Opinion

By John Fitzgerald The craic to end all craics. That was the Kilkenny Beer Festival… one of the biggest and brightest projects of its kind ever attempted in Ireland. Its main instigator was a Mr. Bill Finnegan, who was elected Chairman of the Festival committee that helped to organise the Marble City’s annual booze-up and …

 FURTHERMORE  By Gerry Moran At last it has come round, the famous, or rather infamous, Qatar World Cup; the most written about World Cup in Christendom, and in Arabdom, I guess, and it hasn’t even kicked off (at least not as I write) This Qatar World Cup comes to us under a cloud, not of …

BY NED EGAN Part 1 I was running amok a fair bit in the ‘80s. Lowering the old pints like nobody’s business, throwing the remnants of a fortune about like the proverbial snuff at a wake. Life then was simple and carefree. You could go to any little country pub, pull out an accordion or …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Black Friday is upon us again. Without doubt the biggest shopping event of the year. Millions of deals are to be had across everything from TVs, laptops,  to mattresses, home appliances, beauty, fashion, and toys. The sale is supposedly the best time to bag a bargain. The average spend in …

BY CLAIR WHITTY Elderberry is one of nature’s finest healers with a long tradition in herbal medicine. Records of its use go back as far as 460-370 BC when it was known as The Father of Medicine. The berries have long been used for making preserves, wines, winter cordials and for adding flavour and colour …

AS I SEE IT MARIANNE HERON Will the latest season of Neflix’s The Crown upset the carefully rehabilitated image of Charles II and his Queen Consort Camilla? Its timing, just before Charles’ coronation, where the series covers the period the crisis years for the monarchy during the 90s , could hardly be worse. It will …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER PAUL HOPKINS There are between 42,000 and 55,000 Ukrainian refugees in Ireland, depending on who you talk to, with most in collective accommodation like hotels and otherwise vacant premises. Some 10,000 are working, 12,000 are in school and 1,000 at college. With most with a roof over their heads, the …

BY NED EGAN It was 1940, wartime, and I, J Conway was on a special mission to the USA. Based in England, I and my new wife Marie took the opportunity to visit our old haunts in Kilkenny Town, on our way to Waterford, then to Cobh. So, we headed down to Waterford, and booked …

By John Fitzgerald When we think of aristocracy in Ireland, images of oppression, exploitation, and aloofness come to mind. The lords and ladies are thought of as having been born with silver spoons in their mouths. We have a concept of toffs swanning around in their big house and not caring a whit for the …

 FURTHERMORE  By Gerry Moran “Foul language can boost group bonding, raise pain tolerance and increase physical strength….. It also eases stress,” according to The Irish Times, on Monday October 31 last. Boy was I glad to read that. Effin glad even! And why? Because yours truly is prone to peppering his conversations with the F …