DESPITE the poor forecast, the sun came out in many parts of the country on Saturday morning, almost as if it knew that Leaving Certificate students were back in the exam hall.

Nicky Henderson has given Barbers Shop the go-ahead to take his chance in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday.

Connections of Mister McGoldrick are going to make a late call on whether to ask the 11-year-old to carry top weight in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday.

Mister McGoldrick, winner of eight of his nine starts at Wetherby, will be back at the track on December 27 for the skybet.com Castleford Handicap Chase.

A comic was today urged to abandon shows in Liverpool after being booed off stage for making a joke about Madeleine McCann and gun victim Rhys Jones.

LEADING figures in the literary world, such as Roddy Doyle, Colm Toibín, Fergal Keane and Michael Longley, will be among the personalities attending Listowel Writers’ Week, which opened last night.