A city where peace comes dropping slow – Frank McNally on a visit to The HagueIts role as a headquarters of the world’s conscience has seen the city gradually elevated to the status of metonymFri Jun 14 2024 - 18:55
Animal cracker – Frank McNally on “Humanity Dick” Martin and 200 years of the SPCAHis efforts advanced mainstream acceptance for the idea that animals should be legally protectedWed Jun 12 2024 - 18:50
Balkan diplomacy – Frank McNally on hosting a Bulgarian journalist for election weekendLike most young journalists now, he multitasks as cameraman, sound recordist, editor, and writerTue Jun 11 2024 - 18:58
Cracking over the papers – Frank McNally on uncomfortable parallels between column writing and the Leaving CertI resorted to 40 press-ups, on the desperate pretext that blood rushing to my brain might arrive with a fully-formed column outlineFri Jun 07 2024 - 18:59
Lagan leviathan – Frank McNally on the centenary of a great Belfast shipbuilder (and Home Ruler), William PirrieThe man who turned Belfast into a powerhouseThu Jun 06 2024 - 18:59
Soft landing – Frank McNally on a long-awaited airline refundMemories came flooding backWed Jun 05 2024 - 18:59
Frank McNally: It’s June, and on Irish roads farm machinery is bustin’ out all overTractors seem to get bigger and broader every yearTue Jun 04 2024 - 18:54
Blowing a Gaskin – Frank McNally on gasconades, gasúns, and Ireland’s Bay of NaplesA striking resemblance, minus the volcanoFri May 31 2024 - 18:59
Peadar Tóibín gets warm reception in Slane over plan to ‘crowbar’ issues on to Government agendaNot everyone is promising Aontú a first preference but the European candidate is changing the minds of some traditional votersFri May 31 2024 - 06:00
Valour invalidated – Frank McNally on a mysterious Irish anti-hero: the “Great Gaiscí”A penchant for satireWed May 29 2024 - 18:55
Frank McNally on royal typos, Tennyson’s Tories, and the mystery of ‘Operation Sonnet’The gold standard in newspaper typosTue May 28 2024 - 18:57
Rings of ire – Frank McNally on the limitations of smart watchesIt doesn’t help that the watch communicates exclusively in CalifornianFri May 24 2024 - 18:55
Footman Footnotes – Frank McNally on the late and very colourful Gillies MacBainHe was in the habit of buying The Irish Times daily and reading every word, over several hours, with a ruler in handThu May 23 2024 - 18:59
Front Woman – Frank McNally on a pioneering war correspondent, Maggie HigginsAfter Korea, she went to Moscow, the first American correspondent allowed into the post-Stalin USSRWed May 22 2024 - 18:59
‘The trial of the century’ – Frank McNally on a notorious child murder of 100 years agoNathan Leopold jnr and Richard Loeb murdered a 14-year-old neighbour, Bobby FranksTue May 21 2024 - 18:58
Custer’s Last Tune – Frank McNally on the dubious history of the ballad GarryowenGarryowen, or a version of it, became a regimental anthem on both sides of the AtlanticThu May 16 2024 - 18:55
Dutch gold – Frank McNally on a weekend in idyllic AmsterdamCars were few and slow-moving, even on unpedestrianised streetsTue May 14 2024 - 18:59
The road not travelled – Frank McNally on a long-dormant book projectWhile still undecided on the subtitle – a crucial matter – I signed a contractFri May 10 2024 - 18:55
Flying columnist – Frank McNally on why Wolfe Tone may have been Ireland’s greatest ever diary writerThe diary-writing Tone made a deep impression on later Irish revolutionariesThu May 09 2024 - 18:55
Local revolution – Frank McNally on the epochal Irish elections of 1899The local elections allowed women to vote for the first timeThu May 09 2024 - 10:59
Bird on the wire – Frank McNally on a great reporter’s last hurrahThe documentary Ransom ‘79 is a startling reminder of what a mad, bad, and dangerous place Ireland was in the SeventiesTue May 07 2024 - 18:58
General selection – Frank McNally on national stereotypes, Greek (and table quiz) heroes, and a stamp of greatnessKnow your onionsFri May 03 2024 - 18:55
Blood brothers – Frank McNally on the deaths of two young men, one Irish, in the Korean WarBetween waves of fear, Woo-Geun imagined being back at home with his familyThu May 02 2024 - 18:58
Hard Border – Frank McNally on a visit to the Korean Demilitarised ZoneFrom a row of fixed binoculars, we took turns to scrutinise the North KoreansWed May 01 2024 - 18:55
Transmigration of Seoul – Frank McNally on a long-awaited trip to South KoreaSomething that unified most of our disparate group of journalists was a love of beerTue Apr 30 2024 - 18:50
Man of Letters – Frank McNally on the Irish rebel origins of an extravagantly named Australian cricketerA remarkable string of forenamesFri Apr 19 2024 - 19:24
The chimes they are a-changing – Frank McNally on the joys of listening to church bells at nightChimes are a variation on a theme used by clocks and doorbells the world overThu Apr 18 2024 - 18:59
Murder Most Confusing – Frank McNally on Flann O’Brien’s murder weapon, Henry Marsh’s finger, and a relocated Joycean plaqueThe art and literature roundTue Apr 16 2024 - 19:31
Call the Avant-Gardes – Frank McNally on drunken art models, legendary barmen, and 100 years of Finnegans WakePedestal positionFri Apr 12 2024 - 18:59
Glass act – Frank McNally on the folk art of ‘God in a Bottle’Vernacular religious artThu Apr 11 2024 - 18:59
Hands of history – Frank McNally on the digital disenhancement of Fr MathewA chip off the old blockWed Apr 10 2024 - 18:59
Miniature monster – Frank McNally on the fall and rise of the “baby Guinness”A shot in the darkTue Apr 09 2024 - 18:59
Not All Greek – Frank McNally on Mohammad Syfkhan and the Irish bouzoukiHe whipped the audience into a frenzy and kept them there longer than seemed possibleThu Apr 04 2024 - 18:50
Where the streets have new names – Frank McNally on a French row with strong Irish echoesReturn to senderThu Apr 04 2024 - 09:42
Kingdom crack-shot – Frank McNally on Dennis Fenton, a forgotten Irish Olympian Feats of marksmanshipTue Apr 02 2024 - 18:59
Not-so-Fab Fifty – Frank McNally on a gloomy trend in half a century of pop musicA general drift toward lyrical melancholyFri Mar 29 2024 - 18:59
Age of innocence – Frank McNally on being traumatised by the increasing youth of taoisighThere was a time when ruling elders really were elderlyThu Mar 28 2024 - 18:59
See O’Rahilly Play – Frank McNally on the Irish birth of Radio Caroline, 60 years agoCaroline proved an instant success with listenersWed Mar 27 2024 - 18:59
Arms crisis – Frank McNally on a crash course in arm-wrestlingDuring the short bursts of arm-on-arm action, spectators can become highly animatedTue Mar 26 2024 - 19:30
Meat and Diary – Frank McNally on the importance of food in diary writingThis column was accidentally dragged into the transatlantic debate on whether UFOs existFri Mar 22 2024 - 18:59
Birds of a feather – Frank McNally on an unusual English tribute to the Irish writer Melesina Trench As a writer, she certainly had sharp talonsThu Mar 21 2024 - 18:59
Riveting personality – Frank McNally on an all-American (but part-Irish) heroineThe image of Rosie changed attitudes to women and workWed Mar 20 2024 - 20:45
Sermon on the Mounts — Frank McNally on a biblical week in Cheltenham The End is Nigh Handicap HurdleTue Mar 19 2024 - 18:59
Cheltenham: Irish re-establish dominance on final day as Willie Mullins adds Gold Cup to his haul Retired football managers turned horse owners Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp run out of luck after extraordinary winning streak on ThursdayFri Mar 15 2024 - 19:28
Cheltenham: Empire strikes back on Ireland’s least successful dayAlex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp among the winners on day three of festivalThu Mar 14 2024 - 20:17
Cheltenham: Langer Dan brings an Irish joke at English expenseWednesday’s opener an early St Patrick’s Day parade for Carlow handler as the first five home saddled by Ireland’s champion trainerWed Mar 13 2024 - 20:19
Cheltenham has changed: the days of the romantic underdog are rarer nowOn a day of dominance for Irish-trained horses at Cheltenham, led inevitably by Willie Mullins, even the sole plucky 'underdog’ winner of the day - Chianti Classico - was Irish-bredTue Mar 12 2024 - 21:28
Irish supporters in confident mood as annual Cheltenham invasion begins Irish trainers, led by the formidable Willie Mullins, expected to dominate four frantic days of Cheltenham Festival actionMon Mar 11 2024 - 20:24
Man’s second-best friend? – Frank McNally on a cinematic tribute to catsCats are natural film starsFri Mar 08 2024 - 18:59
Would Key – Frank McNally on the mystery of the ‘Irish Conditional’Past, present and futureThu Mar 07 2024 - 18:59
