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The Irish Times
Mon, Dec 6, 2021
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George Clooney: ‘In general there just aren’t that many great parts.’ Photograph: Magdalena Wosinska/The New York Times George Clooney: ‘I was offered $35m for one day’s work’
  • Film
  • Hadley Freeman
  • December 6, 2021, 06:00

The Oscar winner on his new film, The Tender Bar, raising twins, politics, and falling for Amal

What Michael Collins did, Arthur Griffith’s ‘secret deal’ and four other Anglo-Irish Treaty myths What Michael Collins did, Arthur Griffith’s ‘secret deal’ and four other Anglo-Irish Treaty myths
  • Books
  • Colum Kenny
  • December 6, 2021, 06:00

Misconceptions have flourished since the agreement was signed, 100 years ago today

The Irish Times books of the year: Anne Enright’s favourite titles of 2021 The Irish Times books of the year: Anne Enright’s favourite titles of 2021
  • Books
  • Anne Enright
  • December 6, 2021, 06:00

Seeking inspiration for a book to read or give as a gift? This selection could help you

Time for Socialism by Thomas Piketty: This is an essential thinker but not an essential collection Time for Socialism by Thomas Piketty: This is an essential thinker but not an essential collection
  • Books
  • Paschal Donohoe
  • December 6, 2021, 06:00

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe on the economist’s rather slight new collection of essays

‘The first time I saw my face on a poster, I thought: I’m still just a normal kid’ ‘The first time I saw my face on a poster, I thought: I’m still just a normal kid’
  • Film
  • Sarah Bahr
  • December 6, 2021, 06:00

Child actors talk about working with stars of the screen and behind-the-scenes stories

Traditional music meets jazz as Damien McGeehan hits uncharted terrain Traditional music meets jazz as Damien McGeehan hits uncharted terrain
  • Music
  • Siobhan Long
  • December 6, 2021, 05:00

Donegal fiddle players’s new album Kin has a strong sense of people and of place

Gig of the Week: Treaty – Songs, with Christy Moore, Lisa O’Neill and more Gig of the Week: Treaty – Songs, with Christy Moore, Lisa O’Neill and more
  • Culture
  • Kevin Courtney
  • December 6, 2021, 06:00

December 6th to 12th, 2021: The best of the week’s culture events, right around Ireland

Adam McKay: ‘An Oscar? How the f**k did that happen?’ Adam McKay: ‘An Oscar? How the f**k did that happen?’
  • Film
  • Donald Clarke
  • December 4, 2021, 05:00

Oscar-winning filmaker Adam McKay has a new film about the end of the world

Giving the gift of Christmas: Sponsor a run, swim, or have a Christmas jumper day Giving the gift of Christmas: Sponsor a run, swim, or have a Christmas jumper day
Special Report

How corporate giving and staff fundraising can make all the difference to charities

Brought to you by The Irish Times Content Studio
Please stop going on about ‘problematic’ Christmas songs Please stop going on about ‘problematic’ Christmas songs
  • Culture
  • Donald Clarke
  • December 4, 2021, 05:00

Donald Clarke: Another season of Fairytale argy-bargy would be too much to bear

Latest Film

Woody Norman opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the film C’mon C’mon. Photograph: A24 ‘The first time I saw my face on a poster, I thought: I’m still just a normal kid’
George Clooney: ‘In general there just aren’t that many great parts.’ Photograph: Magdalena Wosinska/The New York Times George Clooney: ‘I was offered $35m for one day’s work’
Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Norman in C’mon C’mon Four new films to see in cinemas this week
  • Adam McKay: ‘An Oscar? How the f**k did that happen?’
  • The Movie Quiz: For which film did Stephen Sondheim win his only Oscar?

TV & Radio

Black & Irish: Tolü Makay has been named best female artist Tolü Makay named best female artist at Black & Irish awards

Inaugural awards recognise black and mixed-race community in Ireland

Olivia Colman in Landscapers. The pitch-black comedy begins Tuesday on Sky Atlantic TV guide: 24 of the best shows to watch this week, beginning tonight
Princess Switch: Netflix’s Christmas kingdoms must have Vanessa Hudgenses as far as the eye can see This is Fiona, who’s flanked by goonish fashion victims – much like yourself in Coppers
  • ‘I just wish people would stop moaning and giving out.’ But what would Liveline do then?
  • Edie Falco: ‘I was a big fan of cocaine if it was around, but I could never afford any’

Latest Books

Anglo-Irish Treaty: Arthur Griffith, Eamonn Duggan, Erskine Childers, Michael Collins, George Gavan Duffy, Robert Barton and John Chartres in London on December 6th, 1921. Photograph: Hulton/Getty What Michael Collins did, Arthur Griffith’s ‘secret deal’ and four other Anglo-Irish Treaty myths

Misconceptions have flourished since the agreement was signed, 100 years ago today

Anne Enright’s top books of 2021. Main photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill The Irish Times books of the year: Anne Enright’s favourite titles of 2021
Shakespeare’s 1623 play The Winter’s Tale performed at the Abbey as party of the 2005 Dublin Theatre Festival The Books Quiz: What is the warm setting of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale?
  • The best crime fiction of 2021
  • Two fresh takes on the Treaty: compelling analysis of a triumph and a tragedy

Film Reviews

Justin Chon and Alicia Vikander in Blue Bayou Blue Bayou

 
Recollections play over images of earnest gatherings of Hitler Youth Final Account

 
Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo and Marlon Joubert in The Hand of God. Photograph: Gianni Fiorito The Hand of God

 
Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Norman in C'mon C'mon C'mon C'mon

 

Latest Music

Damien McGeehan is now a member of Daniel O’Donnell’s band, but the touring schedule allows for very welcome and lengthy sojourns at home Traditional music meets jazz as Damien McGeehan hits uncharted terrain

Donegal fiddle players’s new album Kin has a strong sense of people and of place

David Brophy with the Choir of Ages. Photograph: Kyran O’Brien An Irish plan to break the record for the number of nationalities in a choir
Michael C Hall (centre) with Matt Katz-Bohen and Peter Yanowitz of Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum: “I would say I didn’t have to lobby to be in the band. I was lucky to be in there in the right place.” Photograph: Paul Storey Michael C Hall: ‘We’ve tried to lead with the music’
  • Kodaline’s Vinny May: ‘Those online gigs kept us connected’
  • The Music Quiz: What is Harry Styles’ new beauty brand called?

Book Reviews

Time for Socialism by Thomas Piketty: This is an essential thinker but not an essential collection
Wish You Were Here: Appeal lies in satisfying blend of familiar Picoult elements
Imagining Ireland’s Pasts: Pioneering and comprehensive exploration of Irish history
The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages – An intimate read

Stage

The Long Christmas Dinner at the Peacock unfolds with graceful fluidity. The Long Christmas Dinner: A ghostly telling of a dreamlike curiosity

Thornton Wilder’s expressionist one-act play tracks a family home over 90 years

Mabel’s Magnificent Flying Machine: Caitríona Ennis as the effervescent, energetic Mabel. Photograph: Ros Kavanagh Mabel’s Magnificent Flying Machine: An original alternative to the mayhem of the pantomime
The Little Mermaid: Daryn Crosbie’s production celebrates the Gaiety Theatre’s 150th birthday in style The Little Mermaid: The Gaiety puts on a near-perfect pantomime
  • Pantomines during Covid: ‘It will be a miracle if we get to the end of the run’
  • Stephen Sondheim obituary: Titan of the American musical

Art & Design

Array Collective: have won one of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, celebrating artistic talent in UK. Photograph: Alessia Cargnelli/PA Wire Belfast collective wins Turner Prize with pub installation

Array Collective becomes first Northern Irish winner of the prestigious art prize

Julie Manet in a Hat, around 1894. Photograph: Musée Marmottan Monet ‘The last Manet’: Julie Manet was the living legacy of impressionism
A block of 1960s social housing at Le Grand Parc in Bordeaux before its transformation Demolition debate: Are Irish architects behind the curve on concrete’s climate implications?
  • Hugh Linehan: To understand Dublin’s current problems, you must understand its past
  • The RDS Arts Awards can launch careers, but what about the art of rejection?

Unthinkable

How good can a God be? Stephen Fry and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz have opposing views. Photograph: PA/Getty Is there a God? Why is there something instead of nothing? This article explains it all

Unthinkable: No of course it doesn't, but it does try to address life’s ultimate questions

While many of us welcome the decline of the church, there is a nagging sense that our connection to fundamental questions about human existence is being severed. Photograph: Getty images Is your mind open enough to contemplate belief in God?
Author John Boyne: ‘Through my experiences, the people who tweet the most . . . go a bit mad’. Photograph Nick Bradshaw What is Twitter doing to your brain?
  • What should any one of us be expected to do to avert climate catastrophe?
  • Has Stoicism become a new religion?

Heritage

Dun Leary House at corner of Dun Leary Hill. A new proposal aims to add four storeys to the protected structure. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill 3:26 Build-to-rent plans for Dún Laoghaire yellow brick house

Developer wants to remove roof and add four storeys to protected 19th-century property

British PM David Lloyd George privately said he would rather resign than coerce Ireland. Photograph: Bettmann Archive What did David Lloyd George mean by ‘immediate and terrible war’?
Charles Gavan Duffy, Erskine Childers, Robert Barton and Arthur Griffith (London 1921). Photograph: National Library of Ireland ‘The British were braced for failure.’ How the Anglo Irish Treaty of 1921 was negotiated
  • Treaty Timeline: from beginnings to a Republic
  • Who was who during the Treaty negotiations

Michael Viney's Another Life

A surging flood in Dublin’s Liffey meeting a record storm surge in the bay would be one fearful scenario, that might concentrate minds in Ireland. If fear won’t work, how can we encourage climate action?

Michael Viney: Studies suggest positive messages about post-carbon society more effective

Gannet with fish: Anyone who has watched the birds plunging vertically from the sky to seize mackerel deep beneath the surface must marvel at their anatomy. Illustration: Michael Viney Gannet population continues to thrive despite human threat to its numbers
Fox with prey: The urban adult is “thin and exhausted” from finding and ferrying food to its cubs. Illustration: Michael Viney Another Life: The fox as he dwells among us
  • The declining choughs of Dursey island need decision makers’ help
  • Super grass: the arching, architectural forms of wild meadows

Tuarascáil

Tuairiscíodh an tseachtain seo caite go bhfuil sé i gceist beartaithe ag Tesco Ireland slabhra ollmhargaí - deich gcinn ar fad - a cheannach ón ngrúpa Joyce’s Supermarkets i gCo na Gaillimhe. Siopa an Phobail: ‘tábhachtach’ go leanfadh seirbhís Ghaeilge ar aghaidh

Chuir Siopa an Phobail seirbhís thábhachtach ar fáil do phobal Gaeltachta Chonamara Theas le fada an lá

Bhronn Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath Dochtúireacht san Fhealsúnacht (Honoris Causa) ar Sheán de Fréine mar aitheantas ar an obair saoil atá déanta aige. Grianghraph: Fran Veale/Julien Behal Photography Aitheantas ceart cóir
Sioc soilseach na maidne i gCo Chill Mhantáin. Grianghraf: Niall Carson/PA Wire Ar thóir féiríní?
  • Feodar Mac Mhichíl
  • Chun na spéire!

Sponsored

Basketcase Hampers offers gift baskets with a personal and modern touch Basketcase Hampers offers gift baskets with a personal and modern touch

Hampers tailored to deliver a personal touch is at the heart of Basketcase Hampers

Ireland’s Creative Influence survey: The results are here Ireland’s Creative Influence survey: The results are here

The results of IAPI’s 2021 Creative Influence survey are in, 90% of creatives believe that Irish culture and environment contribute to the quality of creative output

It's Christmas Great gift ideas, travel destinations, interviews, food, music, and more
 

Subscriber Only

French economist Thomas Piketty. Photograph: Sander Koning/ANP/AFP via Getty Time for Socialism by Thomas Piketty: This is an essential thinker but not an essential collection
Lisa O’Neill is among those performing work inspired by the Anglo-Irish Treaty debates and related events at the National Concert Hall. Photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times Gig of the Week: Treaty – Songs, with Christy Moore, Lisa O’Neill and more
Catherine Ryan Howard uses the strictures of the first Covid-19 lockdown to ramp up in the tension in her book 56 Days. Photograph: Bríd O’Donovan The best crime fiction of 2021

Most Read in Culture

1 George Clooney: ‘In general there just aren’t that many great parts.’ Photograph: Magdalena Wosinska/The New York Times George Clooney: ‘I was offered $35m for one day’s work’

2 Anglo-Irish Treaty: Arthur Griffith, Eamonn Duggan, Erskine Childers, Michael Collins, George Gavan Duffy, Robert Barton and John Chartres in London on December 6th, 1921. Photograph: Hulton/Getty What Michael Collins did, Arthur Griffith’s ‘secret deal’ and four other Anglo-Irish Treaty myths

3 Dun Leary House at corner of Dun Leary Hill. A new proposal aims to add four storeys to the protected structure. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill Build-to-rent plans for Dún Laoghaire yellow brick house

4 French economist Thomas Piketty. Photograph: Sander Koning/ANP/AFP via Getty Time for Socialism by Thomas Piketty: This is an essential thinker but not an essential collection

5 The Lyric Theatre stands on a sloping site at triangular junction between the grid pattern of Belfast’s brick streetscape and the serpentine parkland of the river Lagan. O’Donnell + Tuomey receive highest Irish architectural award

6 Singers in 1984 Do they know it’s Christmas. Photograph: Steve Hurrell/Redferns Please stop going on about ‘problematic’ Christmas songs

7 Don’t Look Up: Jennifer Lawrence as Kate Dibiasky, Leonardo DiCaprio as Dr Randall Mindy,and Rob Morgan as Dr Clayton ‘Teddy’ Oglethorp. Photograph: Niko Tavernise / Netflix Adam McKay: ‘An Oscar? How the f**k did that happen?’

8 British PM David Lloyd George privately said he would rather resign than coerce Ireland. Photograph: Bettmann Archive What did David Lloyd George mean by ‘immediate and terrible war’?

9 Woody Norman opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the film C’mon C’mon. Photograph: A24 ‘The first time I saw my face on a poster, I thought: I’m still just a normal kid’

10 Charles Gavan Duffy, Erskine Childers, Robert Barton and Arthur Griffith (London 1921). Photograph: National Library of Ireland ‘The British were braced for failure.’ How the Anglo Irish Treaty of 1921 was negotiated

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Music Quiz

The Music Quiz: What is Harry Styles’ new beauty brand called? The Music Quiz: What is Harry Styles’ new beauty brand called?

Plus: At the age of 15, Lady Gaga appeared as an extra in which hit TV show?

Dublin Theatre Festival 2021 Reviews, news and interviews from Ireland’s premier theatre festival
 

The Books Podcast

The Irish Times Books Podcast - Darran Anderson, author of Inventory The Irish Times Books Podcast - Darran Anderson, author of Inventory 33:48
The Irish Times Books Podcast The best crime fiction of 2019 The Irish Times Books Podcast The best crime fiction of 2019 40:49
The Irish Times Books Podcast Remembering Maeve Binchy The Irish Times Books Podcast Remembering Maeve Binchy 35:01
The Irish Times Books Podcast Danielle McLaughlin The Irish Times Books Podcast Danielle McLaughlin 33:47

Culture Videos

Anglo-Irish Treaty: The story behind the 'title deeds of the Irish State' 14:01 Anglo-Irish Treaty: The story behind the 'title deeds of the Irish State'
Josephine Baker becomes first black woman inducted into France's Panthéon 2:10 Josephine Baker becomes first black woman inducted into France's Panthéon
Campaigners say Cobblestone Pub will be ‘swallowed up’ by hotel development 6:41 Campaigners say Cobblestone Pub will be ‘swallowed up’ by hotel development
Betty WIlliams: 'Compassion is more important than intellect' 1:43 Betty WIlliams: 'Compassion is more important than intellect'

Food & Drink Club

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Shelved: a selection of books by Irish women writers. Might some of these names figure in the final 12?
Women writers Putting Irish women writers back in the picture
 

Galleries

Errigal Nightscape, by Patryk Sadowski: the night sky at Loch an Ghainimh, or Lough Agannive, in Co Donegal, with Mount Errigal in the background Reach for the Stars: The best of Irish astrophotography
Perfect shot: the murmuration of starlings that James Crombie photographed over Lough Ennell, in Co Westmeath, on Tuesday evening. It became the front-page photograph of The Irish Times of March 4th, 2021. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Murmurations over Lough Ennell
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