Highlights

Fostering at Christmas: ‘We once had two boys, age 9 and 11, who had never had a Christmas tree’

Fintan O’Toole: ‘My grandad is dead. I am going to tennis today’: Christmas letters to my son, 1997

After the fall of Assad, a family reunites

Christmas TV and movie guide: the best shows and films to watch

Owen Doyle: Mack Hansen’s ill-advised comments simply cannot be allowed pass without sanction

Eoghan Daltun: Overgrazing eats up the last of Ireland’s ancient rainforest

Christmas - and the perfect family life it represents - is an oppressive fantasy

Strike: The Ink Black Heart review: JK Rowling’s unlikely cult hit is a gift that keeps on giving

Róisín Ingle: My profound, challenging, surprisingly joyful, life-changing year

Nosferatu director Robert Eggers: ‘We needed to find a way to make the vampire scary again’

The 50 best films of 2024 – a full list in reverse order

‘A taxi, compliments of Irish Rail. What service!’ A Christmas customer service miracle

‘The Christmas swim is going to be a lot nicer’: Young Irish expats embrace their first Australian Christmas

Jones Engineering named in European Union data centre investigation

Liverpool enjoy Spurs’ farcical nonsense

Trevor White: It’s embarrassing how we Irish fawn over the super-rich, from Michael O’Leary to JP McManus

Donald Trump is changing America in ways that will reverberate long after he is dead

Afghan student nurses crushed as Taliban blocks last hope of jobs