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ART: A certain regard
Billy Leahy looks through the huge collection of news photography at Irish Independent Century (1905-2005) at the National Photographic Archive
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Google Print
Digitising books is suddenly big news – as if everyone realised that a train loaded with cash is about to pull out of the station and the chance to coin cash is dwindling. Google were first to act as discussed previously and got the good name with Google Print. They set themselves the Herculean task of planning to scan millions of books, a task that was planned to take ten years, moving them from first to last place. Google are also being hampered by a huge class action from US authors. They have deflected attention from this by launching their first works, the most notable of which are by (out of copyright) Henry James. Microsoft have now announced their scheme to scan the entire British library, making it available to all for free. Book publishers, as predicted here last month, have announced that they will now publish their own catalogues with MacMillan and Random House leading the way. Amazon seem to be the first to announce an intention to charge for access to books that they will be available through their site, something that seems an inevitability if we look at how the downloading of music has developed over the last decade. They are starting with Amazon Pages which allows the user to download the part of the book they want. Village thinks it might have been wiser to get us used to the idea of downloading books before they tell us how much it will cost.
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Still Brazil
Even with Wayne Rooney, England won't win because the Man Utd player will not be the only genius in the World Cup. Argentine might come close, the Germans have home advantage, but Brazil are still the best, says Ken Early
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The case against Israel
In The Holocaust Industry, he argued that the Holocaust had been turned into a compensation industry for the dwindling number of survivors. Now Norman Finkelstein has written a forensic critique of the 'new anti-Semitism' and of Dershowitz's The Case for Israel. Conor McCarthy reviews Beyond Chutzpah
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Thought For Food: The new rocket
t's delicious, really good for you, 'purifies the blood and keeps away the rheumatics for a year'. Darina Allen can't recommend watercress highly enough
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Agenda bender
 He has made himself into a very marketable franchise in media, consulting and laterally, show business. John Byrne profiles David McWilliams on the launch of his début book.
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'Look at me - now back off'
 Maureen Dowd, a sexy, controversial hard hitting New York Times columnist, describes herself as a paid contrarian. Her latest book on the battle of the sexes reads 'like a Cosmopolitan article that has been stretched way beyond its elastic limit'. It is badly reserached, unsubstantial and based on select anecdotes, desrcibed by the Wall Steet Journal as a 'stinker'. Marion McKeone writes from New York on Dowd – the media phenomenon and her book.
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Enda Kenny and bigotry against Travellers
Prejudice against the Traveller community is now a fact of life in Irish society. It is as ugly, crude and vicious as the racism which prevailed in the southern states of America 50 years ago, founded on ignorance, bigotry and intolerance of the African-American community. But now, for the first time, a national political figure, Enda Kenny, leader of the Opposition, has joined that campaign and contributed his own mite of poison to the well of hate and hostility.
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Irish language: Enda Kenny's main point is unanswerable
Compulsory Irish is a simple slogan that acts as a red rag to a bull in Irish language circles, and Enda Kenny's speech in Cork last weekend suggesting the removal of Irish as a subject of compulsory study at Leaving Certificate level has stirred up a predictable debate – one that is shrouded in ambiguity, misconceptions and rhetorical pretence.
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'Gangsta' deaths misunderstood
The two murders in west Dublin on Sunday 13 November brought to 17 the number of gangland killings so far this year. That number went up again the following Tuesday when another young man was shot dead in Clontarf. If this were London, Paris or some other city of millions of people, that number would be bad, but in a country of Ireland's size and especially for a city the size of Dublin, that figure of 18 gangland killings so far this year is truly shocking. Surely it is time now for us all to ask: what is going on?
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Field Day - The Belfast Agreement
Last year someone in Derry started painting the post-boxes green. All year they alternated from green to red and back again. It started me thinking about what a reunited Ireland would look like. Arafat reputedly returned to Gaza after the Oslo Accords saying he wouldn't stop until Palestine had its own direct dialling code. Sovereignty can come down to direct dialling codes and the colour of post-boxes; it should, however, involve much more.
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'Thrown to the wolves'
French colonial rule in Algeria, and the bloody War of Independence there, are at the root of the Paris riots, says Robert Fisk
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Indemnity deal dressed up to disguise massive shortfall
The indemnity deal agreed with the religious congregations fell far short of the Government's minimum and was dressed up by the inclusion of properties previously given to the State, against Departmental advice, documents reveal. Colin Murphy reports
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Ominously inept
Eddie O'Sullivan's failure to prepare Ireland resulted in a rout at the hands of the All Blacks. It's time the IRFU looked for a new manager, writes Edward Newman
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Jordan catches Iraq's fire
The Amman bombs, alongside evidence of Afghans training with Iraq's insurgents, defy American claims that the "war on terror" is being won. Paul Rogers reports
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Irish language: Enda Kenny's main point is unanswerable
Compulsory Irish is a simple slogan that acts as a red rag to a bull in Irish language circles, and Enda Kenny's speech in Cork last weekend suggesting the removal of Irish as a subject of compulsory study at Leaving Certificate level has stirred up a predictable debate – one that is shrouded in ambiguity, misconceptions and rhetorical pretence.
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The Deadly Camera
The Ballygandon gang are back in this their eighth book and once again Gordon Snell has given us a rattling good read that proceeds at neck-breaking speed from one page-turning incident to another.
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