Seán Moncrieff: The word ‘old’ has become an insult. If you’re old, it’s all over
Ageing is not treated as a natural process any more, but almost a moral failing; something that should have been resisted
The estate agent quoted a jaw-dropping figure for what he thought our house would go for
He did us a huge favour, but probably not in the way he would have hoped
Why do so few of us want to go to the cinema these days?
Seán Moncrieff: Our multiscreen cinemas feel like they were built for a previous era and that was nearly 20 years ago
People have a deep human yearning for validation and applause. We love awards
Actors can be shallow and self-serving ... but so can the rest of us
Is Gen Z the most cynically manipulated generation in history?
Why the lavish flattery, the constant churn of evidence-free articles, about a cohort of people who haven’t done anything yet?
There’s a reason why Ireland hasn’t produced a Donald Trump or a Nigel Farage yet
The far right in Ireland is run by the charismatically challenged. If someone capable of stringing a sentence together emerges, that political calculus will change quickly
Why do most Americans still believe the US to be the ‘Greatest Nation on Earth’?
You’d wonder if Donald Trump’s childlike depiction of geopolitics helps ordinary Americans, or infantilises them
If I get ambushed by loneliness, it’s never when I’m by myself
As the comfort of community dwindles, all we might be left with is a cold place of struggling individuals, all competing with each other
There’s something sinister about a bin full of knives and we don’t want to scare the waste disposal people
To put it bluntly, I haven’t a clue when it comes to purchasing properly sharp knives
My daughter’s new phone number will stay with her for life. It’s like we’ve given her an invisible, digital tattoo
When I sent on the number to Herself she got a bit weepy, in an our-little-girl-is-growing-up way
An unsettling conversation on the Dart leaves other passengers open-mouthed in amazement
Seán Moncrieff: Unsettling conversation was a reminder there are different Irelands, some of which we only hear about when something terrible happens
I meet friends whose version of my life seems to be completely different to the one I recall
Seán Moncrieff: The brain sifts experiences and makes judgments: what’s useful, it retains; what’s not, is dumped
Television infidelity is apparently a real thing and can be a major cause of door slamming
Herself told her colleagues that she and I have our own TV shows, which we watch separately. Cue a sharp intake of breath
Daughter Number Four has been sucked into the slimosphere. We naively enabled it
Seán Moncrieff: Despite her earnest promises to be careful, it of course got into every nook and corner
I’ve rearranged our books based on colour and height. Apparently this is controversial
How else would you end up with Marian Keyes sandwiched between My Life and Loves by Frank Harris and Naomi Wolf’s biography of the vagina?