Jazz group The Cookers cancelled their New Year’s Eve concert at Washington’s Kennedy Centre — they have spoken out about not being morally able to perform in a 'a venue bearing a name… that represents overt racism'

Every year, Weekend tasks Suzanne Harrington with looking at the year that's been and finding the good stuff. Did the world get any better in 2025? Are there reasons to feel hopeful in 2026?

I try to imagine what would happen if a small sea creature with the capacity to kill 26 humans turned up on an Irish beach. There’d be media helicopters overhead, snipers on the roof, the military on stand-by. It’d be on the evening news

Few things are more exhausting than putting on a brave face

He makes up one half of one of Thailand’s most ubiquitous sights... the Improbable Couple. Somewhat unkindly known as losers back home, their Western wallets have transformed them into winners

I remember the first time going up the stairs of the Quay Co-Op, and seeing all these radical flyers on the walls. Gay rights. Women’s rights. I didn’t know Cork had any gays, or that women had any rights

God wash them all, these spiritual giants, these champions of humanity and elevators of women. God wash them all to heaven

At their recent London gig, Bob Vylan fans had a surreal experience — we had to pass a staged right-wing protest across the street from the venue

Get rid of your hair, and people will no longer see you. You could rob the Louvre and nobody would notice

Purely to protect the continued existence of the Firm, Andrew-Formerly-Known-As-Prince's brother and nephew have thrown him not quite under the bus, but off the gravy train