Bertie's money gets curiouser and curiouser
 While Bertie Ahern's statement on the Beresford house transactions appeared to answer several of the questions that had arisen, an analysis of the private interview he gave to the Planning tribunal lawyers deepens his problems. By Vincent Browne...
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Enda: fielding the hard questions
From the Village magazine archive on Politico: An interview between Enda Kenny and Vincent Browne from the 2007 campaign. The full digital edition (Enda: under the Hammer) is here (requires a subscription).
On Monday, 14 May, Enda Kenny spoke to Vincent Browne about the nurses' strike, his inexperience of government, his capacity to be a credible Taoiseach, tax policy, his grasp of economic issues, abortion and Shannon. This is an edited version of the interview
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Ireland's economic bloom
 Emma Browne takes a stroll around the Botanic Gardens in Dublin. Photos by Eoin Moylan
With all the criticism Bertie Ahern has been getting recently about his finances, his party's overspending in government and their broken promises, there is a less-highlighted positive that has come out of his 10-year reign as Taoiseach – the rehabilitation of the National Botanic Gardens. ...
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Miss D: Outside her control
 Decisions made decades before she was born influenced the fate of Miss D. Whispers and shouts all around her showed how confused and passionate people still are about the issue of abortion, while the silence from politicians is deafening. Justine McCarthy was in the Four Courts for the verdict
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Blogging the election
 The exponential growth in political blogs will have a negligible effect on the outcome of election 2007, but will set the foundation for online debate in future elections. By Malachy Browne
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Safety not an option
 A car safety device, proven to save lives and widely available in Europe, is not being fitted as standard in cars for the Irish market or promoted by the Road Safety Authority or the government. Patrick Boyle investigates
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Blooming dangerous
 This star-forming region more than 5,000 light-years from Earth is in the constellation of Monoceros. In a powerful telescope, the nebula looks like a rosette, but lurking inside this delicate cosmic rosebud have been discovered “danger zones” where nothing can hope to prosper. This is important new evidence for the rarity of advanced lifeforms such as those to be found here on Earth....
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A-little-too-odd couples
Black Snake Moan, a tale of a God-fearing backwoodsman who tries to teach the village nymphomaniac the error of her ways, starts off well but descends into laughable farce, while My Best Friend is pleasantly predictable. By Declan Burke...
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Erwin James: A lifer's sentence
 As part of the Cúirt International Literary Festival, writer Erwin James, who spent his youth in borstals and most of his adult years behind bars, spoke to inmates at Castlerea Prison. Colin Murphy looked on....
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Book Notes 17.05.07
Facing White relased by the Trinity College Oscar Wilde Centre; William Donaldson, a cautionary tale; Scientific discovery, fact and fiction
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Europe without the frills
Journalist Philip Nolan spent a year travelling to 33 destinations in Europe with Ryanair. The result is a chaotic, bizarre and at times hilarious odyssey. Edward O'Hare reviews
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Media Junkie: Darragh McManus
Darragh McManus, writer
Favourite book:
1984 by George Orwell. Sheer perfection.
The last book read?
Don DeLillo's Falling Man. A tremendous novel from a true master, his best since Underworld.
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Cowen may do to Fianna Fáil what McDowell has done to PDs
Brian Cowen has been ubiquitous during the election campaign. On Questions and Answers before the campaign, on Prime Time repeatedly and on The Week in Politics. Combative, clever, commanding but... There is an aggressiveness about him which is off-putting and which I think may have done damage to his party. That air of contempt for opposing views (occasionally oh-so-consciously repressed), that snarling, bullying, belligerent, demeanour. I know him slightly through El Señor de la Casa (ie the
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The dark side of zero tolerance
 One of most enduring political slogans of recent times is that something as simple as grafitti can lead to murder. It ascribes itself to a “quality of life” or “broken windows” theory of policing, whereby grafitti, or spitting on the street, or littering, is the first link in a criminal chain that eventually ends up in murder. One of the most public pioneers of this theory has been Rudolph Guiliani, former mayor of New York, who ruled over a police force that has been cop
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National Dawn Chorus Day 2007: Sunday 20 May
On Sunday 20 May, wildlife enthusiasts the length and breadth of Ireland will set their alarm clocks a little earlier than usual and go out to enjoy a morning of beautiful birdsong on National Dawn Chorus Day 2007. Although birds sing throughout the day, they are most active in the twilight period just before the sun comes up, so this is the time to hear them at their best....
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Carl Linnaeus: giving us a name
Carl Linnaeus, the man who named the human race Homo sapiens was born 300 years ago on 23 May 1707. Here was a man who never lost his wonder of creation, and who, in his own reckoning, was on a mission from God. He summed up his life's work in his autobiography as “God Created, Linnaeus ordered”. He was egoistic beyond belief, but we have to acknowledge that he was probably justified in this presumption. He quite literally completed the task begun by Adam of naming all the creatures ...
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Walks: Ramelton, Co Donegal
The O'Donnells had a castle here before the Gaelic chieftains were defeated in the 17th Century. In the Ulster plantation, the Stewarts built a town for Scottish and English settlers. Their legacy is evident in Ramelton's architectural heritage.
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Eye (and mouthful) of newt
I received a dead newt in the post the other day. It was all wrapped up carefully in a large matchbox and the senders – an interested group of schoolchildren from Mallow – asked very nicely if I could tell them what it was, as their teacher wasn't too sure. It looked like a tiny dragon with a long tail, four short legs and a long flat head. But it was of course a smooth newt – the only species of newt we have here in Ireland. There are two other species in Britain, but only the...
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Enda Kenny never impressed in politics until well after he became leader of Fine Gael. But he has rescued his party from the doldrums of defeat in 2002 and now has a real chance of heading the next government. By Vincent Browne...
