Ireland
Pretending to be himself
Seamus Heaney’s letters are full of energy and joie de vivre, but a darker note persists as the pressure of celebrity grows, says Roy Foster
Quiet brilliance
The author once takes a big issue and, with her characteristic quiet brilliance, illuminates it in a small homely setting
The changing face of Ireland
A dead poet’s dangerous aura continues to haunt his daughter and 23-year old granddaughter in this story of an unhappy family set in rapidly changing Ireland
Ireland’s most polite bank robber
There should really be a special word for it: that vicarious fragility you feel when hearing of a minor decision…
Tabloid fever
A tabloid journalist desperate for a scoop pursues a young Irish mother whose daughter is rumoured to have killed a child. But is there any truth in the story?
Real life
‘You certainly gave us a run for our money,’ said the village elder, serving us with what appeared to be…
The twists keep coming
Murray’s immersive, beautifully written mega-tome about a family in a small town in Ireland is as funny as it is deeply disturbing
Craic up
When did the Irish lose their sense of humour?
The BB wants to put my dream farm on a skip
‘Have you got your passport? Your phone? Your wallet?’ The builder boyfriend patted his pockets and told me not to…
Real life
A bay mare was standing over a foal curled up sleeping at her feet. Yawning and struggling to keep her…
Barbie Kardashian and Ireland’s trans madness
Why are politicians so incapable of answering basic questions about biology? Yesterday it was Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s turn. A journalist…
Letters
Troubles ahead? Sir: Jenny McCartney’s article ‘Border lines’ (1 October) was a profoundly depressing one. Perhaps there will be a…
Europe’s looming energy wars
This summer marks a truce. But if, as expected, Liz Truss becomes prime minister, it is almost inevitable that tensions…
A very Irish tragedy
Until very recently, political assassination was a mercifully uncommon occurrence in British politics, though that has changed. Previously when such…
The David Trimble I know (1998)
David Trimble, Northern Ireland’s first minister from 1998 to 2002 and leader of the Ulster Unionist party from 1995 to…
Remember forget-me-nots?
‘There are a great many ways of holding on to our sanity amid the vices and follies of the world,’…
Wild Geese of wine
The Irish rarely understate their achievements. Yet there is one exception. Over the centuries, the links between Catholic Ireland and…
An Englishwoman in Paris
A couple of years ago, I happened to read Graham Norton’s third novel Home Stretch. Rather patronisingly, perhaps, I was…
We could learn a thing or two from Swiss democracy
There was another referendum in Switzerland over the weekend. This one was about protecting the young from the evils of…
The dog catcher, the terrorist and the dark history of Sinn Fein
The dead in the ground and those who put them there in the name of ideology do not rest easily…
Dirty secrets
Claire Keegan’s tiny, cataclysmic novel takes us into the heart of small-town Ireland a few decades ago, creating a world…
No fairytale
I once stood on a Dublin street with Shane MacGowan and watched little old ladies who can’t ever have been…
Could the rise of Sinn Fein lead to a united Ireland?
The possibility of a political wing of a terrorist organisation becoming a party of government in an EU member state would…
David Frost’s protocol diplomacy
As a general rule in post-Brexit politics, when David Frost makes a public intervention on the Northern Ireland protocol, it…
When will the DUP realise the truth about the Tory Brexit strategy?
Are the Tories serious about getting rid of the troublesome Northern Ireland Protocol? The latest extension to the so-called grace period –…
