We are united by common urges: Freedom. Justice. The need to go to the toilet
Unthinkable: Looking for the meaning of life? You may be sitting on the answer
George Orwell
It’s worse than George Orwell imagined. There’s no need to ban books no one wants to read
What Aldous Huxley feared has come to pass: we are drowning in a sea of irrelevance
In times of war, ‘we have a duty to hope, as without hope all is lost’
Unthinkable: Always treat humanity not as a means but as an end, said the philosopher Immanuel Kant
Five accessible reads to begin with if you’re new to philosophy
If you’re not already an enthusiast, don’t start at Kant or Nietzsche
Nineteen Eighty-Four turns 75: the older George Orwell’s dystopian novel grows, the more urgent it feels
Truth, it turns out, is among the most difficult things to cling to
Chris Agee: ‘I never considered my writing after my daughter’s death as therapeutic. Nor did I find it difficult’
The poet and editor on keeping a loved one’s memory alive, his literary journal Irish Pages and his regard for Seamus Heaney’s work
One Fine Day: Exposing the myth of benevolent imperialism
Without preaching, Matthew Parker tells the stories of a variety of colonies and uses imperialists’ own words and deeds to shed light on an enterprise that was very far from glorious
Utopia is an idea worth clinging to. Otherwise, why get up in the morning?
In a Word: Dystopia dominates so much of modern literature, for obvious reasons
Big Brother reboot: you’ll be familiar with this concept from the Dublin rental market
Patrick Freyne: The smartest thing George Orwell ever did was to turn his book into a reality TV show
Why we need philosophy to help us navigate modern life
Rite & Reason: In Irish public affairs, philosophical thinking could facilitate the kind of changes needed today
In a Word...Beginning
The best opening lines have poise, excite immediate attention or simply impress
20 great audiobooks to get stuck into this summer, from recent award-winners to all-time classics
Whether you’re crammed on a bus on the way to work or lounging with a cocktail by the pool, audiobooks are a perfect way to transport you to another place
State’s data watchdog criticised with ‘Big Brother’ award
German privacy groups claim Irish regulator behind ‘sabotage’ of EU data privacy laws
Look to George Orwell for judgment writing tips, High Court judge tells colleagues
Judge to donate profits from new book on judgment writing to Ukraine relief
Orwell Road residents: ‘Are we allowing Putin stain the name of this road?’
Residents of Russian embassy road ponder name change to Independent Ukraine Road
Russian embassy in Dublin could be located on Independent Ukraine Road
Councillors propose changing the name of Orwell Road where embassy is located
Ian O’Riordan: Sport is war minus the shooting for Russia
Derval O’Rourke won a rare non-Russian medal in discredited 2006 World Indoors
Passenger locator – Frank McNally on a century of poputchiks, Mitläufers, and fellow travellers
An Irishman’s Diary
Money merrygoround exposes football’s greed and graft
Soccer’s sleight of hand: chaotic expense evidence of life, vigour and stable future prospects
Streaming of a white Christmas? Festive movies online
A round-up of digital movie services and the entertainment content they offer this year
Breda O’Brien: Fudging truth about Covid risks in classrooms damages public confidence
Society needs schools but we must not bury health risks in constructive ambiguity
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead: a pacy, rollicking read
The double Pulitzer prize winner’s latest is set in 1960s Harlem’s criminal underworld
West in danger of repeating Soviet ideological assault on science
New ideologies should be carefully discussed, not uncritically insinuated into general culture
Turbulent Priest – Frank McNally on John Ball, the Peasants’ Revolt, and the last of the English Villains
An Irishman’s Diary
(No) Danger Here – Frank McNally on how George Orwell got it badly wrong about football
An Irishman’s Diary
Kerry’s Paul Geaney: ‘We’re fully behind the management team’
After ‘torture’ of losing to Cork in championship, footballer is relishing return to play
News Corp agrees $349m deal for consumer arm of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Purchase of unit is Murdoch company’s second publishing buy in less than a week
You could fill a book with doubleplusungood uses of ‘Orwellian’
George Orwell is common shorthand for ‘mean people are being mean to me because they’re mean’
Bertelsmann wins battle for Simon & Schuster with $2.18bn deal
Penguin owner ‘very confident’ of regulatory approval despite competition concerns
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