His beautiful voice and avant garde compositions influenced David Bowie and Radiohead

Brian Boyd: It is one rule for popular figures and another for revered idols of high art

Picture This win Song of the Year for One Drink

The Independent Group have within days of formation made a dramatic impact on the debate

Were the actor’s remarks so disgustingly and violently racist that he brought this on himself?

A public row has erupted after two men alleged the ‘king of pop’ molested them as boys

Renowned chef Anthony Bourdain once referred to vegans as 'the Hezbollah-like splinter faction of vegetarians'

Despite risk of bad taste, comedians must honour progress and defy group-think

Some hear a song about sexual coercion and say it’s inappropriate in the #MeToo era

Big companies are keen to to appropriate social justice concerns as part of their marketing strategy

A rediscovered dictionary of historical slang highlights some bawdy delights of the past

A row at the New York Times has sparked a heated debate over the nature of racism

Dublin needs affordable housing and an increase in the minimum wage – not another poetry pop-up space

Success of Irish athletes explaining to us is that monolithic notions are not fit for purpose anymore

WHO officials appear to have ignored the views of Psychiatric and Psychological bodies urging them not to stigmatise video gaming (...)

Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko did it to expose a killer. But most people who fake their deaths are running from something

Crass and facile as some of it may be the adulation of the Liverpool player shows once again the power of sport to challenge preju(...)

When Ireland hosted its first Eurovision it was beset by Troubles with a capital ‘T’

The rapper's presidential ambitions may have been born over breakfast in a Dublin hotel

They’ve recorded two new songs. One will be performed on TV in December. Not by Abba

Sold-out tour begins in Cork on May 4th followed by shows in Belfast, Galway and Dublin

Manosphere must sit down and shut up – men’s problems are caused by men

He was the Springsteen of seaside comedy, with no hatred or bullying to his humour

The suspected poisioning of Sergei Skripal exposes the hypocritical moral grandstanding of the West when it comes to Russian malfe(...)

When the reality of political life intrudes - a hard border in Ireland - he reverts to type and tries to quip his way around it

The NRA are old-school: they show up at town hall meetings, they stuff letters and lick envelopes, they put through phone calls to(...)

The WHO report that scared people off rashers and a bacon that's “safer than any other bacon on the market”.

Chat carefully. A UK minister’s description of colleagues as ‘swivel-eyed’ has gone public

Before they made it big, the late Cranberries singer felt she was drinking in the music industry’s last-chance saloon

Tayto and Saoirse Ronan are not actual emblems on our flag

On the liner notes of U2’s new album ‘Songs of Experience’, the singer references 'a shock to the system'

Trump, Brexit, personal crises scuppered the release of U2’s album out today

Analysis shows every time Trump mentiones “we can say ‘Merry Christmas’ again” or a variant thereof he receives his biggest applau(...)

A new study explores how spirits, wine and beer affect drinkers’ moods

Youngest ever winner of the Perrier Prize, he became the UK’s biggest stand-up attraction

Film producers response to harassment allegations follows a well trodden path

Fans are angered by provocative images of the US president in the Pink Floyd man’s Us + Them tour

With low overheads and sky-high ticket prices, Hillary Live is a book tour like no other

Björn, Agnetha, Benny and Anni-Frid are back – as you haven’t seen them since 1977

The artist bought Mas de Notre Dame de Vie, a luxurious villa near Cannes in the South of France, from the Guinness family, and li(...)

National Recovery Month reduces addiction to selfies, thumbs-ups and confessionals

Obama tweets less than Trump, but seven of the 10 all-time most popular tweets are his

Unhidden by hoods and robes, white nationalists have been caught on camera

The youth wing of the CUP party is on a mission to drive out visitors

Baby Hannah cllimbs ladders, plays with knives, drives a car. It's for a good reason

Like fellow Glastonbury headliner Corbyn, Jagger is jumping on the bandwagon

American Psychoanalytic Association has lifted ban on members commenting on president’s mental state

Wimbledon winner’s remarkable revival raises questions that only he seems to be asking

It’s better for you than swimming, running or cycling

Many of the ‘problems’ being sold to us by digital technologies aren’t problems at all

The former champion on women’s tennis, his recurring nightmare and who will win Wimbledon 2017

Furore over the Wimbledon tussle highlights a digital desperation for popularity

It’s the biggest growth sector in drink sales, and even the tonic has had a makeover

The governmental obsession with litres and units does nothing to address alcohol abuse

Sugar-shaming is not just about sugar. It’s about our wider relationship with food

Analysis: Going to a concert will become more time-consuming and more expensive

The U2 singer fears the US president will undo years of work on Aids and development

‘Eamon said this beautiful thing once - he said ‘Bono, Ali is the best thing about you’’

Ireland can’t get enough of the avocado, but there’s a sinister side to the food trend

The Islington Labour Party of the 1980’s was achingly “right on” and as relevant today as Duran Duran

Speculation mounting that Ed Sheeran will play three concerts in 2018

Stories about Pepsi, United Airlines and Sean Spicer ticked the “social media storm/online backlash” boxes but none of them stand (...)

Studios create massive global hype around movies but stagger releases across markets

Controversial ‘anti-vaxx’ film linking autism to childhood vaccinations to tour Ireland

Excessive gambling rather than alcohol consumption is the real danger

Swivel-eyed loons among US right claim a shadowy movement is out to ‘remove’ Trump

Throwing around insults and labelling voters will not prevail against the muscular right

Backlash over decision not to roll back LGBT rights will be more damaging than travel ban

Practitioner says it is not about decluttering, it is an Earth science

Williams sisters and Federer proving that veteran doesn’t have to mean past it

It is the sole authority of Ruth Negga to describe her nationality and sense of place in whatever way she sees fit

His lack of interest in his own health informs his support for anti-vaccination campaigners

Brew your cappuccino in a built-in machine, before drinking it in a free-standing soaker tub, set under a showcase chandelier

U2’s Croke Park show sold out in minutes this week. Then tickets showed up online at vastly inflated prices. Is this touting, and (...)

It is ok to play for money in front of Gadafy but not the president-elect of the USA

‘More desperate times’ motivated U2 to revisit songs from three decades ago, says Clayton

Croke Park likely venue in unexpected move for band who have never toured a catalogue album

They’re the equivalent of paying for a weather app on your phone - when you could just look out the window instead

Brian Boyd selects 10 songs that tell part of the story of the British pop superstar’s life

2016 continues to be year of living dangerously for giants of music world

Frank Murray managed The Pogues, Thin Lizzy, The Frames, Elton John and The Specials

Just like previous efforts to police the internet, the clampdown on fake stories will fail

The former dictator’s home has become a macabre Neo-Nazi attraction – a phenomenon known in the trade as “real estate disaster por(...)

When TV soaps were seen as a social threat and kitchen skills were part of the Inter Cert

Today’s alt-righters and SJWs have far more in common than they care to know

‘Home entertainment’ offers a dizzying array of choice, depending on budget and, er, taste

New AerClub frequent flyer programme is based on money spent and not airmiles flown

US law will hopefully also spell the end of aromatherapy, reiki and mindfulness

UN report ranks Iceland at the top of the list of healthiest countries due to its diet

The people who punched the ballot for Obama in 2008 and 2012 (a good vote) but this time punched for Trump (a bad vote) are now be(...)

From his 1967 debut album to the final recordings, here are 10 of Leonard Cohen’s best songs and lyrics

Research shows the rich and famous alienate more voters than they recruit

Paul Howard’s biography of the Guinness heir Tara Browne – fan of fast cars, modern jazz and recreational drugs – is a masterpiece

Ramones top is still a fashion staple, 40 years on, underlining the power of good design

Tim Kaine talked about the how the Irish had suffered in America; but this needs to be put up against what the Irish inflicted

We cannot ask whether the armed hold-up of Kim Kardashian is newsworthy in a time and a place when the Kardashians are, in fact, t(...)

Coverage of big, swinging ties drowned out by inconsequential political reportage

It can’t be long before offering a guest a Nespresso will be tantamount to offering him/her a bottle of Smithwicks or a glass of L(...)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the forefront of celebrities taking on intractable global problems

The band have been together for four decades, but have you been paying attention to their exploits? Test your Bono-ology and knowl(...)