It was an afternoon in 2018 and I sat at my parents’ kitchen table working on my PhD thesis. I had a head cold, not in itself unusual as I seemed to always pick up any sinus illness going around, but especially that which blocked my inner ears.

The GAA is a magnificent organisation. It has brought untold benefits into every corner of our country. It provides a great physical outlet for young and not so young. It also provides a social outlet for those players.

My dear readers, I hope you have survived the recent calamitous weather conditions, veering between the complementary glows of amber, yellow, orange, and the elusive but thrilling red.

Camilla Galbiati came to Ireland initially to improve her English over 12 years ago, but as is often the case, fate had other plans for her.

I was clearing out stuff the other day and strangely I came to feel for Imelda Marcos.

There are few things more part of our identity than the cup of tea. In days of yore in the Ox Mountains, if a house had tea and sugar, there seemed little else could go wrong.

When America sets a headline (the wisdom goes) in jig-time Europe tends to follow. Not in everything, thank God.

My final Western People article of 2024 was not in keeping with the spirit of ‘Happy Christmas’ or indeed a ‘Happy New Year’, but one I felt compelled to write as a social historian, but also a proud native of this part of Ireland.

May perpetual light shine upon  The faces of all who rest here. May the lives they lived  Unfold further in spirit.

Now that the Christmas season is behind us, it is time to settle the tab. For some that will be paying the much-inflated credit card bill later this month. For some it will mean forswearing treats.