An Irishman's DiaryTODAY is Johnny Cash’s birthday. Were he still with us, he’d be 79Sat Feb 26 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryREADERS of a certain age will remember a poem we did at school called The Listeners by Walter de la MareFri Feb 25 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT’S A measure of the GAA’s greatness that a man such as George Sigerson is now best known for presenting a cup to a Gaelic football…Thu Feb 24 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryMY THANKS to reader Brendan Connolly who, responding to the Diary’s mystification (February 19th) about “coulogeous” – as in …Wed Feb 23 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryALTHOUGH Irish elections often teeter on the brink of self-parody, the wonder is that this country has never gone all the way…Sat Feb 19 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryLIKE eagle-eyed reader John O’Hagan, I at first welcomed the news – as reported in our Page 2 digest on Wednesday – that “an …Fri Feb 18 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryBOTH OF Dublin’s Luas lines are colour-coded: the trams that run to Sandyford and beyond being called “Green”, while those travelling…Thu Feb 17 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI FINALLY got around to reading that Vanity Fair article about Ireland over the weekend, and a chastening experience it wasWed Feb 16 2011 - 00:00
Irish firepower proves unequal to force majeure of Les BleusIT’S CUSTOMARY to describe the mass movement of rugby supporters in military terms, usually involving the word “invasion”. But…Mon Feb 14 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SUGGESTED yesterday that, except for a plaque on the house he grew up in (and a passing mention in Finnegans Wake ), the pioneering…Fri Feb 11 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryWITH THE country’s prospects looking ever more bleak, it seems ominous that the National Concert Hall should have chosen the …Thu Feb 10 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI MAY BE sharing too much here, readers, and if so, advance apologiesSat Feb 05 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE FATE of Horace Greeley may be a cautionary tale for all those politicians currently traversing Ireland in search of votes…Fri Feb 04 2011 - 00:00
Kenny gets ball rolling in county where even the GAA team are blueshirtsON THE CANVASS : The Fine Gael leader drew on bad Croke Park memories to illustrate his anti-complacency mantraThu Feb 03 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE composer John Cage once claimed there was “no such thing as silence”Sat Jan 29 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE word “jaywalk” is barely a century old, but already its origins are obscureFri Jan 28 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryA MALTESE MAN called David Darmanin has written seeking information about the strange case of a 19th-century Irish sailor whose…Thu Jan 27 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryFLICKING channels the other night, I came across a rerun of a boxing match from 1993Wed Jan 26 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryMARY O’ROURKE has called on Fianna Fáil to draw up a “catechism” for election candidates (Home News, January 20th)Fri Jan 21 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI might not go so far as the Gospel of St Matthew (5:37) which, warning against the use of unnecessary oaths when speaking the…Thu Jan 20 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF you ever take a short detour off Tsar Boris III Boulevard in Sofia, and if your grasp of Cyrillic script is good, you might…Wed Jan 19 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS any musically illiterate parent of music students will know, YouTube can be a vital educational resourceSat Jan 15 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI’M not so sure about James Joyce (Diary, January 8th and subsequent letters), but there seems to be a clearer moral case for…Fri Jan 14 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI was half-listening to a programme on RTÉ radio the other night – Off the Shelf with Andy O’Mahony – when a comment by one of…Thu Jan 13 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryEN ROUTE through the Tipperary village of Rearcross – virgin territory for me – last week, I stopped to visit its rather unusual…Wed Jan 12 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT’S doubly apt that Tom Waits was born in December, because the surname Waits – and its variations – derives from an old musical…Fri Dec 24 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF Joel Waldfogel is correct, the Three Wise Men were just the sort of people who should not have bought Christmas presents.Thu Dec 23 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAMONG THE accidental casualties of the harsh winter has been a certain Guinness adWed Dec 22 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiarySPARE a thought for a group of people who are at their most vulnerable around this time of year but whose plight rarely attracts…Sat Dec 18 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHERE MUST have been great excitement in certain literary circles about a news item in Tuesday’s newspaper.Fri Dec 17 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE economist Paul Krugman was complaining the other day about “bad metaphors”, specifically, about the frequency with which …Wed Dec 15 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SEE that in an early Christmas present for headline writers, the increasingly desperate Australian cricket team has resorted…Sat Dec 11 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAMONG the events of New York’s coming “holiday season”, I see, is something called “Good Riddance Day”Fri Dec 10 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryEVEN in these dire times, the word “boycott” continues to be a source of national prideThu Dec 09 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE WEATHER of late has been a steep learning curve for many – and I’m not just talking about Dublin Airport Authority.Wed Dec 08 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryNOT THE least traumatic aspect of the cold spell is the bit, last thing every night, where I have to put the cat outSat Dec 04 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI heard a man on radio saying that, thanks to two major snow events in the same year, our extreme-weather driving skills have…Fri Dec 03 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryPHILIP MARLOWE claimed he could smell Los Angeles before he arrived thereThu Dec 02 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryREADERS may be familiar with Godwin’s Law of internet discussions: which states that as any online debate develops, the probability…Sat Nov 27 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiarySURELY the Germans are mocking us with that story (World News, yesterday) about “Anastasia”, a young woman who, according to …Fri Nov 26 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN church calendars, today’s date is devoted to what must surely be the only saint ever to have a type of firework named after…Thu Nov 25 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SEE THAT among the talks at this year’s Patrick Kavanagh Weekend, which starts tomorrow, is one by Peter McDonnell entitled…Wed Nov 24 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryJOE McBride (Letters, November 19th) submits that “if the best economists in our country, people such as David McWilliams and…Sat Nov 20 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE HISTORY of cultural relations between Ireland and Romania has long been dominated by the work of one man, who famously never…Fri Nov 19 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryWAITING for the grim news from Brussels on Tuesday night, I passed the time like many people watching the Munster-Australia rugby…Thu Nov 18 2010 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN HIS MEMOIR of the War of Independence, Ernie O’Malley recalled the time he spent as an IRA organiser, travelling around Ireland…Wed Nov 17 2010 - 00:00
In the eye of the TigerMEMOIR: The Dubliner Diaries By Trevor White, The Lilliput Press, 204pp. €9.99Sat Oct 30 2010 - 01:00
Time for Good Ireland to tell Bad Ireland to splitI’M NO economist, God knowsFri Sept 24 2010 - 01:00
