Officers, lads… I know we’ve had our differences. We’ve both said things that, in the light of day, we probably regret. But look what you’ve reduced me to. I’m using public transport. Dear God, hasn’t this madness gone far enough? Read the rest of this article... Similar posts

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE: Thousands of Irish are in Paris today to support our rugby team as they prepare to do battle in Stade de France. But th traffic is two-way. We go there, they comje here – and some even stay for good. JONATHAN DEBURCA BUTLER asks French ex-pats about life in Ireland THERE HAS BEEN quite a bit... Similar posts

Okay, I got this from Mark Little’s Twitter feed. He seems to have multiple sources for this…... Similar posts

There has been a tendency in recent times to recalibrate the matriarch by endowing her with glamour, sophistication or sex appeal. Unapologetically bucking this trend, however, is your Ma: a gormless, rotund but ultimately lovable woman, who makes a persuasive case that the best path forward for the Irish Mammy lies not in elegance or refinement, but in understatement and verisimilitude. True, it may seem excessive to lavish high praise on a woman who owns at least two Joe Dolan CDs. And there is a danger that the critical acclaim showered on your Ma may be deemed disproportionate in certain quarters. Yours, after all, is not a Ma with any great ambitions to declare, or knotty themes to articulate. Instead she is a celebration of doggedness, discipline and bull-headed good humour.... Similar posts

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Do you remember where you were three years ago today: Wednesday, 21st February 2007? No, me neither. The main story on the cover of The Irish Times that day concerned a possible referendum on children’s rights, alongside a photograph of Ian Paisley flipping pancakes. And yet it was a momentous day in the history of Ireland, and in all of our lives as it turned out. Still can’t remember?It was the day the ISEQ index, which tracks the value of shares on the Irish Stock Exchange, briefly surpassed the 10,000 mark, valuing all Irish shares combined at over €127 billion. Irish banks alone were worth nearly €60 billion at their peak. The ISEQ had never before risen so high in over 200 years; nor has it ever risen as high again since that early spring day just three years ago. But... Similar posts

Flying out to Madrid this afternoon. Intense speculation suggests I’m being offered a multimillion euro contract to link up with Ronalda and Kaka at the Bernabéu. Unfortunately, at this stage, I can neither confirm nor deny any such reports. Alternative rumours may suggest I’m actually going on a really, really lame weekend break with my mother. Well, I can neither confirm nor deny those either. (Sufficed to say, if its anything like our Roman jolly in October, well, I’m in for a rollercoaster ride. Of Mass.) P.S. Before I go, a teaser. My sister Clare got me a birthday present yesterday. But before she could buy it, she had to ask for my PPS number. She won’t tell me what the present is until I get back. But she’s definitely not paying my taxes for me. She... Similar posts

Down at the IT today a Mr. O'Connor is unhappy with the use of the term PIGS to described troubled eurozone countries:Madam, – Why does the Irish media insist on using the ridiculous and insulting “P-I-G-S” acronym in its financial reports, when referring to Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain? The term has been actively denounced by the Portuguese and Spanish press, and perhaps we should follow suit. It seems the acronym is more aptly suited to the British and American bond and currency traders who coined the term. – Yours, etc, JOSEPH O’CONNOR, Ashtown, Dublin 15.So here's my suggested alternative:Madam, People who think the term "PIGS" shouldn't be used clearly haven't considered that any alternative could be much worse. If Britain's finances deteriorate to the point where... Similar posts

From today’s Guardian. As I’m sure my friend Darragh would want me to put it: EPIC (Subediting) FAIL! Not to take the fun out of it or anything, but Apartheid was the policy of state enforced racial segregation in South Africa. An all-black theatre group, therefore, is not remotely inconsistent with the principles of Apartheid. This, in other words, is the non-feelgood, non-story of the... Similar posts

ON A COLD, CRISP morning in the winter of 2000, 19-year-old Richard Gilligan stood on the banks of the Kenmare River, his feet muddy and camera poised. A hundred metres away, his friend Bruce Kelliher was nervously clutching his skateboard and swaying slightly in the breeze. It was just after daybreak, and Our Lady’s Bridge, outside Kenmare in Co Kerry, was deserted. If any motorists had been passing at that early hour, it’s unlikely they’d have spotted Kelliher perched, as he was, nine metres above them, atop one of the bridge’s shaky iron arches. After getting his bearings, Kelliher offered Gilligan a thumbs up. The signal was duly returned. Kelliher took a deep breath, stepped on to the skateboard and pushed away. It was a stunt the Tralee man had been planning for years, and... Similar posts

I’d like to say that I agonised about what to do next. But that would be an utter lie. When a friend, over breakfast, suggested contacting my branch, I laughed so violently that a Rice Krispie and a trickle of milk exited my left nostril rather abruptly. Read the rest of this article here.... Similar posts

THE LIGHTING IS soft. That’s the first thing you notice when you arrive downstairs at the Turk’s Head pub in Dublin city centre. If it were any softer, in fact, you might pull up a chair by one of those old flower pots and ask what she looks for in a relationship. The organisers of tonight’s speed dating event asked participants to assemble at 7.45pm sharp. I arrive at 7.49pm, so flustered I almost sign up for salsa dancing lessons by accident. But nothing actually happens until almost 9pm. The ladies, by and large, have shown up in pairs. They sit awkwardly at the bar, fixing their hair and stealing furtive glances at the latest arrivals. The guys have almost all come alone. But as with any group of men, thrown together in any circumstances, anywhere in the world, we pick up the... Similar posts

` Tabloid newspapers have a dubious habit of using speculative commentary by unnamed “sources” to pad out their stories. No matter where the celebrity transgression takes place, it seems, there will always be some Joe Public type on hand to weigh in on the controversy in suspiciously proficient tabloid-ese. Today’s News of the World story on John Terry (’It looks fishy, but Toni’s fallen for JT whopper’) is a really hilarious case in point. Briefly, the womanising Chelsea captain is on a yacht in Dubai. In these (probably staged) paparazzi shots, he is offering his long-suffering wife, with whom he has just been reconciled, some fishing tips. An “astonished onlooker” supposedly comments: “I don’t know what sort of line... Similar posts

Just a note to say that Deirdre McQuillan, Fashion Ed of The Irish Times, was kind enough to feature me in her weekly My Style section in this weekend's Irish Times Magazine. In true lazy blogger fashion I've not posted about this 'til today but if you happen to have the paper in your possession, you can find my mug and musings on page 15. Failing that, you can have a gander...... Similar posts

After seeing this letter in this morning’s Irish Times, I am reminded of this which I have begun reading this morning. The opening line of RW Southern’s book reads: The history of the Western church in the Middle Ages is the history of the most elaborate and thoroughly integrated system of religious thought and practice the... Similar posts

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Ancient journalist sharpens his pen. A few strands of flyaway hair was all it took to reconstruct an ancient journalist whose remains were found in a remote region of Ireland, scientists have revealed. The man’s remains were found in the permafrost of a region of Ireland that is completely cut off from reality and were well enough preserved for scientists to extract his DNA. Based on genetic markers they have been able to reconstruct what he looked like, and from archaeological remains can tell he talked and wrote regularly, but could not ascertain if this involved much substance. The man, who researchers have named “Jonwatta”, seems also to have had an aversion to extant technology. Contemporary finds have already shown that there was a highly developed social network... Similar posts

“Y’all want more Trapped in the Closet?” R. Kelly asked his followers on Twitter the other day. “I need to know if this is what you guys want from me…” The R&B singer has already served up 22 installments of his “incalculably bizarre” urban hip-(soap)-hopera Trapped in the Closet. And the good news is that, after a three year break, episodes 23-27 are now ready to drop this spring. In the meantime, if you need a refresher, episodes 1-22 are streaming here. Just rewatched them myself. Hadn’t previously noticed that the cop in episode 4 episode is Omar from The Wire (while the arresting officer in episode 15 is Will Oldham).... Similar posts

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