South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus gives advice on the pitch while acting as a water carrier during the first Test against the Lions in Cape Town. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images 5:11 Owen Doyle: Rassie Erasmus pushing the spirit of the laws to their absolute limits

The first Test was a poor game of rugby and the ill-tempered build-up even worse

It is very common for older children to feel ‘usurped’ by their younger sibling and to feel that their parent favours the younger one. File photograph: iStock ‘My nine-year-old girl is moody and I don’t like her at times’
Rare book dealer Rick Gekoski is both amused and bemused by the business at which he makes his living. Photograph: Stephen Baccon/Fairfax Media via Getty Images Guarded by Dragons: John Banville on a fascinating glimpse of the eccentric world of book dealers
Under the current system everyone loses – the person who pays the premium, the injured party and the whole economy. But lawyers do really well. Pat McDonagh: Personal injuries board needs immediate reform
James Vincent McMorrow on stage at the Iveagh Gardens, Dublin, in June. Photograph: Tom Honan /The Irish Times Una Mullally: We need to become a culture-first society
Séamas O’Reilly’s family. O’Reilly is one of 11 children and their mother died when he was five years old Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? Remarkably funny exploration of childhood grief
The planet is moving from a baby boom to a baby drought, which has reached every continent except Africa. Photograph: iStock David McWilliams: The global population will soon fall, and this will change the world
The bookstore, Les Vraies Richesses, which published Albert Camus’ Nuptials, as well as other novels, in the 1930s. Photograph: Youcef Krache/For The Washington Post via Getty Images Translated fiction round-up: Compelling collection shifting between reality and fantasy
‘Carolanne wants to meet up for a drink,’ Sorcha goes. ‘Tomorrow’ Ross O’Carroll-Kelly: ‘Are you suggesting I pretend to have Covid?’ Sorcha goes
The Griffith Wood apartment complex under construction on Griffith Avenue in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Fintan O’Toole: Marino shows us what the State could do on housing a century ago
British comedy writer Lucy Ellmann: “Men have wrecked everything of beauty and cultivated everything putrid on the face of the earth.” Photograph: Colin McPherson/Corbis Things Are Against Us: Anti-patriarchy polemic and satire
Sunset at the Giant’s Causeway. Antrim: An insider’s guide to the best walks, beaches, food, drink and activities
Japan’s Naomi Osaka lights the Olympics Flame during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Japan. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA Wire Tokyo Games may be a contest of who coped best with pandemic gloom
Photograph: Getty I’m 30, have never dated anyone and am unsure of my sexuality
It’s natural to want to protect your children from distress, but sometimes we step in too quickly. How to talk to another parent about their problematic child
Jeremy Masding, former chief executive of Permanent TSB, with Eamonn Crowley, his successor. Photograph: Andres Poveda PTSB now has a fighting chance of delivering returns that will allow a Government exit
‘Boris Johnson seems determined to weaponise unionist disquiet to put pressure on the EU, a dangerous game to play under the heat of the July sun.’ File photograph: Getty 5:57 Jennifer O’Connell: ‘Watching the Brits self-destruct’ is high-risk fun
‘How do we get homes – particularly apartments – built at a reasonable cost?’ File photograph: Getty 5:57 Cliff Taylor: No wonder the Government has the jitters about its housing plan
Christine Loscher says three separate medicines regulatory authorities have approved use of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds. Photograph: Bloomberg 5:50 Experts divided on vaccinating children against Covid
Laura McEvoy and Stephanie Myerscough outside Grangecon Kitchen, Co Wicklow. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Casual, good value and heartwarming, this is the perfect outdoor cafe
The Offaly Under-20 team celebrate winning the Leinster championship. Photograph: Lorraine O’Sullivan/Inpho Team Ireland get underway in Tokyo; Under-20 glory for Offaly and Cork
Daithí Burke is 28 and already has five All-Stars, a trend that suggests greatness. File photograph: Inpho Jackie Tyrrell: Galway need Daithí Burke on the edge of that square
Imbolo Mbue renders in poignant detail how trauma manifests differently for each individual in the fictional village of Kosawa. How Beautiful We Were: African trauma and corporate greed
Donal Murphy: CEO of Dublin-based FTSE 100 constituent DCC saw his compensation package jump 43 per cent to €3.73 million. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times Why Covid-19 saw a rise in Iseq CEOs’ average pay
Des O’Malley had strident views when it came to assessing Sinn Féin. File photograph: The Irish Times 4:26 Sinn Féin TD recognises Des O’Malley’s contribution to politics
During an interview, former Number 10 special adviser Dominic Cummings could not say for certain if Brexit was a good idea. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/AFP Blame-gaming and rubbishing still the order of the day for UK establishment
File image of Des O’Malley at a PD conference in Co Clare. Photograph: Dylan Vaughan Des O’Malley was defined by his struggle against armed republicanism
Is the three-days-in, two-days-out model the way forward, or just company bosses and office owners trying to evolve to a model which does not shift too far away from the past? Photograph: iStock Three big questions for your working life in the wake of Covid
Alun Wyn Jones is back to captain the Lions against South Africa in Saturday’sopening Test match. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho Warren Gatland’s gut instinct is usually right; Ian O’Riordan on a marathon journey to Tokyo
‘The Mayo support really is amazing. We in Galway admire it, we’re just not going to be made feel bad about our rather more laissez-faire attitude across the border.’ Photograph: Cathal Noonan/Inpho 5:09 Ciarán Murphy: Why so few club players go to intercounty matches
Trauma and loss surface in various ways in Anuk Arudpragasam’s new novel, A Passage North, set during the Sri Lankan civil war A Passage North: A slow-paced, thoughtful novel about the legacy of war
Wheelie suitcases did not take off until the 1970s because of macho assumptions women were not meant to travel alone and men should be strong enough to carry luggage. The Mother of Invention review: How gender expectation curbs innovation
A woman checks the website of the Israel-made Pegasus spyware at an office in the Cypriot capital Nicosia on Wednesday. Photograph: Mario Goldman/AFP 5:29 Karlin Lillington: Pegasus Project exposes menace of surveillance
John Moriarty’s stomping ground: Gleann na gCappel, the Horses’ Glen, in the Mangerton massif, Co Kerry. Short of staycation ideas? Try a pilgrimage to Irish philosophy sites
Des O’Malley: ‘There is a choice of a kind that can only be answered by saying that I stand by the Republic.’ File photograph: The Irish Times 4:43 O’Malley’s influence on Fianna Fáil extended beyond his expulsion
Mark Bezos, left, listens as his brother Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and space tourism company Blue Origin, describes the experience after their launch from the spaceport near Van Horn, Texas on Tuesday. Photograph: Tony Gutierrez/AP 5:14 Space launches of Branson and Bezos show how out of touch some of world’s wealthiest are
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe have had one-to-one meetings in the context of the proposed tax deal. File photograph: Bloomberg Cliff Taylor: Thumbscrews on hand if Ireland does not sign tax deal
Fans watch at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin watch their team clinch the NBA Finals with a win over the Phoenix Suns. Photograph: EPA Three Irish players in leaked Lions team; Celtic’s first-leg qualifier ends in draw
Co Monaghan: one walk, one run, one hike, one swim, one cycle, one park and one outdoor gym
It feels thoughtless rather than purposely cruel, but it makes an already deeply painful situation worse ‘My husband’s family excludes us from events because we don’t have kids’
Even with all the retirements and the players who are out injured, Dublin still have a core of players like Brian Fenton. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho Darragh Ó Sé: I still think Dublin will win the All-Ireland
John Connolly doesn’t flinch from portraying the violence meted out by both sides in the latest volume in his Charlie Parker series. Photograph: Richard Kendrick July’s best new crime fiction, including John Connolly’s bracing The Nameless Ones
Gen Franco: Sánchez’s coalition administration has taken another step towards tackling his legacy and that of the 1936-1939 civil war that preceded it, by unveiling its Democratic Memory Bill. Photograph: Baron/Getty Che Guevara furore sees far right try to give Spaniards harsh history lesson
Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson: His statute of limitation amnesty proposal is almost entirely motivated by a desire to satisfy right-wing British media and establishment guilt about the spectacle of seeing old men being punished by British courts for doing the dirty work asked and expected of them as squaddies. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP Michael McDowell: When do we accept awful things cannot be undone?
Gerry Thornley believes Conor Murray should start for the Lions in the first Springboks Test. Photograph: Steve Haag/PA Conor Murray must start for the Lions; the joy of the Ulster Championship
You can now find second hand BMW i3s for under €20,000, but stretching the budget a little will get you a more recent model. Spend on a new car or save by buying used? Here’s our expert advice
Asad Hussein travelled to the US with a scholarship to study in Princeton University – the first person born in Dadaab refugee camp to do so. Photograph: Princeton University Re-examining Rwanda and the Somali refugee experience
The rollout of smart electricity meters should reduce such bill shock. File photograph: Getty How to save cash by switching energy provider
While the British government openly supports Northern Ireland remaining in the UK, the Irish Government has maintained a confused and tepid position. Photograph: PA Support for Irish unification should be accepted as legitimate position in political discourse
Ian Bailey is the black hole of Irish journalism, sucking in attention and emitting nothing of any value. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/ Provision Fintan O'Toole: Ian Bailey deflects us from the reality of violent misogyny
Even today, 13 years on from the financial crash, one in eight mortgage accounts are exhibiting some level of distress. Photograph: Frank Miller 4:41 Stop kicking mortgage debt solutions down the road
Limerick’s Diarmuid Byrnes with the Mick Mackey Cup after the Munster final. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/Inpho Limerick make it three Munster titles in a row; Collin Morikawa wins British Open
Co Carlow: one walk, one run, one hike, one swim, one cycle, one park and one outdoor gym