Slow Horses, the very British hit about misfit spies, is back and its budget is showing
The BBC passed on the show, according to Apple TV’s Europe boss. It was a mistake worthy of Slough House
John le Carré
Slow Horses returns: ‘Readers know by now I’m capable of killing off whoever is in danger,’ says creator Mick Herron
Mick Herron knows every character he jettisons spells the end for an actor too. That’s life, he says, as the Apple TV+ series returns and a new Slough House novel arrives
New crime fiction: cynical pitch-black comedy reinvigorates the spy fiction genre
New novels by Mick Herron, Nicola Upson, Seishi Yokomizo, Janice Hallett and Rav Grewal-Kök
George Stephanopoulos: ‘You can only have constructive debates if people are determined to engage in good faith’
Clinton-era White House adviser talks about his history of the White House Situation Room and his fear that Americans of opposing political camps have stopped listening to each other
The Pigeon Tunnel: Seasoned interrogators John le Carré and Errol Morris lock horns, with fascinating results
‘I’ve lived through a world of endless betrayal,’ the great spy writer tells the celebrated documentarian in his final testament on camera
Errol Morris on his film-making ideal: ‘I call it the shut-the-f**k-up school of just sitting and listening’
All the Oscar winner’s talents are on show in The Pigeon Tunnel, his gripping documentary about the great espionage writer John le Carré
A secret gay history of UK espionage: ‘The skill-set of homosexuals and spies overlapped’
Huw Lemmey, a novelist and host of the Bad Gays podcast, has made the intriguing spy film Ungentle
How to make the new Irish passport the world’s coolest: Vote for the jellyfish, the shark and the lizard
Donald Clarke: We are a sentimental people, but that does not extend to passports any more than it does to driving licences
Ben Macintyre: ‘The Brits have been on the wrong side of history many times in the past’
The historian on his new book on Colditz, and Britain’s second World War obsession
Can rotund characters be represented by less rounded actors?
Donald Clarke: If authors can keep an open mind about appearances, so can readers
Drop the needle, it’s the 1970s on screen – again
Decade of brown carpets and complicated hair lives on in a long line of retro movies
Rosita Boland: Two things I am grateful for this year
My iPad and audiobooks are two wonderful things salvaged from a year I’d prefer to forget
Why Joe Biden is such an elusive target for his critics
US Politics: The president is acting out that US paradox – the fuddy-duddy reformer
Aoife Kelleher: ‘At my 30th my friends had to rescue the party from my morose playlist’
Soundtrack of My Life: The director on her lockdown listening, Francophilia, and Peppa Pig
Fintan O’Toole: Why we should welcome the new tribe of Anglo-Irish people
Up to half a million British people are becoming Irish citizens. They help us to recognise our own past
Western Wail – Frank McNally on ‘grigging’, Mayo-baiting bus brands, and John le Carré’s homecoming
An Irishman’s Diary
John le Carré ‘died an Irishman’ after gaining citizenship, son says
One of the last photographs of author ‘is him sitting wrapped in an Irish flag’
Oh the places we’ll go: My first trip after Covid
This pandemic will pass and we will travel again. But where will we go?
Miriam Lord: No room at the Leinster House inn for former TDs and senators
Christmas visits off the menu as Oireachtas restaurant only open to serving members
John le Carré pondered move to Ireland, says friend John Banville
Novelist was in process of applying for Irish passport after tracing family line to Co Cork
John le Carré obituary: George Smiley’s creator elevated the spy novel to high art
Many critics considered his cold-war thrillers and other books literature of the first rank
John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy author, dies aged 89
Writer’s popular books included The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
Sean Connery the man has died. Sean Connery the indestructible legend lives on
He was always a little out of his time, combining charm, menace and old-fashioned masculinity
Richard Osman: ‘The worst thing in the world is someone telling you they’re writing a novel’
The star of quiz show Pointless on his new novel, being on telly, and why class is crucial
Sean Connery turns 90: An avatar of old-fashioned masculinity
The Scottish actor, voted ‘sexiest man alive’ for decades, started as a milkman and became ‘the greatest’ James Bond
Donald Clarke: The joys of watching it again... and again... and again
There’s enough novelty to last a lifetime, but repeated viewing brings its own comforts
Burial: Tunes 2011–2019 review - Mindblowing compilation by the producer of the century
This collection constitutes arguably the finest compilation of the last 10 years
‘Narcissist’ Ivan Yates needs to feel the love
Radio review: Sometimes ‘excessive self-admiration’ is justified, says Newstalk presenter
John le Carré: new novel set amid ‘lunacy’ of Brexit with UK run by ‘10th-raters’
Read an extract from Agent Running in the Field, which will be published next month
From Mata Hari to Edward Snowden – a history of espionage
Washington’s International Spy Museum reveals much about how data is weaponised
Little Drummer Girl: a slow-burn of intrigue and cold thrills to come
Review: Florence Pugh mesmerises in this adaptation of a John le Carré spy story – and Alexander Skarsgard is not too shabby either
John le Carré: the spymaster who was never left out in the cold
The spy novelist is 87, but his star has never shone brighter, with a BBC adaptation of ‘The Little Drummer Girl’ about to start
The dead spy, the drowned MP, the lost canoeist: the people who fake death and why they do it
Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko did it to expose a killer. But most people who fake their deaths are running from something
Brexiteers and Putin have a lot in common, both pine for empire
Chris Johns: looks like we’re back in the cold war of 1970s
Most-read of 2017: the most popular articles on irishtimes.com
Meteorology matters as four stories on Hurricane Ophelia appear in the top-10 list
The Russification of America under Donald Trump is gathering pace
Putin’s macho authoritarianism, disdain for press, and mockery of truth has installed itself in Trump’s America
Homeland returns: here’s the story so far
The show returns to our TV screens and season five was its best yet. Here’s how the last episode left things
Mess with Toblerone at your peril
From Oatfield Emeralds and Club Milks to Milk Duds and ‘Luxury Mountain Bars’, our taste for sweets says a great deal about who we are
Liam Toland: All Blacks are not perfect – but Ireland need to be
There are a million things New Zealand do better than us but Ireland can still prevail
Politics of bilocation: back and forth between Bonn and Berlin
Berlin Letter: costs of machinery of state based in two German cities are set to persist
Joseph Hone: Accomplished travel writer and novelist
John Ford film gave Hone a valuable masterclass in storytelling
Russian athletes escape blanket ban from IOC
International Olympic Committee leaves exclusion decision to sports federations
Television: Bob Geldof busts his baggage allowance in a poetry-political broadcast
Review: ‘A Fanatic Heart’, ‘Children of the Revolution’ and ‘The Night Manager’
TV: Loki brings le Carré up to date
Review: ‘The Night Manager’, ‘Operation Transformation’, ‘Prime Time Leaders Debate’
The Night Manager review: a pitch perfect, lavish thriller
Expect those ‘Tom Hiddleston is the next James Bond’ rumours to fly thanks to the BBC’s slick new spy drama, while Hugh Laurie makes for a superb villain
John le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman
Le Carré was wary of having his biography written but gave Sisman access to his papers
Labour ready for combat regardless of election timing
Analysis: Senior party sources don’t believe Kenny will go to the polls before Christmas
Book collecting: ‘People get a feeling for a book and they must have it’
‘First Editions’ in Dublin’s Ballsbridge is a popular destination for book lovers
John le Carré: author, actor, soldier, spy
Spy master to appear in The Night Manager, his first TV adaptation in over 20 years
The spy who came in from the bank: fake Nazi agent named
World War II spy fooled British Nazis into believing he was a Gestapo agent was a London bank clerk who barely spoke German
Bernard Sumner: ‘I’m happier in myself. Better behaved. Less of a f***ing idiot’
He took a bath on ‘Blue Monday’, lost a pile in the Hacienda and was part of a scene that has become music myth. Bernard Sumner of New Order on living in the present
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Stardust
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices