1 The problem with Shane MacGowan

2 Moses Farrow: ‘I felt inherently like I was a bad kid. The abuse at home reinforced that’

3 Santa visit blamed for mass infection at Belgian nursing home

4 ‘Wasn’t it herself told me?’: Which bit of Ireland would that phrase be from?

5 More than 80 attend rave in Leinster area in breach of rules

6 Ireland’s most expensive street identified in new property report

7 Why we celebrate Christmas on the 25th, eat mince pies and put up trees

8 Biden affirmed as US president by electoral college

9 College apologises after lecturers overheard insulting students

10 Cabinet to sign off on delivery of €100m worth of vaccines

11 Boris Johnson has set his course for a Brexit trade deal

12 Covid-19: New coronavirus strain identified in England

13 Family at odds over money left by dad

14 Irish Times view: Donald Trump runs out of road

15 John Gilligan: From feared gangland figure, to failed jailed criminal

16 Top tips: How to shake up your finances this Christmas

17 Arriving home for Christmas: ‘We got three negative tests before we came’

18 Leaving Cert oral exams could be held online or during Easter

19 Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan: ‘I was, like, Are you serious? I’m not this gigantic sumo wrestler’

20 Defence Forces: First steps in reform to be approved by Cabinet

21 Portugal stands by €11m annual fee to keep Web Summit in Lisbon

22 The Swiss cheese model of Covid-19 defence: What it means, how it works

23 Coalition shelves Ross plan for selecting judges

24 Bakeries eye flour beyond Britain in no-deal Brexit planning

25 ‘Dangerous territory’ of expanding alcohol delivery services

26 Four deaths in Covid outbreak at Augustinian retirement home

27 Vaccinated people will still need to wear a mask. Here’s why

28 Brexit: Downing Street dials down rhetoric about no-deal outcome

29 Vote on contentious EU-Canada trade deal deferred after Green TD concerns

30 Fintan O’Toole: Don’t buy your children a digital device for Christmas. Read to them

31 Covid-19: Northern Ireland ‘needs four-week lockdown’, says medic

32 Fairytale of New York: The surprising story behind The Pogues’ Christmas anthem

33 Believe it or not, this is the best week of the year to try running at dawn

34 Jim Bolger’s incendiary statements should shake racing to its foundations

35 Evolved to run – but not to exercise

36 Who killed the children of Belturbet?

37 Covid-19 in Ireland’s ‘gourmet capital’: ‘People not showing up is beyond belief’

38 John le Carré obituary: George Smiley’s creator elevated the spy novel to high art

39 A finger-lickin’ terrible year brings new rules and cliches

40 Covid-19: Two further deaths and 264 more cases confirmed