John Lennon didn’t make it to Christmas in 1980 — he was killed two weeks shy of it, by a man craving fame and clutching a copy of The Catcher in The Rye, an American classic about the protection of innocence.

As a mother of three, I remember the intense focus that was placed on skin-to-skin contact after giving birth. My second baby was whisked away the second she emerged. My third was taken to the ICU not too long after she was born too.

It’s official. 2023 is the year of the sequin. Stores are bursting with flashy, sparkly, plastic little discs and Ireland is turning itself into one giant gyrating human disco ball for Christmas. It’s lovely for us, for the week or two that’s in it.

There’s a house on my walk to work that makes me happy every time I pass it. The glow of it turns my dark mornings brighter and more joyful.

There’s a time and place for everything and I put being kind above being right

The uncomfortable truth is that murderers and rapists are humans with human stories

Even as we fret about young people being addicted to smartphones, every single age demographic appears to be similarly afflicted with this addiction

'I’m setting some time aside to hold the gold of my life, rather than leaving it for the next generation to sift through when it’s been reduced to dust by time and grief'

If John Hume were alive today, he would most likely be trying to spread a message of peace, reconciliation, and dialogue around the Israel-Palestine conflict. Maybe we could all take a leaf out of his book before commenting on the issue

Anyone who speeds on our roads is brandishing a loaded gun. They absolutely deserve to be punished for it