Michael Harding columns
John Boyne, Ann Ingle, Michael Harding, Caitríona Ní Mhurchú and others on testing a mother’s limits, a marriage-threatening event, the Santa conspiracy and a misplaced bird
I am committed to democracy as an art form, but the election didn’t interest me in the slightest
The General, who was in with a broken leg, seemed surprisingly compassionate
Christmastime is a journey through the darkness for lots of people
The General admires that Trump can still climb up into the cabin of a truck. But then Trump doesn’t drink
The fact is the film was beautiful, earnest, poetic and sublime. But that’s not what I saw in the moment
It’s impossible for me not to feel some affinity with bees and birds and a sense of belonging in the natural world I live in
I was thinking of a forgotten soldier who fought in the first World War recently as I walked around the place where my own family members are buried
Words can wound, like the father who says he’s disappointed with the child
Monk from Tibet planted yew tree in garden, which has been more effective means of staying in touch
Michael Harding: That may sound sentimental but I have lived my life in rural Ireland and never known it to be otherwise
I sulked on my balcony, thinking of all the surfers that might be clogging the beaches of Donegal
The Irish Times columnist on ageing, the double-edged nature of solitude, and his new memoir’s focus on his distant relationship with his father
My mother once told me women marching in white were Orangewomen, making me fear there was something deeper I could not see
From the chaos of the Troubles, the movie constructs a story of hope and tenderness, proving there’s more to life than land
He was a saintly man of enormous integrity, but he was also our religion teacher, which made him a target of much ridicule
Eventually, I dashed around the room with The Irish Times rolled up into a weapon of death
The General asks me: ‘Have you any idea how exhausting it is listening to them ranting about how Marxists are destroying western civilisation?’
Michael Harding: I swallowed the beauty of the moment and cherished it for years. And for a few years afterwards I found a kind of peace by just recalling the incident
Religion can be extremely divisive, yet prayer is the one key that opens the door of the heart in every religious tradition
We talk about what we have done in the past rather than what we are going to do in the future
‘Would you not get yourself a concertina?’ he asked. Why? ‘It would be quieter’
‘It’s not that we were taking different sides in an argument. We had become the argument.’
I am forced to stop at a lay-by near Athlone, where I spend 10 minutes bent over the bonnet of my Toyota
‘All my life I have relied on music as a remedy for depression. It lifts up my soul’
It was a social event for Ukrainians in the local library of a rural town, but he wasn’t there for the tea or biscuits
I left the phone on the bedside locker – but struggled to get through breakfast in the silence
I found three little porcelain angels at my parents’ plot, none of which I had seen before
Their unrestrained exuberance for storytelling showed me how bearing witness to one’s own life is the core of a writers’ destiny
His voice always made me shiver, but he also contributed greatly – albeit inadvertently – to my moral development
Maybe I am naive but for me binoculars were a beautiful remnant of Victorian tranquillity. I’ve never thought of them as an aid for killing
‘One thing for certain is that young people will always fly from war on whatever life raft they can find’
The weather resembled Leitrim in January. I wondered how I could have been so foolish to think this would all be fun
I took myself to the Camino a few weeks ago but I was focused on walking rather than pilgrimage
‘In a curious way this wilderness feels like home,’ the General said, and I said nothing, though I understood what he meant
Annie presided over her wonderful kitchen with the authority of a speaker in the Houses of Parliament
Talking to plants and small birds is entirely sensible in this part of the country
Michael Harding: The camera’s heartbroken original owner gave me a gift - I imagine her sorrow embedded in it, and at times I feel it points at things without my guidance
Michael Harding: As a teenager, I’d hitch from Cavan with a tent on my back and sleep in the grass just for the thrill of a night in the Astoria Ballroom with Dickie Rock
With a permanent limp Jack joined the half-blind Peabody and the bewildered Charlie in a quiet but significant communion of love
It amazes me how easily catastrophe rises in my life. And how my sense of faith can be so quickly shattered
Michael Harding: My partner’s jaw dropped when I mentioned an old neighbour’s chamber pot
Michael Harding: I headed off, not with a walking stick, but with Ryanair to the mystical Spanish city
I got an invitation recently to a barbecue from a couple that are known for not getting on with each other
Michael Harding: An initial salutation and greetings was acceptable enough. But I crossed a line when I mentioned the holidaymakers’ cake
After bumping into him in the pharmacy, we went for coffee and compared our medication. This was a level of intimacy we had not bargained for
I had a dream about King Charles. A friend suggested it was articulating the pain of my own low self-esteem
Michael Harding: Perhaps he just went inside for a glass of water, but it felt like he had vanished; as if the balcony was his portal to an invisible realm
Michael Harding: My magical thinking about second-hand items bringing good fortune began in childhood
The truth is we can belong anywhere if we give it a chance
Love was something I longed for so desperately that I blundered for years as a young man
‘I used to long to know all about anyone who was clearly not from my neck of the woods. But such curiosity is a thing of the past’
Michael Harding: It was a risky joke, because stories have a way of imprisoning us
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices
