Engraved in memory – Frank McNally on recollections of first-time fatherhood, funerals, and learning how to hugHappy memories of my daughter’s arrival into the world brought sombre recollections tooFri Aug 11 2023 - 18:59
Life on Tory Island, where just one child attends the local secondary schoolClimate change means the sea around Tory has become ‘angrier’ and less predictable, threatening the island’s future, says one residentFri Aug 11 2023 - 14:46
Kitsch Kitchen – Frank McNally on a Salthill institution, O’Connor’s Famous PubFor sheer exuberance, the collection of bric-a-brac might be uniqueThu Aug 10 2023 - 18:59
Unhappy Bedfellow? – Frank McNally on Shakespeare’s wife, misspelled Enniskillen, and typos that can’t be erasedAnne Hathaway died 400 years ago this weekendFri Aug 04 2023 - 18:59
Going Tribal – Frank McNally on the Transylvanian side of GalwayCluj is known as “the Galway of Romania”, complete with world-class traffic jamsThu Aug 03 2023 - 18:59
Teenage hero rides to triumph in the Galway PlateBased on colourful predictions for Ladies Day, the future is looking flamboyant in the westWed Aug 02 2023 - 20:47
Shedding habits – Frank McNally on painting rackets, poetic justice, and French ratsIt’s a small countryWed Aug 02 2023 - 18:59
Of all the anglicisations, few can have deceived as much with one letter as Rhode in OffalyRód is an ancient term, writes Frank McNallyTue Aug 01 2023 - 18:59
Splitting heirs – Frank McNally on a real Ivy Day Committee Room, a Soldiers’ Song with orange sashes, and a café called ‘RUC’The number of a Wicklow Street premises would not have been lost on JoyceFri Jul 28 2023 - 19:44
Clash of the arts – Frank McNally on the cultural dilemmas of ParisFor art lovers, a Manet-Degas exhibition was at least as dramatic a prospect as Limerick v KilkennyThu Jul 27 2023 - 18:59
Leprechaun economics – Frank McNally on a famous fictional precedent for the National Party’s goldBoth the leprechauns of The Crock of Gold and the National Party decided to involve the law, in each case with great reluctanceWed Jul 26 2023 - 18:59
L’esprit de l’escalier – Frank McNally on power (and the lack of it) in Paris Compo culture has yet to hit the French capitalTue Jul 25 2023 - 18:59
Execution lesson – Frank McNally on social-media influencers, Wolfe Tone’s diaries, and the last public guillotining in ParisWolfe Tone may have been the greatest of all Irish diaristsFri Jul 21 2023 - 18:55
Secrets from Putumayo – Frank McNally on a Brazilian documentary about Roger Casement Victims of a global boom in rubber in the early years of the 20th centuryThu Jul 20 2023 - 18:55
Game theory – Frank McNally on the rituals and superstitions of GAAI heard a Dublin accent behind me ask: “Will ye be writing about that in the Diary?”Tue Jul 18 2023 - 18:55
Counted Out - Frank McNally on Bram Stoker, ‘Garlic Day’, and a famous Austrian hero from DonegalMaking connections from Transylvania to Donegal via France and AustriaFri Jul 14 2023 - 19:00
Generation Game – Frank McNally on the pain of rural migrants whose children play for DublinIf the worst happens and the Dubs hammer us, at least I won’t have to blame myself for contributing to their already extravagant reserves of talentThu Jul 13 2023 - 19:00
Not just a sister act - Frank McNally on the neglected Yeats sisters, and their even more neglected collaboratorEvelyn Gleeson - a woman without whom the siblings might never have become the powerhouses they wereWed Jul 12 2023 - 19:00
Watching brief - Frank McNally on the Eyes of SibiuAs creepy as they can appear, the dormer windows have successfully reinvented themselvesTue Jul 11 2023 - 19:00
Vlad Tidings - Frank McNally on the wild side of TransylvaniaBritain’s King Charles is proud he has a stake in the countryFri Jul 07 2023 - 19:00
Eastern Unorthodox - Frank McNally on not watching GAA in RomaniaThe feeling of being in exile from all that emotional turmoil in Croke Park only added to the calm of my surroundingsThu Jul 06 2023 - 19:00
Stoking the imagination - Frank McNally on taking the train to TransylvaniaMy eight-hour journey, begun without breakfast on a train without a dining car or even a food trolley on board, was part of my trip to a Flann O’Brien conference in ClujWed Jul 05 2023 - 19:00
Rio reality check – Frank McNally on visiting Brazil’s biggest favelaRio needs places like Rocinha at least as much as places like Rocinha need RioFri Jun 23 2023 - 19:21
Food for the Gods – Frank McNally on the highs and lows of RioThe city sprawls below you in all its chaotic gloryThu Jun 22 2023 - 18:55
Ri-Rá in Rio – Frank McNally on an Irish weekend in Rio de JaneiroYes, there really is a Comhaltas BrazilWed Jun 21 2023 - 19:00
Crutch moment - Frank McNally on the mysterious origins of a Border Country phrase“When it comes to the whipping of crutches . . .”Fri Jun 16 2023 - 19:00
Resting in peace – Frank McNally on James Joyce and a real-life and fictional Paddy Dignam A poignant coincidenceWed Jun 14 2023 - 19:30
Words to live by – Frank McNally on why journalists love James Joyce’s The Dead (Ulysses not so much)The language itself can be overwhelming if you inhale itTue Jun 13 2023 - 18:55
Stolen Life – Frank McNally on the extraordinary story of an Australian KerrymanJohn Kundereri Moriarty is a man of many talentsFri Jun 09 2023 - 19:37
Serious business – Frank McNally on the alleged loss of Ireland’s sense of humourMaybe we are a bit more po-faced than heretoforeThu Jun 08 2023 - 18:55
Watters rising – Frank McNally on the campaign to revive the memory of a forgotten artistUna Watters’s death at 47 had been untimely in more ways than oneWed Jun 07 2023 - 18:55
Smite is right – Frank McNally on capital punishment, biblical prophecy, and the GAAA pilgrimage through Monaghan’s Bible BeltTue Jun 06 2023 - 18:59
Streets Bent and Narrow – Frank McNally on the architectural anarchy of DublinA notoriously crooked cityFri Jun 02 2023 - 18:55
Royal Rebrand – Frank McNally on how the name ‘Navan’ went corporate “A platform to service clients holistically through relentless innovation”Thu Jun 01 2023 - 18:55
Shooting Star – Frank McNally on the mysterious fate of Leslie HowardA conspiracy theory that persists to this dayWed May 31 2023 - 18:55
Senior Hurling – Frank McNally on Feargal Sharkey’s reinventionCampaigner for clean waterwaysTue May 30 2023 - 18:59
Southerne Comfort – Frank McNally on a forgotten Dublin writer who was ahead of his timeDespite his surname, Thomas Southerne was a northside DublinerThu May 25 2023 - 18:59
Huguenot Nothings - Frank McNally on the mysterious origins of a French nicknameWhat’s in a name?Wed May 24 2023 - 18:50
Irish, American, and black – Frank McNally on the remarkable rise of the Georgia HealysThe success of the Healys is not, alas, a story of tolerance and colour blindnessTue May 23 2023 - 18:55
Sex and table quizzes: Frank McNally on why being an anorak is cool againCourtney Love, risqué art, and the Charge of the Light BrigadeFri May 19 2023 - 19:00
Full of Grace – Frank McNally on Dublin’s latter-day love affair with Grace Gifford-PlunkettExhibitions shed light on a vivid personalityThu May 18 2023 - 19:00
Model citizen – Frank McNally on aviation pioneer Nancy CorriganFrom Mayo to Cleveland and beyondTue May 16 2023 - 19:00
Frank McNally on a Donegal disaster, the Irish Naval Service’s finest hour, and a great Russian-Irish translatorAt a sombre gathering in west Donegal this week, locals marked the 80th anniversary of the Ballymanus sea-mine disasterFri May 12 2023 - 19:30
Bureaucratic Mess – Frank McNally on the old Civil Service Dining ClubEverything about the club was austere, especially the portionsThu May 11 2023 - 19:00
Facing the music – Frank McNally on Beethoven’s Ninth, Behan in prison, and post-Covid smiling unmaskedOde to JoyWed May 10 2023 - 19:00
Nordic Noir – Frank McNally on Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, past and presentThe Scandinavian gloom deepened steadily for an hour and 40 minutesTue May 09 2023 - 19:00
Onward Christian Soldier’s Song – Frank McNally on a possible Protestant paternity for Amhrán na bhFiann Anthem may have impeccably ecumenical credentialsFri May 05 2023 - 19:15
Balladeer Diary – Frank McNally on the Behan-Kearney dynasty and Amhrán na bhFiannThe French connectionThu May 04 2023 - 19:00
Hard Station – Frank McNally on a notorious but fictional Garda inspection from May 1923As the decades passed, the murky context was lostWed May 03 2023 - 19:00
