... with our new wealth has come a concomitant sophistication and that the place could easily be mistaken for California. Afraid not. If we're like anywhere, it's like the Lone Star State and home of the Leader of the Free World. Let me illustrate. You know ...

... Grainne Rothery d THE fact that comedy acts were responsible for seven out of the 10 bestselling DVDs in the run-up to Christmas illustrates the popularity of the genre in Ireland at the moment. iscovers choosing to go professional supplement their incomes ...

... Jasper, obviously likes to lie on things too: those of you who devour LIFE will surely remember the arresting sight on our Christmas cover of Jasper draped across a grand piano while being serenaded by our own Brian Kennedy and a host of admiring Irish ...

... Preparing for the Afterlife N the near future certainly this side of Christmas the Irish Sports Council will appoint someone to advise professional sports people on the afterlife, and how to prepare for it. We are not weighed down with pro sport here ...

... site will STATUE of Liberty was dedicated soon according to newspaper on October 28th 1886. reports be producing electricity TOWER Hill memorial the first with a new E 1.5 million gas gen- memorial to building workers in erator. England was unveiled recently ...

... magic of literature but a new book could change that, says RITA DE BRUN nce upon a time we were a nation of storytellers. Then along came the Celtic Tiger and everything changed. never been better or more beautifully illustrated than they are today, she ...

... big red light should go off in your brain. The news that Dave Kitson, the leading scorer last season, has suffered a hamstring pull to add to the knee injury that has kept him out since August illustrated Coppell's point. A setback lurks around every corner ...

... gang for crying. Can his new friends help him out? AGE 8 TO 10 Starring Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson (Doubleday €l7). The most memorable of Wilson's characters is still 10 and living in the children's home in this new book, although the dream of ...

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... fe of the world, I will also change the calendar. My first act will be to move Christmas to the 25th of June. My motive is simple. It has nothing to do with good Christmas weather or annoying the Australians, although those would be nice bonuses. It's ...

... is just way to Ireland in the / the tonic to wipe away those post- • New Year, so now is Christmas blues. the time to get famil- With their albums, including Set list lar with a new batch and For The Birds, selling phenomenal of songs on this numbers ...

... argued then, and I do so again, that we should not slip further down the road that America has taken. A recent example will illustrate the insane remuneration schemes that are now common there: Robert Nardelli, CEO of the huge retail chain Home Depot, was ...