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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Even the home of bullfighting treats their pets better than we do

Well, yet again we have fallen behind our European neighbours when it comes to animal welfare.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Even if Covid’s grip is loosening, life will never return to how it was pre-pandemic

WHISPER it very softly, but are we... on the verge of returning to normality?

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Woke brigade faces a wake-up call on cultural hectoring

When the English writer and director Richard Curtis meets his maker, he is going to have one hell of a conversation as they scroll through his life’s work.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Bumbling Boris once endeared himself to voters, but his circus act is wearing thin

In 2008, when the then-journalist Boris Johnson ran against Ken Livingstone for the role of mayor of London, most people scoffed.

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion Tournaments in hateful regimes put us on wrong side of history

You may not be familiar with one of my favourite pieces of light reading,Karl Marx’s Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Written in 1843, most of its points have long been forgotten, but there was one line that you will recognise. That is his assertion that “religion is the opiate of the people”.

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion Ministers off their trolleys as dearer booze will only send us North to fill our boots

Most of us have heard of the phrase “bread and circuses”. Coined by the ancient poet Juvenal, it referred to the tactic employed by Roman politicians whenever they were losing popularity with the people. In an effort to bolster their approval ratings, they would distribute free wheat to the locals while also staging ever more elaborate games and gladiator contests.

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion Even a year as bad as 2021 had its highlights

Well, that was one hell of a weird year.

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion I got more than I bargained for with my booster – a conspiracy Christmas carol

Well, I got the booster the other day. I would be lying if I said I had been looking forward to the experience, but I certainly wasn’t going to refuse the opportunity.

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion Ian O’Doherty: Why I love Christmas even though the build-up to the big day still drives me nuts

Well, just seven more sleeps to go before the Big Day.

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion Euthanasia is a valid moral choice – but debate on ‘slippery slope’ raises tough ethical questions

Well, we’re fully into the run up to Christmas. The tree is up, the house is decorated and we’ve now reached that stage where smug people are busy telling everyone how they have finished all their Christmas shopping, even though the rest of us haven’t even started.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Spare a thought for families of the missing

Has it really been 21 years since Trevor Deely seemingly vanished from the face of the earth?

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion I was never a fan of the traditional office party but now I find myself mourning its demise

What’s your idea of the perfect job? Well, let’s be honest, for most of us the answer is simple – one that pays the most money for the least amount of effort. But that’s a rather short answer which would have made the latest research paper on workers’ attitudes a very brief one indeed.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Talk of a US civil war is far-fetched but things are getting unhinged

A few years ago, I reviewed a novel called American War.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion David Beckham deserves all the criticism coming his way for an appalling moral blunder

Anyone who watched the Formula One Grand Prix in Doha on Sunday would have seen “365” emblazoned in the sky by an undeni-ably impressive piece of drone choreography. What did it mean?

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Restrictions unlikely to end at pub curfews – it feels like we are headed for lockdown

Yesterday’s cabinet announcement of the introduction of more restrictions was hardly a surprise – but it was still unwelcome. Far from the hospitality sector finally getting back on its feet after 19 months of enforced closures, bars, restaurants and nightclubs will, from tomorrow, face a midnight curfew.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion World leaders pretend as Cop26 fails to deliver

Hooray! We’re all saved!

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion In the depths of our housing crisis, even this obvious idea seems groundbreaking

Well, sometimes they do actually come up with a good idea. Who knew?

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion I’m not afraid to say I prefer my Halloween Americanised

So, what is it? Is it a magical, mischievous and thrilling time of the year?

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Welcome to the post-industrial revolution, where work will never be the same again

When English businesswoman Tina Knight appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, she managed to pour plenty of petrol on a debate that has been smouldering for the past few months.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion I fear for our politicians in an era of mob rule

We all enjoy slagging politicians and pointing out the flaws in their arguments.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Confusion reigns supreme following latest round of baffling government guidelines

Well, that’s that, then. Finally, we have proper clarity and direction about where we are going in relation to the various restrictions which have afflicted us for more than a year-and-a-half.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion The beautiful game is ugly and rotten to the core

What a performance! What a result! Seven goals in two matches, none conceded!

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Not for the first time, the beating heart is being ripped out of Dublin. This must stop

Dublin can be a hard place to love – yet it can also be a hard place to leave.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Gruesome and frequently very funny, ‘Squid Game’ is winding up the right people

One of the more interesting social developments of the last few years has been the way we have totally changed our viewing habits.

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion As BBC licence fee comes under attack, cold winds are blowing in RTÉ’s direction

Well, that was quite a shot across the bows, and even though it wasn’t aimed at RTÉ, the executives in Montrose could be forgiven for feeling a shiver run down their spine when they heard it.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Taliban 2.0 are taking us on a wild ride

I don’t know if we’re living in the much predicted End Times, but there can be little doubt that we’re in the Weird Times.

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion We’re facing an energy catastrophe, so it’s time for us to consider the nuclear option

Our UK neighbours seem to have found themselves in quite the difficult situation, haven’t they?

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Winter is coming ­– but this time I’m ready for it

Well that’s that, then. We had a good run, I suppose.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Sinister mobs gathering outside homes of politicians deserve our contempt and derision

The longer the lockdown lasted, the more I retreated back into the things that give me comfort. Many of us felt the same urge.

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion I’ll never forget my trip into 9/11’s bleak aftermath

I’ll never forget the moment, 20 years ago today, when the world changed forever.