John le Carré

An Irishman’s Diary

Christmas visits off the menu as Oireachtas restaurant only open to serving members

Novelist was in process of applying for Irish passport after tracing family line to Co Cork

Many critics considered his cold-war thrillers and other books literature of the first rank

Writer’s popular books included The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

He was always a little out of his time, combining charm, menace and old-fashioned masculinity

The star of quiz show Pointless on his new novel, being on telly, and why class is crucial

The Scottish actor, voted ‘sexiest man alive’ for decades, started as a milkman and became ‘the greatest’ James Bond

There’s enough novelty to last a lifetime, but repeated viewing brings its own comforts

This collection constitutes arguably the finest compilation of the last 10 years

Radio review: Sometimes ‘excessive self-admiration’ is justified, says Newstalk presenter

Read an extract from Agent Running in the Field, which will be published next month

Washington’s International Spy Museum reveals much about how data is weaponised

Review: Florence Pugh mesmerises in this adaptation of a John le Carré spy story – and Alexander Skarsgard is not too shabby either

The spy novelist is 87, but his star has never shone brighter, with a BBC adaptation of ‘The Little Drummer Girl’ about to start

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

Chris Johns: looks like we’re back in the cold war of 1970s

Meteorology matters as four stories on Hurricane Ophelia appear in the top-10 list

Putin’s macho authoritarianism, disdain for press, and mockery of truth has installed itself in Trump’s America

The show returns to our TV screens and season five was its best yet. Here’s how the last episode left things

From Oatfield Emeralds and Club Milks to Milk Duds and ‘Luxury Mountain Bars’, our taste for sweets says a great deal about who we are

There are a million things New Zealand do better than us but Ireland can still prevail

Berlin Letter: costs of machinery of state based in two German cities are set to persist

John Ford film gave Hone a valuable masterclass in storytelling

International Olympic Committee leaves exclusion decision to sports federations

Review: ‘A Fanatic Heart’, ‘Children of the Revolution’ and ‘The Night Manager’

Review: ‘The Night Manager’, ‘Operation Transformation’, ‘Prime Time Leaders Debate’

Expect those ‘Tom Hiddleston is the next James Bond’ rumours to fly thanks to the BBC’s slick new spy drama, while Hugh Laurie makes for a superb villain

Le Carré was wary of having his biography written but gave Sisman access to his papers

Analysis: Senior party sources don’t believe Kenny will go to the polls before Christmas

‘First Editions’ in Dublin’s Ballsbridge is a popular destination for book lovers

Spy master to appear in The Night Manager, his first TV adaptation in over 20 years

World War II spy fooled British Nazis into believing he was a Gestapo agent was a London bank clerk who barely spoke German

He took a bath on ‘Blue Monday’, lost a pile in the Hacienda and was part of a scene that has become music myth. Bernard Sumner of New Order on living in the present

Arrival of former senior Soviet security official highlights Moscow’s growing role

Joël Dicker’s bestseller is thriller escapism writ large, irrepressibly exuberant storytelling that tramples realism underfoot as it rattles along at a thunderous pace

If the secret services are a measure of the state of a nation’s political health, what do the Snowden leaks reveal?