A glorious Olympic opening ceremony suggests a world at peace. But burning villages in Georgia and South Ossetia reminds us that human conflict is never far away.

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Maybe the downturn will force us to step back and recognise what has gone wrong. First up: help the unhappy young men, the main problem in Irish society.

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The thematic thrust of Wall-E places the film in the company of such sci-fi classics as The Matrix and Blade Runner.

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The most yawnful month of the year is upon us, but thankfully politics and sport are keeping the flame alight: the games have already begun.

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In an ironic twist, anti-gay marriage campaigners are now trying to cast themselves as on the receiving end of a "liberal" crusade.

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In theory. But making good your promises isn't always as easy as it might seem. Plus: reflections on success not as a function of what you gain but what you lose.

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Criminologist and author of The Irish War On Drugs, Paul O'Mahony was one of the few voices of reason in the recent, hugely impressive Prime Time report on the subject.

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When US artist Spencer Tunick requested Irish volunteers for one of his large-scale naked photo installations, people turned up in their droves.

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With heroin use spreading beyond Dublin, the country faces a new outbreak of drug addiction. But does the government have the will to tackle the crisis before it spins out of control?

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A glorious Olympic opening ceremony suggests a world at peace. But burning villages in Georgia and South Ossetia reminds us that human conflict is never far away.

MORE >>

In theory. But making good your promises isn't always as easy as it might seem. Plus: reflections on success not as a function of what you gain but what you lose.

MORE >>

The most yawnful month of the year is upon us, but thankfully politics and sport are keeping the flame alight: the games have already begun.

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Despite routine speed limit violations, Dublin's Port Tunnel is one of the country's safest stretches of road. So why install cameras to police a speed restriction that is too low?

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Is Erica Jong a free speech martyr in the making or just another paranoid android?

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Hob-nobbing with dictators, robbing graves and shaking hands with the devil - it's just another week in politics

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Why the English-speaking world can think the Irish for some of its most distinctive words and phrases.

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The embarrassing spectacle of David Cameron and Gordon Brown pretending to dig Arctic Monkeys and The Jam should terrify us all...

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The twin spectres of recession and emigration may loom large, but that's no reason for the media to make things worse by indulging in gross exaggeration

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There's been too much bullshit about the state of the economy. But pissing on the shoes of our friends or moving closer to the anglosphere isn't the best way out of recession.

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The Lisbon Treaty makes unlikely bedfellows of left and right. So what are we to read into this?

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The tumultuous global events of 2008 demonstrate the utter precariousness of life. So let's live in the now...

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In an ironic twist, anti-gay marriage campaigners are now trying to cast themselves as on the receiving end of a "liberal" crusade.

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Why do so many gay men find it difficult to honestly express their feelings towards their partners? And would the introduction of gay marriage really change anything?

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If your average physician listened a little more closely to his patient, it might save a little time and a lot of distress further down the line.

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Gender politics always miss the point: humanity is diversity. People just won’t stay behind the lines.

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