Irishman's Diary: Dublin tradition of leaving prayers at St Valentine's shrineFrank McNally on messages to patron saint of lovers about more than just romanceThu Feb 13 2020 - 18:01
Come Out Ye Drunken Dads – Frank McNally on the curious reinvention of a spoof rebel songWed Feb 12 2020 - 18:30
‘I support Monaghan Gaelic football team. It involves a lot of suffering’Bittersweet Avondale – Frank McNally on Parnell, cross-country running, and kicking up a storm in Croke ParkTue Feb 11 2020 - 18:30
How the Mity have Risen – Frank McNally on the (short) literary history of cheese mitesFri Feb 07 2020 - 18:01
Dev among the angels – Frank McNally on an unusual memorial in an Ethiopian churchWed Feb 05 2020 - 18:45
Frank McNally dissects the political parties’ manifestos ahead of the General ElectionDocuments are littered with ‘roadmaps’, ‘kick-starts’ and ‘roll-outs’, not to mention terrifying ‘night mayors’Fri Jan 31 2020 - 21:45
An Bord Cremona – Frank McNally on the heroic but forgotten Irish defence of an Italian cityThu Jan 30 2020 - 18:30
Feet of Flames – Frank McNally on how running’s ‘super-shoe’ has conquered the globe (and Raheny)Wed Jan 29 2020 - 18:30
Irishman's Diary: The Irish-educated theatrical genius of William CongreveFrank McNally on English-born writer who found his way into literary circles of LondonThu Jan 23 2020 - 18:15
Pork medallions – Frank McNally on an eccentric episode (or two) in the history of Hiberno-Russian relationsWed Jan 22 2020 - 18:30
A policeman’s lot – Frank McNally recalls a short-lived Dáil party composed entirely of the sons of RIC menTue Jan 21 2020 - 18:01
Revising French – Frank McNally on one of Ireland’s greatest songwriters, who died 100 years ago next weekFri Jan 17 2020 - 18:15
The Full Brontë – Frank McNally on Anne Brontë, having the craic, and the pub with no beer-banFri Jan 17 2020 - 00:01
Ready for reckoning – a film about how Germany (eventually) faced its Nazi pastIrishman's Diary: The People vs Fritz Bauer tells story of thwarted trials post-NurembergThu Jan 16 2020 - 08:20
Making a show of herself – Frank McNally on a new exhibition in Dublin about the Limerick-born writer Kate O’BrienTue Jan 14 2020 - 18:30
Tillage People – Frank McNally on trying to break new ground in JanuaryThe origins of an event known as 'Plough Monday' remain obscureFri Jan 10 2020 - 18:30
A Dunce to the Music of Time – Frank McNally on failing to understand the appeal of a supposed literary classicThu Jan 09 2020 - 18:30
Ballytrain departure – Frank McNally on the polite capture of a Monaghan RIC barracksWed Jan 08 2020 - 18:15
The visions of 2020 that never came to passIt was predicted we would have humans on Mars and a militarised moon by nowSat Jan 04 2020 - 06:00
Suffer Little Childer – Frank McNally on one of the year’s most inauspicious datesSat Dec 28 2019 - 00:01
Not wholly holy – Frank McNally on the secular origins of O Holy NightLyrics of the English version, by John Sullivan Dwight, are somewhat less strident than the originalThu Dec 19 2019 - 20:00
How the Christmas tree captured Dostoevsky’s imaginationThe wife of one of the Decembrists sent him a copy of the Bible – that led to his conversionWed Dec 18 2019 - 20:00
Don’t forget your shovel: a monument to Irish-American affection for the Old SodSeveral Irish-Americans conspired to fly a shovel across the Atlantic in 1957Fri Dec 13 2019 - 19:32
How an Irish term for sewage may have entered American cuisine‘Slumgullion’ has nothing to do with Slieve Gullion or any other mountainThu Dec 12 2019 - 19:00
Long year’s journey into Irish – facing the perils of Duolingo addictionThere is more gender fluidity in Irish lessons these days – John may have a boyfriendWed Dec 11 2019 - 20:00
‘Britishness with a bit of music’ – How a cynical travel writer saw Ireland in 1913The obscurity of Richard Bermann’s book is the result of catastrophically bad timingTue Dec 10 2019 - 19:00
O Come All Ye Pedants – Frank McNally on the language of Christmas carolsFairytale of New York is already inspiring folk etymologyFri Dec 06 2019 - 19:00
Brigid over troubled waters: confusions over Anglo-Irish literary identityFrank McNally: It is only fair to disavow a case of reverse-colonisationThu Dec 05 2019 - 19:52
Digging deep for Macra memories in RathminesFlatland central was not short of sons and daughters of the soilThu Dec 05 2019 - 16:46
The new black – Frank McNally on the unsuspected colour of the seasonWhatever about its name for the month, Irish is not short of words prefixed by ‘dubh’Tue Dec 03 2019 - 19:00
Ordinary Joe: Ireland rugby coach looks back on an extraordinary decadeBook review: Joe Schmidt’s autobiography reveals glimpses of the vulnerable human behind the manicured imageSat Nov 30 2019 - 06:00
Frank McNally on why Ireland has unsuspected soul-brothers in the BalkansSavouring the sweet sounds of Irish Stew on a bus in west CorkFri Nov 29 2019 - 19:00
A standing army of poets at Speakeasy session in SkibbereenFrank Connolly, Anton Floyd and Ian Bailey among the writers who spokeThu Nov 28 2019 - 19:00
Up the pole: The strange phenomenon of Stylites, ancient and modernKelly managed to sleep on his precarious pitches by hooking his fingers into holes in the flagpolesWed Nov 27 2019 - 20:00
Stir crazy: A mix of Christmas puddings, lewdly-shaped fruit and ShakespeareA convergence of food and faith must have inspired many a homily down the decadesSat Nov 23 2019 - 07:01
How St Cecilia inspired composers from Handel to Paul SimonAn Irishman’s Diary: The bonus of becoming C SharpThu Nov 21 2019 - 19:00
The normal scale: From normality to normalcy to normalnessAll the president’s words: How a US president pushed the boundariesWed Nov 20 2019 - 20:03
Kicking new life into the word 'shebeen' in its true home, South AfricaAn Irishman’s Diary: Siya Kolisi would have been well aware of historic importance of the shebeenTue Nov 19 2019 - 19:00
Sung, Drawn, and Quartered – Frank McNally on the perils of rebranding Grafton StreetFri Nov 15 2019 - 18:15
Diplomatic baggage – Frank McNally on a milestone in official relations between Germany and IrelandThu Nov 14 2019 - 09:23
An Irishman walks into a cinema – Frank McNally on watching Scorsese’s latest epicTue Nov 12 2019 - 18:15
A bird to look up to – Frank McNally on a lesser-spotted but gifted member of the crow family, the jayThu Nov 07 2019 - 18:30
Manhattan Transfer – Frank McNally on the surprise origins of a classic Irish drinking ballad, Finnegan’s WakeWed Nov 06 2019 - 14:42
Rising from The Dead? Frank McNally on the fate of No 15 Usher’s IslandIf No 15 were to be preserved and extended it could be a win-winFri Nov 01 2019 - 19:48
