Joe Biden’s plea to American politicians to “stop the shouting and lower the temperature” could well be applied to Dáil Éireann where aggressive grandstanding by Opposition TDs like Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Richard Boyd Barrett have become the norm. Photograph: Getty Images 5:26 Stephen Collins: Irish politics has become more Trumpian

Trump playbook has taken firm root in Irish politics and his values look set to prevail here

The evidence is that while the impact of this lockdown may not be quite as severe in terms of numbers out of work in the key sectors as the first one, it may not be far off. Photograph: iStock The lockdown may squash the virus but what will it mean for Ireland's economy?
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba celebrates scoring his team’s second goal with Bruno Fernandes during the Premier League win over Fulham at Craven Cottage. Photo: Peter Cziborra/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Pogba wins it for United; Dave Hannigan recalls first taste of emigrant life
The family history outlined in the closing section of the novel is based on author Billy O’Callaghan’s own forebears. Life Sentences: An ambitious and lyrical family saga
Jake Angeli (C) with other supporters of former US president Donald Trump. Photograph: Erin Schaff/The New York Times The depressing role of technology in the Trump years must be fixed
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster: Stormont is united in bemusement and frustration at the Republic’s stonewalling. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire Stormont bemused by Republic's stonewalling over Covid data
Keith Earls, Peter O’Mahony and Jonathan Sexton ahead of the Rugby World Cup game against Russia in Kobe City. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho Gordon D’Arcy: Time for IRFU to be bold and secure futures of prized assets
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City team are now top of the Premier League table. Photograph: PA Leicester go top at halfway point; It’s not the time for IRFU to be slashing salaries
‘I quickly discovered that these documents were not business related but originated in a fertility clinic.’ Photograph: iStock ‘My parents should have told me I have a different genetic mother’
Matthew Sweeney: Defiantly reloading his chief weapons: food and music. Photograph: Bloodaxe Books New poetry: Life-affirming words from beyond the grave
Auctioneers’ signs in Sandycove, Co Dublin. The four-decade long boom in house prices – apart from the short-lived decline after 2008 – coincides with a period of historically low interest rates. Photograph: Cyril Byrne How Ireland’s housing crisis is part of a global problem
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team were comfortable winners over Newcastle on Monday night. Photograph: EPA Arsenal back in the top half; Maybe it’s time for AIL top tier to go semi-pro?
Pollock accepts ageing as an inevitable part of life, to be handled as sympathetically as possible. Steele sees it as a condition not unlike an illness, which can be “cured”. File photograph: Getty Images The Book About Getting Older and Ageless: Two takes on ageing
What’s important to consider is the valuation Seniors Money puts on your your home. Photograph: iStock Lifeline or life sentence? How equity-release lifetime loans work
The church had the monopoly on damnation and salvation. The mother and baby homes were the outward sign of this inward terror. Photograph: iStock 5:01 Fintan O’Toole: Spiritual terrorism created world of mother and baby homes
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk’s absence is causing his side to crumble. Photograph: Catherine Ivill/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Ken Early: Liverpool have crumbled without Virgil van Dijk
Liverpool and Manchester United’s Premier League match at Anfield ended in a 0-0 draw. Photograph: PA Liverpool’s attack struggling without Van Dijk; Yan Bingtao wins Masters title
Author Una Mannion, author of A Crooked Tree A Crooked Tree: A colourful, classic coming-of-age tale
A lantern at the site of the Tuam mother and baby home. Photograph: Andy Newman Mother and baby homes report is the story of us as a nation
Hermann Goering, Prince Auguste-Guillaume, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels in Berlin. Photograph: Keystone-France/ Gamma-Rapho via Getty Nazis and Nobles: The History of a Misalliance: Role of the nobility in Nazi Germany
You have an opportunity to think about what you want your future to look like, and how you want to reboot your life when the world starts to reboot into normality. Photograph: Getty Should I end my strained relationship amid the Covid-19 pandemic?
Lions fans on tour in New Zealand: South Africa now has over 1m people infected and a new super-infectious Covid-19 variant is rampant. This not an environment for the Lions and their 30,000 supporters to visit. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Matt Williams: A Lions tour in a raging pandemic would be more than folly
The private equity company plans to float Doc Martens at a valuation of $4 billion. This means that a finance company will, in the space of a decade, make more than 12 times its original investment. David McWilliams: What a Doc Martens boot can teach us about the wealth gap
A view of Dublin city during the Covid-19 lockdown. Photograph: Tom Honan Pete Lunn: We need to tackle Covid-19 differently after this lockdown. Here is how
James Ball argues that “online power structures mirror almost exactly the offline power structures which preceded them”. File photograph: Getty Images The System: how the internet works and what is wrong with it
“So aren’t you even curious?” Honor goes. “In terms of how you did in the Christmas exams that I set for you?” Ross O’Carroll-Kelly: ‘Honor has been, like, homeschooling me’
A woman is vaccinated in the new Covid-19 vaccination centre in Slagelse, Denmark. Photograph: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Ireland’s vaccine rollout: Can we stay at the top of the EU league table?
Mikel Arteta looks frustrated during Arsenal’s draw with Crystal Palace. Photograph: Neil Hall/Getty/AFP Arsenal held by Crystal Palace; Rena Buckley pays tribute to Eamonn Ryan
Allen W Dulles and Senator Theodore F Green discussing the unrest in Iraq in July 1958. Photograph: ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Baseless: An indelible portrait of the CIA’s institutional derangement
‘The future of the Coalition hinges on how well it handles the rollout of the Covid vaccine in the coming months.’ File photograph: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg Public mood will turn ugly if people feel vaccine rollout is being botched
Twitter account of US President Donald Trump is displayed on a mobile phone. Photograph: Olivier Douliery / AFP Getty Images 7:46 Ireland should be wary as tech giants cancel Trump
The Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Tipperary, which was a mother and baby home operated by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary from 1930 to 1970. File photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire Una Mullally: The State and Church worked together to oppress
Should those living in large houses after their children leave be encouraged by the State to trade down? Photograph: iStock Should empty-nesters be encouraged to move to smaller homes ?
Fulham manager Scott Parker celebrates their late equaliser in the Premier League meeting with Tottenham. Photo: Shaun Botterill/EPA Stephen Kenny is worth sticking with; Buccaneers ignoring Brown’s past
Mortgage lending to first-time buyers has increased by 15 per cent. File photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times What does the latest lockdown mean for property buyers and sellers?
Howl by Kat Patrick Children’s books round-up: Howling and hilarity in equal measure
“During Stormont’s three-year collapse, Sinn Féin portrayed the crisis as a choice between restoring devolution or pushing on quickly for a [Border] poll.” Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Newton Emerson: SF, DUP refuse to concede their atavistic nationalism a huge strategic error
Paul Pogba scores the winner for Manchester United in their Premier League victory over Burnley at Turf Moor. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Man United are top of the Premier League; Leinster and Munster could meet four times
‘Overcoming crisis can bind you together and create a solid foundation for your relationship and your family.’ Photograph: iStock ‘I’m afraid my wife is in denial about our financial situation’
Rebecca Watson: inventive style and linguistic flair little scratch: Intense, visceral novel pushes the boundaries
Supporters of US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol on January 6th. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Kathy Sheridan: Whither the proud Irish Trump fans now?
The Affordable Purchase Shared Equity scheme will be aimed predominantly at first-time buyers, although Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien recently said there will be ‘some exceptions’. Photograph: Alan Betson Getting the State to fund 30% of the price of your new home
Mark Noble slides to tackle Liam Hogan during West Ham’s win over Stockport County. Photograph: Martin Rickett/Getty/AFP Champions Cup suspended; Man United to play Liverpool in FA Cup
Children aged two to 18 should be doing 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity every day. Photograph: iStock Eat, move, think: What you need to know about children’s health (9-12 years)
Eula Biss’s sentences have retained a poet’s precision. Photograph: Awakening/Getty Images Having and Being Had: Enmeshed in a capitalist world
Donald Trump: last week’s testing of the market suggests that he has a hard core of tens of millions of followers now fully committed to the destruction of American democracy. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA 6:00 Fintan O’Toole: Assault on US Capitol showed Trump where his market is now
Carlos Vinícius scored a hat-trick as Tottenham beat Marine 5-0. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/PA Tottenham are all business at Marine; Six Nations hopes in the balance
What is the best way to prepare young children for a move abroad? Photograph: iStock ‘How do I prepare my children for a move to New Zealand?’
The life of the artist Francis Bacon is depicted in the visceral style of his work, in Max Porter’s third novel. Photograph: David Montgomery/Getty Images The Death of Francis Bacon: Max Porter’s masterpiece in miniature
You can expect to pay more for the goods you buy from British-based websites. Photograph: iStock Q&A: How Brexit has impacted online shopping from the UK
Protesters throw a statue of slaver Edward Colston into Bristol harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in June 2020. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA Wire Cruel Britannia: The British empire exposed in all its viciousness
Dating is and always will be about hope. And at a time when we all need it more than ever, you’ve lost a huge, consistent source of hope. Photograph: Getty Images ‘I am embarrassed to admit that I miss dating so much’
Author and Harvard professor Robert Putnam with former US president Barack Obama in 2015. Photograph: ISP Pool Images/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images The Upswing by Robert D Putnam: Charting social capital in US over 125 years