A friendship that thrives through breastfeeding
Participation in a mother and baby group led to a wonderful support network for five women in the hectic first year of motherhood
Bringing an teanga Gaeilge to east Belfast
Linda Ervine, a sister-in-law of the late unionist politician David Ervine, is introducing the Irish language to loyalist parts of the city
Happiness of Danes not just happy coincidence
Since the 1970s Denmark has come top of the Eurobarometer survey on happiness. Here’s why
‘It’s a jolly job’: the postmen who deliver Christmas cheer
Noel Adamson and Damien Tuohy are close observers of their communities in Clontarf in Dublin and Gort in Galway. They both love their jobs and see the economy improving
‘We hate indifference’: the rise of Tiger Stores
From their Danish base, Lennart Lajboschitz and his wife, Suz, have sold their vision of design-led, low-cost retail all over the world and reinvented the image of the pound shop
Sal Khan’s free online school enters the real world
Interview: Sal Khan went from tutoring his cousin to setting up Khan Academy, a not-for-profit online school. He talks about his own education, and expanding his ‘flipped learning’ worldwide
A Week in My . . . caring role: ‘I see that older people have acceptance’
Amanda McCarthy is a carer employed by a private agency. She looks after older people in their own homes
India Knight: ‘I had a free-floating anxiety around the menopause’
The Sunday Times columnist doesn’t hold back in her book about middle age and the menopause. Nuggets include the best person to go to for Botox and why middle-aged women shouldn’t go on top
A week in my mental health service clinic: ‘I love meeting families and trying to work out what to do’
Sheila O’Flaherty is a senior psychiatric social worker with the child and adolescent mental health services for north Co Dublin
Rugby’s Andrew Trimble: ‘I’m a mistake’
The Ulster and Ireland rugby winger is watching a lot of television following a ligament injury to his big toe. So how did it feel to be named Player of the Year
John A Murphy: ‘I grew up speaking a language which is now extinct’
He was the boy from Macroom who became a teacher, historian, politician and thorn in the side of ‘republicans’. Now 87, the professor is still working – and still provoking people with his writings
Demolish your stress with a small, portable device that works with your phone
A Dublin firm has come up with the Pip – it measures stress and plays scenarios that may calm you down
‘Animals feel pain’: why a farmer’s son turned vegan
At the age of nine Declan Bowens became vegetarian, and later vegan. ‘Just because we can do it, doesn’t mean we should,’ he says of meat-eating – not a popular position in rural Ireland
Heartfelt advice on when to say ‘When’
When you give up drinking, you miss drinking: and when you go back to drinking, you miss giving up
‘Most tourists want to hear the real Dub accent’
A Diageo scheme takes 15 young, long-term unemployed people from working-class areas of Dublin and trains them for the hospitality industry. We meet three of them