Fergus Finlay: Rose and Lizzie show outstanding ability in spite of discrimination on disability

I know my two favourite shows are often seen as trivial. But there’s nothing trivial in providing platforms to two young people with disabilities

Rose Ayling-Ellis performing on 'Strictly Come Dancing'. She is a dancer with a disability that ought to limit her as a dancer. But it doesn’t.

I have a small group of friends that I’ve known since my highly undistinguished years in University College Cork. Boys when I knew them first, they are wise old men now. Erudite, literary, artistic, and all deep-thinking philosophers. I am in awe of them.

We have a plan for a two-day lunch, at some indeterminate point in the future. All I know about it right now is that it will either start or end in the Long Valley Bar where Winthrop Street meets Oliver Plunkett Street. To be honest, it’s more their bar than mine — but the pubs I used to frequent back in the day are either gone or have failed to retain the character that drew me to them.