New Zealand officials have admitted making a mistake by allowing the man accused of killing 51 people at two Christchurch mosques to send a handwritten letter from his prison cell.

The Leaving Cert exams have come to an end for another cohort of students across the country as the Economics, Agricultural Economics, Religious Education and Applied Mathematics exams took place.

The Renaissance polymath may have died on this day in 1519, but his memory has lived on through all sorts of representations over the past 500 years, writes Donal O’Keeffe.

Although undermined by its structure, and debatable points presented as unchallenged truths, Deborah Lipstadt’s book exposing bigotry and hate suffered by Jews is an essential read, writes Ronan Breathnach.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

Vittorio Bufacchi argues it is the duty of everyone to pay its share if we want to live in a fair society and multinationals must play by the same rules as all citizens.

TV3 have snatched Six Nations rights from 2018-21. Can Rugby Country sustain a coup of this magnitude? Here are some of the things we’ll miss.

How did thinness come to be the most important goal in so many people’s lives? Margaret Steele’s new philosophy course at UCC explores the dangerous ‘Operation Transformation worldview’ predominating today: if you are fat, you must have given in.

We still don’t understand the real thing, so we’re right to worry about the rise of AI, writes Bella Bathurst

As a new play and V&A exhibition celebrating Alexander McQueen open in London, Rachel Marie Walsh looks at the life and style of the iconic designer.

Run All Night ****

Greece is in all the news bulletins as I write this and I suspect most Irish people have sympathy for the difficulties this ancient democracy finds itself in these days. 

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson shed their inhibitions in the eagerly-anticipated film version of Fifty Shades of Grey, Alfred Molina and John Lithgow play men struggling to keep their relationship together in Love Is Strange.

Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan’s proposal to incorporate philosophy into the curriculum of schools can only be of benefit.

It’s that time of year for good cheer; goodwill to all men and, oh, begrudgery on behalf of the non-believing community. Just in case we were too optimistic, Gordon Cunningham (Letters, December 12) sought to put a damper on proceedings.

The best 40 minutes rugby we have seen in years upon years

The only inevitable has preoccupied all cultures and religion, but now in the West we shun it, says Suzanne Harrington.

Larry Ryan and Julian Bennetts argue the toss.

A £1bn (€1.22bn) European space telescope to be launched in 2024 raises the real prospect of finding an alien civilisation among the stars, it is claimed.

Offering his first ever public explanation for why he committed the Moors murders, Ian Brady said he was “a petty criminal” who killed his child victims for an “existential experience”.

Tulisa Contostavlos' father fears for his daughter and her career after her recent drug arrest.

Tulisa has met up with her secret half-brother for the first time.

HE’S really pleasant, but wouldn’t be an intellectual heavyweight like Garret.

FOR anyone unsure about the importance of captaincy in rugby, the build-up to this year’s RBS 6 Nations will have disabused them of the notion that the role is an irrelevance in the modern game.

Rally Italia Sardegna, the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, continues today against the backdrop of the withdrawals of two manufacturers and a change in driver line-up.

In one of the great scenes in one of the great television series Homer Simpson is philosophising from his couch as he uses his TV’s remote control to flick aimlessly from channel to channel.

There can’t be too many figures of historical significance whose birthday is about to be celebrated with a curry, many hundreds of years after their death.

More than 300 small businesses have gained specific, free and confidential expert advice as part of a programme given its formal national launch yesterday in Dublin.

As a former member of Fianna Fáil, I was interested to observe the reaction of its leadership and grassroots members in the wake of the Mahon Report.

Greece has always looked at its classical age as a usable past but there is no solace in the classics to inspire the country out of its financial and economic woes. What Greece needs is a cultural revolution, writes Fouad Ajami

SOME 270 firms in Cork, the south-east and the mid-west have signed up for the Small Business Advice programme, a new service sponsored by Bord Gáis Eireann and supported by Plato.

A programme set up to help small businesses has helped nearly 250 firms since its inception 18 months ago, it has been revealed.

SENATOR David Norris has written a letter to supporters in a bid to end the controversy over remarks made in old interviews which is threatening to derail his presidential bid.

HENRY Cecil makes his first ever visit to the Cheltenham Festival today and could even mark his appearance with a winner.

The Irish taxpayers, especially compliant and hard-pressed PAYE taxpayers, are being asked, ostensibly at least, to bail out the banks, but we are not being given the background information behind these bailout decisions, or who it is that is really being bailed out.

Richard Collins says a new book dispels some myths about hedgehogs.

SHORTLY before leaving office, Bertie Ahern spoke about our relationship with our immigrant population as one of the definitive challenges ahead of us.

THERE seemed to be a sense of relief and a sense of expectation in many quarters last week as the end of the era of Bertie Ahern was announced.

I WAS heartened by your coverage (February 2) of a former IBI finance director’s description of Tom Gilmartin as decent and straightforward.

SO, how long did you last? Too often, we drink ourselves silly over Christmas promising that January is going to be different. As we cheerily glug it back all through December, New Year’s Day looms, symbolising enforced abstinence and a return to purity. For a few weeks at least, the weight of our sinfulness will be lifted.

IT would be nice if all intellectual differences could be resolved by fiat.

THESE DAYS the rabbits seen from our first floor windows hop about in a field of head-high buttercups. Every evening, about eight o’clock, a fox passes at the top of the field.