Listening this week to the former rugby international Luke Fitzgerald talking about his retirement from the game was a reminder that there is only one certainty in every sporting career: it will end, writes Paul Rouse.

The myhorridparent.com website is a forum for people to share their stories of abusive mothers and fathers, says Áilín Quiinlan

Journalists are the awkward squad asking difficult questions, and should be cherished for that, writes Allan Prosser, acting editor of the Irish Examiner

I think I would be a good mother. I just don’t want to be one. Maybe I’ll change my mind. (You don’t know. People change. You might change your mind.)

ANY poetry-lover who encountered Ted Hughes at the Listowel Writers Week in the 1980s is unlikely to forget this Yorkshire-man’s overwhelming presence. 

So he’s finally hit the road, Jack, and he won’t come back no more, no more, no more...

IT is 30 years since Philip Larkin’s untimely death from cancer in 1985 at the age of 63, a death he had long predicted.

From an early gig in Cork, to their Lady Gaga remix, Wild Beasts have long been one of the most fascinating bands around, writes Ed Power

Society’s obsession with celebrity has never been more intense. But what is central to any understanding of celebrity is the crucial and formative role of the media, says TP O’Mahony

Roger McGough’s poems convey the beauty of everyday language, says Richard Fitzpatrick

Billy Collins brings a brilliant eye to the most mundane events, writes Alan O’Riordan

BRITISH poet and author Blake Morrison has earned a strong international reputation for his work, wining a string of literary awards along the way.

For higher-level Leaving Certificate English students, Seamus Heaney appeared for a second day running — but it was an unseen poem of his that made yesterday’s long Paper 2.

Depending on your age, the news either left you cold or had an immediate effect.

A FEW days ago Wild Beasts’ Hayden Thorpe picked up the phone and called Domino Records, the band’s label of eight years. He had, he felt, some explaining to do.

Picasso and Truth

Accurate Measurements

RICK GEKOSKI’s book, Lost, Stolen or Shredded, is an expertly told tale of the shadowy world of books, manuscripts and artworks that have disappeared.

Life Saving: Why We Need Poetry, Introductions to Great Poets

The non-appearance of Sylvia Plath or Seamus Heaney was the talking point for most higher level Leaving Certificate English students last night.

Morning all!

A documentary on the life of Nuala O’Faolain regrets her early passing writes Richard Fitzpatrick

Martin Amis: The Biography, Richard Bradford

COMPLIMENTS of the season from festive Heathrow where the annual snow crisis has arrived a little earlier this year.

BOB GELDOF had a lot to say about his dad at his funeral Mass yesterday, not just because he had lived such a long life.

EVENTUALLY you surprise yourself by saying 30 years ago about your own life.

AS PHILIP LARKIN once said, there comes a time when you start saying ‘30 years ago’, and it’s a shock to realise you’re talking about your own life.

The conviction that we can deliver a happy childhood to those to whom we give birth is linked to two other unquestioned certainties: That every child is entitled to a happy childhood.

THE appearance of poets Derek Mahon and Adrienne Rich on yesterday’s English higher level Paper II was welcomed in Kilkenny, where students had made preparations with those in mind.

Kilkenny’s great hurling nursery is St Kieran’s College. Michael Moynihan visited a place where they take the game so seriously one of their pitches is lined to exactly the same dimensions as Croke Park.

COUNTY, provincial, and All-Ireland champions James Stephens put all three titles on the line at Nowlan Park on Sunday when they play Ballyhale Shamrocks in an eagerly anticipated Kilkenny senior hurling final.

THE Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) deputy director said last night that management at a pharmaceutical plant were wrong to classify a 250-tonne spillage of caustic soda into the sea as a non-urgent incident.

Athenry, seasoned campaigners in the All-Ireland club competition, take on Kilkenny county champions James Stephens in the All-Ireland club hurling final today at Croke Park.

Jim O’Sullivan

Thom Gunn, a prize-winning British-born poet who explored contemporary California counterculture in a variety of poetic forms, has died, his partner said today.

THE Limerick stars at the centre of the dual player controversy may be left to decide on their preferred code for 2004.

A transvestite potter who decorates vases with images of sex and child abuse has won the Turner Prize.

KILKENNY’S success in the All-Ireland minor hurling final last year, embellished with a display of skill and craft, provided further evidence of the rich vein of natural talent in the county which has dominated Leinster at senior level since 1997.

BRIAN CODY is maintaining a dignified silence on the departure of Charlie Carter and Brian McEvoy from the Kilkenny hurling panel. He has refused to make any comment at all so far on the controversy, either locally or nationally and has not indicated if he will respond.

EOIN MURPHY and Peter Queally return to the Waterford team for Saturday’s Munster hurling championship semi-final replay against Limerick at Semple Stadium, Thurles.

Kilkenny 5-14, Tipperary 5-13

THE Games Administration Committee will not shirk its responsibility when it comes down to penalising players for acts of indiscipline, chairman Tony O’Keeffe stressed yesterday.

TIPPERARY have made three changes from the side that defeated Clare last weekend for next Monday’s Allianz National Hurling League final with All-Ireland champions Kilkenny at Croke Park.