Oh, Aye, Almost Forgot…

Happy St Andrew’s Day. As if anyone else is celebrating…

Oh, for crying out LOUD, Rick!

How utterly, fist-down-the-throat mortifying. Now we know why the RDS wasn’t good enough for him. We’ve been stood up, messed around, taken for fools. Well, next time, Rick, we’re gonna change the rules. A big raspberry to you, Astley. And anyway – I preferred Jason Donovan and The Reynolds Girls to you. Back to hairdressing […]

Pointless Nostalgia: The Wonder of Woolies

The shops are still open today but it looks like it’s finally curtains for Woolworth’s. From its origins in New York from 1878, F.W. Woolworth has been a fixture of the British high street for longer than most of our grandparents can remember. It is a genuine institution, a retail mainstay, as much a part of the fabric […]

Roger and Out

I’m absolutely sure there wasn’t a single chortle around the offices of the Irish Independent when a syndicated piece from The (London) Times appeared in yesterday’s edition. The article, a disturbing and enlightening illustration of the different ways in which Austrian and British justice systems deal with cases of incest, was written by one Roger Boyes.

Regurgitate, S’il Vous Plaît

It’s not fair, I want to be a social diarist with RSVP. I wish I had been the lucky hack assigned to go chez “Ireland’s Favourite Couple” Gerald Kean and Lisa Murphy for a spontaneous Christmas dinner in October. Just look at the lovely people I could have wished “Merry (somewhat early) Christmas” and “Recession? […]

Something Wicked This Way Comes…

Duke Special haunts Dublin’s Olympia theatre tonight… so, apologies to all his fans (and I know they are legion), but I’ve got to say, the guy terrifies me rigid. I know it’s terribly unfair to seem judgmental about someone’s looks but, seriously, the man wants to be scary to those who have the power to resist. […]

Bill Cullen: Is It A Syrup?

It’s one of those things I took for granted when The Apprentice started. I assumed from the outset that Bill Cullen wore a toupée, that everyone would have known this and that it was no big deal. However, after mentioning this publicly today, both Una and Dan seemed shocked at the suggestion. People have since […]

Make Up The Break Up

From U Magazine, May 2008 We’ve been rumbled – again. Word has seemingly leaked out on a subject that men conspiratorially assumed to be a trade secret. Tracing the source of the leak will be a tough job but my guess is it was some kind of honey trap – a drunken buffoon blabbing all […]

Book Review: The Numerati – How They’ll Get My Number And Yours, by Stephen Baker

Sunday Business Post, 16th November 2008 How the digital dungeon has imprisoned us all We are all Winston Smith. We are the office functionaries in a new, global Ministry of Truth, where our phonecalls, purchases and blog-postings can all become important fodder for statisticians around the world. These statisticians are known as the ‘Numerati’. Business […]

I do like to stroll along the prom, prom, prom…

If you fancy coming over a bit David Lynch for a day, you could do worse than stroll along Clontarf walkway this Saturday, November 8. Out Of Site presents Promenade, an inspirational live art event, where 10 artists make use of the sheltered bathing and seating areas, the walkway itself and even the sea along the walkway to present […]