THE screen adaption of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet is widely tipped to win several Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards Ceremony in LA. The movie’s success follows hotly on the heels of Cillian Murphy’s Oscar for Best Actor in Oppenheimer (2024) and Kenneth Branagh’s Golden Statute for Belfast (2021). Irish writers and actors have excelled at the Academy Awards in recent years.

WHEN you think of Belfast, there’s always a sense of grandiosity attached to it—be that in its famous sons and daughters, its buildings and even in the famed ship built there, The Titanic.

THE All-Ireland Fleadh took place in the beautiful town of Wexford at the start of August and, as ever, scores of musicians from Scotland were taking part in some form. Many musicians, singers and storytellers from Scotland were competing, having qualified from the All-Britain Fleadh in June. It was clear, though, from early on Friday that this was going to be a fleadh to remember as the results just kept on coming.

“THERE is nothing so lonesome, so dull, or so drear than to stand in the corner of a pub with no beer.”

I WAS but a wee wean, contentedly watching The Wombles when Gerry Conlon was arrested in November 1974 at his Belfast home

HALLOWEEN in Ireland stands apart from celebrations elsewhere due to its rich tapestry of ancient traditions and customs