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The boy on the battlefield
The disputed story of a 14-year-old Waterford boy killed in the first World War has been turned into a play, writes Brian O'Connell p

Poles together on screen
The inaugural Polish Film Festival at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin highlights the similar experiences of the Poles and the Irish, writes Rachel Dugan p

Keeping an eye on the city
Maurice Craig is one of the most important chroniclers of Dublin's architectural heritage and history, writes Frank McDonald p

Arts

Slow virtuoso of the Spanish court
Velázquez's paintings of the 17th-century Spanish nobility, on show in a major London exhibition, retain immediacy due to their timeless humanity, writes Aidan Dunne p
Whatever catches her ear
Shawn Colvin's move to a smaller record label has put the singer-songwriter in control of her destiny, she tells Tony Clayton-Lea p

About Us

Parasitic mistletoe plant alien to native flora
Another Life Michael Viney The brilliant flare of rowans along the mountain roads in August announced a spectacular autumn crop of berries of all kinds. Only those with a dogged faith in tradition will want to predict a hard winter (nature doesn't do proactive, even during climate change), but there's no doubt that the whole thrush family, in particular, will appreciate the bounty of trees and hedgerows in months to come. p
Horizons
It's no waste of energy Are you interested in making your home one of the most energy-efficient in the country? p
Eye on Nature
In early October I saw large, 7cm-long caterpillars in Bray, black with orange rings and like a large hairy molly. Marie Hannon, Bray, Co Wicklow p

Book Reviews

The pen, the page and the process
Feature Are manuscripts an endangered species in a digital age? Has the advent of computers and word processing affected the way writers approach their work? Arminta Wallace explores the conundrums thrown up in an increasingly technological age p
Manoeuvres of a great survivor
HistoryCharles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was one of history's great survivors. Born in 1754, he lived to the age of 84 , surviving no less than six political regimes. p
Irish accents in the Wild West
History Myles Dungan, the former host of RTÉ's Rattlebag and the author of two books on Irish involvement in the first World War, has shifted his attention across the Atlantic in his latest book, How the Irish Won the West. p
Perilous times of the Black Pearl
Biography Many compelling voices and stories presenting the austere and often brutally numbing existence of children bound to Irish foster homes and orphanages over the last half-century have been heard in recent years. p
On home terroir
Wine This collection of columns from a wine obsessive who is also one of the US's best known writers of fiction is very much like many of the great wines he has encountered on his oenological travels - a little tough at the start but ultimately distinctive, illuminating and reflective of its place of origin or terroir. This is high-grade American criticism - purposeful, entertaining and informative - for an elite American audience. p
Bad magic and worse feet
Essays In Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell's 1970 film Performance - a cod- Borgesian conundrum in which a gangster and a rock star shack up in a decaying west London house until they start to resemble one another - most of the action takes place at 81 Powis Square, Notting Hill. p
In memory of an unknown brother
Memoir Memory, its regrets, its ambivalence and its multiple confusions, is beautifully evoked in this haunting memoir by German writer Uwe Timm, who, in telling the story of his family, has also looked to that of his country. p
Paperbacks
The Irish times reviews a selection of paperbacks p

Seen & Heard

I'm a bride, get me hitched
TVReview: Not long ago, when our interest rates were lower, our bottoms were higher and some of the nation's well-manicured digits were tapping out the waiting time to their ripening SSIAs, a mesomorphic wedding planner in a silk shirt royally entertained us with an insider's look at big-cat Irish nuptials. Now he's back: Brides of Franc, a fly-on-the-newly-painted-wall series, follows Peter Kelly (aka Franc) as he executes espousals, ignites matrimonial matches and creates "a fairytale" for those who are prepared to spend the GNP of a small republic on their "big day". p
Delighting in rare sound of a teenage voice
RadioReview: It struck me only about half-way through the first programme in a new series This Is Me (RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday), just how rare it is to hear a teenage voice on national radio. Sure, there's the odd vox pop about binge drinking and boy racing and the seasonal hysterical focus on the Leaving Cert, but aside from that, teenage voices aren't heard very often. p
At the top of the charts
PresentTense: Who could have predicted that Britain's newspaper wars of the early 21st century would centre on pictures of cheese? But so it has come to pass that wall charts - featuring everything from assorted lettuce to life-size prints of the human body - have been the great giveaway success of 2006. It means that this week, for instance, the biggest headline on the front page of Wednesday's Guardian featured one word: "Crops". p

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The boy on the battlefield

Poles together on screen

Keeping an eye on the city

Slow virtuoso of the Spanish court

Whatever catches her ear

Parasitic mistletoe plant alien to native flora

Horizons

Eye on Nature

The pen, the page and the process

Manoeuvres of a great survivor

Irish accents in the Wild West

Perilous times of the Black Pearl

On home terroir

Bad magic and worse feet

In memory of an unknown brother

Paperbacks

I'm a bride, get me hitched

Delighting in rare sound of a teenage voice

At the top of the charts

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