'Flattening the complexity of the six counties’ divisions into religious lines has always been a bugbear of mine — not least because it’s so difficult to avoid'

"As a man of letters in want of a few quid, I submit myself to the powers that be, and offer my services to manage and oversee a few shows..."

"...my familiarity with this meme goes back a little further - I’ve been hearing of the litter box hoax for years, and my initial feeling was to be quite tickled it had made its way to somewhere I knew in real life..."

"...the company that owns Facebook and Instagram has spent two years pushing a free online virtual world to their user base of 4 billion people, and you have never used it, nor met anyone who has."

"British courts do not allow cameras and, presumably, Sky News thought that the traditional route for covering such things — pastel courtroom drawings, voiced over with monotone quotes from proceedings — lacked panache, so instead they had their actor stand in the studio, directly giving Harry’s testimony to the host"

"May the road rise to meet you - a charming message, hailing back to the days when Irish peoples’ lives were more in communion with the elements"

"Within micro-seconds, we become the centre of a meme which would entwine myself and Tommy in a braid of mutual empathy for all time."

"In fairness, if your party has been in charge of the country for over a decade and delivered complete ruin to its economy, institutions, and quality of life, while becoming mired in innumerable scandals, incompetence, avarice and cruelty, you can’t exactly run on policy."

"My first 10 years alive saw us win five titles in that time alone, back when we were the unassailable masters of the maudlin euro hit - usually eschewing the up-tempo dynamics of our continental cousins"

'The UK is undergoing the greatest cost-of-living crisis in living memory, with around 20% of its population in poverty, and two to three million using food banks each year.'