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Heart of class
Debbie Harry, an icon of New York cool and the voice behind a generation of pop nuggets, has had her share of career highs and lows. 'It seems to me like the future is more interesting, because it is yet to be done,' she tells Tony Clayton-Lea p

The king of comedy
From 'Halls Pictorial Weekly' in the 1970s to 'Father Ted' in the 1990s, Frank Kelly has been a constant on the comic-side of Irish showbiz. He tells Brian Boyd just how far positive thinking can take you p

The rain chaser
When American painter Stuart Shils showed his Co Mayo paintings in the US, it was a disaster. But he doesn't mind - he wants to spend more time in the shifting light, writes Aidan Dunne p

Features

It's not only a game in the media
CONNECT/Eddie Holt: Yesterday evening Eamon Dunphy spoke his last word on Today FM's The Last Word . In a remarkably self-promoting, controversial and lucrative media career, radio has been his finest medium. It's ironic that his presenting style - deliberately antithetical to RTÉ's adversarial approach to current affairs - was characteristically conversational. p
A divine act of musical gratitude
Donald Clarke tunes in to a deluxe recording of John Coltrane's masterpiece - the majestic ' A Love Supreme' p

Arts

The innocent sopranos
ON THE TOWN: The boy sopranos stood like angels in a row, dressed in white surplices over blue robes. With faces full of innocence, they took their note and began to scale the tonic sol-fa, under the direction of Blánaid Murphy, director of the Palestrina Choir, writes Catherine Foley. p
Out of Africa
ON THE TOWN: They came out of Africa to perform in Dublin's Helix in Glasnevin. Duma Kumalo, who was on death row for three years, retold his story. He goes on stage at The Space in the Helix for his final performance in Dublin tonight. p
Skaters cut some Smithfield ice
ON THE TOWN: It's a sight to see: city councillors putting on their skates. Like all good city dwellers, we averted our eyes when the socks with holes were revealed: the Lord Mayor, Dermot Lacey, pulling on the skating boots, his mayoral chain glinting in the braziers' light, was ready to glide. p
First-time writers on the pig's back
ON THE TOWN: Actors packed in to Project in Temple Bar this week to raise a glass to Fishamble Theatre Company. Already flushed with the runaway success of The Buddhist of Castleknock by Jim O'Hanlon, which plays at the Helix from Monday, the company was launching Fishamble/Pigsback First Plays, comprising staged work by six writers - Deirdre Hines, Gavin Kostick, Joseph O'Connor, Mark O'Rowe, Pat Kinevane and Ian Kilroy. p
Hands off the tax exemption, Charlie
ARTSCAPE: As Charlie McCreevy casts around wildly for possible savings in next week's Budget, his eye may have fallen on the artist's tax exemption scheme scheme, one of the most enlightened pieces of legislation produced in relation to the arts, writes Deirdre Falvey . p

Book Reviews

Books of the year: who read what in 2002
What were the best books and who were their authors? Belinda McKeon finds out from people who should know: novelists, poets, historians, academics, critics, politicians and others. p
Tales from the underbelly
HISTORY: ‘The British were not very nice, but they were interesting," Linda Colley told her audience at a Millennium Lecture on empire hosted by Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street in 1999. "English, Welsh, Scots and Irish have all, to differing degrees, been greedy, pushy, intrusive traders and warmongers, aggressive, violent, frequently oppressive, often arrogant and perfidious. p
Essential reading for pleasure
BIOGRAPHY: In a short note on "The Pleasure of Reading" written in 1992, the Belfast-born novelist Brian Moore identified three books from his teenage years that greatly influenced him. p
A haunting performance
FICTION: When snowbound in Siberia, waiting for a train that appears destined never to emerge from the vast white nothingness, the narrator takes refuge in the kind of restless meditation that helps to pass the time. Except, of course, the time has long passed, writes Eileen Battersby.
p
On a ruthless ruler
CURRENT AFFAIRS: A long line of Western diplomats made their way to Belgrade to call on Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s. Lara Marlowe reviews Milosevic: A Biography , by Adam Le Bor. p
Tracking the excitement of Irish elections
POLITICS: 'The longest planned, the best prepared, but the most boring in living memory" is Geraldine Kennedy's verdict on the 2002 election campaign. John Bowman reviews The Irish Times Nealon's Guide to the 29th Dáil and Seanad by Geraldine Kennedy. p

About Us

Reef encounters
Ireland's recently discovered deep-water reef, with its multi-coloured coral and unusual sea creatures, has huge potential for tourism and for international scientific research, writes Juno McEnroe p
The way we have changed the rain
ANOTHER LIFE/Michael Viney: 'The rain here," wrote Heinrich Böll in his Irish Journal, is absolute, magnificent and frightening. To call this rain bad weather is as inappropriate as to call scorching sunshine fine weather . . . p
Horizons
In Horizons this week, Sylvia Thompson writes on a Native trees book, Cetacean spotting, Hedging one's bets and a Fair trade school fair. p
Eye on Nature
I have noticed that rooks flying over our garden had what looked like large berries in their beaks. p
WebWorld
A Website dedicated to rare and endangered species. p

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Heart of class

The king of comedy

The rain chaser

It's not only a game in the media

A divine act of musical gratitude

The innocent sopranos

Out of Africa

Skaters cut some Smithfield ice

First-time writers on the pig's back

Hands off the tax exemption, Charlie

Books of the year: who read what in 2002

Tales from the underbelly

Essential reading for pleasure

A haunting performance

On a ruthless ruler

Tracking the excitement of Irish elections

Reef encounters

The way we have changed the rain

Horizons

Eye on Nature

WebWorld

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