Fifteen great audiobooks for your summer holidays and beyond
From Ann Patchett read by Meryl Streep to Anne Enright read by the author, there are plenty of books to curl up with this summer
Mary Beard
Classicist
How often do you think of the Roman Empire? Quite a lot if you are Mary Beard
English historian’s new book, Emperor of Rome, explores fascinating figures whose palaces were ultimately prisons and who knew no one would ever tell them the truth
‘Kill them Reacher!’ I shout. He makes them crunch and squelch, and I laugh myself sick
Patrick Freyne: Diminutive Scientologist Tom Cruise no longer plays Jack Reacher
Confronting the Classics (2014) by Mary Beard: Fascinating and fun
Beard presents the Romans as cultivated and in no way inferior to the Greeks
ClassicsNow festival set to bring ancient Greece and Rome to life
Theatre, dance and literature events can all be enjoyed online
The critical role of mirth and laughter in a time of plague
Humour turns our discontents and anxieties into a joke and helps reconcile us to our fate
Martin Scorsese’s Lockdown Diary: An auteur’s-eye view of house arrest
The director’s New York dispatch is an affecting treat and an honest reflection on ageing
Margaret Atwood’s Isolation Diary: How to foil squirrels and sew face masks
The Handmaid’s Tail author shares some practical advice from locked-down Canada
Patrick Freyne on Love Island: I had forgotten how oddly asexual the hunks are
The Love Island hunks do press-ups in tiny shorts – just like we do at The Irish Times
Leo Varadkar on his feminist journey: ‘I realised life is not black and white’
The Taoiseach tells the Women’s Podcast about feminism, coming out and ‘manels’
100 books by women you have to read
Iris Murdoch, Edna O’Brien, Marian Keyes and Eimear McBride all appear on the list
Six TV shows to watch this week
It’s redneck heaven on the telly this month with Trailer Park Boys and Hardy Bucks
Simon Schama in ‘Civilisations’: History has found its hype man
Sometimes, I suspect, he throws in academic jokes to check if his class is paying attention
MP says Ireland would have to pay for hard border without Brexit deal
Labour’s Kate Hoey claims on border: ‘they’ll have to pay for it’
AA Gill in quotes: ‘Stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls’
Here’s some of the writer’s more memorable quotes on pasta lovers, Prince Charles and Celine Dion
AA Gill: A critic who earned fame and infamy with his honesty and wit
Obituary: Award-winning journalist who once shot a baboon to see what it was like to kill a stranger
Killing off the classics: ‘elite’ subjects fall from prominence
Classical studies, Latin and Greek are important but fewer students than ever are learning them. One teachers blames the Leaving Cert, which hasn’t been reviewed since the 1970s
Cantillon: Microsoft AI bot runs amok on Twitter
AI had gone down an unexpected route, sympathising with Hitler, denying the Holocaust, and using racist and sexist language
Oxford college accused of bowing to donors to keep Rhodes statue
Oriel decision on statue of white supremacist made before expected consultation
At lunch with Jeremy Clarkson
The famous petrolhead shares pecorino with Jeremy Paxman to discuss cars, cigarettes and Kristin Scott Thomas
Television: A life-affirming exchange beats the dark networking of misogyny
Gay Byrne’s ‘Meaning of Life’ inspires while ‘Blurred Lines’ explores disturbing trends in social media
Twitter introduces option to report abusive tweets
Step comes after number of women subjected to torrent of abuse by service users
Don’t ban the internet. Educate your kids
Children need to be taught, as early as possible, about the consequences that can spiral from an anonymous, 140-character tweet
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