‘I wish your mummy was still alive,’ my daughter says, before the conversation swiftly changes
Speaking to my children about my mother’s death, with all their bluntness, candour, even indifference, has been bracing, but also strangely joyous
What the Philip K Dickens is Marvel up to with VisionQuest?
Can the MCU’s latest TV offering match the depth of much-celebrated predecessor WandaVision?
‘It’s not as scary as you think,’ I tell friends expecting their first child. I’m lying
When my kids were babies and we were sleep deprived and generally petrified, I presumed they were in mortal danger at all times
I routinely have intrusive thoughts about horrible things that could happen to my children
I imagine the GP asking ‘When did you first realise your daughter had grown antlers?’, ready to call social services
Séamas O’Reilly: Am I a soft, overprotective dad bringing his own childhood traumas to bear?
My son doesn’t yet have proper football trainers, since we, his miserly parents, haven’t yet committed to such accoutrements
Séamas O’Reilly: The idea that one man might shoulder burden of spite for us all is heroic
I hereby resolve to complain more and at greater volume
My son’s new hobby is confounding me with ‘mystyrieyos’ riddles that he puts in writing
There is usually the nugget of something clever in them, albeit shielded behind layers of opacity
Séamas O’Reilly: It was probably people like my father who led to robots having jobs
My father had an iron will and refused to be fobbed off. In his honour, I too refuse to yield to the automated voices
My kids had little hope of recognising the figures at the Wax Museum. We struggled ourselves
Back in Dublin with my Londoner children, I tried out my old tour guide routine in the one place they begged us to visit
A Nation Once Again by Paul Howard: Funny and scabrous novel is a propulsive caper
How does a writer include so much detail, and so many sensitive issues, without making something everyone will hate?
Despite having 11 kids and 20 grandkids, my dad’s favourite children are his dogs
My father tires of me asking whether dogs should eat so much human food, and rejects any accusation he’s gone soft
‘I’ve lived away for a while, that’s all,’ I said, defending my weakened Derry accent
Newsreaders and Elon Musk aside, people generally don’t change accents on purpose
‘I couldn’t listen to it’: Brendan O’Connor frankness with Phil Coulter is an unmissable moment
Radio: The presenter has a deeply moving discussion with Phil Coulter, while Second Captains Saturday also dives deep
‘I don’t like you, I like Mummy,’ my daughter says with such vehemence that my son holds my hand
My daughter prefers her mother to me so much that to suggest anything else really would be laughable
Oliver Callan learns about keening: ‘They’d pull out hair, rip clothes, reveal their breasts’
Radio: Haunting radio on RTÉ, while Anton Savage’s guest warns against retinal burns and Claire Brock talks soft-launches