An Irishman's DiaryI was half-listening to a programme on RTÉ radio the other night – Off the Shelf with Andy O’Mahony – when a comment by one of…Thu Jan 13 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryEN ROUTE through the Tipperary village of Rearcross – virgin territory for me – last week, I stopped to visit its rather unusual…Wed Jan 12 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT’S doubly apt that Tom Waits was born in December, because the surname Waits – and its variations – derives from an old musical…Fri Dec 24 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF Joel Waldfogel is correct, the Three Wise Men were just the sort of people who should not have bought Christmas presents.Thu Dec 23 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAMONG THE accidental casualties of the harsh winter has been a certain Guinness adWed Dec 22 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiarySPARE a thought for a group of people who are at their most vulnerable around this time of year but whose plight rarely attracts…Sat Dec 18 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHERE MUST have been great excitement in certain literary circles about a news item in Tuesday’s newspaper.Fri Dec 17 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE economist Paul Krugman was complaining the other day about “bad metaphors”, specifically, about the frequency with which …Wed Dec 15 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SEE that in an early Christmas present for headline writers, the increasingly desperate Australian cricket team has resorted…Sat Dec 11 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAMONG the events of New York’s coming “holiday season”, I see, is something called “Good Riddance Day”Fri Dec 10 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryEVEN in these dire times, the word “boycott” continues to be a source of national prideThu Dec 09 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE WEATHER of late has been a steep learning curve for many – and I’m not just talking about Dublin Airport Authority.Wed Dec 08 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryNOT THE least traumatic aspect of the cold spell is the bit, last thing every night, where I have to put the cat outSat Dec 04 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI heard a man on radio saying that, thanks to two major snow events in the same year, our extreme-weather driving skills have…Fri Dec 03 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryPHILIP MARLOWE claimed he could smell Los Angeles before he arrived thereThu Dec 02 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryREADERS may be familiar with Godwin’s Law of internet discussions: which states that as any online debate develops, the probability…Sat Nov 27 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiarySURELY the Germans are mocking us with that story (World News, yesterday) about “Anastasia”, a young woman who, according to …Fri Nov 26 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN church calendars, today’s date is devoted to what must surely be the only saint ever to have a type of firework named after…Thu Nov 25 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SEE THAT among the talks at this year’s Patrick Kavanagh Weekend, which starts tomorrow, is one by Peter McDonnell entitled…Wed Nov 24 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryJOE McBride (Letters, November 19th) submits that “if the best economists in our country, people such as David McWilliams and…Sat Nov 20 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE HISTORY of cultural relations between Ireland and Romania has long been dominated by the work of one man, who famously never…Fri Nov 19 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryWAITING for the grim news from Brussels on Tuesday night, I passed the time like many people watching the Munster-Australia rugby…Thu Nov 18 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN HIS MEMOIR of the War of Independence, Ernie O’Malley recalled the time he spent as an IRA organiser, travelling around Ireland…Wed Nov 17 2010 - 00:00
In the eye of the TigerMEMOIR: The Dubliner Diaries By Trevor White, The Lilliput Press, 204pp. €9.99Sat Oct 30 2010 - 01:00
Time for Good Ireland to tell Bad Ireland to splitI’M NO economist, God knowsFri Sept 24 2010 - 01:00
Ireland's provisional DNAScientists have mapped the DNA of an Irish person – an anonymous male volunteer – for the first timeSat Sept 11 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE CASE of the “Moscow Murphys” reminds me of an interview John Le Carré gave once explaining the inspiration for his chief …Fri Jul 02 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryWHEN George Orwell wrote that modern sport was “war minus the shooting”, he did not apparently mean this as a complimentThu Jul 01 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI APOLOGISE in advance to tennis enthusiasts, whose sport I would not normally think of denigrating: if only because, most of…Sat Jun 26 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN THE DEBATE about old media versus new, a subject you rarely hear discussed is the vast superiority of the former when it comes…Thu Jun 24 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryNEWS THAT the French fast-food chain Quick has distanced itself from the national football team – or at any rate pulled its ads…Wed Jun 23 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHAT Catherine Connelly lived to be almost 110 was remarkable in itselfSat Jun 19 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT USED TO BE SAID that stand-up comedy was “the new rock and roll”Fri Jun 18 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryOUT FOR A RUN in the Phoenix Park the other day, and passing Farmleigh, I noticed a sign advising the public that something called…Thu Jun 17 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryJAMES JOYCE was famously preoccupied with the possibility that Dublin might have to be rebuilt some day and that, in Ulysses , …Wed Jun 16 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE BANKING inquiries have rightly concentrated on local contributions to Ireland’s meltdown, rather than already well-advertised…Fri Jun 11 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE MOST memorable piece of career advice I ever received was given to me in a railway station bar in Wagga Wagga, 21 years ago…Thu Jun 10 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS IF things weren’t bad enough already, I notice that my favourite potatoes have become very hard to find recently, at least…Wed Jun 09 2010 - 01:00
A suit that puts years on youResearchers at the Ford motor company are using ‘bondage techniques’ to find out the effects ageing has on driversTue Jun 01 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SEE THAT the famous Gloucestershire cheese-rolling festival, due to have been held this coming Monday, has been cancelled because…Sat May 29 2010 - 01:00
Brothers: 10 things a man could not do in 1970As The Irish Times’s Sisters supplement pointed out this week, women were not the only ones liberated over the past 40 years. …Sat May 29 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE SAME day as our Sisters supplement, by happy coincidence, an e-mail arrived from an English couple called Simon and Jill …Fri May 28 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT’S a truism that survivors of the Famine and their descendants dealt with the trauma, for a century or so afterwards, by trying…Thu May 27 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryARE AUDIENCES in this country a soft touch for overseas performers? I don’t just mean the ticket premium, which suggests we’re…Wed May 26 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryON FOOT OF Thursday’s diary hailing Chief O’Neill for the success of his crusade to save Irish traditional music, I received …Sat May 22 2010 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryEVEN BY European standards, the centre of Aachen – where I spent a few hours on Wednesday – is a strange mixture of the ancient…Fri May 21 2010 - 01:00
