TV & RadioSquid Game season two review: Tense, bloody follow-up ticks boxes if you’re craving more Red Light, Green LightTelevision: Seong Gi-hun, the down-and-out hero from season one, is on the trail of ‘the Recruiter’, the dapper gent who searches for contestantsBy Ed PowerThu Dec 26 2024 - 08:00
TV & RadioMrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special review: Unkillable comedy’s wit is as sharp as a mouthful of Brussels sproutsTelevision: Brendan O’Carroll’s slapstick purgatory remains a Bacchanalia of single entendres and fnarr-fnarr gagsBy Ed PowerWed Dec 25 2024 - 21:28
Subscriber OnlyPatriot by Alexei Navalny: Posthumous book underlines Putin critic’s final message: don’t give up Highly readable account of a remarkable political life has a conversational tone, reflecting Navalny’s metier of social media
TV & RadioMrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special review: Unkillable comedy’s wit is as sharp as a mouthful of Brussels sproutsTelevision: Brendan O’Carroll’s slapstick purgatory remains a Bacchanalia of single entendres and fnarr-fnarr gags
Books‘What has you here?’: Eight years dead and safe in a Galway graveyard, yet here Grandad was standing before me‘What has you here?’: eight years dead and safe in a Galway graveyard, yet here Grandad was standing before me
‘On the ninth day of Christmas, Nietzsche said with glee: sever links with your family’ Unthinkable: For the seasan that’s in it, we’ve gone for a philosophical Christmas carolBy Joe Humphreys
Subscriber OnlyThe Movie Quiz: What is the only 2024 film in the box office top 10 that’s not a sequel?
From Notify to Ani DiFranco: The top five trad/folk albums of 2024Joyful Irish traditional music and politically charged folk feature in our LP picks of the yearBy Siobhán Long
One Leg One Eye review: Forget Fairytale of New York. This is a soundtrack of the real Irish ChristmasIan Lynch and George Brennan offer a wonderful ghost-train ride through droning electronica, warped uilleann pipes and spirals of unfiltered noiseBy Ed Power
The Pogues at 3Arena: Applause rang out into the night, the crowd singing their way out on to the quaysA stacked line-up including members of Fontaines DC, Lankum and The Mary Wallopers delivers a brilliantly infectious performanceBy Una Mullally
The 2 Johnnies Christmas Party at 3Arena: It’s easy to sneer at the triteness and crudeness, but are 13,000 happy fans wrong?Support for the podcast stars, whose guests include Marty Morrissey, Nathan Carter and Dustin the Turkey, is fanaticalBy Cian O'Connell
Inside the alleged Hollywood smear campaign against Blake Lively: ‘We can bury anyone’Messages detail alleged campaign to tarnish Lively’s reputation after she accused Justin Baldoni of misconduct on set of It Ends With UsBy Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire and Julie Tate
Blake Lively accuses director Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment during filming of It Ends With UsActor Lively also made allegations of a co-ordinated PR effort to damage her reputationBy Edward Helmore
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies review: Warm, witty tear-jerker about an improbable subject By Tara Brady
Better Man review: Robbie Williams as a monkey is a surprising look at the ego-driven’s star’s life By Donald Clarke
Patriot by Alexei Navalny: Posthumous book underlines Putin critic’s final message: don’t give up Highly readable account of a remarkable political life has a conversational tone, reflecting Navalny’s metier of social mediaBy Maurice Casey
Kaput. The End of the German Miracle: Acerbic chronicle of a country’s fall from grace Former Financial Times journalist explains failures and fallacies that caused his country to lose its wayBy Oliver Farry
Squid Game season two review: Tense, bloody follow-up ticks boxes if you’re craving more Red Light, Green LightTelevision: Seong Gi-hun, the down-and-out hero from season one, is on the trail of ‘the Recruiter’, the dapper gent who searches for contestantsBy Ed Power
Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special review: Unkillable comedy’s wit is as sharp as a mouthful of Brussels sproutsTelevision: Brendan O’Carroll’s slapstick purgatory remains a Bacchanalia of single entendres and fnarr-fnarr gagsBy Ed Power
Christmas TV and movie guide: the best shows and films to watchDecember 24th-27th: including new Christmas specials of Doctor Who, Outnumbered, Gavin & Stacey, and Wallace & GromitBy Kevin Courtney
Christmas TV guide in Ireland: The best specials and pick of RTÉ scheduleDecember 22nd-27th: including Christmas specials of Doctor Who, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Gavin & Stacey, and OutnumberedBy Kevin Courtney
The best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takersGambling on longer runs of unfamiliar work paid off in a gratifying number of cases. But Irish theatre still isn’t as inclusive as it should beBy Chris McCormack
Beauty & the Beast review: On the way home, younger audience members re-enact scenes. There’s no higher recommendationAlan Hughes and Karl Broderick’s interactive pantomime, directed by Simon Delaney, features the promising Caoileann Woodcock as BelleBy Tara Brady
Hamad Butt: Apprehensions review – A prophet of dread wielding precise, precarious instrumentsArt: The British-Pakistani artist died 30 years ago, at just 34. His work is being rehabilitated with the help of the Irish Museum of Modern ArtBy Tom Lordan
The art of 2024: 10 of Ireland’s best exhibitions of the yearFrom big group shows exploring topics as vast as time to small but beautifully formed solo painting exhibitions, art has rewarded on many levels this yearBy Gemma Tipton
