Person: Oliver McGrane

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

columnists

RTÉ was in the frame with documentary

Congratulations to RTÉ One and director Ciarán Deeney of El Zorrero Films for screening on December 28, the one-hour long documentary Man on Bridge, recalling the life and times of Dublin street photographer Arthur Fields.

Eircom’s incompetence driving me to distraction

How to save face in the supermarket business

Bertie’s defender

Cromwell’s choice

Point of departure

Response to sword attack says a lot about the quality of our leaders

JUSTICE MINISTER Brian Lenihan’s response to the recent savage attack in which a man’s hand was severed from his arm has to be one of the funniest in years, even for this Government.

Mon, 28 Jan, 2008

Bertie’s ‘vegetables’

ONE wouldn’t normally see any similarities between Bertie Ahern and Margaret Thatcher. But, insofar as members of his cabinet are devaluing themselves by condoning what amount to his lesser standards in public life, there is a point of comparison.

Fri, 25 Jan, 2008

Home on the range

AS a fan of cowboy films, I thank TG4 for its enjoyable primetime screening of that genre on Friday nights.

Mon, 21 Jan, 2008

Friendly — at a price

SO Ireland, according to Lonely Planet 2008, tops the list of most friendly countries.

Sat, 29 Dec, 2007

No more dynasties— Obama is the man

WE are at long last getting into real time in the US presidential primaries and caucuses.

Fri, 28 Dec, 2007

A voice for all time

PAVAROTTI’S beguiling magic did not hang solely on strings of glistening high Cs. It was heard over the entire range of beautifully forged vowels and words, resonating on a cavernous timbre of burnt sienna and gold. Melodious, intense and achingly lovely, it ensnared our senses and emotions.

Sat, 08 Sep, 2007

Master performer in our ‘national theatre’

I LIKE to think of Dáil Éireann as the real national theatre.

Mon, 03 Sep, 2007

Great show at Abbey — but mind the steps

AFTER a long absence, I’ve just been to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin to see Lennox Robinson’s The Big House — a hugely satisfying, beautifully-written play and a valuable, timely insight into early 20th century Irish political and social history. It is elegantly produced and acted.

Thu, 09 Aug, 2007

Spot of bother

NO doubt the recent arrest of Al Gore’s son in Los Angeles for drug possession was ‘an inconvenient truth’.

Wed, 11 Jul, 2007

Singing in the rain

IN the current climatic conditions, perhaps some positive thinking is needed.

Tue, 10 Jul, 2007

The Paisley effect

NEVER having watched British prime minister’s questions in its entirety before, I was struck by the amount of background noise throughout Tony Blair’s final appearance at the House of Commons’ dispatch box.

Mon, 02 Jul, 2007

Curious incident

WITH apologies to Arthur Conan Doyle (and his literary creation Sherlock Holmes):“Is there any point to which the electorate’s attention should be drawn?”

Mon, 21 May, 2007

Secret forces

THE PDs see themselves as the “secret ingredient” in our economic success.

Fri, 18 May, 2007

The Birdman of Portlaoise: a tale of redemption

A BUDGIE in an Irish prison?

Mon, 14 May, 2007

Loss of soul

I READ Gary Dunne’s excellent letter from the US headlined ‘Tara — a cry from the diaspora’ (Irish Examiner, April 19).

Mon, 07 May, 2007

Sands of time run out on childhood innocence

SHINING sands long sanctified by the bucket and spade forever sullied now by the blood of a gangland execution: the recent events on Mornington beach in Co Louth were for me the final shattering of an early childhood idyll.

Tue, 03 Apr, 2007

Missing the point

IT seems David Sowby (Irish Examiner letters, March 28) missed my point in relation to the RTÉ Radio 1 Sunday Miscellany programme (Letters, March 26).

Mon, 02 Apr, 2007

Sticking to the script

OLIVER McGRANE wonders (Irish Examiner letters, March 26) why Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio 1 suffers from over-commissioning of certain contributors.

Wed, 28 Mar, 2007

RTÉ’s Sunday best

THE long-running, celebrated Sunday Miscellany programme (RTÉ Radio 1) suffers at times from over-commissioning of certain contributors.

Mon, 26 Mar, 2007

Hit and miss

FOR people greying at the edges, Frankie Laine — the man with the steel tonsils — will probably be remembered most of all for his great hit, Cool Water.

Fri, 16 Feb, 2007

Hit and miss

FOR people greying at the edges, Frankie Laine — the man with the steel tonsils — will probably be remembered most of all for his great hit, Cool Water.

Fri, 16 Feb, 2007

Snapshot comment

ASKED on radio about the PDs’ 1% showing in the latest opinion poll, Michael McDowell said that, while worrying, it was a snapshot in time.

Thu, 08 Feb, 2007

Give the gong to a god-like talent from Venus

SO Peter O’Toole wryly contemplates his eighth Oscar nomination. For my part, I am of an age and was sufficiently star-struck to have followed his career play-by-play and film-by-film from the 1950s.

Thu, 01 Feb, 2007

Colour blind

TWICE on her RTÉ Radio 1 programme last Sunday morning, Marian Finucane referred to Barack Obama as “a man of colour”.

Wed, 24 Jan, 2007

Taxis: strong views from a weak service

AT 7am two days after Christmas, my wife and I gingerly deposited a very irate son at Dublin airport for a flight to London where he works.

Mon, 01 Jan, 2007

Hillary Clinton unfit to be president

NOW the focus is firmly on the next occupant of the White House. A certain reading of the current US scene suggests that for a significant number of Americans, Democratic and Republican, the choice for 2008 is as simple as ABC (Anyone But Clinton).

Mon, 20 Nov, 2006

Putting out the light

AND so the three Augustinian priests who participated in the concelebrated Easter Mass in Drogheda have been well and truly brought to heel.

Tue, 23 May, 2006

Death of an actress

ACTRESS Alida Valli, the remaining survivor of my all-time favourite movie, The Third Man, has been finally edited out of life by that great director in the sky.

Tue, 09 May, 2006