I have a long history of heartbreaking book covers. I’m optimistic the heartbreak is now over because my publishers have come up with something rather fabulous for the book I’m currently finishing  – I’ll unveil it very soon  –  but the subject of cover design is still guaranteed to get me going. That’s why I was very interested to…

I truly didn’t start today in a bad mood, in spite of the fact that we had to make the long, tedious trip out to the hospital for the second time in three days. Nanny soon fixed that. First there was the tense attempt to buy a painkiller that contains codeine. I know there are now EU regulations…

   So this week we’ve had the demonstrators who disrupted a Promenade concert and we’ve had Vanessa Redgrave pleading the cause of the Essex travellers. On balance my Tit of the Week award has to go to Vanessa. You must admit, she’s awfully good at it. I realise that in England nowadays it’s highly advantageous to…

I’ve never before written a word about 9/11. Not having a TV it was years before I saw any of the filmed images. An email from my sister-in-law who had just arrived at her desk in the Rockefeller Center was the first I knew anything was up. The first plane had hit. Then she fell silent and…

 More than a week since I last posted which always makes me feel like a slouch. When any of my fave bloggers takes a break I get pretty cross. Don’t they know I check in every morning with my second cup of coffee? And if they shut up shop permanently, which can happen, I feel quite bereft. Of course for writers,…

This has been (so far) the year of three weddings and a funeral. Funeral etiquette is easy. Turn off your cell phone, follow the wishes of the family re flowers and dress soberly unless asked to celebrate the life of the deceased by wearing something jolly, like a Hawaiian shirt. Weddings are something else. The…

Today I’m finding it difficult to work. Because of this…   Nevertheless the Home Secretary says ‘we don’t do water cannon’. Now there’s a Minister with her finger on the pulse of the nation.

Thanks to a conversation overheard this afternoon on a number 15a to Rathmines I now know that the pre-Socratic philosopher Anaximander believed humans developed inside the mouths of fish until they were sufficiently evolved to break forth and lead independent air-breathing  lives. Only on a Dublin bus… Ever wondered why the Bing cherry is so called? Of course you have.…

    This is Baroness Cox. She was created a peer by Margaret Thatcher many years ago but was eventually expelled from the Conservative Party for some maverick pronouncement and has been a tirelessly busy crossbencher ever since. She was one of the sponsors responsible for getting Geert Wilders’ film Fitna screened in the House of Lords.…

I wasn’t to going to say anything about the death of Amy Winehouse. I can’t imagine any greater pain than burying a child, especially one you’ve watched digging her own grave. But then this morning I read what happened last night in the street outside her house. I suppose it could be called a wake,…