Columnists
Medb Ruane: As the UK marches to the equality drum, lesbians feel the belt of the Pope's crozier
Arsenal suffered a thrashing from Man U on Sunday but it paled to the reddener the House of Lords delivered to Harriet Harman, days after Pope Benedict intervened.
Medb Ruane: A haunting legacy of the crash is ghost-estate residents paying the price for someone else's greed
Cill Rialaig is one of Kerry's most encouraging townlands. Its original people left because they couldn't make a living there so the old stones were scattered, the hearths never warmed. Only ghosts lived on -- along with rats and rambling cattle.
Medb Ruane: Resolutions can come later -- for now, let's enjoy the dream
Maudlin is another country -- but there's something about St Stephen's Day 2009. Whew-that's-over meets what're-you-doing-for-New-Year's-Eve, and beyond.
Medb Ruane: Tom and Mary's pain should have been private. But our Government has failed them
Love lets you down sometimes. You can hide away and hurt, or bury it so deep your heart turns to stone. This intimate, personal stuff shouldn't involve public scrutiny and usually doesn't. Unless the State lets you down too.
Medb Ruane: Lots of ways to skin a cat but will the kittens be safe?
YOU can skin a cat in 50 ways but it still hurts. Brian Lenihan set out yesterday to rebalance government spending without hitting the vulnerable. The question is whether the kittens are safe.
Medb Ruane: The devil is in the detail of this depraved vision of hell
Visions of hell have long been used to control human behaviour, but no Dante or Hieronymus Bosch could paint the depravities described in the report of the Dublin Archdiocese Child Abuse commission, which will be released on Thursday.
Our joy for Sharon -- and our fears for those she left behind
The joy of Sharon Commins's homecoming was the best news. After 107 days held hostage in Darfur, Sharon left the Government jet for her family's arms, told a press conference she was going to drink champagne -- and then began to share some of the horror.
If arts funding is abolished, where will the next Brendan Gleeson come from?
If another word is written about John O'Donoghue, Ceann Comhairle and former Arts Minister, let it be scratched by Colm Toibin.
'I had just checked my make-up when I was told I was sitting next to the Senator for dinner ... '
The most audacious thing I heard in my life happened on New Year's Eve 1993. I'd almost forgotten, until news came on Wednesday that Senator Edward Kennedy had died, aged 77.
Annie sees life through a different lens and risked it all for perfection
Hannah Montana left childhood forever when Miley Cyrus met Annie Leibovitz. The woman who snapped a naked and pregnant Demi Moore, John and Yoko -- and an exceptionally majestic Queen Elizabeth -- portrayed 15-year-old Miley in a moment between innocence and eros.
Medb Ruane: Dear Mr Gormley, I promise to conserve water -- when I can actually find some. . .
The epic 1930s depression generated some great songs -- like 'Buddy, can you spare a dime?'. My ask is: Buddy, can you spare some water?
Medb Ruane: Was he really his father's trophy rather than his father's son?
Tiger Woods had a tough determined father. He married a beautiful Swedish woman who set about making the perfect family.
Medb Ruane: Old Ireland wants to believe the Vatican is behaving well . . . New Ireland can't believe its ears
Thierry Henry's handball was an outrage so what can you do? Brian Cowen couldn't fix it but he had a word with Nicolas Sarkozy. Bad faith, Nicolas.
Medb Ruane: New light on dark history reveals church's false gods
DES Connell taught me. Ivan Payne once sat across a table and stared with those flat, dead eyes. This is what being a Dubliner means. You get to know some of the people and places Judge Yvonne Murphy mentions in her weighty report on child abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese.
Medb Ruane: Yes we wuz robbed -- but lads proved we can do it
THE love of one's country is a terrible thing, but it was beautiful on Wednesday. That game, that crushing decision, painted Irish men at their best.
Medb Ruane: Sharon's brutal killer Brian Hennessy wept in court. But who was he really sorry for?
Sharon Whelan had no voice during Brian Hennessy's trial for murdering her and her little girls, Zara and Nadia, early on Christmas morning 2008. Her family had to listen to Hennessy's attempts to ruin her reputation, as if killing her weren't enough.
Medb Ruane: We know the ritual Budget dance happens every year -- but this time it's dangerous
A young man with a shaved head and gaunt features asked for help the other night. "A euro for a hostel," he explained, as various well-fed Dubliners were leaving a restaurant in Andrew Street.
It wasn't quite a sob. It was really more of a quivering little-boy noise of hurt injury...
The speech from the dock is a staple in Irish history. Emmet, Tone, Casement, not forgetting Pearse's imaginary farewells spoken in his mother's voice: "I do not grudge them. Lord, I do not grudge . . . "
Last orders have been called for the culture of entitlement
When Ireland cut its overseas aid budget this year, Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue couldn't comment. But O'Donoghue singlehandedly increased the taxpayer's contribution in his infamously quirky way, ensuring that Ireland Inc gave an extra £1 (€1.70) to the poor and starving of this world.
No matter what, Gately was true to himself
STEPHEN Gately's voice launches Boyzone's 'No Matter What' as though nothing could ever stop him.
