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Birds: The Knot (Cnota, Calidris canutus)
 The Knot is a winter visitor to Ireland, arriving here from its high Arctic breeding grounds from late-August onwards. It can take a bit of practice to separate it from the other small wader species that visit our beaches, estuaries and mudflats, but with experience it becomes quite distinctive.
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No woman, no cry
Roddy Doyle makes a triumphant return to the intriguing character of Paula Spencer after 10 years and produces a wonderful read that is vintage Doyle. By Eamon Maher
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Interviews, Orwell and The Year of the Jouncer
Recently the National Library of Ireland has been seeking ways to lose its image as the sanctuary of some of this country's more otherwordly characters. To give this great institution back to a far broader section of society, the superb idea of Library Late was conceived. This is a series of public interviews in which Ireland's most distinguished authors discuss their work with well-known journalists and literary critics. The fourth season has just kicked off.
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Peter Pan
Before reviewing Scarlet, the official sequel to Peter Pan, I decided to re-read the original book. I soon realised that 're-read' was the wrong word.
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Cinema: The illusion of greatness
Christopher Nolan's The Prestige is a lesson in filmmaking with its lean structure, brilliant performances and expert direction. John Boorman's The Tiger's Tale, on the other hand, seemed to tick all the boxes but failed to deliver. By Declan Burke
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Is America ready to vote black?
Twenty years ago, while travelling across the deep south of the US I happened into the town of Waycross, Georgia, close to the Okefenokee swamplands. I was sitting outside a diner, jawing with the local good ol' boys. One of them struck a matchhead off the heels of his boots, lit his cigarette and started mouthing off. He turned out to be an elected sheriff from a nearby town and he was running – or so he said – on a segregationist ticket.
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Displaced
 For many in Sudan, the war in Darfur is something too remote to think about – the conflict on the opposite side of the country is far removed from the five-star wealth of Khartoum. But as tensions rise in the province, displaced Darfurians are increasingly cut off from humanitarian aid, writes Conor O'Loughlin
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Opportunity for radical reform of An Garda Síochána
However welcome are the two reports on the reform of An Garda Síochána – that of the new Garda Inspectorate and that of the new Advisory Board – there is a sense of dismay that both bodies repeat recommendations made over previous decades.
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Fragments 2006-11-09
On the periphery of the vast Liffey Valley shopping centre in west Dublin, there is a wall topped by railings (see picture). Behind the wall live thousands of people, excluded not just from Liffey Valley but from society generally by poverty and neglect. Liffey Valley is a monument to one of the great injustices perpetrated on the poor of the city.
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No room for MI5 in the North
The last time I was in the British Army Palace Barracks in Holywood, on the outskirts of East Belfast, it was 1972. I was arrested and taken there for interrogation. Palace Barracks was the site of the in-depth interrogation of republican detainees. We were beaten and subjected to noise and sleep deprivation, which were later declared by the European Court of Human Rights to be "ill-human and degrading treatment" – a modern euphemism for torture.
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Charity You're A Sham
 The presenter and the judges on the RTÉ summer hit Charity You're A Star earned more than many of the charities involved. By Justine McCarthy
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Villagers: Letters to the editor 2006-11-09
I write into you again in sheer frustration at the waste of money being spent in Clondalkin lately. Over the last couple of years we have seen the so-called 'Towers' on New Road outside Dunnes Stores and the mess near Tully's Castle. These were built to highlight the entrances to the old village and then they were all taken down again except the one at Tully's Castle. The council, I am led to believe, had to spend this money or it would go back into general funds. Now this weekend they are tearing up Tower Road, which was re-surfaced lately.
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Financial crisis in Irish fishing
 Many Irish fishermen are in serious debt and some are engaging in illegal fishing to repay bank loans that run to millions of euro. By Max McGuinness
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Arrant bilge
There is little interest amongst journalists to report on the North and the Nicaraguan elections.
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Newspaper watch: stamping out the facts
On 30 July, Alan Ruddock produced a long opinion piece in the Sunday Independent attacking stamp duty as "the mother of all rip-offs". Over the following weeks, the iniquities of stamp duty and its injurious effects on Irish society were repeatedly denounced by Independent Newspapers' writers. For example, on 13 September, the Independent ran an article, entitled 'Stamp duty is now the most effective contraception', which went so far as to blame the tax for Ireland's declining birth rate.
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The HSE says many children 'pre-plan' escapes to reunite with family members but internal reports seen by Village highlight inadequate care and protection in accomodation centres
Enable Ireland, the country's main disablity service provider, are not providing adequate physiotherapy, nurses or facilities for physically disabled adults. By Emma Browne
Malachy Browne turns a shade of green with the latest in energy-saving innovations
Éanna Ní Lamhna outlines several options for getting through the long cold winter
Frank McBrearty snr tells Village that victims of Garda abuse cannot afford legal fees. Meanwhile the government pays Department of Justice and Garda lawyers at the Morris tribunal over €7m. By Frank Connolly