10 2014 - 17:26
Facebook: not dead, but still dead frustratingReports of the demise of the social network are exaggerated, but teens appear to be leading an unlikely charge towards simplicity and privacySat Jan 04 2014 - 01:12
Looking forward to 2014, from a thousand years agoWe’ve a lot of anniversaries on our plate these days, but the Vikings should be allowed raid the calendarSat Dec 28 2013 - 01:00
Dear Rest of World ... With love, the Ireland FamilyLittle Leo had a great wheeze. Dad’s acting all important. And the three visitors have finally left.Sat Dec 21 2013 - 11:21
Irish Rail’s one-track mind on packed trainsIreland’s railway carriages are often packed, sweaty sardine tins on wheels. Don’t expect that to changeSat Dec 14 2013 - 01:00
In the reddish corner: Keaveney. In the blue corner: Wilson, Cooper, HookFormer Labour Party chairman Colm Keaveney’s dash through the evening radio shows taught us as much about the presenters as it did about Fianna Fáil’s newest TDSat Dec 07 2013 - 01:00
Dad Dancing: hitting middle-aged men with the rhythm stickThe Edge and Prince William have been ridiculed for their lack of style, but evolution laughs at all dance-floor dadsSat Nov 30 2013 - 01:00
Ireland v New Zealand. Or Underdogs v Down UnderdogsAgainst the All Blacks, it’s David v Goliath. The problem is that Goliath thinks he’s David tooSat Nov 23 2013 - 01:00
I’m a sucker for food porn. It’s just a shame I can’t cookI’m always missing a key ingredient at a vital moment, my curries often taste like bolognese, and my bolognese often tastes like nothing at allSat Nov 16 2013 - 11:09
Love/Hate’s central character is not Nidge – it’s DeathThe superb crime drama has never been afraid to kill off its characters, but has it become too trigger-happy?Sat Nov 09 2013 - 01:00
Here’s the movie star, now get outMichael Fassbender says he won’t be doing a promotional tour for his latest movie. You can hardly blame him: interviews with film stars have become an industrial process. It’s no wonder some actors are making mincemeat of journalistsSat Oct 19 2013 - 01:00
Aidan: make a proper Charlie of yourselfRTÉ’s TV drama about Charles Haughey, starring Aidan Gillen as the late taoiseach, will be worth watching. Why did it take so long?Sat Oct 12 2013 - 01:00
Best. Column. Ever.Do we live in an age filled with the greats, or are we just great at superlatives?Sat Oct 05 2013 - 01:00
The dead, and the grieving, deserve more respectElaine O’Hara’s life in all its complexity – and her death in all its horror – were reduced to fodder for a play on wordsMon Sept 30 2013 - 10:48
Should you clear your shelves for the ‘Netflix of books’?It seems obvious that you should be able to borrow books online, but this evolution is not without its worriesSat Sept 21 2013 - 01:00
Okey-dokey, welcome back to another 30 years of postmatch analysisAnother Ireland soccer manager goes, but the RTÉ panel of Eamon Dunphy, Johnny Giles and Liam Brady stays the same. Will their soap opera ever end?Sat Sept 14 2013 - 01:00
Put your Titanic pants on, and take a trip through downturn landBetween two of the best tourist attractions in Ireland, North or South, is a walking tour of the recessionSat Sept 07 2013 - 01:00
Radio’s brand new dawn? Not quiteThe Great Radio War between Pat Kenny and Sean O’Rourke has begun. At times, the listeners became collateral damageTue Sept 03 2013 - 01:00
Tired of Electric Picnic articles? Tough luckThe Stradbally festival will be around for another decade at least, because once you’ve experienced it it’s hard to leaveSat Aug 31 2013 - 01:00
Banged Up Abroad: the unwatched Irish editionIrish eyes have been trained on Peru this week, as Michaella McCollum Connolly and Melissa Reid were charged with drug trafficking. It’s easy to forget about all the foreigners who are accused of smuggling drugs into IrelandSat Aug 24 2013 - 10:00
Why even Father Ted couldn’t kill the Rose of TraleeIf the Lovely Girls couldn’t see off the Rose of Tralee, is it on our TVs for good?Sat Aug 17 2013 - 01:00
