Current Affairs: Read all about it - the highs and lows of 2004 in words and pictures.
For anyone who perennially finds themselves wondering "where has the year gone?", The Irish Times Book of the Year can provide some answers. Leafing through its pages is a pleasure. It is a book for dipping in and out of, rather than for reading in one sitting, perfect for a quick trip down memory lane when you have a few moments to spare. It would make a great gift for someone who has an interest in sport, politics, international affairs . . . well, life really, or for anyone who is a reader of The Irish Times.
If you are the sort of person who likes to buy gifts for yourself, then The Irish Times Book of the Year comes with an O'Malley recommendation. It is not something that is easily exhausted, it is portable, inexpensive and a good bedtime companion.
All the regulars are present and correct - Fintan O'Toole, Vincent Browne, Kevin Myers, Tom Humphries, Lara Marlowe and Róisín Ingle. And post-Christmas dinner, when too much turkey and too much wine combine, then you can just lie back and enjoy the photographs. And what photographs! Prime examples include a shot of Enda Kenny trying to prise open a horse's mouth at the start of his party's local elections campaign in Killarney, and one capturing the expression of achievement on the faces of Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern at the end of a successful EU Presidency. And Joe O'Shaughnessy's shot of a woman sunbathing in Salthill perfectly captures something uniquely Irish - the fact that everything can be put on hold when the sun shines here.
Expertly put together by Peter Murtagh, the Book of the Year captures all of 2004, both the highs and lows. There is much to choose from in the book's reports from abroad. Two very different stories stand out about the war in Iraq: Jack Fairweather's report from Baghdad on Paul Bremer's now infamous announcement that Saddam Hussein had been captured ("Ladies and gentlemen, we've got him") and later, Lara Marlowe's account, as part of her Across America series, of the tale of Sgt Luke Wilson, who lost one leg in the conflict and was volunteering to go back and lose another. These two pieces capture some of the politics and the patriotism behind the ongoing conflict.
Declan Walsh's 'New Victims Emerge from Horrors of Brutal War' is a particularly harrowing tale of the rape and female mutilation which occurs on a daily basis in the Congo, and a poignant reminder of the many places across the globe where peace and democracy, freedom and security have yet to be realised.
The two biggest terrorist attacks of 2004, the Madrid bombings and the Beslan school siege, feature, with all their horror, inhumanity and grief. The absolute anguish of the citizens caught up in both events speaks even louder in the accompanying photographs.
Problems of a different nature at home are covered in Carl O'Brien's expert series of reports from the Children's Court. His report, 'He Comes Home at Night, Out of his Head on Drink, and Breaks up the House', refers not to a drunken and abusive father but to a 17-year-old, out-of-control son.
"Everyone has tried to help him," his mother told the judge through tears. "But he doesn't want it."
The political animal is really spoiled for choice, with everything from the spiritual conversion of Fianna Fáil at Inchydoney to Ireland's successful EU Presidency to the Northern Ireland Assembly elections, which saw Sinn Féin and the DUP emerge as the North's kingpins. All these stories are cleverly penned by Frank McNally but it was his piece on decentralisation ('Charlie's Local Election Express Pulling in at All Stations') which brought the widest grin.
With Munster blood in my veins, on the sporting front I have to choose Ireland's capture of rugby's Triple Crown. A picture of David Wallace scoring a try despite the efforts of three Scottish players perfectly captures the passion , the commitment and the sheer bloody-mindedness of the Irish team.
But I will leave you with what I consider to be the most remarkable piece in the book. 'So Where is My Baby in All of This? I Can't Find Him. He's Lost . . .' The victim impact statement of Mary Murphy, mother of 18-year-old Brian Murphy, who died after being beaten up outside a Dublin nightclub, is a poignant reminder that for so much of the "Annabel's Case", Brian Murphy was forgotten. It reminds us that this "full of confidence, exuberant, full of cheer, larger-than-life child" went out one night and never came home. And he never will. That the Murphy family are without their son this Christmas, and will be without him every Christmas, should never, ever be forgotten.
The Irish Times Book of the Year Edited by Peter Murtagh. Gill & Macmillan, 248pp. €26.99
Fiona O'Malley is the Progressive Democrat TD for Dún Laoghaire