As landlords’ enclosures of villages and commonages during England’s industrial revolution drove landless countrymen into the maws of the poet William Blake’s “dark Satanic mills”, a romantic nostalgia for the countryside began to grow.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin might be tempted to take some Charles Dickens down from the bookshelf today and start adding in his own, personalised chapter.

The “spoiler” has never had so much power.

Peter Jackson gets over the gain line, behind the headline

It’s as if they learned everything they know about Ireland from comic books when they were eight, writes Fergus Finlay

Food is important to us. No more so than at this time of year. A cramped table does not feel so cramped at Christmas, writes Lindsay Woods.

Just build the damn thing.

Dubbed ‘the voice of Cork’, he started collecting Cork folk songs in the late 1960s and early ’70s when it was neither fashionable nor profitable.

Most of us have heard all about the ‘gig economy’ — all those perspiring Deliveroo cyclists and exhausted Uber drivers, slaving away for pin money.

Macbeth and Hamlet were mentioned by the main protagonists, but in truth, it was far closer to A Christmas Carol.

Though it may be running a little scared, the City props up the UK, and a report by PwC says London is resilient, agile, and great at adapting, writes John Lloyd

Unforeseen social events, such as the global economic crisis of 2008, the election of Donald Trump in the US, Brexit in the UK, and fake news have undermined our faith in what is true, but some opinions are better-informed than others, writes Clodagh Finn

With the passing of the torch to a new generation, Caomhan Keane says it’s his turn in the kitchen

Des O’Sullivan on the discovery of a portrait by Cork’s Daniel Maclise. An x-ray of the painting revealed 70% of it’s surface to be unoriginal.

Did Charles Dickens execute the most audacious literary fraud ever or was the Pickwick Papers a work of stunning originality? Mary Leland unravels the threads of a riveting fictionalised account of the book’s origins.

Joe Hill didn’t want to ride on his father’s coat tails as a writer, so he invented a name and went out on his own, says Ed Power

Actors dressed in period costume with wolfhounds at their sides greeted guests at a special bash last night to celebrate the 200th birthday of one of the country’s best known hotels.

‘Big Week on the Farm’ will have live lambing and other farm features across five nights on RTÉ One this week.

Do a Wikipedia search for ‘Joe Schmidt’ and you won’t be hit with a bio and pic of Ireland’s current rugby union coach, writes Brendan O’Brien.

You might expect hefty Russian tome War And Peace to be the book that people are most likely to have lied about reading. 

RICKSHAW drivers occupy a ubiquitous presence on the streets of the West End. But most Londoners never even give them a moment’s thought.

Cork Opera House is celebrating its 160th anniversary tonight. It’s a momentous milestone, says Marjorie Brennan.

JUST as there’s a dish for every palate, there’s a food writer for every taste.

Peter Ackroyd is one of the most productive and elegant biographers writing in English today but is often accused of not uncovering anything new about his subjects. That doesn’t matter, he tells Tony Clayton-Lea

Kya de Longchamps explains why it really is a bright idea to give your home a creative lift with the dark gem that is Georgian mahogany.

THE bumbling Mr Bumble in Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist declared the law to be an ‘ass’. He wasn’t, of course, reflecting on Ireland’s inheritance laws but the comment is prescient in light of the fact that wife-killer Eamonn Lillis emerges from prison today a wealthy man.

The top 50 books for children to read have been released, and Roald Dahl remains at number one.

What makes me maddest is that caring for a seven-year-old child isn’t work any more. 

On the Trail of Britain’s Homegrown Jihadists By Alex Perry

Millions of wills including those of Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, Alan Turing, and Beatrix Potter are now available online.

Millions of wills including those of Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, Alan Turing, and Beatrix Potter are now available online.

Children who always have their nose in a book are likely to end up with a better vocabulary as adults, research has found.

Simon Callow is on a nine-week run of one-night stands with his one-man play. He talks to Colette Sheridan

I can be very lazy. I think many people who work as hard as I do can be. 

Amy was “an OK actress” and later a social worker and a psychotherapist before realising that her childhood love of reading and her parents’ jobs as journalists were clues to her true calling. She spoke to Sue Leonard.