We live in a world of enforced positivity, but sometimes it ends up making us feel more insecure and worried than ever

While the Love Island contestants are selling themselves and hoping to become millionaires, they hold a magnifying mirror up to life’s insecurities

Dogs enjoying the rush of air from a car window, small children deep in conversation, a kindly car park attendant. There is enough joy in the world to get us through the bad times

Will a return to society bring with it a move back to the same old rituals? Or has our Covid-related break from each other meant something more profound than we realised?

Jaws it ain’t, but a brush with an angry weever fish in the shallows of the Atlantic Ocean prompts some musings on mortality

We don’t have to ban Father’s Day, we just have to realise it’s not for everyone and allow people to choose whether or not to celebrate

The James Vincent McMorrow gig in Iveagh Gardens was emotional but I had to remind myself that this was not 2019 and, as an unvaccinated person, the pandemic remains a strong risk.

If it’s information about ox-bow lakes and terminal glacial moraines you’re looking for, then you’ve landed in the right geographical space

The now largely forgotten figure of John Munro Woolsey was instrumental in getting one of literature’s greatest ever works into publication in the US

Yes, I’m delighted to be vaccinated, but the fear of being judged by onlookers makes me want to hide away

Boris Johnson’s frankly baffling decision to opt for a Catholic ceremony for his third marriage last week shone a spotlight on how the Church does not always apply its own rules equally

Renting is not a trial run for students and young people who don’t mind stained carpets and monochrome walls, it’s how many of us will live for the rest of our lives and we need to see that reflected in legislation

Nothing sparks a small Irish town into life quicker than the arrival of a few Hollywood A-listers to shoot their latest movie

The political foot-dragging on travel and digital certs will not make any of the nerves on the viability of Shannon go away

The fallout from the pandemic may have repercussions for our mental health, so it’s time to take care of ourselves in this respect too

The Covid-19 restrictions left us at the mercy of the cruellest of devices, the home printer – and boy, did they make the most of it

The best lobbying is upfront, sometimes naïve, always passionate and rooted in an injustice, as opposed to the type performed by David Cameron in defence of 'his' bank

They’re not like other fabulously wealthy couples: Billy is nerdy, Melinda is prim and they both more or less run the world together while aglow in their reputation for philanthropy. So we found ourselves scrabbling to figure out why they say they can no longer ‘grow together as a couple’

Were you, in childhood, a skating prodigy with the glittering grace and astonishing speed of a shooting star? Turns out, me neither

It’s all great outdoors until the ground gets too hard, the bins start overflowing and the loos are nowhere to be found