The arrival of president comes with all the attendant dazzle — the Secret Service, the motorcades, Air Force One, all of the markers which establish the presence of the most powerful person in the world.

Is it worth it?The question that abounds this week every year as ministers, their advisers, and civil servants leave our shores for St Patrick’s Day trips abroad.

The appointment by US president Joe Biden this week of Joe Kennedy III as a special envoy to Northern Ireland will be welcomed on both sides of the Atlantic

Best-selling author James Patterson reveals the tragedies and scandals that continue to befall American’s most famous dynasty