The preparations were akin to a Broadway show. There were daily rehearsals, with the actors poring over their lines until they were seared, word-perfect, into their memory. Songs were learned by heart, stage directions carefully choreographed, costumes tweaked, and last-minute stage fright becalmed with gentle words of encouragement. The cast of ‘Hamilton’ themselves could surely […]

(This Dec 21 story corrects to make clear why the stake has fallen, in headline and paragraphs 1 and 2.) (Reuters) – Woodford Investment Management, the investment house owned by influential fund manager Neil Woodford, saw its stake in troubled British builder Kier Group Plc (KIE.L) fall after it did not take up all its […]

I was ready to close the books on new releases for 2018 — the next day of any significance isn’t until Jan. 11 — but then a couple of last-second records popped up, including something from a band that hasn’t been heard from in more than half a decade. Here are my last music picks […]

Sophia Ferris is feeling great these days. It’s been 18 months since she’s endured chemotherapy and her cancer is in remission. “When I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Hodgkin’s lymphoma, I was having a pretty rough time just kind of wrapping my head around things,” Ferris said. “So, when people came and they helped me […]

A US priest who is relatively new to Ireland told me recently that if he wears his Roman collar to a social gathering in a bar or a restaurant, one of the most frequent question he gets asked is: “Are you really a priest?” He heroically resists the temptation to answer with some variation of: […]

We have learned in recent days that Brexit is already costing the British people £500m (€556m) a week, with the economy estimated to be up to 2.5pc smaller than if the referendum result had been different (Colette Browne, Irish Independent, December 19). We also heard that the UK government was finally pulling the trigger on […]

Diamonds, they say, are made under pressure until it is their time to shine. If there is any lustre attached to Brexit it is impossible to spot, even on the darkest day of the year. All hope seems to have been lost somewhere between Theresa May’s red lines and the backstop. From the outset, the […]

To the Editor: Re “A ’40s Duet Refracted in the #MeToo Era Lens” (front page, Dec. 14), examining the lyrics of the holiday standard “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”: This is the quintessential example of political correctness taken to a ridiculous extreme. I’m in my 70s, as is my wife. We are both ardent supporters of […]

The events which unfolded at the Family Court in Smithfield were bound to occur at some stage, given the dearth of security at the building. Unlike the nearby Four Courts and Criminal Courts of Justice complexes, there is no airport-style security screening at Phoenix House. Gardaí are also thin on the ground in the building […]

There are good reasons that Joseph Conrad called Congo “The Heart of Darkness” in his vast and utterly disturbing novel of Africa. And most of his reasons have been much on display in the run-up to the country’s long-delayed national elections, set for Dec. 23 and now postponed again for another week. Violence in the […]