Ian O'Doherty

Battle with the evil undead: David Soul in Salem’s Lot

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Ian O’Doherty: Halloween is the time to indulge our desire to freak ourselves out

I remember it well. In fact, I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it happened nearly 40 years ago.

Betrayed: Protesters hang babys’ shoes outside Áras an Uachtaráin to highlight their opposition to the sealing of records into the Tuam mother and baby home scandal

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Sealing the Mother and Baby files is another betrayal by Official Ireland

Of all the less than desirable national traits we possess, our consistent failure to exorcise the ghosts of the past is one of the worst.

Trump card: A voter waits in line at a polling station in Florida as early voting begins

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Young people don’t like democracy? Well, they’re not the only ones...

Shock! Horror! The young people are revolting!

Groundhog Day: This empty city-centre street in Galway will be replicated across the country after a new lockdown was announced last night. PHOTO: CLODAGH KILCOYNE

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion We face another six weeks of misery - but does anyone have a better alternative?

Welcome to Groundhog Day. Yes, as the country girds its loins for its return to a version of Lockdown 5, we're reminded once more that we're all in this together, whether we like it or not.

A woman wearing a mask in London. Photo: PA

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Will we ever get out of this Covid funk?

In the last six months, the most exciting thing to happen to me was tripping over a chew-toy last week and falling down the stairs while I carried one of my dogs.

You are what you eat: Flic Everett says the vegan diet she adopted played havoc with her health

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Vegans meat their match when they try to take on the butchers

There’s an old saying that ‘you are what you eat’.

Violent collision: The scenes outside Leinster House on Saturday. Photo: Steve Humphreys

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Conspiracy and antifa thugs are no laughing matter now they are duking it out on streets

So what did you get up to on Saturday afternoon?

Prayers of the faithful: Daniela Taormina during a pro-Trump rally in New York after it emerged the US president was being treated for Covid-19

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Trump's unhinged critics are now just doing his job for him

The year 2020 has become the year of the cliché.

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It's beginning to look a lot like a Christmas lockdown - is that so bad?

Just when you thought that 2020 couldn't get any weirder (damn, I've done it again!), this week also saw early predictions that Christmas as we know it could be cancelled.

At the height of the pandemic, 598,000 were in receipt of the payment. This has now fallen to 210,000, but could increase in the coming days due to the Dublin lockdown. Photo: Collins Photos

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion We may have dodged a bullet on lockdown for now - but don't be too relieved just yet

That strange noise you may have heard on Sunday evening?

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Aw, the poor cupcakes are offended - Dawkins makes them feel 'unsafe'

Did I just defend students in the main part of this column? I do believe I did.

City of the Tribes: One senator has called on the Army to be sent on to the streets of Galway to help gardaí keep order

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Students' shenanigans not a reason to start turning on one another

Okay. Enough. We get it. To use the old line from Monty Python's Flying Circus: "Stop it, this is just getting silly now."

Compassion: Activist Gail O’Rorke with a picture of her friend Bernadette Forde, whom she helped. Photo: Gerry Mooney

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion We should give people who are dying in great pain the option to end their suffering

In what will probably become known as the Year of the Covid, 2020 has focused our minds on mortality. It hasn't been pleasant. It hasn't been easy. Many of us are now more conscious of our own eventual departure than we might have been in those simpler days before the pandemic.

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Fillets of jellyfish? Actually, maybe that's not such a bad idea after all

Ah here, did you ever hear of anything as stupid in your life?

Face-off: US President Donald Trump and Democrat challenger Joe Biden

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Biden risks playing into Trump's tiny hands on big fight night

Let's get ready to rumble!

Unrest on the streets: Protesters at an anti-vax protest in Trafalgar Square, London, at the weekend. Photo: Yui Mok

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion Another year like this and people will begin to believe the bonkers conspiracy theories

The country may have spent the last few days basking in the warm rays of an Indian summer's sunshine, but seldom has the national mood been so dark and bleak.

Etiquette: Wearing a mask simply means that you don't want to potentially spread the virus to someone else. That's simply being a good neighbour.

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When did trying to stop Covid make you a slave of the State?

For a man of many witticisms, it's funny that my old mate George Byrne is remembered for a one-liner with only two syllables.

You must be joking: Trump, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, can't even keep peace amongst his own staff

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Peace in our time - Donald Trump style

I think we've all accepted that 2020 is just drunk out of its mind and needs to get its coat and go home. The world has gone completely topsy-turvy since March and if this year was a person, we'd all have a barring order against it.

Quiet pint: John Joe Quinn in McGinn’s Hop House in Woodquay, Galway

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John Joe reminds us to be careful about jumping to conclusions

It was the picture that seemed to paint a thousand words - and none of them good.

Quiet night: ‘Could the death of our traditional and world famous pub culture be one of the changes wrought by this major health crisis?’

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion What if they allowed all of our city pubs to open again - and nobody came?

Let the confusion continue. After numerous rumours about the hastened reopening of so-called "wet pubs", Tánaiste Leo Varadkar appeared to pour some cold water on the idea in front of the media yesterday.

Tied up in knots: Wearing a Jamaican-flag bikini, Adele took to Instagram with the caption: 'Happy what would (normally) be Notting Hill my beloved London'

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion If race-baiters get their own way, we'll all be living in ethnic boxes

Sometimes you just can't win. Ask Adele.

Protest: A Black Lives Matter demonstrator holds a scimitar in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where violent protests have taken place in recent weeks. Photo: Jim Vondruska/Reuters

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Ian O'Doherty Opinion As US descends into mob rule ahead of vote, president will benefit most

As we wave goodbye to a summer we would all rather forget and face into a winter which promises to be memorable for all the wrong reasons, the pre-election mood in the Divided States of America is becoming uglier than ever.

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You know things are weird when Jedward are the voice of reason

Forgive me for mentioning the rapidly approaching winter, but a thought struck me the other day.

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Even when we get back to normality, will we remember what normal was?

I was talking to a friend the other day - yes, I actually do have some - and he admitted that he had no desire to go back to the pub.

Family rift: Kellyanne Conway has quit as Donald Trump’s aide after her teenage daughter’s angry tirade. PHOTO: REUTERS

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Ian O’Doherty Opinion Lecturing Democrats clearly haven't learned the lessons of four years ago

Just when you think things couldn't get even more difficult for Donald Trump, he has now had to accept the resignation of one of his closest advisers, Kellyanne Conway.