Colm O'Regan: Don't go cold shouldering fun stuff just because it's winter

The people who put A Thing On In January, who light a candle rather than curse the darkness are to be lauded. In fact, they should be accorded the highest informal honour possible in Ireland — 'Fair F*cks to Them'

I've just come from the Portmagee Comedy Festival, a small village in West Kerry that is next to Valentia, Skellig, and America). And they filled community centres and pubs and geodesic domes for a bitteen of a festival around the bank holiday.

“This one’s for the dreamers...”

It’s usually a tag-line in an ad for an exciting new loan product for business owners. The people in the ad have a paintbrush in their mouth as they put finishing touches to the shelving in their llama cheese shop.