A life-sized portrait of James Butler, first Duke of Ormonde (1610-1688) sold for a hammer price of €120,000 yesterday.

According to press reports, two traumatised lions have been moved from Gaza to a new home in Jordan. Let me apologise in advance for dwelling on the plight of animals when more than 1,200 people, including hundreds of innocent children, were killed in the 50-day onslaught on that beleaguered enclave.

ARISTOTLE, who was born in 384BC, considered elephants superior to all other animals in ‘wit and mind’. Many wildlife rangers, zookeepers, and mahouts living with working elephants, would agree.

When Jonathan Swift was appointed Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral exactly 300 years ago, he wasn’t that impressed. Robert Hume explains why.