Kathryn Rudge is savouring her role in Opera North’s production of Giulio Cesare in Dublin next week, Nikki ffrench Davis reports

WE’VE been running out of national superlatives here in Ireland in recent years: we’re no longer the richest/fastest-growing/youngest/friendliest and more island, ever since our economic bubble inflated and burst its banks.

Sophie Dahl and Jamie Cullum have welcomed their first child together.

THERE’S been a creeping feeling in Ireland lately that maybe we’re not the people we thought we were.

IRELAND has more than 6,000 lakes and, according to author John Dunne, we don’t appreciate them. They are, he thinks, a neglected part of our heritage.

Anthony Hopkins, who is a now a US citizen, will be returning to his native Wales next month for the first time in five years.