I pine for my favourite Irish discount store. It has everything I never knew I needed
As someone who grew up buying most of their household bits from ‘2 dollar shops’ without any shame, I will argue that they are a lifeline for some communities
‘That would have never happened in Ireland,’ my boyfriend said after my trip to Australian A&E
When a doctor came out carrying the green whistle, only seen after the worst of rugby tackles, I knew it was bad
The new rules: what’s in and what’s out for 2025
Some things should be ushered into the new year like a much-loved guest being shown into the good room. Other things should be discarded like Christmas cardboard refuse
Here are my worst Christmases to help you feel better about your own
I worked in festive retail for many years and have a few tales to tell
Personally, I find it really hot when men are nice to women
Danny Dyer becoming the sex symbol of 2025 was not on anyone’s bingo card but it proves how radically the female gaze swerves from its male counterpart
My list of people who annoy me gets longer every day
Top of the list are people who don’t vote. How dare they whinge about how things are run if they haven’t done the one thing that could have influenced it?
Dee Devlin is not Conor McGregor’s moral keeper. That’s his responsibility alone
I am quietly awed by Nikita Hand and others like her who stand up outside a courthouse to address the media
Many Irish have voted with their feet but can’t vote in the election. The reason is plain
What are opponents to voting abroad so afraid of? The explanations of ‘it’s too hard’ or ‘it’s too risky’ feel threadbare and lazy
Brianna Parkins: ‘The Irish have a natural instinct for nosiness’
What better way to spend a hot sunny day than in the park, staking out two strange couples’ proposals?
Dublin Bus drivers are practised in the art of soundness. Sydney could learn from them
The girl sprinting for the ferry in Sydney late on a Saturday night was meanly cut off, prompting an unusual display of social solidarity
Brianna Parkins: ‘The cat popped into my life when grief had knocked me off my feet’
Our relationship, one of the happiest of my life, was largely contingent on the fact we have the radiators on all day
I feel like I’ve hit the lottery with my partner: I make the money, he makes me lunches
Is this how it feels to have been a man for the best part of the 20th century? Because it’s been pretty great
My exam marks or a fancy university didn’t get me into the career I love
If you’re the only person you know who’s gone to university it can be isolating trying to find your way with no one to guide you
Ice baths and 5am Clubs: have people become so adrift from their bodies they will do mad things just to feel something?
There’s an odd sort of morality tied to doing hard things, even if they are entirely unnecessary
Hiberno-English just does so many things that standard English can’t and I am clinging to it
A rake of pints. Sure look, you know yourself. Yer man. The unique joy of Hiberno-English should be celebrated, never taken for granted