Séamas O'Reilly

Séamas O'Reilly

Contributor

Séamas O'Reilly is a columnist for The Irish Times Magazine, author of a memoir Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? and a novel, Prestige Drama.

What the Philip K Dickens is Marvel up to with VisionQuest?

Can the MCU’s latest TV offering match the depth of much-celebrated predecessor WandaVision?

‘It’s not as scary as you think,’ I tell friends expecting their first child. I’m lying

When my kids were babies and we were sleep deprived and generally petrified, I presumed they were in mortal danger at all times

I routinely have intrusive thoughts about horrible things that could happen to my children

I imagine the GP asking ‘When did you first realise your daughter had grown antlers?’, ready to call social services

Séamas O’Reilly: Am I a soft, overprotective dad bringing his own childhood traumas to bear?

My son doesn’t yet have proper football trainers, since we, his miserly parents, haven’t yet committed to such accoutrements

Séamas O’Reilly: The idea that one man might shoulder burden of spite for us all is heroic

I hereby resolve to complain more and at greater volume

My son’s new hobby is confounding me with ‘mystyrieyos’ riddles that he puts in writing

There is usually the nugget of something clever in them, albeit shielded behind layers of opacity

Séamas O’Reilly: It was probably people like my father who led to robots having jobs

My father had an iron will and refused to be fobbed off. In his honour, I too refuse to yield to the automated voices

My kids had little hope of recognising the figures at the Wax Museum. We struggled ourselves

Back in Dublin with my Londoner children, I tried out my old tour guide routine in the one place they begged us to visit

A Nation Once Again by Paul Howard: Funny and scabrous novel is a propulsive caper

How does a writer include so much detail, and so many sensitive issues, without making something everyone will hate?

Despite having 11 kids and 20 grandkids, my dad’s favourite children are his dogs

My father tires of me asking whether dogs should eat so much human food, and rejects any accusation he’s gone soft

‘I’ve lived away for a while, that’s all,’ I said, defending my weakened Derry accent

Newsreaders and Elon Musk aside, people generally don’t change accents on purpose

‘I couldn’t listen to it’: Brendan O’Connor frankness with Phil Coulter is an unmissable moment

Radio: The presenter has a deeply moving discussion with Phil Coulter, while Second Captains Saturday also dives deep

‘I don’t like you, I like Mummy,’ my daughter says with such vehemence that my son holds my hand

My daughter prefers her mother to me so much that to suggest anything else really would be laughable

Oliver Callan learns about keening: ‘They’d pull out hair, rip clothes, reveal their breasts’

Radio: Haunting radio on RTÉ, while Anton Savage’s guest warns against retinal burns and Claire Brock talks soft-launches

I have yet to be convinced that the current zeal for AI is anything more than a bubble

I have yet to be convinced that the current zeal for AI is anything more than a bubble

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