The Ireland women’s hockey team held their nerve in a penalty shootout to beat Japan and book their place at the 2026 FIH World Cup.
","teaserLeadtext":"The Ireland women’s hockey team held their nerve in a penalty shootout to beat Japan and book their place at the 2026 FIH World Cup.
","summary":"Ireland 0 Japan 0 (Ireland win 3-1 on penalties)\n","subheadline":"","body":"The game remained scoreless after 70 minutes despite Ireland having the lion’s share of the chances, forcing a shootout. Elizabeth Murphy once again shrouded herself in glory, with the help of Sarah Hawkshaw, Hannah McLoughlin, and Jessica McMaster, helping Ireland to a 3-1 shootout win that secured World Cup qualification.
The tension was palpable on the field at the Estadio Nacional as Ireland got underway against Japan with qualification for the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup on the line.
Ireland composed themselves early, holding onto the ball well in the attacking half as they looked to find the gaps in the Japanese defence. Niamh Carey was a thorn in the side of the Japanese defence picking the pocket of her opposite number and working the ball into the circle to win Ireland the first penalty corner of the tie. Roisin Upton went direct, but Akio Tanaka made the save.
Katie Mullan was the next to strike at goal after a good pass from Hannah McLoughlin. The shot ended in a goalmouth scramble, but Japan once again cleared their lines.
Christina Hamill was the next Ireland player to latch onto the ball in the circle, finding a foot to win Ireland’s second penalty corner of the match. Roisin Upton was again the option, but her effort was blocked.
Niamh Carey closed out the quarter with an exceptional defence splitting run into the circle but was denied by Tanaka.
Ireland almost found their opener when Katie Mullan and Michelle Carey connected well. Carey pulled the ball back for Charlotte Beggs, but her first time effort went just wide of the near post.
A first effort on goal for Japan forced a save from Elizabeth Murphy, which released Ireland on a counterattack which almost ended in a goal, but Jessica McMaster’s effort was saved.
Japan went up the other end and found an Irish foot inside the circle to win their first penalty corner, but Ireland defended well to keep the game scoreless.
Japan threatened early in the second half, flashing a ball past the back post in the first minute. Ireland, though, soon pinned Japan back again, as they went in search of a breakthrough goal.
A shot came the way of Sarah Hawkshaw, but her effort was deflected wide. Emily Kealy was up next, picking up the ball under pressure, but she fired wide.
The game remained scoreless going into the final quarter, setting up a nervy end to a contest that had so much riding on it. Japan had the best chance early on from a penalty corner. But Ireland once again scrambled to deny them.
After a period of pressure from Ireland, Japan won the ball deep and broke quickly. They drew a foul inside the circle and won another penalty corner.
The first effort ended in a re-award, with the second effort going wide. Ireland broke with speed and Niamh Carey got a shot off but Tanaka denied her.
With just over two minutes remaining Ireland found the gap in the Japanese defence through Hannah McLoughlin who found a foot to win a penalty corner.
Ireland went back to Sarah Torrans who played it across goal, ending in a scramble in front of the goalkeeper. The ball came to Katie Mullan who found the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out for a back stick.
A heavy challenge on Ellen Curran with just over ten seconds remaining earned Ireland a penalty corner right on the death, but Japan defended and the game went to a shootout.
Ireland and Japan both scored their opening shootouts, with Hannah McLoughlin scoring Ireland’s second and Elizabeth Murphy saving Japan’s second.
Emily Kealy was denied before Murphy pulled off another save. Jessica McMaster converted with Murphy providing the decisive save to book Ireland’s place at the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup.
Ireland will now turn their attention to their remaining FIH Pro League stages in June where they will continue their fight to remain in the competition, followed by their trip to the Netherlands and Belgium for the World Cup.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/25652c3e-0e0c-4bda-845a-962771c66684/2b7d80b4-b3a8-4e61-96cd-d2fc90e1c63f/e3267339-874f-1c64-e366-29358affbcc8.jpg","width":2400.0,"height":1600.0,"credit":"","caption":"Team Ireland celebrate qualification for the FIH World Cup 2026","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":2400.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":2400.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":2400.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1066.0,"x":667.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1600.0,"x":400.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/25652c3e-0e0c-4bda-845a-962771c66684/2b7d80b4-b3a8-4e61-96cd-d2fc90e1c63f/e3267339-874f-1c64-e366-29358affbcc8.jpg","width":2400.0,"height":1600.0,"credit":"","caption":"Team Ireland celebrate qualification for the FIH World Cup 2026","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":2400.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":2400.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":2400.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1066.0,"x":667.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1600.0,"x":400.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","e53f05df-dbbe-432c-92cc-719cb2d2586f","77bc1c33-0e5b-4ed4-93b5-9c4dd61c9e89"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/sport/hockey","isLatestNews":true},{"id":2073216382,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-03-01T16:00:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/comment","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/comment/why-we-must-never-forget-the-holocaust-historys-worst-crime-against-humanity/a2073216382.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"bel001_metered"},"headline":"Why we must never forget the Holocaust, history’s worst crime against humanity","teaserHeadline":"Why we must never forget the Holocaust, history’s worst crime against humanity","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Ivan Little","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"What a difference nine years can make.
","teaserLeadtext":"What a difference nine years can make.
","summary":"Survey showing commemoration among schools down 50 per cent in two years really worrying\n","subheadline":"","body":"In 2017, I was privileged to be a guest of Karen Pollock and her Holocaust Educational Trust to report on a visit by 200 children to Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp in Poland.
Amid the horrors on every step of the way — seeing thousands of discarded shoes and pairs of spectacles, as well as photos of the dead — Karen was upbeat about the level of engagement there was with her organisation as it tried to keep alive the terror of the camp.
But last week, I heard a very different Karen talking on television in the run-up to Holocaust Memorial Day.
I was disappointed to hear her say the increasing levels of antisemitism around the globe in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza, launched after Hamas’s October 7 attack, had damaged support for her trust.
Karen underlined the grim state of affairs in this mad, bad and sad world of ours, where the millions of people killed in the Holocaust have in some quarters been almost forgotten, or downplayed because of modern-day tensions.
She said she was very worried by a survey showing that commemoration of the crime against humanity in schools had fallen by 50 per cent in the past two years.
Karen hit out at what she called a “hostile or resistant approach to what should be the straightforward subject of the Holocaust”.
She said: “There’s no denying that there’s been an increase in antisemitism globally and in this country.”
She also said “a conflict... happening somewhere else” should not make commemoration of the Holocaust sensitive or delicate.
Karen admitted that the work of the trust had been affected by the deaths of survivors who had been central to the group’s work by telling young people about their experiences during the Second World War.
One of the survivors to lose their life recently was Eva Schloss, who I got to know well.
My daughter Emma portrayed her in a play about her experiences that toured the UK.
Eva travelled to Belfast to appear on the Kelly Show with Emma, with both talking about the production of And Then They Came for Me.
Eva was a half-sister of Anne Frank, who hid out in Amsterdam with her family before they were captured and killed by the Nazis.
Meeting her and reading her book was both humbling and unforgettable.
While Karen acknowledged the difficulties created by the deaths of Holocaust survivors, she said many of their children and grandchildren were taking up the baton and spreading the word.
“But we can’t rely on only the Jewish community to remember the worst crime on humanity in history,” she added.
During my visit to Auschwitz, a prominent Jewish leader in Britain told me political leaders in Northern Ireland needed to confront the past so they could deal with the future.
Rabbi Barry Marcus, from the Central Synagogue in London, was talking after conducting a poignant service for the visitors whose trip to the former death camp was partially funded by local politicians.
During the ceremony, at a monument beside a partially demolished Nazi crematorium, South African-born Rabbi Marcus said people could only move forward if the past was addressed.
Nine years on, legacy issues are all alive and well at home.
Donald Trump’s censors mustn’t have noticed TV cop shows in the States taking aim at the president.
I watched a Law and Order SVU episode last week that didn’t disguise its contempt for his style of law and order.
At the start, there were jibes about people who didn’t believe global warming was real, before the real action started with overzealous ICE agents cracking down on and deporting illegal immigrants, even though one of them had been recruited as a police informer.
Anti-Muslim characters who carried out a double murder and a series of rapes described themselves as “red-blooded Americans” and blamed tequila-drinking Mexicans for their crimes.
“They love tequila and raping, just ask the president,” laughed one. His sickening smirk said all too clearly he believed he had been empowered to say this by the man in power in Washington, who was described by one police officer as “that crazy thug in DC”.
The episode I saw was made in 2017, during Trump’s first term in the White House. It was almost like the calm before his latest storm. The writers didn’t know what was going to hit nine years later.
But it foreshadowed the disgraceful behaviour of ICE agents in Minnesota, who killed two protesters for taking exception to what’s happening under Trump’s tyranny.
It can only be a matter of time before Liz Truss lends her support to Nigel Farage.
And what odds that former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, one of Liz’s losers, might also throw his hat into the Reform UK ring?
After Suella Braverman became the latest to defect from Kemi Bad-enough’s party, following Robert Jenrick, Reform is looking more and more like a home for former Conservatives.
Farage has been all smiles and handshakes, but he must be looking over his shoulder at newbies who once had leadership designs in their old stomping ground.
He could soon find himself asking how long the former shadow ministers will be prepared to stay in his shadow.
Join the club, Linzi Lima. As she read the BBC news about Casement Park, she talked about the clearance of the “site”, but unfortunately she added a ‘h’ to the word and promptly landed in it. Phenomenal, it was.
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Poland","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":853.0,"width":1280.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":853.0,"width":1280.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":853.0,"width":1279.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":853.0,"width":569.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":853.0,"width":853.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Ivan Little","Donald Trump","Liz Truss","Nigel Farage","Casement Park","BBC"],"regions":[],"ids":["ba963f77-0b01-410b-81a4-d99a7a379aff","acd134d4-aeaf-4267-acf6-ed72d9e78663","b79da800-d072-4019-ac99-f41c0ec37900","716108cd-4827-42c0-b68c-b27db702eefb","0e17d3d1-e2d8-463b-9412-d5f11add8a27","8c3175e4-c8d3-4b8b-bfc8-2902e979d8fd"],"slugs":["ivan-little","donald-trump","liz-truss","nigel-farage","casement-park","bbc"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","3d998ebb-3a9a-4b82-ac53-6367c722d1d7","3eca6f2c-776a-46c3-afb9-af0801104afe","97fbfa73-e011-4ad1-8659-87e5f86d8d4b","afdb9cb6-ad16-4170-a391-865f5238eced"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/opinion/comment","isLatestNews":true},{"id":171315876,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-26T06:00:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/community-in-unimaginable-pain-after-death-of-two-derry-teenagers-in-donegal-crash/a171315876.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"Community in ‘unimaginable pain’ after death of two Derry teenagers in Donegal crash","teaserHeadline":"Community in ‘unimaginable pain’ after death of two Derry teenagers in Donegal crash","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Garrett Hargan","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"The deaths of two Derry teenagers in a Donegal crash has left the community in \"unimaginable pain\" as widespread tributes were paid to the pair named locally.
","teaserLeadtext":"The deaths of two Derry teenagers in a Donegal crash has left the community in \"unimaginable pain\" as widespread tributes were paid to the pair named locally.
","summary":"\nShantallow area left ‘heartbroken’ after 18-year-olds killed in collision\n","subheadline":"","body":"It comes as the brother of one of those killed paid a tribute online, saying: “I miss you like mad”.
Daniel Cullen and Caoimhin Porter, both aged 18 and from the Shantallow area of the city, died after the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a lorry in St Johnston on Tuesday night.
They were travelling in a vehicle with another male and it has been reported they were returning to the city after a trip together to a supermarket in Strabane when the crash happened.
Gardaí and emergency services attended the scene of the crash, involving a lorry and their car, at around 11.15pm.
Irish police said post-mortem examinations will take place in due course and the coroner has been notified.
One of the teenagers, who was a passenger in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene while the other passenger was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The male driver of the car, also in his late teens, was initially taken to Altnagelvin Hospital for treatment to injuries described as serious.
It has been confirmed he was later transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.
At the local council meeting this evening, all councillors also sent their “thoughts and prayers” to the grieving families.
A community centre in the Shantallow area of Derry has said people are “heartbroken” after “the tragic loss of 2 of our local young men last night”.
Shantallow Community Centre wrote: “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of two of our local young men last night. The pain being felt across our community right now is unimaginable.
“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with their families and everyone who loves them. We are also keeping the other young man, who remains in critical condition, very much in our thoughts and prayers at this time.
“Our Youth Wing will be open all day for friends who need somewhere safe to come together, get a bite to eat and remember their amazing friends in a safe, comfortable, loving space.
“We will also have qualified grief counsellors available for anyone who would like to speak to someone from 7pm tonight.
“Please do not struggle alone. Reach out, call in, message us.
“Two young men aged in their late teens have died following a tragic crash involving a car and lorry in Co Donegal.”
One of Daniel’s brothers posted online: “RIP Daniel can’t believe I’m writing this can’t wrap my head around it you were best friend/brother all in one since day one. I love you to bits going to miss you like mad.”
Foyle MP Colum Eastwood described it as “a profound tragedy that will affect people in communities across the north west”.
“People in communities across Derry and Donegal woke up this morning to news of this crash and the deaths of two teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them,” he added.
“It is such a profound tragedy and I know that it will affect families, friends and communities across the north west.
“My thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones. Today and the days ahead will be unimaginably difficult. But I know that people in Derry and Donegal will offer them every possible support to get through this.
“We’re also thinking of the young man in hospital in Belfast today with serious injuries. I want to thank the emergency services for their response to a difficult situation.
“Gardaí are investigating the crash and I would urge anyone who was in the area last night or who may have dash camera footage that can help piece together what happened to come forward.”
Sinn Féin Councillor Sandra Duffy also expressed her condolences.
“It is heartbreaking to learn that two young men have died and a third has been seriously injured in a collision in St Johnston on Tuesday night,” the Ballyarnett councillor said.
“My thoughts are with their families and friends, and with all those affected, at this deeply sad and difficult time.”
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":3,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/cc0f249b-a71b-4f68-bda6-446c8dc464dd/50d2807f-6daf-4a34-8daf-9705021c4049/cc0f249b-a71b-4f68-bda6-446c8dc464dd.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"The scene at St Johnston in Co Donegal where two teenagers died in a collision between a car and a lorry (Picture: Martin McKeown)","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1917.0,"x":1320.0,"y":523.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":1439.0,"x":897.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2159.0,"x":537.0,"y":0.0}}},{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/7546d1f2-caac-4d6d-a2f2-eebdc2b36fde/911b2c4e-b762-4167-abab-14f4b8701a69/hin_Porter-McCloone.jpg","width":1206.0,"height":2622.0,"credit":"","caption":"Caoimhin Porter","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2622.0,"width":1206.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2622.0,"width":1206.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":804.0,"width":1206.0,"x":0.0,"y":454.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1521.0,"width":1013.0,"x":86.0,"y":395.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1206.0,"width":1206.0,"x":0.0,"y":420.0}}},{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/3dee8f3e-7228-4952-9828-6e74534f601c/cd7282bb-1312-4ad3-bd20-95ac2dfb77f9/3dee8f3e-7228-4952-9828-6e74534f601c.jpg","width":1206.0,"height":2622.0,"credit":"","caption":"Daniel Cullen","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2622.0,"width":1206.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2622.0,"width":1206.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":804.0,"width":1206.0,"x":0.0,"y":1043.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1509.0,"width":1008.0,"x":198.0,"y":791.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1206.0,"width":1206.0,"x":0.0,"y":845.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/cc0f249b-a71b-4f68-bda6-446c8dc464dd/50d2807f-6daf-4a34-8daf-9705021c4049/cc0f249b-a71b-4f68-bda6-446c8dc464dd.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"The scene at St Johnston in Co Donegal where two teenagers died in a collision between a car and a lorry (Picture: Martin McKeown)","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1917.0,"x":1320.0,"y":523.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":1439.0,"x":897.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2159.0,"x":537.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Derry News"],"regions":[],"ids":["08dc9777-2cb9-47a6-920c-d923d2124c71"],"slugs":["derry-news"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","67c8140c-07d0-4d91-90ce-8c492d2b1482","77fe3413-ebcc-46b7-8603-87c7d2e3777d","1bb392cc-7799-4f2a-a5bd-6233d861a7e0"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/news/republic-of-ireland","isLatestNews":true},{"id":345584159,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-25T17:32:35+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/student-loan-changes-unlikely-at-spring-statement-reeves-suggests/a345584159.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"Student loan changes unlikely at spring statement, Reeves suggests","teaserHeadline":"Student loan changes unlikely at spring statement, Reeves suggests","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"By David Lynch, Helen Corbett, Rhiannon James, Will Meakin-Durrant and Sophie Wingate, Press Association Political Staff","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Changes aimed at making the student loans system fairer are unlikely to come at the spring statement, Rachel Reeves has suggested.
","teaserLeadtext":"Changes aimed at making the student loans system fairer are unlikely to come at the spring statement, Rachel Reeves has suggested.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Sir Keir Starmer said at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday he will look at ways to make the loans system fairer.
But the forthcoming financial statement is unlikely to be the opportunity to make changes, the Chancellor signalled, as she described it as “just a forecast”, rather than a fiscal event like the budget.
Slashing interest rates and changing the repayment threshold on student loans may be considered by ministers, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman indicated.
The Labour leader laid the blame for rising student loan costs with the Conservatives as he was pressed on the issue by Kemi Badenoch at Prime Minister’s Questions.
The Conservative leader has promised to cut the amount of interest paid on some student loans amid widespread concerns over costs.
Following the Chancellor’s November budget, the salary threshold at which repayments kick in under the system will be frozen at £29,385 for three years, leading to many having to pay more.
Interest on Plan 2 loans is charged at the rate of RPI inflation plus up to 3%, depending on how much a graduate earns.
Mrs Badenoch has announced plans to restrict this to RPI only, saying this would help higher numbers of graduates pay off their debt.
Ministers could be looking at changes to the threshold and interest rates, Sir Keir’s spokesman suggested, stressing they are keeping “under review the ways in which we can make life better for graduates”, when pressed on both elements.
The Chancellor was asked by broadcasters during a visit on Wednesday afternoon whether these changes could be made at the spring statement on Tuesday March 3.
\nMs Reeves replied: “The spring forecast is just a forecast. We’ve committed to just one fiscal event, one budget, a year.
“What we will have next week at the spring forecast is an update in the forecasts for inflation, for interest rates, for Government borrowing.
“But I was really clear that I wanted to end the instability of budget after budget, mini-budget, fiscal events, that we had under the previous government, where we had five prime ministers and seven chancellors, and instead return the stability that is needed to our economy, so that businesses have the confidence to invest and families have the confidence to spend.”
Sir Keir and opposition leader Mrs Badenoch had earlier traded blows on the issue in the Commons.
In their weekly head-to-head at the despatch box, the Tory leader said the “system is now at breaking point for graduates, I believe that student loans have become a debt trap”.
She pressed the Prime Minister to cut interest rates on student loans.
Sir Keir replied: “I have to say I was glad to learn that the leader of the Opposition has finally admitted that they scammed the country on this, and that applies to everything they did in government.
“We inherited their broken student loans system. We’ve already introduced maintenance grants to improve the situation, which they scrapped, and we will look at ways to make it fairer, and we will do other things within the economy to help students.”
Mrs Badenoch went on to accuse Sir Keir of “taking from students to give to Benefit Street”, and pressed him to reverse changes to student loans at the spring statement next week.
Sir Keir’s spokesman later told reporters “I won’t get ahead of the spring statement” when asked whether it could include the issue.
The official said “work continues” on the matter but declined to give any more details or a timeframe, saying “we’ll update when we have one”.
Consumer champion Martin Lewis has also urged the Chancellor to reverse her decision on student loans.
Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, he said the changes would be struck down by the regulator if a commercial company tried to make them.
Mrs Badenoch and Mr Lewis are due to meet to discuss student loans on Wednesday afternoon, after a fiery exchange about the issue on the TV programme on Monday.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/9e5751ee-637e-4fe8-b704-720f87e20249/4f24f2a6-4b35-456a-b49d-73eb2246995f/9e5751ee-637e-4fe8-b704-720f87e20249.jpg","width":4304.0,"height":2864.0,"credit":"","caption":"Chancellor Rachel Reeves was asked about changes to the student loans system (Jack Taylor/PA)","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":4304.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":4304.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":4296.0,"x":4.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":1909.0,"x":1195.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":2864.0,"x":720.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":5,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/d340842d-97d1-4406-a6d5-6843d013cbdb/e72d137d-9229-435d-a9c5-213a369589a4/2.83622157.jpg","width":2560.0,"height":1440.0,"credit":"","caption":"Sir Keir Starmer speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons (PA)","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1440.0,"width":2560.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1440.0,"width":2560.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1440.0,"width":2160.0,"x":200.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1440.0,"width":960.0,"x":800.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1440.0,"width":1440.0,"x":560.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"twitter":{"embed":"\n\n\n","alignment":"center","position":20,"consentVendorId":"c:twitter-pT9B4rrC"}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/9e5751ee-637e-4fe8-b704-720f87e20249/4f24f2a6-4b35-456a-b49d-73eb2246995f/9e5751ee-637e-4fe8-b704-720f87e20249.jpg","width":4304.0,"height":2864.0,"credit":"","caption":"Chancellor Rachel Reeves was asked about changes to the student loans system (Jack Taylor/PA)","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":4304.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":4304.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":4296.0,"x":4.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":1909.0,"x":1195.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2864.0,"width":2864.0,"x":720.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","67c8140c-07d0-4d91-90ce-8c492d2b1482","e4c95f1e-6648-45a3-91f7-dcfa0ec26e0e"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/news/uk","isLatestNews":true},{"id":2079421605,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-25T16:55:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/sir-keir-dodges-calls-to-release-flight-logs-related-to-epstein/a2079421605.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"Sir Keir dodges calls to release flight logs related to Epstein","teaserHeadline":"Sir Keir dodges calls to release flight logs related to Epstein","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Pleased to say @KemiBadenoch has kindly invited me to go and meet her to discuss Student Loans later today. I'm looking forward to a useful policy discussion and thankful for the opportunity to make something positive come out of this, after an inauspicious start (by me).
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) February 25, 2026
PS I…
Sir Keir Starmer has dodged calls for a public inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein and his possible use of British airports to traffic girls into the country.
","teaserLeadtext":"Sir Keir Starmer has dodged calls for a public inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein and his possible use of British airports to traffic girls into the country.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for the Government to release all flight logs and documents regarding the paedophile financier.
It comes after former prime minister Gordon Brown wrote to six police forces demanding investigations into whether the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor used jets, funded by the taxpayer, and RAF bases during his time as trade envoy to meet up with the convicted sex offender.
Will he (the Prime Minister) at the very least commit to releasing the flight logs and related documents? Or, will he wait for the House to force the Government to do that?
However, Sir Keir insisted at Prime Ministers’ Questions on Wednesday that any police investigations should take their course first.
Andrew and former US ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson were both arrested and released on bail earlier this month over their alleged links with Epstein.
Speaking at PMQs, Sir Ed said: “The former prime minister Gordon Brown has raised deeply shocking concerns that Jeffrey Epstein may have used British airports and even RAF bases to traffic young women and girls in and out of our country. This is appalling.
“The Prime Minister knows that I agree with Gordon Brown that there needs to be a full public inquiry into all this.
Lord Peter Mandelson outside his home in north-west London (James Manning/PA)
“If he does not agree with Gordon Brown, will he at the very least commit to releasing the flight logs and related documents?
“Or, will he wait for the House to force the Government to do that?”
Sir Keir responded: “I think it’s important to appreciate there’s obviously a police investigation going on.
“And I think it’s right, and I’m sure he agrees with this, that that has to go wherever the evidence takes it, and we have to let that investigation run its course before deciding what next action needs to be taken.”
Sir Ed said he agreed a police investigation should take priority, but said it does not need to rule out a public inquiry or the release of the flight logs.
On Tuesday, ministers agreed to release files related to the appointment of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as trade envoy in 2001.
The former Duke of York faces accusations of sharing sensitive information with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein while acting as a special representative for trade and investment between 2001 and 2011.
The former prince was taken into custody on suspicion of misconduct in public office last week, before being released under investigation.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/049abe5f-1257-4d55-a51e-e4c2447af585/0b593aa2-07a9-4c7d-940d-970b43658ece/049abe5f-1257-4d55-a51e-e4c2447af585.jpg","width":1717.0,"height":2095.0,"credit":"","caption":"Undated handout photo issued by US Department of Justice of Jeffrey Epstein. British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years years in prison for luring young girls to massage rooms to be molested by Jeffrey Epstein. Issue date: Tuesday June 28, 2022.","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2095.0,"width":1717.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2095.0,"width":1717.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1144.0,"width":1717.0,"x":0.0,"y":237.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2095.0,"width":1396.0,"x":160.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1717.0,"width":1717.0,"x":0.0,"y":92.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/049abe5f-1257-4d55-a51e-e4c2447af585/0b593aa2-07a9-4c7d-940d-970b43658ece/049abe5f-1257-4d55-a51e-e4c2447af585.jpg","width":1717.0,"height":2095.0,"credit":"","caption":"Undated handout photo issued by US Department of Justice of Jeffrey Epstein. British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years years in prison for luring young girls to massage rooms to be molested by Jeffrey Epstein. Issue date: Tuesday June 28, 2022.","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2095.0,"width":1717.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2095.0,"width":1717.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1144.0,"width":1717.0,"x":0.0,"y":237.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2095.0,"width":1396.0,"x":160.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1717.0,"width":1717.0,"x":0.0,"y":92.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","67c8140c-07d0-4d91-90ce-8c492d2b1482","77fe3413-ebcc-46b7-8603-87c7d2e3777d"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/news/northern-ireland","isLatestNews":true},{"id":237745778,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-18T14:00:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/features","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/features/travel-review-italys-the-holiday-that-converted-me-to-camping/a237745778.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"bel001_metered"},"headline":"Travel review: Italy’s the holiday that converted me to camping","teaserHeadline":"Travel review: Italy’s the holiday that converted me to camping","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Eva Marie Gibney","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"What a difference a quarter of a century makes.
","teaserLeadtext":"What a difference a quarter of a century makes.
","summary":"Eva Marie Gibney overcomes traumatic memories of a teenage trip with a visit to the southern tip of beautiful Lake Garda\n","subheadline":"","body":"For years, my attitude to camping holidays in Europe was shaped by a single, traumatic memory: a family trip to France when I was 17.
There was the 14-hour ferry crossing — rolling, pitching, and relentless queasiness, followed by endless hours wedged into the back seat of a stuffy Ford Mondeo.
By the time my parents could afford regular camping trips in France, I had aged out of the family holiday tradition. I only went on that one holiday.
And so, until this year, I had resolutely refused to board the Eurocamp bandwagon.
Despite this, all around us, friends and neighbours were loading up their cars every July and August.
“You’ll love it. The kids will love it. Once you go Eurocamp, you’ll never go back,” they’d call cheerfully as we waved them off each summer.
This year, we finally took the plunge.
Driving the entire way and taking the ferry would have been the authentic experience.
But visions of our three boys murdering each other in the back seat for 10 hours, while my husband negotiated the autoroutes, put paid to that.
Instead, we chose Bella Italia, on the southern tip of Lake Garda, a campsite just 30 minutes from Verona Airport.
There’s no need to hire a car. Everything is walkable, cyclable, or a 10-minute train journey away. Gardaland – an epic amusement park to rival Disneyland – is practically on your doorstep, as is a collection of charming towns such as Peschiera del Garda and Sirmione, and the romantic city of Venice is just over an hour’s train ride away.
The campsite backs directly onto Lake Garda, which doubles as your beach, and ferries make it easy to hop across the lake and explore further afield.
We arrived on a sunny Thursday afternoon to cheers as the barrier lifted — a moment that felt far removed from my memories of French campsites.
And, boy, have things moved on. Snaking water slides, bouncy castles, kids’ clubs and activities of every description — if you could conceive of it, it was on offer.
The pool quickly became the anchor of our days, and before long we slipped into a wonderfully lazy routine.
We stayed in a three-bedroom premium holiday home, which sleeps up to seven and, crucially, comes with air conditioning.
There’s also a generous outdoor deck, which is perfect for collapsing with a drink after a long day of adventures.
The campsite runs back-to-back activities and boasts excellent facilities for children, which we optimistically assumed would translate into a relaxing break for us. How wrong we were.
With Lake Garda to explore and Gardaland literally on the doorstep, there was no downtime to be had, especially with an eight-year-old and six-year-old twins in tow.
I’ll admit we approached the accommodation with some trepidation. Dutch, German, Irish and English families all living in close quarters — what could possibly go wrong?
In reality, it created a wonderfully sociable atmosphere. Everyone lived side-by-side but was considerate and friendly, and the kids on our ‘street’ quickly formed their own little gang, happily playing together most evenings.
Most families barbecue at night, which naturally encourages mingling. Recognise an Irish accent and parents will inevitably wander over for introductions or a bit of banter from the decking. Our kids also struck up a firm friendship with the Polish family directly opposite us.
A few water guns were purchased early on, and soon an epic water fight became a nightly post-dinner ritual.
The best part? We could sit back with a glass of wine and watch the chaos unfold from the safety of our decking.
Noise was never an issue either. On-site entertainment winds down by around 11pm, so there’s no enduring a man strangling 1990s pop hits into the early hours.
The kids’ club, however, left a lot to be desired. It resembled exactly what most parents fear: a tented creche.
Despite attempts to lure in little ones with activities such as T-shirt painting, it could never compete with the waterpark just a few steps away.
And ‘waterpark’ is exactly the right word. This sprawling complex was the highlight of the kids’ trip. From splash zones and climbing frames where giant barrels dump water overhead, to a main pool with slides and tropical dance sessions, to a separate pool you can zoom into via two enormous slides, it had everything.
There’s even a sandy ‘beach’ area. And when the chilsren tired of the pools, Lake Garda itself awaited at the end of the campsite’s main avenue.
While the campsite offers free paddle boards and kayaks at certain times, our timing never aligned, so we hired a pedalo with a slide for just €10 — a massive hit. We spent two blissful afternoons splashing into the lake from it.
One morning, inspired by our Dutch and German neighbours, we hired bikes and decided to cycle 10km to the town of Sirmione.
We set off at 10am full of enthusiasm. Five kilometres in, I was already questioning my life choices, accompanied by the rising whine of one twin.
In short, Eurocamping at Bella Italia wasn’t the relaxing holiday I imagined. It was loud, sociable, sun-soaked and relentlessly fun. The kids were exhausted and deliriously happy, which, as any parent knows, is the only measure of success that really matters.
While I may never fully embrace organised fun, I’ll admit it: the Eurocamp bandwagon has officially won me over.
Travel factfile
The closest airport to Eurocamp Bella Italia is Verona Villafranca Airport – about 25-30 minutes by car or taxi. You can fly direct from Dublin Airport with both Aer Lingus and Ryanair. aerlingus.com; ryanair.com
A seven-night break over Easter, based on a Comfort two-bedroom holiday home sleeping up to six, costs from €594 (flights extra). Seven nights in June costs from €1,463. Eva’s family stay was hosted by Eurocamp. eurocamp.ie
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star tells how night out in Derry gave him one of ‘most memorable’ experiences of his career","teaserHeadline":"Pop star tells how night out in Derry gave him one of ‘most memorable’ experiences of his career","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Maureen Coleman","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Chesney Hawkes has told how a night out in Derry which resulted in a slightly tipsy performance on stage was one of the “most memorable” of his career.
","teaserLeadtext":"Chesney Hawkes has told how a night out in Derry which resulted in a slightly tipsy performance on stage was one of the “most memorable” of his career.
","summary":"Early Nineties pop heartthrob heading to the Maiden City for summer gig \n","subheadline":"","body":"The One and Only pop star was fronting his dad’s old band The Tremeloes at the Millennium Forum in 2022 when he and the musicians ended up in a nearby pub, drinking Guinness with the customers ahead of the Sixties Gold show.
Hawkes, a huge Derry Girls fan, said he loved the city and always planned to come back so was thrilled when he was invited to take part in this summer’s upcoming nostalgia gig, The One and Only 80s Night at Ebrington Square.
The 54-year-old Berkshire man will join 80s pop legends ABC and Marc Almond for the one-night-only experience designed to celebrate the music of the decade.
Speaking to Sunday Life Hawkes, who took part in Celebrity Big Brother last year, says: “I love Derry so much. I had one of the most memorable experiences on any tour, at any time ever in the place a few years ago.
“After the soundcheck we went to a little pub to have a quick drink and bite to eat and the four of us just sat there and met everybody in the pub, drunk far too many Guinness and pretty much went on stage a little tipsy.
“It was a great night, and I always planned to go back. That night definitely had a bearing on why I wanted to do this gig.”
Hawkes’ pop career began at the age of 19 after he appeared in the 1991 film Buddy’s Song with frontman of The Who, Roger Daltrey. That same year, he released the single, The One and Only, from the film’s soundtrack and the Nik Kershaw-penned track went on to spend five weeks at number one.
Although a star of the 1990s, Hawkes grew up with the music of the 1980s and was a fan of both ABC and Almond. And he said he believed there’d been an explosion of nostalgia gigs in recent years because the past represented “total freedom” and a more innocent, carefree time.
“It’s why we like watching Derry Girls. It’s harking back to a time of no phones when we had total freedom,” says Hawkes.
“I feel like music can do that; it can take you back to a more innocent time when you could disappear for hours on end. Those days were misty watercoloured for people of a certain age.
“You look back and think wow, wasn’t life slower then? The days seemed to last longer, and you didn’t have all these notifications going off in your pocket every five minutes.
“You just went out and that was your entertainment. Nowadays it’s very different.”
After a 12-year break from recording, Hawkes released a new album last year, which coincided with his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother. Living Arrows, a personal collection of pop-rock songs, was produced by Hawkes’ long-time friend Jake Gosling, who has worked with Ed Sheeran and Lady GaGa, and contains three collaborations with The One and Only songwriter Nik Kershaw.
During those 12 years, Hawkes and his family lived in LA, but he wanted to be closer to home for the album’s release. So, in early 2025, the singer, his wife, three children and dogs upped sticks and relocated to Surrey, where they currently live.
The new album is Hawkes’ most intimate yet, reflecting on life, love, loss and trauma. One track, 13, revisits a traumatic experience of sexual abuse as a child while another, Loud, deals with grief and loss, taking on a more personal meaning after the death of his best friend Victor Irvine in January last year.
Initially Hawkes wasn’t sure whether he wanted to record such intimate material, but when he played the songs to Gosling during a brainstorming session, the renowned producer said he had to bring the lyrics to life.
“Jake encouraged me to go there, to dig deep, as did my wife,” says Hawkes. “I was dragged kicking and screaming into putting these songs out there and I’m so glad I did it.
“Basically, I’ve had so many messages and so many people come to me and say thank you for those songs; I’ve been through similar things. You’ve helped me through this.
“The messages felt like a big collective hug for me from around the country. It’s like any music. I’ve given up ownership of The One and Only because it belongs to the people who it means something to. That’s what music does.”
During his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother last year, Hawkes surprised his housemates and many viewers by revealing that his dad is musician Len Hawkes, best known for being a member of 1960s band The Tremeloes, and that his mum is actress, Carol Dilworth.
At the time, some sections of the Press described Hawkes as a ‘nepo baby’ — a label that has been attached to Brooklyn Beckham, currently at the centre of a bitter fall-out with his parents, Victoria and David. Hawkes said that while he understood the term’s origins to some extent, he found it “cynical” and “irksome”.
“We’re a cynical bunch and people love to have an excuse to have a go at someone,” says Hawkes.
“I find that term exactly that, cynical and an excuse for someone to try and find some reason why you may have some kind of success. God forbid it could be because you’re talented.
“I don’t really know much about Brooklyn Beckham or what he does, so can’t comment on his talent but for most people with really famous parents, it’s kind of forced upon you.
“You can’t do anything about it. They’re your parents and that’s that and people know you for that. He’s always going to be David Beckham’s son.”
Hawkes said his own son Indy, an “amazing” guitar player in his own right, had faced the ‘nepo baby’ accusations, despite carving out a career without his dad’s help.
“That phrase has been bandied around about him and it kind of annoys me more than him,” says Hawkes.
“It’s a weird one. I do understand but I find it irksome that it’s the first place people go to.”
Next month, the one-time teen heartthrob kicks off a European and UK headline tour and is working on new material for the follow-up to Living Arrows. And he’s looking ahead to getting back to Derry on August 30, promising a night of nostalgic fun, new tunes and fan favourites.
“It’ll be a fun night in Derry and I can’t wait,” he says. “So come along, leave your inhibitions at the door and relive your youth with us.”
The One and Only 80s Night, featuring Chesney Hawkes, ABC and Marc Almond, comes to Ebrington, Derry on August 30. Tickets available from www.buyticketapp.co.uk/app
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Royale introduces our hero not as a polished icon but as a vulnerable, flawed professional’","teaserHeadline":"‘Casino Royale introduces our hero not as a polished icon but as a vulnerable, flawed professional’","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"David McCloskey","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"The childhood book that I cannot forget
","teaserLeadtext":"The childhood book that I cannot forget
","summary":"David McCloskey’s life in books\n","subheadline":"","body":"Watership Down by Richard Adams. The book takes young readers seriously — it is emotionally honest, raw and violent. It’s also about rabbits. Beneath this story of Hazel and his band of stout-hearted bucks seeking a new home lies a profound meditation on courage, leadership, loss, and survival.
The invented myths and language make the world feel ancient and real, while the constant threat of danger gave it genuine stakes.
It taught me that stories could be both gentle and brutal.
My favourite classic read
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. How could this list not include a spy novel? And how could Casino Royale not be considered a classic? The Bond novel makes my list because it introduces our hero not as a polished icon but as a vulnerable, flawed professional navigating danger, temptation, and doubt. Ian Fleming’s spare, propulsive prose gives the novel urgency, while the psychological duel with Le Chiffre adds real tension. Scratch beneath the glamour and you have a rich story about loyalty, masculinity, and moral compromise.
The book I recommend to others
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. Set amid the wars between Persia and the Greek city states, the story builds to its emotional climax in the valor and sacrifice of the Spartans at Thermopylae.
I was not expecting to shed a tear in a swords and sandals book but I was deeply moved by Pressfield’s depiction of the tight bonds of friendship and love formed among the Spartan soldiers. He rendered with such depth and rawness the last moments of a band of sons and fathers and friends — all of whom had no memory of life without each other. Whenever a friend asks for a book recommendation, I point them here.
The book that’s made the most impact
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews. This book showed me that it was possible to write a spy novel that was propulsive and entertaining and also grounded in the reality of what CIA does. Matthews, a 33-year veteran of CIA, absolutely nails the sublime tradecraft of CIA denied area operations, centering this first novel of his trilogy on the dance between CIA case officer Nate Nash and his Russian asset, SVR officer Dominika Egorova. Readers will also get the skinny on an alphabet soup of tradecraft including SDRs, SRACs and NIACT cables.
My comfort read
A World Lit Only By Fire, by William Manchester. It doesn’t sound like a comfort read, mostly because it centres on the brutality of the medieval world and the first pangs of the Renaissance.
But for some reason I find this one as satisfying as a cool drink of water, despite the fact that I believe much of the scholarship has since been debunked.
I first read it in one sitting by candlelight and I think that whenever I dip into it now, I’m right back on a snowy winter night curled up with a book.
Favourite author (if you have one)
My father. We don’t write in the same genre, nor do we write with similar voices, but he cultivated in me a lifelong love of books and writing that has continued to this day. Saturdays were spent browsing bookstores, or visiting libraries. He has left a big mark.
The book from which I take inspiration
All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. This one inspired (and inspires) me as a writer because it is at once a page-turner, a work of high moral intelligence, and a beautiful, lyrical piece of prose styling that is also remarkably restrained. It somehow feels both mythic and intimate, and contains scenes and language that feel new even if I re-read them for the dozenth time.
David McCloskey’s new novel The Persian (Swift Press) is out now
Picture the scene. It’s Valentine’s weekend, you’ve picked up a pair of fancy microwaveable dinners from Marks and Spencers and are ready for romance. The big light is off, your best outfit is on and the Yankee Candles are burning. You go to put some music on to set the mood, but your only option is your Napalm Death playlist.
","teaserLeadtext":"Picture the scene. It’s Valentine’s weekend, you’ve picked up a pair of fancy microwaveable dinners from Marks and Spencers and are ready for romance. The big light is off, your best outfit is on and the Yankee Candles are burning. You go to put some music on to set the mood, but your only option is your Napalm Death playlist.
","summary":"Edwin McFee assembles a home-grown playlist guaranteed to get you in your better half's good books this Valentine’s Day\n","subheadline":"","body":"Well, don’t fret readers, as I’m on hand to recommend some home-grown, heartfelt hits that will have your favourite person swooning within seconds.
Ash
Girl From Mars
Quite possibly the greatest ever song written about interplanetary love, this sci-fi infused stomper was pop punkers Ash’s very first top 40 hit back in 1995 (crash-landing at a very respectable number 11). Written by frontman Tim Wheeler at the tender age of 16, it saw him indulge his inner Captain Kirk and boldly go where no-one had gone before by, erm, holding hands/tentacles with a Martian. Still a live favourite to this very day, the single featured as the switchboard hold music for NASA for a spell and is driven by an out-of-this-world chorus.
Ciaran Lavery
I’m In Love
Released just before Christmas and lifted from his sublime new EP Salaryman, I’m In Love saw Lavery live up to his Heartbreak Kid nickname and deliver a knockout. Inspired by Lou Reed’s classic cut Perfect Day, the waltzing track is a subtle and sweet ode to his other half, which reaffirms Ciaran’s status as one of the most industrious and talented tunesmiths of his generation. Despite the song only being a few months old, I’m In Love has already caused everyone from hardcore fans to heavily tattooed hard men from Newry (*cough*) to collectively “have something in their eye” and for my money, it’s a hit waiting to happen.
Now someone hand me a hanky…
Therapy?
Loose
East Antrim-founded rock legends Therapy? have enjoyed a near four-decade career battering eardrums, delving into the darker side of human existence and delivering lyrics laced with dark humour. 1995 saw them throw fans a curveball though, when they released one of the most euphoric love songs you’ll ever hear. Dubbed Loose, the hit single paid tribute to frontman Andy Cairns’ beloved Ulster punk and is a giddy, glorious listen loaded with a killer chorus and sky-cracking guitar solos. While the song never made it to number one in the charts, it did in many fans’ hearts.
New Pagans
Admire
These electrifying alt-rockers showed us their softer side with this stunning effort. Released as a single on Valentine’s Day 2020, Admire saw the Lyndsey McDougall-fronted, critically acclaimed collective tell a magnetic and relatable tale of lovers who are in it for the long haul. A shoegaze speckled thriller with a kickass guitar solo, lyrics like “But I admire you more than then/Let’s preserve our old ways/Our frail ways/Our fading beauty” are full of romance and realism.
If you love a bit of poetry and passion in your guitar music, then this is the song for you.
The Darkling Air
Old Romantic
Also released on Valentine’s Day 2020 was this beguiling offering from cinematic chamber pop-minded duo the Darkling Air. Just as swoon-some as New Pagans’ aforementioned Admire, Old Romantic saw Bangor-based Rachel McCarthy from the much-fawned-over Farriers and award-winning composer and producer Michael Keeney at the peak of their powers. Drawing on the work of Phil Spector and laced with early 60s sock hop drama and dynamics, the single deftly tugged at the heartstrings and helped establish the two-piece as an exciting new voice on the scene.
Snow Patrol
Chasing Cars
No playlist of NI love songs would be complete without including this smash hit from the Bangor boys. Described by frontman Gary Lightbody as the “purest love song” he’s ever written, Chasing Cars has notched up one billion streams on Spotify, is the most played song of the 21st century on UK radio and 20 years on from its release, remains an anthem. It doesn’t matter if you’ve broken the air fryer or watched the new advert for Sydney Sweeney’s new lingerie line a little too intently, if you play this crowd-pleasing classic for your partner, you’re guaranteed to receive more snuggles than a Swishmallow.
Matt McGinn featuring Ciara O’Neill
Bubblegum
Using the 1980s-penned diary entries of former Twitter/X user @NrnIrnGirl1981 as lyrics, McGinn’s stunning 2019 single about boys, bubblegum and bombs is an absolutely beautiful listen. One of the best NI made tracks of this century (and the previous one for my money) it features some jaw-dropping vocals from Ciara O’Neill and tells a tale of teenage unrequited love. Haunting, heartfelt and driven by cellos and guitars, Bubblegum is seriously tasty.
Van Morrison
Have I Told You Lately
While the perennially be-hatted hit maker has spent many decades carving out a reputation for being a wee bit humpy, when it comes to music Van the Man is a big aul softie with a penchant for penning deliciously mushy love songs. Perhaps his finest is the 1989 slush-fest Have I Told You Lately. Hailed as one of the best love songs of the 20th century, it’s hard not to fall head over heels for this evergreen tune’s considerable charms.
Girls Aloud
Whole Lotta History
Since Derry’s Nadine Coyle did all of the hard work in the chart-busting Girls Aloud, I’m claiming them as our own and this 2006 tune is up there with their best. Not to be confused with the similarly-titled (and vastly inferior) One Direction song, the tear-stained number saw the ladies indulge their inner Olivia Newton-John. Something of a spiritual heir to Grease number Hopelessly Devoted To You, the single marked a rare moment of introspection for the band as they took their Louboutins off the gas and slowed things down. Boasting more hooks than a fisherman’s bucket hat, the ballad is a bona fide banger.
All songs are streaming now on Spotify.
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O'Donoghue","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"It’s an amazing memory for me — after the call, my life changed completely.”
","teaserLeadtext":"It’s an amazing memory for me — after the call, my life changed completely.”
","summary":"The vast riches of France’s Dordogne Valley are found not only above the surface but also below\n","subheadline":"","body":"As the world welcomed the new millennium, Olivier Caballero was an IT student in Bordeaux. Like most teenagers relishing new-found freedom, he attended as many parties as lectures. Then, one day, his father, Angel, telephoned with extraordinary news: at his quarry near Sarlat, he had spotted a fissure in a rock that led him into a subterranean wonderland. For Olivier, the revelation would prove life-changing.
“I initially thought Papa had found a hole, but after arriving home, I realised the magnitude of his discovery: he had found a cave, dating back 60 million years.”
Angel ultimately decided that the cave would be more profitable than a quarry and made an offer to his sons: to launch a new tourist attraction together.
“I never imagined working in a cave, but at the same time, I realised that IT wasn’t for me. When my father offered it to my brother, Cyril, and me, we accepted.”
Olivier recalls two years of “titanic work” to create an exhilarating but safe destination for visitors. Experts describe Grotte de Maxange as a masterpiece of nature, and understandably so. Thousands of rare calcite concretions — or eccentrics — emerge in all directions to form an underground constellation. Their gravity-defying shapes, delicate textures and sparkling purity are breathtaking.
Another nod to the cave’s lifespan is the scratch marks visible in one of the chambers, left by cave bears, who didn’t survive the Ice Age.
Although the cave has been designated a national heritage site and received two stars in the Michelin Guide, Olivier states that it’s the visitors’ reactions that highlight the significance of their discovery. Currently, 200 metres of cave are open to the public, but he adds that there’s definitely “more treasure” waiting to be uncovered — and while the excavation isn’t strenuous, it’s time-consuming. “We have plans. It’s only the beginning of Grotte de Maxange’s story.”
France’s Dordogne Valley has earned a distinguished reputation for its vineyards, châteaux and fortified bastide towns and villages, along with its gastronomic delights such as truffles, foie gras and Périgord walnuts. But behind the surface, there are additional secrets to be uncovered, and not just at the Grotte de Maxange.
With its tall, golden-hued stone buildings and large wooden halle, the medieval village of Belvès is recognised as Les Plus Beaux Villages de France — one of France’s most beautiful villages. However, passers-by might be forgiven for overlooking a series of underground dwellings hidden beneath the market square, which contain ancient doorways, ladders, wall carvings and furniture. These compact spaces, all formed side by side, were inhabited by peasants from the 13th to the 18th centuries.
“Half of our visitors come to the dwellings on purpose,” Heritage officer Loïc Leymeregie says. “The other half has learned about them by accident when they visit Belvès.”
Although six metres underground, Loïc suggests that the former residents’ physical health was probably not much different from that of the peasants above, given the opening onto the ramparts, which provided some ventilation. However, he imagines their mental health was likely affected by the cramped conditions and lack of light.
Belvès has a history marked by turbulence, enduring multiple sieges during significant periods such as the Hundred Years’ War. In the Second World War, underground spaces in the region were used to store weapons; because the entrance to these troglodytic dwellings wasn’t discreet (it’s located near the fortified gate in the corner of the square), Loïc says they weren’t good places to hide people or armaments.
Like Grotte de Maxange, the full extent of these dwellings hasn’t yet been fully realised. While eight rooms are open for visitors, there are actually 11 in total. After decades of discussion, the local authorities have finally approved breaking the road above to excavate these unexplored areas.
Twenty miles north of Belvès in the Vézère Valley, I arrive at another troglodytic dwelling, albeit with a different destiny. With its ochre-coloured façade embedded into the rock, concealing rooms carved out on multiple levels, Maison Forte de Reignac is the only fully furnished cliff castle open to visitors in France today. Not that it started with such a lofty status.
The remarkable site has evolved through successive civilisations. It has been inhabited since prehistoric times, initially by hunter-gatherers and, centuries later, by medieval lords, who transformed it into a noble residence. Over the centuries, the area has faced many threats, including large carnivores, barbarian invasions, wars and the constant danger of looters. Besides offering strategic vantage points, the cliffs also protected residents — any attack could come only from the front.
Local Jean-Max Touron has a particular interest in developing the region’s unique tourism sites, such as the nearby troglodytic city of Roque Saint-Christophe. He purchased Maison Forte de Reignac from the municipality of Bordeaux in 2005 and describes the property as vibrant and full of soul; for him, it represents architectural perfection.
“Each room tells a story,” he reveals, “that of the ingenuity of the builders, the strength of the inhabitants, and the unbreakable bond between man and nature.”
Jean-Max says he aimed to preserve the site while reconstructing its vast and varied history. Along with setting up a prehistoric museum to showcase its early years, he furnished the living quarters to give visitors an idea of the daily life of the local lords in the Middle Ages.
“We wanted it to be visited as if entering a secret.”
A short drive south is another former castle, also carved into the cliffs. Together with an adjacent modern building, it forms the National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies. Not only does the UNESCO World Heritage Site contain one of France’s most important Palaeolithic collections, but it also acts as a centre for the many extraordinary discoveries made in the region.
Here, I meet Estelle Bougard, PhD, who says the glass wall in the new building allows visitors to appreciate the cliff’s many layers of rock that serve as a record of past environments and life.
As we admire the life-sized reconstructions of prehistoric humans and extinct animals and study displays featuring items such as stone tools, she shares insights into the evolution of the earth over millions of years. Despite her talent for sharing knowledge concisely, some of the information she presents is difficult to grasp, such as the discovery of ‘Lucy’ in Africa in 1974, whose skeleton is believed to be an incredible 3.5 million years old.
One of the most significant artefacts in the museum is a prehistoric carving made from reindeer antler, dating back to 20,000-12,000 BC. Amusingly, it depicts a beleaguered bison licking an insect bite. Estelle explains that its findspot was in Abri de la Madeleine, the nearby prehistoric site discovered in 1863 by two passionate amateur archaeologists, Edouard Lartet and Henry Christy. There, the skeleton of a three-year-old child, dating to 10,190 BC, was also found, buried with 1,500 exquisite shells.
Estelle reveals that Abri de la Madeleine wasn’t the only remarkable 20th-century discovery in the region. France has numerous caves with ancient art, but the most famous are those in Lascaux, uncovered in 1940, which contain over 600 detailed paintings of animals, human figures and abstract signs dating back about 17,000 years. The most renowned section of the cave is The Hall of the Bulls, where bulls, equines, aurochs, stags and a bear are depicted.
The collective work of many generations, they were created using red, yellow and black colours derived from a complex array of mineral pigments. Sadly, they have been closed to the public since 1963 due to rapid deterioration, but replicas can be admired.
One of the fortunate few who visited the original caves was Spanish icon Pablo Picasso, who groused that “we have learned nothing in 12,000 years”, implying that modern artists have not exceeded the skill and expression of our prehistoric predecessors.
When I ask Estelle why our ancestors created these paintings, she explains that “there’s always an intention with cave art”, adding that they could have been a celebration of past hunting successes, an expression of self or something related to spirituality — a mystical ritual to improve future hunting endeavours. Having spent so much time underground during my trip to the Dordogne region, I wonder whether the poor ventilation in prehistoric caves, combined with the lack of external stimuli, caused hallucinations among the creators. Without ‘artist statements’, we may never know for certain.
Domhnall was a guest of the Dordogne-Périgord Tourist Board (tourismeperigord.com).
Additional activities include wine tasting at Château Terre Vieille (chateauterrevieille.com), exploring the gardens of Eyrignac (eyrignac.com) and visiting bastide towns and villages, including Domme, Belvès and Monpazier.
Accommodation and dining suggestions include Domaine de Rochebois (domaine-rochebois.com), Château de Maraval (chateaudemaraval.com), Hotel du Centenaire (hotelducentenaire.fr) and Vieux Logis (vieux-logis.com).
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of love: three NI producers whose goods might just put you in the mood for romance","teaserHeadline":"Foods of love: three NI producers whose goods might just put you in the mood for romance","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Louise Finn","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"When it comes to food and romance, the two are intertwined. From first dates in a beautiful restaurant to gifting luxury chocolate or trying to impress a date with your cooking skills, what we eat plays an intrinsic part in the courtship process.
","teaserLeadtext":"When it comes to food and romance, the two are intertwined. From first dates in a beautiful restaurant to gifting luxury chocolate or trying to impress a date with your cooking skills, what we eat plays an intrinsic part in the courtship process.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"For centuries there have been foods that are specifically prized for their aphrodisiac qualities, a je ne sais quoi which will give your romance a bit of extra oomph. Here, we speak to three producers from NI whose products could be your gateway to love.
If you have yet to purchase something special for your loved one, Shane Neary of NearyNógs Stoneground Chocolate is here to help. “We’re open to save marriages and relationships,” he says. “We get a lot of people coming to our shop [on Valentine’s Day]...” He pauses to clarify: “A lot of men panic buying.”
Located on the beautiful Mourne Coast between Kilkeel and Warrenpoint, NearyNógs produces its craft chocolates on site and has a coffee shop and an all-important shop stocking its chocolates (open until 4pm on Valentine’s Day, should you have left it a little late…).
The company came into being in 2011, by happy accident, says Shane. His wife and her mother created their first product for a fundraising event, after which they were asked to create wedding favours. And the business grew from there, with Shane and his wife self-educating and absorbing all the information they could on chocolate. From the beginning, they wanted to do something different, explains Shane: “We realised there are a lot of customers out there that don’t want chemicals in their chocolate. They don’t want palm oil, they don’t want soya, they don’t want lectins, they don’t want emulsifiers.”
They couldn’t find this kind of chocolate here, so they decided to make it and to control the process from the very start.
He explains: “A chocolatier buys chocolate that’s already made by a factory somewhere and then they just melt it and turn it into creative products. What we’re called is chocolate makers. We actually make the chocolate from scratch and we also do the chocolatiering part, but with our own chocolate.”
From bean to bar is NearyNógs’ motto, and each bar, truffle or slab uses a single original chocolate that can be traced back to the farmer of the bean. Sourcing these beans ethically is vitally important to Shane and his team. He tells me that in an industry which can involve child labour or people trafficking, they want to do their bit to help,
“If we pay the farmers more money, it removes the risk of them being vulnerable to exploitation, and for gangs and for syndicates to take advantage of them. Paying the farmers directly is what we do and that lifts them out of poverty and gives them more freedom to choose who works on their cocoa farms,” Shane says.
Knowing exactly where the beans come from helps with the quality of the product too, as each bean is unique.
“People don’t realise that chocolate is a fruit, and because it’s a fruit it has a lot of personality, depending on which region or which country it grows in. Like wine or coffee, different countries, different regions and different farms have different flavour profiles that are accented in the chocolate, and so that flavour profile can be quite complex,” he says.
Their job is to enhance that natural and unique profile, something mass-produced chocolate does its best to eradicate in the name of uniformity.
“If you’re making [mass-produced bars], you want them to taste the same in New York, London and Dubai. You have to over-process to remove all personality, all individuality from the cocoa.”
Maintaining the integrity of the chocolate also maintains its health benefits, which are lost in mass production. “Because it’s the seed of the cocoa pod, it’s got lots of natural nutrients in it. For example, you’ve got things like iron, magnesium, fibre, zinc and potassium. Chocolate in its original form is very good for your blood, very good for your heart, very good for your circulation,” says Shane.
So, in terms of it being an aphrodisiac? Well, there may well be some truth in this.
“In craft chocolate you would have theobromine… it activates your heart and your blood system, helps improve blood flow. It also gives you a feel-good factor, so it boosts how you feel, it boosts your mood. It also gives you this kind of internal bliss point,” says Shane.
“Bliss point is where your brain and your body is craving something. And when you get it, you get that kind of bliss feeling — that’s where people can kind of feel like everything’s amazing,” he continues.
Shane concludes: “If you want to buy chocolate as a gift… usually it’s an expression of love, it’s an expression of joy, it’s an indulgence.
“When you’re eating craft chocolate, not only is it better for you, not only does it give you more of a chocolate fix and more of an aphrodisiac experience, but it has a lot of health benefits too.”
For more on NearyNógs, www.nearynogs.com
Growing asparagus is truly a labour of love. Philip Conway, owner of Conway Farm Produce, based in Armagh, produces a number of bespoke and unusual crops, from Jerusalem artichokes to micro salads, edible flowers and more.
Conway Farm Produce began cultivating asparagus around 11 years ago, realising that there was a demand here from chefs for a premium, ultra-fresh and great-tasting product.
Philip doesn’t sell to the public. But if you’ve taken your other half out for a romantic meal, chances are that on the plate you will have enjoyed asparagus that he has grown.
“We supply the top-end restaurants… They absolutely love the fact that there’s this local story,” he says.
Plus, you really cannot get fresher asparagus: “If we delivered today, it’d be on the plate to the customers this evening.”
In folklore, asparagus has long been touted as an aphrodisiac. And the fact that it’s high in vitamin E, which can help in the production of hormones, and potassium, which can support vascular function, could mean there is some truth to its romance-enhancing reputation.
The crop isn’t routinely grown here (“It doesn’t like the wet”). And it’s a process that takes care, attention and, most importantly time, which requires huge dedication.
Asparagus can be grown two ways, Philip tells me. The first is from a pre-cultivated crown which is placed in the earth. The more difficult route is to grow from seed. Philip selected the latter route and, after extensive research, began to cultivate.
“I sourced certified, disease-free seed from Holland and raised it from seed just to make sure I got the best possible chance and the best possible crop I can get,” he says.
Growing from seed meant adding an extra year to the time between planting and harvesting, so it was three years before their first yield.
“[A] bit of folklore: there are two things that will destroy asparagus — weed and greed,” says Philip.
He explains that because the asparagus grows for 12-15 years in the ground, “weeds will eventually out-compete you”. Incidentally, all weeding is done by hand, adding an extra element of care and attention needed.
“The wetness in Ireland, and just the fact that it’s in the soil for 15 years, makes it really difficult. I mean, you will struggle with the weeds. For that reason, we grow asparagus indoors, in polythene tunnels,” says Philip.
But what about greed? Well, there’s traditionally a very short window in which to harvest asparagus.
“The asparagus season starts on St George’s Day [April 23], to the longest day in the year [July 21],” he says.
While growing under cover means Philip can harvest a little earlier, around March time, he’s keen to stress that over harvesting can spell disaster for this delicate crop.
“You must stop cutting at the middle or end of June, because if you don’t, what happens is you’re not going to let the crop regenerate for next year,” he says.
What this also means is that asparagus you eat on Valentine’s Day probably isn’t home grown — more likely originating from far afield, having spent time in the air and in storage.
Philip says that eating asparagus when in season really can make the difference in terms of the quality and taste. He recommends holding out until March time and keeping an eye on menus to see the appearance of their product, so it can be enjoyed as it should be, seasonally, fresh and prepared by top chefs.
“We grow the best asparagus in Ireland,” Philip says.
We don’t doubt it.
For more on Conway Farm Produce, visit www.instagram.com/conwayfarmproduce
I ask Luc Bonnargent of Killough Bay Oysters, based in Co Down, about the touted aphrodisiac effects of this iconic shellfish.
“There definitely is a truth to it… I think you need to eat quite a lot of them. I think if you have 20 or 30, you’ll start to see start to see the effects,” he says.
Oysters have long been famed for their ability to increase the libido. Casanova was said to eat 50 per day, including oysters for breakfast, and they contain many nutrients which can contribute to hormonal health; in particular, their high zinc content could aid testosterone production.
Certainly, lovers in Northern Ireland are willing to embrace their reputation for enhancing romance.
Luc tells me that when it comes to consumption, the company sees a large increase in demand on February 14.
“Everyone has them. Everyone stocks them. People want them,” he says.
Killough Bay Oysters began back in 1998 as a community project which was eventually taken over by Luc’s father, Patrice, who is French.
“He was always working within the fish industry. He had a fish shop in Belfast on the Lisburn Road… then this came up and it worked out for us moving to this area.”
Luc later joined the business and has grown up around the farming of oysters. The process involves placing seed oysters into bags which are placed on metal racks submerged in the sea by the tides.
“They’re tied down to the racks, so as the water comes in and out, the water literally just filters through the bags and the oysters feed on the phytoplankton that’s delivered by the sea,” explains Luc.
From seed to harvest, the process takes about three years for the oyster to reach maturity, and the oysters need care and attention to thrive. It’s a tough job.
“There are 15,000 bags. And all those bags get turned every four weeks. You go down, you unhook the bag and you stand on one side of the bag. You lift it up and you’ll shake it three times and then you’ll roll the bag on itself 12 times,” he says.
This mimics what would happen to the oyster in nature and helps create the very best product, says Luc.
As a farming method, it’s minimally invasive on the environment. It works with the land and its unique qualities to produce an oyster that it a singular product of its beautiful surroundings.
“Oysters are very much like red wine and the terroir. It’s exactly the same thing,” he says, explaining that each oyster has subtle differences depending on where they are farmed, the water and its ecosystem.
“In Killough you’d have a lot more green seaweeds, so you get a sweeter, nuttier taste in the oyster because of what’s in the water.”
“Because [Killough Bay] is quite sheltered, you can get a really lovely, small, hard shape of the oyster and then a nice meat content too.”
Luc says he thinks there’s a growing awareness about eating local and the impact of farming methods on our environment. Certainly, in recent years, there’s been and increase in demand for the company’s shellfish.
With oysters produced here, you get the best of both worlds: a super-fresh and healthy product that leaves very little impact. Choosing oysters farmed here means choosing a sustainable and low-impact luxury, which perhaps makes them even more attractive.
Killough Bay Oysters supply restaurants and various fishmongers across NI. Luc says St George’s Market is the perfect place to source his oysters for February 14.
So, what way would he recommend lovers enjoy their oysters this Valentine’s Day?
As nature intended them.
“Open it and pour out the first juice — that’s the salty water juice. If you let the oyster sit in a shell for 5-10 minutes, it produces a second, a much sweeter, juice that’s in the oyster itself. You then just eat it straight away. Or sometimes [with] a wee bit of lemon if it’s quite salty. A wee bit of lemon cuts the salt.”
For more on Killough Bay Oysters, visit www.instagram.com/killough_bay_oysters
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","teaserHeadline":"NI Weekend: what’s on and where? ","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Gillian Halliday and Aine Toner","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Fearless Femininity, a solo exhibition by internationally established artist Alea Pinar Du Pre, will be on view to the public until February 23 in Gormleys Belfast. Of Austrian and Turkish heritage, Du Pre’s practice is shaped by a life lived across different cultures and finds inspiration in areas such as science, science-fiction, history and anthropology. Du Pre’s work fuses classical figurative traditions with a bold, modern visual language, exploring themes of identity, perception and femininity. In this exhibition, the figures often appear layered or doubled, hinting at multiple identities or shifting states of mind. gormleys.ie
","teaserLeadtext":"Fearless Femininity, a solo exhibition by internationally established artist Alea Pinar Du Pre, will be on view to the public until February 23 in Gormleys Belfast. Of Austrian and Turkish heritage, Du Pre’s practice is shaped by a life lived across different cultures and finds inspiration in areas such as science, science-fiction, history and anthropology. Du Pre’s work fuses classical figurative traditions with a bold, modern visual language, exploring themes of identity, perception and femininity. In this exhibition, the figures often appear layered or doubled, hinting at multiple identities or shifting states of mind. gormleys.ie
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Faithless will perform at Custom House Square, Belfast, on August 20. This is their biggest Belfast headline show to date and will be welcoming some very special guests. For over three decades, the UK outfit have existed at the intersection of club culture, live performance and social consciousness, creating music that continues to resonate across generations and dance floors worldwide. Last year marked 25 years since the release of Insomnia, a defining global anthem that changed the fabric of electronic music and remains one of the most recognisable dance tracks ever made. See customhousesquare.com for age entry information.
Ahead of St Patrick’s Day in Belfast, Pure Blarney is setting the tone with a high-energy live show at The Black Box in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter on March 16. Hailing from the vibrant musical landscape of Co Antrim, the six-piece electro-acoustic folk/rock group has built a reputation for delivering vigorous performances complete with virtuosic arrangements and an infectious energy. Their approach offers a fresh, traditional twist on contemporary favourites while staying rooted in the folk traditions that continue to resonate with audiences at home and abroad. The night begins with a pre-concert drinks reception at 7.30pm in The Green Room Bar (tickets for this are limited). Doors open at 8pm, with the band taking the stage at 9pm. www.pureblarney.com
Belfast artist Farhad O’Neill, known for his sculptures, drawings, and public monuments, is proud to present a presentation of abstract paintings in a new exhibition. These works, based upon both nature and culture, represent a new adventure in art. The theme of the exhibition is that art has its basis in nature. O’Neill’s exhibition will take place in the Gerard Dillion Gallery of An Culturlann, Belfast, from March 12 to April 23. www.farhadsculpture.com
This Mother’s Day, treat beloved mums to a special experience at Dobbies Garden Centres. From a fun, hands-on wreath workshop to a delicious afternoon tea, Dobbies’ Lisburn and Antrim stores are offering thoughtful events for every kind of mother figure to enjoy. Experiences are bookable from March 13-15. The wreath workshop is priced at £37.50 per person, with the option to add on the Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea for £22.50 per person. Tickets for the Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea start from £25. www.dobbies.com/events
The top 42 winning artworks from the past two years of the Texaco Children’s Art Competition — in which six works by Ulster students feature — is being exhibited at Strule Arts Centre, Townhall Square, Omagh, until February 28. Admission is free. Amongst the top Northern Ireland prize winners from the 70th Texaco Children’s Art Competition whose artworks feature in the exhibition is the overall 2024 competition winner, Charley Bell, from Methodist College Belfast, who won first prize in the senior 16-18 age category for her painting entitled ‘Anticipation’. Also exhibiting is a work entitled ‘L’Ombre’ by Antrim’s Zara Craig, from Ballyclare High School — second prize in Category G of the competition.
Audible has announced its new audio production Heathcliff, produced with Brock Media. The Audible Original returns to Brontë’s novel, taking a close look at Heathcliff’s origins in a feverish re-imagining of literature’s most infamous romantic villain. Written by rising star Gracie Oddie-James, Heathcliff depicts how the man we know from the novel — obsessive, possessive and cruel, beholden to his childhood love Catherine and their home at Wuthering Heights — came to be.www.audible.co.uk
Belfast Children’s Festival runs from March 5-14 with more than 100 events and performances suitable for the young (and not so young). The Little Prince, from The Egg and Toby Thompson, is full of magic and entertaining for children and adults alike. Based on Saint-Exupéry’s timeless classic, follow The Little Prince as he wanders the universe in search of the true meaning of friendship, makes friends, learns things and notices the most important things in life. Alongside friendship, the festival brings kindness and love to audiences. www.youngatart.co.uk
Lush’s latest bath bomb is setting out to help clogged-up customers breathe a little easier. The first of its kind, Lush’s new Cold Bath Bomb (£5.50) intends to free sufferers of the funk and help them get steamy with the fresh, cool scent of eucalyptus and peppermint. A swirling green and white bath bomb is accompanied by a Fair Trade organic cocoa butter melt which can be rubbed on the chest, or melted in hot water and inhaled to alleviate aggravated airways.
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weekend: ‘I love a bit of luxury with some pampering in close proximity’","teaserHeadline":"My weekend: ‘I love a bit of luxury with some pampering in close proximity’","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Anne Gildea","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"The best time to get up at the weekend is?
","teaserLeadtext":"The best time to get up at the weekend is?
","summary":"Anne Gildea, comedian\n","subheadline":"","body":"Due to the nature of working at the weekends, the lie-in treats itself to me. I’m a comedian, touring theatres, so I’m typically doing a show on a Saturday. The morning is for chilling, in bed. We usually try to drive home, so with getting in late, Sunday is a bit of a lie-in too.
Breakfast or brunch?
Brunch. If I’m on a diet (pretty much always), I’ll have something like an egg and banana pancake. The way mine turn out, they’re more of a banana omelette. A ban-omelette, if you will. But they’re high protein, low cal, so they’re good apparently (I read that somewhere once). If the diet is broken, I just have your basic rasher, egg, sausage, hash browns, beans, mountain of sourdough toast dripping with melty butter and pots of tea. Yum. And during the week, I don’t eat until lunch. I live with my partner in life and work, Paul Farren. We have a flatmate approach: he does his own thing. He finds ban-omelettes quite disturbing.
What does an ideal Saturday look like?
Get up, slip into my bikini, and out through the French windows onto the adjacent beach where the warm sand ripples through my toes as I jog to the sparkling blue water of the nearby sea. And then I wake up and have a ban-omlette.
What would your perfect Sunday be like?
A stroll through Montmartre admiring the boulangeries and the scent of the local fromage, then calorie-free croissants and a café crème on the left bank. Or is the right? Then wake up, shuffle into the kitchen and prepare my morning ban-omelette.
Do you prefer to be indoors or outdoors?
Well, put it this way, I went hillwalking with a friend in Wicklow once. Then “the weather came down”, as she described it. We got lost in fog so thick we could barely see each other. With freezing rain hitting us horizontally, we ended up sheltering by a dry stone wall. We tried to have tea from her flask and it blew out the cups. We thought we were going die, but somehow survived. I vowed: “Never again. Get away from me, outdoors.”
How have weekends changed as you have gotten older?
When I was I younger I was on tour a lot overseas with my comedy trio, The Nualas. I loved weekends in different places, the limbo of being neither here nor there, of between shows in other counties.
If you could eat out anywhere in NI tonight, where would you go and why?
Somewhere like one of NI’s fabulous fine dining spa hotels. I love a bit of luxury with some pampering in close proximity.
What would you order?
Wine for my main course and wine for dessert. To have something solid I would say: “Please freeze my wine and I’ll chew it.”
At weekends you’ll always make time to…
Tell himself the flat needs a tidy. I’m not great at doing that kind of thing myself. Luckily, he’s as much OCD as I’m a complete and utter slob in the domestic sphere.
Do you sometimes work at weekends?
Yes, work is mostly at weekends. I’ve been doing this since I was in my early twenties... It’s in my bones to be on the road at the weekend. I don’t see it as work because I love what I do. I love bringing people together to laugh. I love meeting the audience after. I love that I work with my partner... love it.
Who would you most like to go for a drink with?
Someone who drinks and makes me laugh. Luckily I’ve got that covered: himself. If I were to say anyone famous, unfortunately they’re all dead.
Are you a weekend cook?
I’m quite a good cook, I just don’t, generally! If I give it a go at all, it’s mid week and it’s chicken.
What’s your dream Sunday dinner?
Dinner with my sister-in-law Tracy Rennie, who’s a gourmet chef. Whatever she cooks, from simple to complex, is perfection. I’ve learned a lot just watching her in the kitchen.
Who do you normally eat Sunday dinner with and where?
Himself, at home or in a restaurant over the road. We live in the centre of Dublin and tend to always eat Asian when we eat out.
What is your choice of film at the cinema?
I’m film-fussy, which means I don’t see a lot in the cinema at the moment. The challenge to cry my eyes out at Hamnet does not appeal. My ideal film would be a romantic drama/political thriller with love interest, and women winning everything in the end and the man cooking the dinner.
What are you reading?
I like my factual books, either analysis of everything that is wrong in the world and why we’re all doomed, or ones on how to programme yourself to have a positive mindset. A balanced reading regimen, you might say.
Bedtime is?
If not coming back from a show, bedtime is early. I have practice bedtime around 7pm, bra off, slippers on, and then I go full forward around 10pm.
Building on the success of How to Get the Menopause and Enjoy It, Gildea returns with her new show, The Further Adventures in Womaning, filled with her signature wit and honesty as she explores themes of femininity, aging, and identity. Catch her performance at the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn, Castlereagh on February 14. For more dates, visit annegildea.com/shows.
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","teaserLeadtext":"Favourite film
","summary":"Alan Turkington, actor\n","subheadline":"","body":"There are too many to mention, but one I keep returning to is Postcards From The Edge, a movie about movies. I was a Star Wars fanatic growing up, so it was wonderful as an adult to rediscover the late, great Carrie Fisher as a genius writer too.
Favourite food
I love my food. I live in Camberwell in South London, which is known for its restaurants, and I’m particularly enjoying the Kurdish menu at Nandine at the moment. My death row meal, though, will always be a fish supper with battered mushrooms from the Chuck Wagon in Cookstown, where I’m from. It’s the best chippy in the world.
Favourite song
I’ve always been drawn to solo female singers from across a very wide spectrum, from Joni Mitchell to Madonna, Tori Amos to Dolly Parton, but it’s Kate Bush who has been there throughout my entire life and whose music I keep returning to. Two favourites are And Dream Of Sheep, from Hounds of Love, which is so beautifully plaintive, and Moments of Pleasure, from The Red Shoes, which includes the magical lyric “Every old sock meets an old shoe”. She’s a true original and, as a performer myself, I appreciate the care she has for the visual presentation of her work too.
Favourite place
I’ve been fortunate enough to visit many countries, but you really can’t beat the Sperrins, in my eyes. Whether it’s a hike around Davagh Forest or a moment by the Beaghmore Stone Circles, it’s such a special place and I love the view of Slieve Gallion coming over the hill into Cookstown main street, especially in the winter. In London, it’s a small-but-perfectly-formed park called Myatt’s Fields near my home.
Favourite book
Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City series were a very formative read for me when I came across them as a not-quite-out queer man who had just left home for university, and they’ve been part of my literary life ever since. Closer to home is Modern Gods by my childhood friend, the poet and novelist Nick Laird, an incredible writer. It’s an intricately woven tale of two sisters, whose lives are turned on their heads, and explores tribalism across two islands at opposite ends of the earth.
Alan Turkington is appearing as George Bernard Shaw in Dear Liar at Jermyn Street Theatre until March 7. www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/dear-liar
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","teaserLeadtext":"When I think about how I became obsessed with the world of beauty products, the thing I always land on is that it’s fun. It’s fun to play with products and colour, it’s fun to come up with a look in your mind and make it happen on your face, it’s fun to play! Not all of it is fun, though. Some of it is pretty boring. Some of it comes down to doing sensible things like wearing sun protection and drinking water.
","summary":"Our beauty writer’s top product picks of what’s on the market right now\n","subheadline":"","body":"I’m not so good at the water drinking, and if I’m honest, I’m not always great at skincare in general, but there is no doubt that it’s important. Your skin and body in general will function much better if you bother to drink a glass of water the odd time. I know this. Do I do it? Rarely.
Fortunately, the beauty industry has come up with lots of different ways to quench your skin’s thirst, whether it’s dry via the weather, its natural tendencies, or, like mine, neglect. These are some of my favourite masks, which will sort your dehydrated face out quickly.
Fenty Beauty Dew N Plump Intense Hydration Slushie Mask (£30). Even Rihanna’s skin feels a little thirsty sometimes, which is why Fenty Beauty created this mask, according to her. Designed to feel like you’ve given your skin a big drink, this gel mask has an unusual slushie-like texture thanks to encapsulated oil bubbles, which I find pleasing but won’t appeal to everyone. It’s packed with plumping polyglutamic and hyaluronic acid along with a blend of fruit juices the brand says replenish, revive and plump the skin. Wear overnight, or all day long ahead of a special night out.
Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Hydrating Face Mask (£28). This mask has been a staple of my skincare life for more than a decade. Packed with hyaluronic acid and avocado butter, it hydrates and softens the skin beautifully. When my skin feels tight and dry, I finish my nightly skincare routine with a generous layer of Drink Up and I genuinely see the difference the next morning.
La Roche-Posay Cicaplast B5+ Baume (from £11). This is a bit of a wonder product, thanks to the many ways it can be used. It soothes and protects irritated skin, and is suitable for everyone, from the most sensitive infant skin to people experiencing cancer. If I wake up feeling dry, I apply a generous layer of Cicaplast to my face, leave it for 10 minutes and then wipe off the excess. It immediately feels better.
Medik8 H.E.O. Mask (£60). This mask includes two products: a gel treatment, applied first and left to absorb for a few minutes; and a rich cream, which seals in the gel and traps moisture in the skin. Packed with humectants that attract moisture (like hyaluronic acid) and nourishing ceramides and squalane, this product will soothe dryness and prevent it from coming back.
Parabens are a group of synthetic chemicals that are frequently used in cosmetics to extend their shelf life by preventing the growth of bacteria, mould and fungi. Lately, they’ve been given a bad rap, and you’ll often see ‘paraben-free’ on ‘clean beauty’ products. I haven’t found anything in my research, though, that indicates they are damaging to the vast majority of people. Some people will have specific sensitivities, of course, but I happily use products that contain parabens.
It took me a while to come around to setting spray. They’re not all equal, and I was burned too many times by those that claim to hydrate and set at the same time. In my experience, a facial spray will do one or the other, so buyers should beware of those claiming to do it all. The product that convinced me that setting sprays could work, however, is Charlotte Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray (from £20). It’s relatively lightweight, and extends your make-up’s wear time by hours. Once I’ve sprayed my face with it (and don’t be afraid to be generous), I feel like I can forget about my make-up, safe in the knowledge that it’ll stay where I put it. What more could you ask for?
What more could you ask from a setting spray than that it works? That it works and is so lightweight you don’t feel like you’re wearing it at all. That’s what Saie Beauty’s new CitySet Lightweight Setting Spray (from £17) has managed to achieve. This spray is incredibly lightweight, and despite the fact that it truly sets the make-up, it also leaves the face with a dewy finish (but not oily or greasy). That’s not easy to achieve. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that this is the most comfortable setting spray I’ve tried that doesn’t compromise on performance. Its continuous spray component is a bonus!
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Here’s how to grow them in Ireland","teaserHeadline":"Diarmuid Gavin: The majority of your Valentine’s Day roses are flown in from abroad. Here’s how to grow them in Ireland","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Diarmuid Gavin","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Roses are an enduring symbol of love and passion and particularly so on St Valentine’s Day. Florists and supermarkets will be busy trying to keep up with the demand for these ever-popular blooms and by the end of today there will only be a few sad examples left in your local petrol station.
","teaserLeadtext":"Roses are an enduring symbol of love and passion and particularly so on St Valentine’s Day. Florists and supermarkets will be busy trying to keep up with the demand for these ever-popular blooms and by the end of today there will only be a few sad examples left in your local petrol station.
","summary":"Pick the right variety and take care with planting and feeding\n\n\n","subheadline":"","body":"The majority of roses are flown in from abroad, either from Holland or much further afield from Kenya, Ethiopia and Colombia. The amount of air miles consumed alone has contributed to their rising costs and, of course, there is an environmental price to pay for their mass production.
Happily, we can grow roses very well here, but just not in bloom for mid-February. If you have rich clay soil, this is ideal for roses as they are hungry feeders. The last month has demonstrated for sure that we have plentiful rainfall and while this is great in many ways for plants, too much dampness can lead to fungal diseases.
With roses this is often in the form of the dreaded blackspot. Once it arrives, it hard to eliminate. It looks unsightly and usually results in defoliation. So how can this be prevented or managed? A healthy and strong rose is much more likely to shrug off pests and diseases.
You can begin by picking a variety that is more resistant to blackspot. The older roses, such as gallica roses and species roses, tend to be far less effected. For many years, I have grown ‘Roseraie de L’Hay’. This is a rugosa rose with deeply perfumed dark pink flowers and it has never shown signs of any blackspot over the last decade.
Other good rugosas are ‘Blanche Double de Coubert’, which has fragrant, semi-double white flowers and attractive orange hips in autumn, while ‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’ has repeat flowering light pink clove-scented flowers.
Flower Carpet roses are also very robust. These are low-growing bushes ideal for ground cover, even in tricky sloping sites and are known for their long flowering periods. They are usually disease resistant, not only to blackspot but also mildew. They come in a good variety of colours including a vibrant pink, warm golden yellow and pure white.
Hybrid tea roses can be quite susceptible to blackspot but ‘Souvenir de Baden Baden’ is a charming variety with fragrant large, pale-pink double flowers which have frilled edges and this is a repeat flowering rose, so you may get blossoms from early summer through to autumn.
When planting, choose a sunny spot and don’t cram roses in together tightly – good air circulation and sunshine help keep foliage dry
When planting, choose a sunny spot and don’t cram roses in together tightly – good air circulation and sunshine help keep foliage dry. Once planted, the key to keeping your rose healthy is plenty of watering and feeding through the growing season, which is from March to August.
Choose a rose feed which has been carefully balanced to promote flowering. Feeds can be granular or liquid – if granular, just gently fork in. You can also use liquid seaweed, fish blood and bone or chicken pellet manure.
Spread a thick layer of garden compost, mulch or well rotted manure around the base of the rose but not up against its stem. This will help conserve moisture over dry periods as well as providing additional nutrition over the season.
Once the rose begins to leaf up, it’s time to be vigilant and watch out for black or purple spots on the leaves. It spreads in wet weather, so is impossible to avoid in our climate.
Clear up any dead affected leaves from last year and remove leaves that become infected. If you’re pruning, cut out anything that looks diseased and clean secateurs before going on to the next rose to prevent onward infection.
Organic gardeners can use sulphur-based products to spray the infected leaves and this will need to be done regularly – either as prevention or when infection occurs.
You can also use plant invigorator sprays on the leaves to strengthen them. You can also make you own spray at home – mix one tablespoon of baking soda in a gallon of water with a bit of liquid soap to help it cling to leaves.
Helleborus ‘Confetti Cake’
With wedding proposals in the air today, here’s a delightful hellebore, part of a collection called the Wedding Series. ‘Confetti Cake’ is a beauty – large, double-white flowers with glamorous burgundy speckles near the centre. Hellebores are reliable choices for dappled shade and bring welcome flowers at the beginning of the year.
Q: I’ve a coastal garden and was going to plant some escallonias. Do you have a preferred variety?
Escallonias are a great choice for seaside gardens. Their small, glossy, leathery leaves help them withstand the salty air. One of my favourites is ‘Apple Blossom’, which is compact and has very pretty tubular pink and white flowers which can last right through until autumn.
Submit your gardening questions to Diarmuid via his Instagram @diarmuidgavin using the hashtag #weekendgarden
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","teaserLeadtext":"The fortunes of porcine participants in literature are a bit hit and miss.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"For every Piglet or Wilbur, there’s a Snowball. For every Babe, there’s a Napoleon.
Ok, both the baddie pigs there are from Animal Farm, but it goes to show that beloved classics and allegorical tales aren’t immune from antagonising animal antics.
In the latest BBC book adaptation, one little Piggy should have stayed at home.
The first TV adaptation of William Golding’s classic Lord of the Flies hit screens last weekend and to say it is bleakly beautiful is an understatement.
Much of the cast is making their professional acting debuts, having auditioned following an open casting call. They are sensational.
Written by Jack Thorne who is responsible for Adolescence and His Dark Materials, we’re brought straight into the action, meeting Groucho Marx loving Piggy and his wee tank top.
Asthmatic, thoughtful Piggy – played by breakout star David McKenna – is already my favourite character of 2026 and not because he reminds me of my dad. With his Northern Irish accent, the miniature trade unionist with a knack for navigation is the voice of reason throughout.
Even if many of the young men whom he meets are complete… hallions.
Aggressive, bordering on feral hallions, to be fair. After meeting Ralph – who says words like ‘ripping’ and ‘glorious’ without smirking – we’re thrown headfirst into an Enid Blyton style world. If Enid’s wholesome content throbbed with A Clockwork Orange undertone.
A conch shell calls up to 30 young boys to the beach following a deadly plane crash. This includes a group of choristers, complete with capes and natty uniforms. A bit like if the Traitors were recruiting early. Where is Claudia Winkleman and her lovely shiny hair when you need her?
One of the choristers, Simon, faints. This is not unusual, they say, actively doing their best to step over him. Justice for Simon the Fainter.
Piggy declares a need for regular rehydration since you can become ‘over hot, and you can boil on the inside’.
‘Shut up Fatty,’ says one of the choristers, Jack. Ralph, in line to be Piggy’s island bestie, corrects him. Phew. ‘His real name is Piggy’, says the traitorous Ralph.
We thought better of you. We were all rooting for you.
Jack – who can hit a high C sharp, giving Mariah a run for her money – announces he’s leader of the hunters and sadly don’t commence an acapella rendition of Leader of the Pack. There’s decidedly little singing throughout the first episode, sadly.
Jack, Simon the Fainter, Ralph and Piggy head off to investigate the island, looking for a good space for a signal fire.
The quartet find the plane’s pilot, very bloodied and very dead, and rather than give him a decent burial, end up sending him down a mountain, strapped in his seat, where he hits off several rocks and heads towards the sea.
Back on the shore, one of the ‘little uns’ is worried about a beastie that he believes will appear from the forest. You and me both.
‘You only get beasts in big countries like Australia… this is an island,’ says Ralph.
Yes, Australia, that noted landlocked country.
Piggy, who loses an item of clothing approximately every 15 minutes, is ruddy faced and doing a good job of looking ruddy knackered. Sassy, he’s not above a few salty comments despite trying to keep the peace and avoid creatures with more legs than eyes. He’s at least trying to keep things civil as they organise themselves, even if it’s as much use as shouting in the wind.
Incidentally, his real name is Nicholas – ‘my aunt Joan called me Nicky’ – and you know hearing that (even if you’ve never read Golding’s book) that bad things are coming in Piggy’s direction.
You know, worse than being on an island with no alive grown-ups and a band of preteen vigilantes.
An example? They use his glasses as a means of starting fire. The image of Piggy shouting ‘I can’t see without my glasses’ is both how I feel every morning and ingrained in my brain.
Oh, and they are unable to capture a tiny pig, who makes its escape through the jungle as Piggy watches on. I’ll leave that allusion there…
On the shore, the little uns are making moats for sand creations and generally larking about. It’s quite different from up above where the fire, well, burns a bit harder than expected.
I’ve watched every episode of reality show Survivor and the grown-ups can’t make fire with a flint – so how several young boys were able to do so using glass is super impressive.
Piggy is carrying this episode better than any of the boys carried wood for the fire, or transporting wee ones away from the massive blaze they’ve managed to start.
Cinematographically wise, the fire is stunning, a riot of colour and sound that would be thrilling if it wasn’t for the children not having a notion what to do or how to contain it.
There’s also the small matter of a leadership challenge, something about which we’d be familiar on these shores.
Ralph’s a well brought up young man but he’s no match for Jack and his singing cronies. Things are going to get nasty – and quickly.
It would be better for Piggy if he cried all the way home because it’s clear that not everyone on the island is going to make it out unscathed.
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Derry Girls… but edgier’: Stars of new Lisa McGee comedy caper thrilled to work with acclaimed writer","teaserHeadline":"‘Like Derry Girls… but edgier’: Stars of new Lisa McGee comedy caper thrilled to work with acclaimed writer","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Maureen Coleman","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"The three stars of Lisa McGee’s highly anticipated new series have told how they immediately knew they wanted to get on board once they heard her name was attached to the project.
","teaserLeadtext":"The three stars of Lisa McGee’s highly anticipated new series have told how they immediately knew they wanted to get on board once they heard her name was attached to the project.
","summary":"Shoot was ‘bonkers’ say three leads who hail on-set chemistry of cast\n","subheadline":"","body":"Roísín Gallagher, Sinéad Keenan and Caoilfhionn Dunne had no hesitations about playing the leads in the new Netflix eight-parter, How to Get to Heaven from Belfast — the latest show to be created and written by the woman behind the multi-award-winning comedy Derry Girls.
The trio play a tight-knit group of Belfast friends in their 30s who embark on a “wild and weird” adventure after receiving a mysterious email telling them about the death of the estranged fourth member of their childhood gang.
A series of eerie events at her wake sets them on a dangerous and hilarious caper across Ireland and beyond as they try to piece together the truth about the past.
McGee says her new show is a mash-up of her two favourite genres, mystery and comedy, describing it as an “edgier, grown-up cousin of Derry Girls”.
And the three leads — part of an ensemble cast which also includes Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Bronagh Gallagher, Josh Finan, Michelle Fairley, Darragh Hand and Ardal O’Hanlon — spoke of the joy, trust and respect on the set and how they quickly bonded, despite having never worked together before.
Belfast actor Roísín Gallagher, who plays clever, chaotic TV writer Saoirse in How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, said that once she heard McGee had a new show in the works, she knew she had to bag a role.
“I heard through the grapevine that Lisa was writing something new and from that moment I thought, ‘Great, who do I need to call? What do I need to do to get into that and be part of it?’”, says Bafta nominee Gallagher, who previously starred in BritBox series The Dry and Sky Atlantic’s The Lovers.
“The chemistry was there from day one and I think that’s testament to the incredible casting process. When the three of us got together on a Saturday morning in London to read together, it was an instant feeling of ‘Yes, this is going to work, this is right’.
“From early on, we started to move the same way. There were no workshops, no movement director, exercises or games. We just tuned into each other early doors. But a lot of the work was already done with the amazing scripts.” Keenan, who worked with McGee before on London Irish and Derry Girls, plays Robyn, a glamorous, wealthy, stressed-out mum-of-three.
She said her former experiences with McGee had influenced her decision to sign up to How to Get to Heaven from Belfast and described the shoot as “bonkers”, adding that the three leads had formed a “sisterly” bond on set.
“You’re buckled up into a rollercoaster, and it just keeps going,” says Keenan, best known for her roles in the Bafta-nominated drama Little Boy Blue and ITV crime drama Unforgotten.
“There’s probably a little bit of Stockholm syndrome too because we spent so much time in each other’s company. It’s like sisterly, like a family.”
Dunne, who starred in Love/Hate, Industry and Saint Maud, said she also jumped at the chance to work on the new series once she knew it was from the pen of McGee.
“That’s the big one really, hearing the name Lisa McGee, you know it’s going to be good,” says Dunne, whose character, Dara, is the peacemaker of the trio and still lives at home with her sister and mum.
“It was an opportunity for me personally, as I got tired of crying for money; the idea of doing comedy and doing it at home.
“It’s rare to see women of our age on adventures. There are other things worked into the show, but really, it’s a caper.
“There was a lot of trust and a lot of respect running around the set and I’m going to say that word again, but it was like a family.”
In How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, which McGee began writing four years ago, the trio of friends receive an email telling them about the death of an old school pa, Greta (Natasha O’Keeffe). It soon becomes clear that the trio haven’t seen Greta since their late teens and that something major happened to cause the falling out.
At her wake in Knockdara, a fictional town in Donegal, a series of bizarre events sets the pals on an exciting odyssey as they attempt to piece together the truth about the past.
The cast sees a few familiar Derry faces popping up, with McGee wanting to specifically write characters for actors from her native city.
Derry Girls’ Saoirse-Monica Jackson, who portrayed Erin Quinn in the Channel 4 sitcom, and Derry actor/singer Bronagh Gallagher, play a pair of avenging angel-type ‘women warriors’ and have a lot of fun with the parts.
Many of the Derry Girls crew are back too, including director Michael Lennox.
Ardal O’Hanlon, whom McGee describes as a “genius” and one of her “comedy heroes”, plays Seamus, owner of a hotel in Knockdara.
Roísín Gallagher admits she was “quite nervous” before meeting the former Fr Ted star because she’d grown up watching him on TV but said working with him had been “magic”.
“When I heard Ardal was going to be in it, I was straight onto the family WhatsApp group,” says Gallagher.
“He’s such a gentleman and a great energy to be around, but once he’s in the zone, it’s very hard not to stand there laughing at him.
“You don’t know what he’s going to do next. He’d do something different or use a different accent. It was magic working with him on those days. It was early in the shoot, and we were still finding our feet, but he brought so much to the set.”
For McGee, her new show fulfils a long-held ambition to combine two of her favourite genres, comedy and mystery. A lifelong Murder, She Wrote fan, she describes her new show as a homage to Jessica Fletcher, Scooby Doo and Twin Peaks and says as with Derry Girls, female friendship groups are her main source of inspiration.
“I’m still close to my friendship group from school. They inspired Derry Girls and they inspired this series too,” says McGee, who currently lives in Belfast.
“I could just see it in my mind; this mystery comedy. The Northern Irish sense of humour is so dark, but we’re also ridiculous.
“Sometimes if you’ve had a friend for a long time, they might bring something up; something you don’t like, or you might bring something up that they think they’re a bit above now. I was interested in that and what if it was a really bad thing that they’re trying not to talk about.”
McGee said that storytelling was in the Irish DNA and that tales passed down through generations always had to have that essential element of “craic”.
“One of the most important things you can have as an Irish person is craic,” says McGee. “You can have a job, a career, a family but to have craic is so invaluable. Being no craic is like a death sentence.”
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast will premiere globally on Netflix on February 12
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/5ca3ddd8-9cd1-4d95-9f81-596d6448339c/b9ace343-c46b-4fa3-9efd-9a585fb5f661/5ca3ddd8-9cd1-4d95-9f81-596d6448339c.jpg","width":6000.0,"height":4000.0,"credit":"","caption":"From left: Roisin Gallagher as Saoirse, Caoilfhionn Dunne as Dara and Sinead Keenan as Robyn. 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","teaserLeadtext":"The Fiddler’s Rest opened two years ago, and it didn’t take long for this enterprising gastropub to earn acclaim from far and wide.
","summary":"The Portglenone pub is traditional and timeless – with a modern mindset.\n","subheadline":"","body":"This is a bar that puts a strong focus on good craic, great grub and first-class cocktails, and last week, I called in to sample what it has to offer.
Found on the site that was formerly home to the town’s Pat’s Bar, this relatively new face on the local social scene is a real head-turner thanks to a substantial makeover.
This is a traditional and timeless pub with a modern mindset.
If you enjoy its sister venues, including Dorman’s in Magherafelt and the Plough Inn in Hillsborough, you’ll have a fantastic time bending your elbow here.
In news that will be music to the ears of those devoted to deliciously creamy pints, the Guinness in the Fiddler’s Rest is fantastic and easily lives up to all of the acclaim.
My favourite thing about the pub is that it runs plenty of wallet-friendly drinks promotions.
For example, during all Premier League games, you can get a pint of Tennent’s for just £4.50.
It also offers value for money cocktail clubs and steak nights to ensure an evening out won’t cost an arm, leg or firstborn child.
There’s plenty of live music on offer as well.
The Fiddler’s Rest should be considered a must-visit for people who love bustling bars with big vibes.
The Fiddler’s Rest 71 Main St, Portglenone Tel: 02825483780
Rating: 4/5
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","teaserLeadtext":"Every club needs an unsung hero. Although he never kicked a ball for his beloved Ballymena United, Bertnel Thompson was regarded as an integral part of the Warden Street club.
","summary":"\n\n","subheadline":"","body":"He recently stepped away from his role as kit manager after 29 incredible years. During that time, he was also involved in the international set-up with Northern Ireland’s Under-17 squad.
Although he just fell short of celebrating three decades with the Sky Blues, when new manager Oran Kearney was recently appointed, Bertnel thought it was the right time to make a break.
\n \n \nHe walked down the tunnel at The Showgrounds for the last time with his head held high. He did the job with great diligence and to the best of his ability but, at 73 years of age, it was time to devote more time to his grandchildren.
Bertnel can look back and reflect with a great deal of pride.
“I never played the game because I was never that good,” he laughs.
“I always preferred to work behind the scenes. I started in my home village of Ahoghill. My brother formed a team and I gave him a hand as kit man, physio, trainer — a real odd job man.
“Then Tommy Smith, who played for Glenavon, Ballymena United and Coleraine, joined Portglenone. He asked me down to give him a hand. I was there for 12 years. Again, I was doing everything, with maybe a job of linesman on match days.”
Bertnel then found himself at Windsor Park, helping at Linfield Athletic.
He recalls: “I worked with a boy called Andy Scott and he told me Linfield were entering a team in the Ballymena Premier League. He asked me would I be interested.
“The good thing was they played their home games in Ahoghill.
“We had some great young players in the side — big Wes Lamont in goals, John McConnell, Jason Allen and Philip Knell. The late Billy Rogers was manager.
“I spent five years at Linfield. I loved it. We had a carload going up from Ballymena — big Darren Crawford, Nigel Boyd, Wes and Scotty (Steven) Douglas was just starting out back then.”
Bertnel was then informed there was a job going at Ballymena.
He takes up the story: “One night, we were going up to training and Darren said to me that Ballymena were looking a kit man and did I fancy applying.
“I was in junior football all my life, I was happy enough. But he said all I needed to do was give (secretary) Don Stirling my name and number.
“Well, I spoke to Don and he said he would gladly put my name forward. I received a telephone call asking me up for an interview with the manager, who was Alan Fraser at the time.
“I went up one Tuesday night. It was the old dressing rooms at Ballymena at the other side of the ground. I spoke to a guy, explaining I was there to see the manager.
“He said the manager was with someone, he would not be long. After a couple of minutes, the door opened and big Darren walked out — he had just signed, but he didn’t tell me anything about it. I called him all the names of the day.
“I tell people to this day I was at Ballymena because of Darren Crawford.
“Anyway, I had a chat with Alan and he was happy. It was a match made in heaven, as they say. It was only four miles down the road, so it cut down on a lot of travelling, instead of going to Belfast two or three times a week.”
Bertnel was about to board a rollercoaster that provided many highs and lows for the next 29 years.
“When I joined, we were in the old First Division, although we got promoted at the end of my first season,” he adds. “A few years down the line, we were relegated again in 2000.
“It took us two years to get back up again. By that stage, Kenny Shiels had become manager. He is another man I must thank for helping enhance my football journey.
“Kenny was also manager of the Northern Ireland Under-17 side. He had no kit man, so he asked me to help him. My first trip was to Russia and then on to Germany. In that squad was Steve Davis, Jim Ervin, Albert Watson and Sammy Morrow.
“I was with the Northern Ireland Under-17s for 12 years. In 2004, we reached the European Finals in France. It was a magnificent achievement, it was unbelievable.
“In that squad, we had Jonny Tuffey and Trevor Carson, the two goalkeepers; we had Michael O’Connor, now the manager at Glenavon; Ryan Catney, Daryl Fordyce, Kyle Lafferty, David Armstrong and Michael Carvill. What a fantastic fortnight we had.
“We were in a group with France, Spain and Turkey. The French pin-up boy back then was Hatem Ben Arfa, who went on to play for Newcastle. They only beat us 2-0, even though they had several future internationals in their team.
“Liam Brady was the Arsenal scout at that time. He came up to our hotel to have dinner with us one night. He said there will be a young boy in the Spanish team Arsenal have signed from Barcelona — a lad called Fabregas.
“He said big things are expected from him. Young Johnny Montgomery was assigned to mark him — he was in our Ballymena youth team.
“Fabregas was just a joy to watch, you could see then he was going to be a big star. They had the likes of Javi Garcia and Gerard Pique as well in their side. I told Johnny he could tell his children and grandchildren that he once marked Cesc Fabregas — not too many people in Northern Ireland could say that.
“It was an incredible time, I enjoyed every minute of it. Player, manager or kit man, it was an honour to represent your country.”
Bertnel also enjoyed many foreign trips with Ballymena. He chuckles: “We qualified for the Intertoto Cup in 2004, we were drawn against Odense.
“Their main arena was getting under soil heating, so we had to play on a smaller back pitch with a little grandstand that held about 200 people.
“We drew 0-0 with them. We thought we were in with a shout of qualifying. In the next round, we would have drawn Villarreal. But Odense arrived at Ballymena with their two main strikers back in the team — they thumped us 7-0. Talk about being brought back to earth.
“Then, a lot of years later, we faced a Norwegian side, Odd, who beat us over two legs. But in 2019, we managed to create a little piece of history by beating Faroese side Runavik.
“Although Malmo tanked us in the second round, it was a fantastic experience.”
Bertnel played under some influential managers in his time at the club. He believes all of them had their own unique style.
“I couldn’t say a bad word about any of them,” he adds.
I couldn't have asked for a better manager. I couldn't speak highly enough of him
“Alan was there at the beginning, then Nigel Best arrived. He never left a home or away ground, or even a training night, without coming to me to say, ‘Thank you Bertnel’. I think that says a lot about the man.”
motivator
When David Jeffrey arrived at The Showgrounds in March 2016, he was a big help to Bertnel personally.
“My mother died during David’s spell and the man was unbelievable,” he says.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better manager, I couldn’t speak highly enough of him.
“What a man motivator in the dressing room he was. He could make you believe you were a George Best or a Franz Beckenbauer. He would have had people ready to go through a brick wall for him.
“In David’s time, we had seven Finals in seven years and we finished runners-up in the League one season.
“Around that time, all the big money began to come into football. We lost a posse of players — Adam Lecky, Johnny McMurray and Jude Winchester to name a few.
“I think if that money hadn’t come into the League, David would have won the title the following year.
“All he needed was a few new faces in the summer — and David would have got them.”
After 29 years, Bertnel knew the time was right to step away.
“I’m now 73, I thought it was the perfect time to quit,” he concludes.
“When I started at Ballymena in 1996, Davy Blair, of Blair International Transport, used to take me to all the away games. I had the kit, a bag of balls and water bottles.
“In my last game away from home, I had maybe eight or nine bags. I had two good lads helping me in Mark Craig and Ronnie Balmer, but it was still a lot of work.
“When a new manager comes in, he likes to bring in his own people, so it gave me the perfect chance to step away.
“Yes, I would have liked to have done another year to make it 30 — but it’s only a number at the end of the day.
“I now have more time to spend with family and the grandkids.”
Did you know?
- When Bertnel, who now lives in Islandmagee with his partner Alison, left Ballymena United, the club honoured him by making him a life member for his years of service.
- During 29 years with the Sky Blues, he operated under eight different managers, worked with 444 players and oversaw 1,354 competitive matches.
- Bertnel’s highlights were winning the First Division title, the League Cup and two County Antrim Shields, as well as enjoying eight European ties.
McKeever Hotels is celebrating 40 years in hospitality, and its ethos of family values and offering exceptional service remains paramount.
","teaserLeadtext":"McKeever Hotels is celebrating 40 years in hospitality, and its ethos of family values and offering exceptional service remains paramount.
","summary":"In our Meaning of Life series, hotelier Catherine McKeever speaks to Áine Toner about how she got into the business and the journey her family has had\n","subheadline":"","body":"Today, McKeever Hotels owns five properties across the island of Ireland.
“I always wanted to be a teacher, and even as a child, I was always the teacher,” explains co-founder Catherine McKeever.
“However, I was coming 15 and my friends were all working in Belfast. My parents wouldn’t hear of it, especially during the middle of the Troubles.
“We lived in Whiteabbey and my father said to me, ‘go up to the hospital, I’m sure they’ll be looking for a wee girl for Saturday work’.
“I thought, well, I’m not going to the hospital, it’s just not for me. I went up to the top of the park, and if I turned right, I was going to the hospital, but I turned left, and there was a hotel at the bottom of the road, the Abbeylands Hotel.”
Despite wanting to be a waitress “with no experience”, Catherine began washing dishes in the kitchen.
Still keen to waitress, she was told she’d be allowed to work in the restaurant when, in the days of silver service, she was able to lift a piece of paper with a spoon and fork.
“By the time you get down to be able to lift a piece of paper, they’re just an extension of your fingers. I was determined that I was going to be a waitress,” she explains, emphasising the “great grounding” she had there.
Catherine was later entrusted to work in housekeeping, reception, and weddings. When the head waiter took ill, the hotel’s owner asked Catherine, then aged 18, to run a wedding.
“Well, sure, at 18 I could rule the world. What could go wrong?” she laughs.
“I ran all the weddings that summer and nothing went wrong. But now, with all my experience, if somebody says, ‘Catherine, run that wedding’, I say, I need to check this, I need to check that, this could happen and that could happen. I understand. But at the time, you think you’re invincible.
“It’s that exuberance of youth. I look at young people and people are always giving out about young people. Yes, of course, they make mistakes and they’ll do things they shouldn’t do. But we all did it and we all thought we were invincible. If we were lucky, we got through it and if we weren’t, well, we broke a leg.
“When we did go into our own business, I already had a lot of knowledge of the front of the house.
“Eugene [her husband and fellow co-founder] was the head chef, so he knew the back of the house.
“He was also very new to Corr’s Corner. Between us, we had a fair idea of what we were getting into. We didn’t know it all. As things come up, you deal with them and you get on with it.”
In 1986, Eugene left Corr’s Corner to start his own venture. The couple returned in 1993 as the owners and developed into a full-service hotel in 1997.
Moving from restaurateurs to hoteliers seems like a great leap, says Catherine, but it wasn’t as significant as you’d expect.
“We had our first restaurant and then we bought a second. We had Granagh House in Randalstown and then we went into partnership with Eugene’s brother in the Wild Duck Inn in Portglenone. Then we got the opportunity to go back and buy Corr’s Corner.”
At the time, Corr’s was a roadhouse with no bedrooms.
Catherine says: “There wasn’t a hotel. Of all the things we have done since, that was the biggest leap. Could we do it? Should we do it? Hours and hours of asking ourselves questions.”
One of Eugene’s friends suggested that the couple should add bedrooms. They visited Scotland. looked at similar places and thought, why not?
“We sort of fell into being hoteliers. We got an architect and got the rooms built. We were lucky that they took off and suddenly we were in the hotel business, which opened up a whole new gamut of things that we had to learn.
“I laugh now. I started doing the marketing, and I didn’t even know what marketing was. I went to these meetings and we advertised in newspapers.
“When I think now of what my daughter, Bridgene, does as the marketing director, I mean, I did very little. In those days, it was all about newspaper advertising and talking to people.”
In 1999, they purchased the Dunsilly Arms in Co Antrim, launching the 40-bedroom Dunsilly Hotel in 2005. A decade later, the company bought and renovated The Adair Arms Hotel in Ballymena. By 2017, it had added the Letterkenny Court Hotel and the Dunadry Hotel to its portfolio.
The company is marking 40 years of business success through a 12-month programme which celebrates its past achievements and looks forward to further growth and development.
It’s an impressive feat, but the couple never set out to own multiple hotels, says Catherine.
“Eugene’s goal was about having his own business. I was still a teacher for 10 years until my mother was dying of cancer. She had always looked after my children, so I never had the trauma of being a mother leaving her children,” she explains.
“We were refurbishing Granagh House that year. The school I was teaching in was amalgamating with another school that was going to add another half hour to my journey. I was pregnant with my fourth child, so all those things came together.
“I decided that the best thing at that point was to resign my post and I would get a new job. I wasn’t for leaving teaching at all. I resigned my post at the end of June.
“The refurbishment finished at the end of September. My mother died at the beginning of October.
“In between the refurbishment ending and my mother dying, there was a massive bomb in Randalstown and all the windows were put out. The carpets were destroyed. There were other people who lost their businesses completely; ours would be repaired.”
Midway through the following year, Catherine was pregnant with their fifth child, and by the time the baby was born, the couple had bought the Wild Duck.
She had “itchy feet” to return to teaching, seeking out application forms before eventually thinking about the possibility of the time it would require.
“We had five children by this stage, and we had bought Corr’s. I was involved completely in refurbishments and working at the coalface. It just became an impossibility,” she says, adding that September remains the month of each year where she makes her resolutions.
For many still, hotels are aligned with special occasions.
“We only went to hotels if it was like a wedding or a very special occasion. Or you might have been taken on your birthday. My parents wouldn’t have gone to a hotel to take us anywhere,” says Catherine.
“We still have young ones that don’t get to hotels and it’s still a glamorous place. You forget that because we serve a lot of young people.
“We hold a staff do every other year and we bring the staff from all the hotels to one hotel and there’s a big awards dinner.
“We call it a gala dinner. They don’t have to wear a formal dress because that’s not easy for everybody.
“One young lad said to my husband, ‘until I came to work in your hotel, I had never been in a hotel, and this is only the second hotel I’ve ever been to’.
“I just thought, it’s so nice because with a lot of these young people, they serve guests every day — whether they’re working in the kitchen, doing the food or actually serving.
“They see these weddings, formals and all these people dressed up. They get the opportunity and really enjoy it.”
Catherine praises her parents for giving the opportunity to attend university.
“I went on a full grant and I worked part time, because mummy and daddy hadn’t the money to send me to university.
“There were four others coming behind me. If I hadn’t got that grant, there is no way I would have gone to university.
“I often think that now with young people. They say, ‘oh, they can get a loan and they can pay it back’. I know my parents would have been like, ‘oh, no, don’t, because that’s going to hang over your head’.
“I know there are young people now that could go to university and could do very well, but they can’t have that debt.
“I was given that opportunity by my parents and I will always be grateful to them for that. They could easily have said, ‘no, we can’t afford it. You need to go to work; you need the money’.
“Eugene went to work in Corr’s Corner when he was very young.
“[Former owner] John Corr put him through all his exams. including his degree and his postgraduate.
“We employ a lot of young people and the vast majority have their qualifications, but everybody that comes to us gets training.
“They can do the degree with us. But there are still some young people who come in to us that don’t even have basic English and maths. We can’t put them on a course until they get their basic maths.
“Some of these young people have gone on to get their degrees. It’s not that they haven’t got the ability, just somewhere along the line, communication goes down in school. I still find that incredible.
“I suppose it’s one of the things that I’m most proud of. The number of young people that we employ — wonderful young people. They get such bad press.”
Catherine, even while teaching, was no stranger to working for their initial restaurant.
“Don’t get me wrong, in any kitchen, any hospitality, there are going to be times when a waitress and a chef has a barney. But in our case, it was always to do with getting the food out,” she explains.
“I can honestly say in all the years we’ve been together, we never went home saying, ‘how dare you say that to me? Don’t you think you are talking to me like that?’ We always knew it was for the good of the customer.
“Again, when we went into our own business, because I knew front of house, Eugene knew the back of house, we respected that. We knew what we were good at. We also knew what our weaknesses were.
“I couldn’t cook and I couldn’t do the accounts. He couldn’t do the front of house. Now, over the years, we’ve both learned.
“On the odd occasion I did have to cook, it took a dire emergency, but I did it. He can now do the front of house.
“We learned from each other, but we always respected each other.”
Their children were brought up in this supportive environment.
“Our son Eddie started working in Corr’s washing glasses at the bar. Bridgene started as a housekeeper working one summer and then went onto reception. That was her path; he did the other path. He became a barman and worked in the restaurants.
“All the girls worked in a cafe when they were young, before they ever came into the hotels. They didn’t come into the business only as managers.
“They know what it’s like to stand there and wash a dish. I often said, if I could, I would make everybody who works in a hotel wash dishes for a week.
“I think it would be a lot more respect for what it’s like.”
Once Bridgene completed university, she returned to the company, as did Eddie, who had worked all over Ireland.
“Eddie came back with this wealth of knowledge and just very seamlessly came into the business,” says Catherine.
“The lovely thing was that suppliers, guests, clients and companies that we worked with all accepted him very quickly. He was taking over a lot of stuff that his father had always done. That, for me, was also a very proud moment.
“They didn’t come in and change the whole ethos of our hotels.
“Yes, there are changes and modernising things, but not losing what we set in motion, which is lovely.
“Again, we have our moments. We don’t always agree, but whatever decision is made, that’s the decision.
“We don’t have somebody stomping off going, ‘you never listen to me’.
“If it’s a mistake, it’s a mistake. We come back together and say, right, OK, that’s not working, we need to try something else.
“It’s not, ‘I told you’; that doesn’t happen. It’s not for personal gratification. It’s for the good of business and not to the detriment of the staff.
“We make changes. I always say to the staff, this is not to make your life harder.
“There may be some things that do make your life harder, but that’s not the intention. Because for the guests, that will improve their stay, but there are other things that we change which actually make the staff’s life easier.”
During the conversation, Catherine comes across as positive and pragmatic, saying that when a problem arises, it’s dealt with.
“We always say that there’s no point in going off on one. If something’s gone wrong, it’s like, right, we’ll deal with that person afterwards. Let’s fix it now.
“If a customer complains about something, they go into the kitchen and the chef goes off on one.
“Well, the customer still sits there. The waitress is only the messenger or the waiter.
“The chef’s still going to have to do something about it. Do something about it and we’re going to do a postmortem about it afterwards.”
The McKeevers have captured their story in a video, which explains their journey and their passion for hospitality.
The group is calling for those who have a special connection to the hotels to share their stories, photographs and videos, with the material being collated, documented and displayed in a McKeever Memory Lane.
For more information on the McKeever Hotels, see mckeeverhotels.com. All customers and guests who would like to be part of the McKeever Memory Lane are asked to forward photographs and videos to marketing@mckeeverhotelgroup.com. A number of exclusive prizes will be awarded to those which best capture 40 years of great hospitality
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","teaserLeadtext":"A Belfast photographer who rose to prominence with Game of Thrones will be back in the city on Thursday as part of the RENDR Festival.
","summary":"Stills photographer Helen Sloan will be in the city to discuss her eight-series work on Game of Thrones \n","subheadline":"","body":"Helen Sloan, who recently shot the stills on How to Train Your Dragon and the second series of Netflix show Wednesday, will be sharing the realities of life on set.
The stills photographer — who captures a single moment using a camera — was given her first piece of equipment at age 11.
“It’s now for display only after being ‘much loved!” she says. “I’m a terrible equipment hoarder. Each camera is like a talisman. Holding thousands of memories. Thankfully I’m able to pass them onto my daughter now, who is a keen photographer herself.”
At 18 and studying Art in Belfast, working with the Community Circus School led to Helen travelling the world, spending a significant amount of time in Iceland, a place she calls ‘endlessly inspiring’.
A series of work on horror films followed, before Game of Thrones came to her door. Helen was present from the first day of the pilot until the last day of filming, capturing an estimated 1.5 million images across the eight seasons.
Primarily filmed in Northern Ireland, crews also travelled to Spain, Morocco and Matla to create the landscapes of Essos and Westeros.
“When I look back to the pilot, it was all new and exciting. The crew was much smaller obviously,” she explains.
“Driving across to Doon with the armoury department felt like the start of something really new.
“In terms of the project itself, obviously we knew HBO, and my brother, who is not invested in television as all, was mildly excited when I mentioned the name of the series, as he had read the books, so I knew there was a fanbase of sorts already.”
When the first series hit screens, they were ‘gobsmacked’ at the response.
“The first billboard I saw with one of my photographs was just around the corner from my house, that was thrilling,” says Helen.
“Thankfully the series grew organically, although very quickly, with every season - as a crew, we were all going through that together, and so that felt like a safety net. The family grew, the scale of the work grew, but we were all in the same boat if you will.
“By the end we were servicing a workload and demand for images I never could have imagined at the beginning.”
Experiencing the collective highs and lows with such an amazing group of people was one of her role’s most fulfilling aspects.
“It would be a lie to say that watching my career blossom was not also joyful - there was really no inkling in my mind that this sort of success was ever an option for someone like me.
“There I was immersed in 360 degrees of art on an industrial scale every day of the week, watching the finest at their craft working beside me. Every day was a school day.”
Helen describes the team at HBO as ‘sticklers for quality and effort’, adding that it wasn’t the case of waiting for instruction, but constantly bringing something to the table.
“As the show grew, I kept hearing the phrase “biggest in the world” and there was an expectation I placed upon myself to make sure I was pulling out all the stops, all the time. No rest for the wicked as they say,” she says, when asked about never being able to dial in her work.
“Although it was demanding work every day, I had the best team of people around me.
“Nobody does anything of that scale on their own - and that’s the truth. There were no two days the same, nothing felt like a grind - and of course that keeps the mind busy and excited.
“One day we were on top of a glacier in Iceland, and a week later, ankle deep in waterlogged mud in Toome.
“And of course, many of the crew became invested in the storylines. How couldn’t we? For me, it felt like watching live theatre every day - the cast were just fantastic. And to be engaged as the documentarian of all that? Who would want to dial it in?”
Still photography requires precision and timing, says Helen, who has worked on The Fall and Agatha and the Truth of Murder, but also listening.
“Film sets can be potentially dangerous and are sometimes actually more akin to a building site than a theatre,” she explains.
“Everyone is trying to do their job in a small space at the same time. It’s so important to have symbiosis: we all need to move together without hindering each other. There’s a lot of give and take. It doesn’t suit a big ego - and they get weeded out pretty quickly here.
“I remember the cast of Thrones saying that one of the most refreshing things about working here was that it felt like everyone was on an even playing field. They didn’t feel “famous” in Belfast and weren’t treated as such - in the nicest possible way! For many of them it became a second home.
“There’s a lot more to this job than the technical aspects of using a camera. You have to be able to be around so many different types of people on a daily basis and appreciate that the majority of people do not like to have their photograph taken!
“There’s a set of traits required for each role on set, and I love watching the new trainee generation come onboard and find their groove.”
The first Irish member of The Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers (SMPSP) says that Northern Ireland is ‘awake to us’ and that the film and television talent here ‘have more than proved our worth’.
“People here have an incredible work ethic. We want to succeed because of what we are coming from,” she says.
“There has not been a single company I’ve worked for that hasn’t mentioned this. Although we need to advocate for ourselves. There is still a mentality that people need to be ‘brought in’ to do a job well.
“Certainly, this is true for specialisms where we are still training crew - but for the most part I’d say we are in a great place in terms of self-sufficiency.”
What would help is if we stopped referring to ourselves in reductive language.
“Our wee country” etc. Look at how we have grown and succeeded against the odds - HBO and our beloved show runners saw something vital here and stuck with us.
“Nothing “wee” about this place - it is thriving and just needs to believe in itself. There is a very important and nuanced conversation to be had about support within the arts here.
“Young crew talk immediately about going abroad, disappearing away to London and further, because there is better support elsewhere for creatives. Our industry booms and then bleeds. Artists keep being moved on, losing studio spaces… it’s tough out there.”
From Westeros to Wednesday – A photographer’s document of life on set with Helen will be in Belfast as part of the RENDR Festival on February 12. For more information, see rendrfestival.com/programme
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Credit: Olly Smith","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1998.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1998.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1333.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":164.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1998.0,"width":1332.0,"x":334.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1998.0,"width":1998.0,"x":1.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Belfast","Aine Toner"],"regions":[],"ids":["20ad1ad9-4bbd-4418-a426-bb8f47463fca","350f6a8d-3d80-46b1-88f1-9f6865bb687f"],"slugs":["belfast","aine-toner"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","5baa25b1-9e29-41a2-811a-8007ebc1f963","bd7bc19d-9afe-4071-9833-bc903b5e2faa","9a3c5698-8020-4e7a-b2ee-b49e1404548b","67c8140c-07d0-4d91-90ce-8c492d2b1482","77fe3413-ebcc-46b7-8603-87c7d2e3777d"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/entertainment/film-tv","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1418307372,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-11T20:00:04+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/features","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/features/my-daughter-got-me-started-now-its-a-runaway-train-retired-shop-manager-throws-himself-into-acting-at-63-years-young/a1418307372.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"bel001_metered"},"headline":"‘My daughter got me started, now it’s a runaway train’: Retired shop manager throws himself into acting at 63 years young","teaserHeadline":"‘My daughter got me started, now it’s a runaway train’: Retired shop manager throws himself into acting at 63 years young","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Jade Beecroft","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A retired Dunnes manager and grandad felt as excited as “a little boy” when he watched himself acting on the big screen at a film festival.
","teaserLeadtext":"A retired Dunnes manager and grandad felt as excited as “a little boy” when he watched himself acting on the big screen at a film festival.
","summary":"Co Antrim man now has 25 short films, three feature films, several plays, a TV advert, and a music video to his name\n","subheadline":"","body":"Eugene ‘Houdi’ McCabe has been pursuing acting as a new career since his daughter bought him a voucher for classes as a Christmas present two years ago.
Since then, the 63-year-old has acted in 25 short films, three feature films, four studio plays, five rehearsed reading plays, a TV advert, a music video and five social media ads.
Houdi worked alongside Belfast actor Anthony McKenna in The Pale Man, a 23-minute horror film written and directed by Andrew Dornan.
When I take something on, I give it 100 per cent...I don’t do things by halves
It was screened at the Foyle Film Festival in November and has also been performed on stage.
Houdi, from Portrush, said it was “fantastic” to be part of the project
“It’s been really well received by the public,” he added.
“I play a sleepless man who gets up in the middle of the night to find a sinister figure in his sitting room, with his face hidden in the shadows.
“What follows is a 22-minute conversation between me and this figure, and I don’t know whether he’s going to kill me.
“At the Foyle Film Festival, I was like a little boy. (I thought) ‘Not bad for a lad who’s only been doing this for a year and a half’.”
Houdi — so called because, as a child, he was “like Houdini, always getting into scrapes but talking my way out of them” — has a philosophy that has served him well.
He was working part-time in a newsagents in Clones, his hometown, when a man offered him some words of wisdom.
“It was 1979, and I was rushing around, trying to do too many things at once,” Houdi recalled.
“This man came in — his trousers were held together with bailer twine — and he said to me ‘Young fella, the hawk that chases two rabbits catches neither. Just do one job at once, and do it well’.”
Houdi took that philosophy into his 42-year career with Dunnes. He started as a 19-year-old trainee manager in a Dublin store in 1981, before moving to west Belfast in 1985 and meeting his now wife Carole (62).
He managed stores in Belfast’s Park Centre, which at the time was the biggest Dunnes in Northern Ireland, and Crumlin Road, Newcastle, Magherafelt and Coleraine, before retiring from his final role at the company’s Derry branch in April 2023.
He and Carole had three children — Ben, Elizabeth and Alice — and welcomed their first grandchild Genevieve last year.
Houdi has always been an orator, having been a confident debater at school and, later, a performer of skits for family and friends.
In late 2023, his daughter Alice bought him a voucher for a nine-week beginner acting course at Belfast’s Crescent Art Centre as a Christmas present.
He loved it so much that he signed up for the follow-up intermediate and advanced courses at the centre, followed by a one-year course with Shine Bright at the Sanctuary Theatre in Belfast, joining the Bright Umbrella theatre company at the same venue.
He also started writing short stories, and has now become a regular performer at tenx9 at the Black Box in the city, where nine writers read for 10 minutes.
His most recent projects include roles in The Lockdown Run, by Kieron Magee, and Irish American Horror Story, by Olcan McSparron.
Houdi is currently shooting a spy thriller called To Catch a Crane, by Jonny Gray, and has a number of exciting prospects lined up for the year.
Last year, his short story She’s Got Legs was printed in a literary magazine called Impspired and is now being made into a film, described as a coming-of-age comedy.
Houdi said: “I’m just starting a playwriting course at the Crescent.
“I have 20 short stories written, and I would like to turn them into 10-minute plays.”
His daughter is “gobsmacked” at how far the initial acting course has taken him.
But he said: “When I take something on, I give it 100 per cent. I remember the hawk — I don’t do things by halves.
“Alice, who is an incredible artist herself, jump-started me, but now I’m on a runaway train.”
Houdi’s acting heroes are Brendan Gleeson, James Nesbitt and Gabriel Byrne, who he has admired since watching him in the early 1980s TV series Bracken.
Asked about his ambitions, Houdi said he just wanted to “get better”.
He added: “Rejection is a big thing in the art world, and you have to get used to it
“I don’t do envy or jealousy, and I admire actors who are really great at their jobs.
“I just want to be better tomorrow than I am today.”
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/eb162e7e-d6ca-4a7b-ae9e-f1a6eef0f9b3/56c878c9-785e-42c4-9279-2dbfd46061bf/eb162e7e-d6ca-4a7b-ae9e-f1a6eef0f9b3.jpg","width":2290.0,"height":3053.0,"credit":"","caption":"Eugene ‘Houdi’ McCabe at his retirement party","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3053.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1771.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":698.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1527.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":718.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3053.0,"width":2035.0,"x":125.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2293.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":542.0}}}]}},{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":10,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/27733a8b-659a-49fe-b50e-80d5171d4b43/25b5d3ed-ec4b-4d79-ba35-f23cdd5ea3fe/27733a8b-659a-49fe-b50e-80d5171d4b43.jpg","width":2158.0,"height":3239.0,"credit":"","caption":"Houdi and Anthony McKenna on the set of The Pale Man","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3239.0,"width":2158.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1691.0,"width":2158.0,"x":0.0,"y":373.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1440.0,"width":2158.0,"x":0.0,"y":317.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3237.0,"width":2158.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2158.0,"x":0.0,"y":179.0}}}]}},{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":21,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/f85d1460-e84a-4e92-a339-1fbef1773866/53138868-2c12-4e6e-ba12-1c8904eec9d6/f85d1460-e84a-4e92-a339-1fbef1773866.jpg","width":2290.0,"height":3053.0,"credit":"","caption":"Houdi outside his old branch on his last day","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3053.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1018.0,"width":1307.0,"x":859.0,"y":543.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1045.0,"width":1565.0,"x":724.0,"y":549.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2008.0,"width":1334.0,"x":820.0,"y":509.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1337.0,"width":1334.0,"x":826.0,"y":494.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/eb162e7e-d6ca-4a7b-ae9e-f1a6eef0f9b3/56c878c9-785e-42c4-9279-2dbfd46061bf/eb162e7e-d6ca-4a7b-ae9e-f1a6eef0f9b3.jpg","width":2290.0,"height":3053.0,"credit":"","caption":"Eugene ‘Houdi’ McCabe at his retirement party","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3053.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1771.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":698.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1527.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":718.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3053.0,"width":2035.0,"x":125.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2293.0,"width":2290.0,"x":0.0,"y":542.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Belfast","Derry News","Antrim News"],"regions":[],"ids":["20ad1ad9-4bbd-4418-a426-bb8f47463fca","08dc9777-2cb9-47a6-920c-d923d2124c71","fa952ad8-8bdd-4101-893c-0aca40cd41a1"],"slugs":["belfast","derry-news","antrim-news"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","3d998ebb-3a9a-4b82-ac53-6367c722d1d7","82a95d4f-e893-4c72-8614-ad3139c6df5b","cb8c7ca5-d385-4266-b829-587828096bef","9b24e912-d74d-482a-979f-94a5487fbf28"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/sunday-life/features","isLatestNews":true},{"id":2117666630,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-11T20:00:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/no-fresh-start-for-pci-until-they-take-full-ownership-of-safeguarding-scandal/a2117666630.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"bel001_metered"},"headline":"‘No fresh start for PCI until they take full ownership of safeguarding scandal’ ","teaserHeadline":"‘No fresh start for PCI until they take full ownership of safeguarding scandal’ ","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Angela Davison","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Meaningful change in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) can only be achieved if full disclosure of its failings is given, according to a safeguarding expert and a religious lecturer.
","teaserLeadtext":"Meaningful change in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) can only be achieved if full disclosure of its failings is given, according to a safeguarding expert and a religious lecturer.
","summary":"PCI may have elected a new Moderator, but more is needed to rebuild trust, say experts close to embattled church\n","subheadline":"","body":"International safety consultant Ian Elliott and former Union Theological College lecturer Professor Laurence Kirkpatrick spoke out after the announcement of a new church moderator.
Rev Richard Kerr now has the unenviable task of trying to rebuild trust in the PCI after it was rocked by a safeguarding scandal last year.
Mr Elliott, himself a former Presbyterian elder, says the church’s problems require deeper scrutiny and won’t be solved by simply electing a new church head.
He believes a public statutory inquiry is needed to get a clear understanding of what failed in the church’s safeguarding procedures.
“It is not enough simply to say sorry and how much they regret what happened. We need full disclosure and, I suspect, leadership who have the expertise and commitment to drive change.”
He also criticised the PCI over it’s closure of a dedicated safeguarding helpline set up last November.
“PCI should not seek to offer services that they do not have the skills or expertise to provide and to which they are not committed,” added Mr Elliott.
“I do not think PCI appreciated what they were taking on and I suspect that contributed to its early closing.”
A spokesperson for the PCI said every call to the temporary phone line, which was silenced on December 15, was triaged and “forwarded to the appropriate agencies for response and ongoing support”.
Prof Kirkpatrick believes that, so far, PCI has shown very little signs of having learnt anything and says questions remain.
The former church history lecturer also says that there still hasn’t been a full revelation of all that has gone wrong in PCI procedures, with ordinary Presbyterians still in the dark.
He explained: “PCI has acknowledged only a small number of safeguarding failures. There has been no acknowledgement about the regime of bullying, harassment, undermining and isolation by PCI leadership of ministers and other church members.
“Church processes have been deliberately manipulated to target individuals. The voices of those who have suffered injustice have not been heard. PCI cannot go forwards until these injustices have been acknowledged and put right.”
Prof Kirkpatrick also challenged the church’s use of NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), himself subject to a “confidential agreement” after his settlement with the church last year.
He added: “Clinging to NDAs to ensure silence only adds to the suspicion that PCI has something to hide. I know PCI has been asked by several individuals to be released from the NDAs imposed upon them. So far all requests have been firmly refused.
“Hopefully the law will change soon and they will be declared null and void and people can tell of the injustices suffered by PCI leadership.”
Last week, an article in the Impartial Reporter said that the-now former moderator Rev Trevor Gribben provided a letter in the 2021 court case of disgraced Presbyterian minister Matthew Simpson, who was caught with indecent images of children.
As part of an attempt to have the Tyrone minister’s identity withheld from publication, the letter from Rev Gribben, who was then clerk of the General Assembly, said Simpson’s congregations had not been informed of the pending charges.
Matthew Simpson (63) admitted three counts each of possessing and distributing indecent images of children, with offending occurring between August 2016 and February 2017, while he was minister of two Cookstown churches. A two-year probation order was imposed and Simpson will remain on the sex offenders register for five years.
Separately, a criminal investigation is still ongoing into the Presbyterian Church by the PSNI.
Moxy Belfast City 4 Clarence St W, Belfast BT2 7GP Tel: 02896205580
","teaserLeadtext":"Moxy Belfast City 4 Clarence St W, Belfast BT2 7GP Tel: 02896205580
","summary":"The Moxy is fresh, cool and contemporary… and a welcome change from the stuffy formality of many hotels\n","subheadline":"","body":"Belfast is coming down with hotels, many of them promising the usual spin about the city’s rich historical and culinary traditions.
However, my recent stay at the Moxy Belfast City showed just how appealing a more contemporary take on a city break can be.
A new face on the scene, the hotel is on Clarence Street West, where the Park Inn once stood.
It opened its doors in September last year as the first Moxy location in Northern Ireland.
The hotel was redesigned over the following year — something apparent from the moment you walk in the door and spot the trendy neon signs, exposed ceiling fittings and vast, open-plan lobby.
Having battled rush-hour traffic, arriving on a cold Friday evening after work and definitely ready to wind down, it was pleasant to be spared the stuffy formality of some hotels.
Instead, I was greeted at the check-in desk, which doubles up as a bar, by a smiling front-of-house manager who was all too happy to engage in a bit of Belfast craic and offer me my complimentary welcome cocktail.
Moxy Hotels — one of 31 brands in the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio — describes the style of accommodation as “playfully experiential”, something that rings true when you gaze around the lobby and communal space, which gives off vibes of a cocktail bar crossed with a modern living room.
This isn’t a ‘twinkling piano in the corner’ sort of place. Instead think cool Majorca or Ibiza, with remixed versions of popular tunes filling the hotel with energy and fun.
The lobby is spacious and welcoming, with feature lights, lots of lounge sofas and Belfast-inspired pop-art on the walls.
Bright and bold furniture is the order of the day, with chairs and tables stretching back past the bar and into the dining and lounge area, which provides plenty of space for catching up with a larger group of family and friends.
In keeping with the vibe, there is a collection of classic board games and a foosball table for encouraging everyone to get off their screens and enjoy a bit of craic.
There are also private booths to accommodate couples and friends enjoying a more intimate cocktail from the bar’s extensive menu of bespoke creations and familiar classics.
Many people enjoying a drink will naturally pair this with a bite to eat, with Moxy offering a 24/7 ‘grab and go’ fridge stocked with sandwiches and snacks, alongside a bar-style menu featuring the likes of fish and chips, chicken goujons and toasties.
To set me up for the evening, I opted for a pepperoni pizza, a selection of barbecue chicken wings and a portion of fries to go along with them. As street food-style dining goes, it was perfect and fit the mood of the hotel wonderfully.
All the dishes were also generously portioned and packed with flavour.
Many of Moxy’s rivals might well offer more extensive dining choices on site. However, I love the confidence of a hotel that has a theme and vibe around casual and comfortable dining and is brave enough to acknowledge the many wonderful city centre options within yards of the front door for those after an alternative food choice.
After a lively few hours downstairs (although the party doesn’t stop in the lifts, which mirror the soundtrack of the lobby), it was time to relax in my room for the night, catch up with The Traitors — perfect on the huge smart TV that had all the entertainment apps — and enjoy a blissful Friday sleep with a weekend off.
I stayed in a queen room, which was ultra modern, spacious and had that similar air of cool (in ambience, not temperature, thanks to the perfect air conditioning).
I loved the little touches, such as the ‘Craic’s 90’ cushions and the old-style room phone.
My bathroom came equipped with a really powerful shower, and I loved how bright and
modern everything was, with a big mirror to fine-tune your look before a night out.
The most important part of any stay, of course, is the sleep, and I’m happy to say the Moxy delivered perfectly in that regard, with a huge bed to sink into and — despite the party vibes downstairs — a whisper-quiet room to make my home for the evening.
Knowing that Moxy prioritises light bites and casual dining, I went down to breakfast the next morning with a slight trepidation.
However, the sight of a generous, all-you-can-eat feast of hot and continental options immediately put my mind at ease. Breakfast that morning was a true delight.
And for those of you with a sweet tooth, there are decadent donuts available as part of the buffet, which seemed like the perfect way to sign off on such an enjoyable stay.
Factfile
Christopher stayed at the hotel courtesy of Moxy Belfast City.
Moxy Belfast City currently has a 20 per cent off rate on their bookings, with prices starting from £127 per night for two adults staying on Friday into Saturday in a Moxy Queen.
Free breakfast included, served from 6.30am to 10am, Monday to Friday, and 7am to 10.30am Saturdays and Sundays.
The hotel’s family rooms, including a queen bed and single, offer stays for larger groups, with prices starting from £143 per night, with free breakfast included.
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Leebody","Belfast"],"regions":[],"ids":["503fd08e-95f8-4664-928a-85a92e3beb4c","20ad1ad9-4bbd-4418-a426-bb8f47463fca"],"slugs":["christopher-leebody","belfast"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","3d998ebb-3a9a-4b82-ac53-6367c722d1d7","82a95d4f-e893-4c72-8614-ad3139c6df5b","cb8c7ca5-d385-4266-b829-587828096bef","086c6556-9e9c-48a6-95b5-af08010093c6","2720abf6-2f0b-4e92-8ff5-7acab95db742"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/sunday-life/features","isLatestNews":true},{"id":2093699859,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-11T14:00:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/sport","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/sport/i-have-boxed-for-northern-ireland-mozambique-and-ireland-it-makes-me-so-proud-theyre-all-a-part-of-me/a2093699859.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"bel001_metered"},"headline":"‘I have boxed for Northern Ireland, Mozambique and Ireland. It makes me so proud… they’re all a part of me’","teaserHeadline":"‘I have boxed for Northern Ireland, Mozambique and Ireland. It makes me so proud… they’re all a part of me’","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Lee Costello","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"When Bernardo Marine moved from Mozambique to Dungannon in County Tyrone at just 11 years of age, the transition was tough.
","teaserLeadtext":"When Bernardo Marine moved from Mozambique to Dungannon in County Tyrone at just 11 years of age, the transition was tough.
","summary":"\n\n","subheadline":"","body":"It’s never easy for any kid to just move to a whole new continent with a whole new culture and a whole new way of living, but thanks to boxing Marine found a way to deal with it.
The now professional fighter joined Clonoe Boxing Club and never looked back.
\n \n \n“When I came to Ireland as a kid, it was tough,” admitted the undefeated pro.
“I wasn’t bullied, but people tried. I used to get into fights in school and one of my friends said, ‘You’re always fighting — let’s go box’.
“He brought me to the gym and the coach, Frank Gervin, asked me if I wanted to be a boxer and I said, ‘Yeah, why not?’
“Boxing helped me control my temper and it helped me walk away from trouble. People started respecting me too — they knew I could fight. That respect changed everything. Boxing gave me structure.”
Marine went from strength to strength in the amateur game, winning Tyrone titles before making the move to Belfast’s Holy Trinity Boxing Club.
From there the welterweight contender represented Mozambique in the Commonwealth Games and won an Irish title but then hit a roadblock when he wasn’t allowed to represent Ireland in any of the European competitions.
“After I won the Irish title, I was selected for the Europeans — but I couldn’t go because I didn’t yet have an Irish passport,” said the 31-year-old.
“I cried my eyes out — that was the dream. I trained so hard and then couldn’t compete, but later I got the passport and they gave me another shot.
“I fought for Ireland in Denmark and stopped the guy. I also boxed for Northern Ireland in Glasgow, and in competitions against teams like Spain and Poland. I won most of them.
“I’ve boxed for Mozambique, Northern Ireland and Ireland. That makes me proud — they’re all a part of me.
“I left Mozambique at 11. I grew up in Ireland. I learned to box in Ireland. It’s only right I give something back to Ireland by winning titles and representing them. Even though I wasn’t born there, I am Irish.”
Marine moved to England to be closer to the mother of his baby, and that’s where he decided to turn professional.
His career in the pro ranks was pretty stop and start until he eventually teamed up with former IBO world champion Padraig McCrory, who now manages his career.
Since then, he has regularly fought on the island and his latest showing will be at the Waterfront Hall on Friday, February 27.
“Fighting at the Waterfront Hall is a dream. It’s a big venue — bigger than the hall shows I’ve done.
“It feels like I’m making progress now — last year I had three fights and I also boxed for Mozambique at the World Championships in Dubai. So that was four fights last year.
I want to be an Irish champion as a pro. And after that, the next belt, then the next one
“I just want to stay busy again this year. It feels like I’m finally moving forward — right now, I’m begging them to put me in for the Irish (Celtic) title.
“No one has the belt — it’s vacated. I want it. If anyone else wants it, we can fight. I want to be an Irish champion as a pro. And after that, the next belt, then the next one — and who knows from there?
“For now though I just want to thank everyone who’s helped me; Conrad Cummings, Patsy Cummings, Poddy (McCrory) for managing me, my family — especially my dad — and my sponsors.
“I hope everyone can make it to the next show to support all the fighters. At the end of the day, we’re all chasing the same dream.”
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":2,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/c595599e-52c6-41e6-b78b-63ea9f85ed31/5607765c-6e1d-48b0-93f9-b3749a5c1252/IMG-20260205-WA0012.jpg","width":1290.0,"height":858.0,"credit":"","caption":"Bernardo Marine is relishing his chance at the Waterfront Hall Pic: Edvinas Latuskevicius","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":858.0,"width":1290.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":698.0,"width":901.0,"x":173.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":669.0,"width":1004.0,"x":139.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":858.0,"width":572.0,"x":387.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":858.0,"width":859.0,"x":167.0,"y":0.0}}},{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/e87ed529-e2b0-4434-abe9-0700a1edce38/25363253-bad8-4f07-b9f4-1d724a9d2e30/IMG-20260205-WA0011.jpg","width":1290.0,"height":842.0,"credit":"","caption":"Bernardo Marine wants to give back to all those who have helped him Pic: Edvinas Latuskevicius","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":842.0,"width":1290.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":647.0,"width":1030.0,"x":260.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":683.0,"width":1024.0,"x":253.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":842.0,"width":562.0,"x":335.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":842.0,"width":843.0,"x":226.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":13,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/e87ed529-e2b0-4434-abe9-0700a1edce38/b10336db-728f-43f4-9d18-9064fca75926/IMG-20260205-WA0011.jpg","width":1290.0,"height":842.0,"credit":"","caption":"Bernardo Marine wants to give back to all those who have helped him Pic: Edvinas Latuskevicius","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":842.0,"width":1290.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":647.0,"width":1030.0,"x":260.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":683.0,"width":1024.0,"x":253.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":842.0,"width":562.0,"x":335.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":842.0,"width":843.0,"x":226.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/c595599e-52c6-41e6-b78b-63ea9f85ed31/5607765c-6e1d-48b0-93f9-b3749a5c1252/IMG-20260205-WA0012.jpg","width":1290.0,"height":858.0,"credit":"","caption":"Bernardo Marine is relishing his chance at the Waterfront Hall Pic: Edvinas Latuskevicius","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":858.0,"width":1290.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":698.0,"width":901.0,"x":173.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":669.0,"width":1004.0,"x":139.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":858.0,"width":572.0,"x":387.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":858.0,"width":859.0,"x":167.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Lee Costello"],"regions":[],"ids":["f5530f3a-f217-4456-8176-77e931aac245"],"slugs":["lee-costello"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","3d998ebb-3a9a-4b82-ac53-6367c722d1d7","f1bde2d5-a0cf-415e-afc2-ea383b559a97","e53f05df-dbbe-432c-92cc-719cb2d2586f","4b3cfa6e-b556-464f-850f-cc15ee7fb50a"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/sunday-life/sport","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1433932677,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-11T11:00:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/family","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/family/weve-used-the-ponies-emotional-reactions-to-dig-into-some-important-concepts-exploits-of-a-group-of-therapy-horses-turned-into-tales-to-help-children/a1433932677.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"bel001_metered"},"headline":"‘We’ve used the ponies’ emotional reactions to dig into some important concepts’: exploits of a group of therapy horses turned into tales to help children","teaserHeadline":"‘We’ve used the ponies’ emotional reactions to dig into some important concepts’: exploits of a group of therapy horses turned into tales to help children","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Jade Beecroft","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Hoofprints on the Hill is inspired by the real-life ponies from Happy Hooves, an Equine Assisted Therapy Charity in Culmore, on the outskirts of Derry.
","teaserLeadtext":"Hoofprints on the Hill is inspired by the real-life ponies from Happy Hooves, an Equine Assisted Therapy Charity in Culmore, on the outskirts of Derry.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"It was created by Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and former mental health nurse Karen Baldwin, whose lifelong love of horses led to her founding Happy Hooves five years ago.
Children as young as one are now referred to Happy Hooves for equine therapy, with Karen’s miniature Shetland ponies and American miniature horses, which are also all trained to paint pictures.
She came up with the idea of creating real-life stories, based on the ponies’ individual personalities, to teach children lessons about resilience, healing, trust, happiness and living in the present.
Happy Hooves’ resident equine therapists Ruby, King, Duke, Oreo, Savannah, Tico, Flossie and Star, and their friends at Windy Hill Farm, all feature in Hoofprints on the Hill, with Karen saying she hopes their stories “leave hoofprints on readers’ hearts”.
“The stories are all based on true events here on the farm, with a wee bit of fiction and mental health teachings weaved in,” explains Karen. “Each story has a takeaway message at the end with the key learnings.
“We’ve used the ponies’ emotional reactions to dig into some important concepts and make them relatable.”
Children’s Mental Health Week 2026 runs from February 9-15, run by UK charity Place2Be to raise awareness of young people’s mental health. The theme this year is ‘This is My Place’ to help children feel like they belong.
“Children aren’t building resilience and social skills properly anymore,” explains Karen. “They live in a frightening world, they have access to social media and the internet from a young age, they’re under a lot of pressure and spend too much time indoors looking at screens.
“One of the main issues I see in younger clients is overthinking and worrying. This causes such anxiety, because the brain believes whatever you’re telling it — whether it’s true or not.”
Each of the ponies’ stories in Hoofprints on the Hill gently explores an aspect of mental wellbeing, with topics including dealing with worry and anxiety, change and transition, overcoming fears and overthinking, finding happiness in everyday moments, coping with grief and loss, understanding emotion and the power of gratitude.
In one story, bay therapy pony Savannah is wracked with fear of the rug she wears during the winter to protect her from the cold, and every time Karen appears to put it on, she starts trembling.
One day, Savannah’s friends, the robins and doves on the farm, work together to get the rug off Savannah’s back, but then a rainstorm hits and soon the pony is shivering with cold rather than fear.
She ends up needing to see a vet, and as she’s recovering one of the other ponies, Star, explains to her that her fear of the rug is simply the amygdala — the fight or flight part of her brain — trying to protect her.
“There are lots of mental health books for children that are really vague,” Karen explains. “But younger readers find concepts like the amygdala really fascinating if they are taught in an accessible way.
“When people struggle with anxiety, they live in fear of the physical symptoms, but teaching kids about the amygdala, which is our natural bodyguard, helps them understand what’s happening. Worry is the biggest false alarm for the amygdala.”
In another story, dun therapy pony Duke has to deal with the loss of his best friend, Clover the caterpillar.
His friend Oreo helps him understand the stages of grief as he experiences them. Meanwhile, Star and Savannah offer support and love, until one day Duke spots a beautiful butterfly in the field, and understands that Clover will always be there in his heart.
The story reads: “Clover hadn’t come back — not in the way he used to know her. She was gone — that was true, but there was a part of her that remained. A part that was still with him… in the flutter of quiet wings.”
Karen explains: “I knew we needed to write about grief, because there is so little information and support out there for young people, and Duke was the perfect pony because he’s a very lovable, sensitive character.
“One day, he came in from the field with what looked like a twig on his back, but when I looked more closely, I realised it was a caterpillar. That’s what gave me the idea for this story.”
Aisling Chada, a primary school teacher from Derry with an interest in children’s mental health, is the author of Hoofprints on the Hill, with Karen as co-author and illustrations of the ponies by equine artist Jessica Hill, from Exmouth, England.
“Aisling put my stories together and Jessica has done such a great job making the stories come to life, the illustrations are a big part of the book,” adds Karen. “It was a team creation.”
Aisling is also developing an educational resource pack to accompany the book for schools, including lesson plans and worksheets.
2026 is the National Year of Reading, and Karen says that even though Hoofprints on the Hill is aimed at a middle-grade readership — everyone can benefit from this book.
“We say it’s for nine-year-olds to 90-year-olds,” she laughs. “Our oldest reader is 92. I’d love to think of families enjoying it, with parents and grandparents reading it to the younger kids.”
Happy Hooves supports children and adults who struggle with mental health issues, autism, learning and physical disabilities and physical ill health. They also work with people with ASD, and take the ponies into Foyle Hospice and care homes. The charity is entirely funded by donations.
Karen and her team hope to get Hoofprints on the Hill, which was published in December, out to schools, libraries and young people’s therapy settings, and have launched a fundraiser to cover the ongoing production costs of the book and sending it where it’s needed.
“The book is unique and is starting to take off, with some amazing feedback,” Karen adds.
T o order a copy of the book contact Happy Hooves on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063148903944 /Support Hoofprints on the Hill on Go Fund Me by searching ‘publication costs for a children’s mental health story book’
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":11,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/00c855c8-ec2c-47d9-b6e5-beb79d79cc03/c99998bb-3dd2-4253-bbc2-081ccb8e4e2c/00c855c8-ec2c-47d9-b6e5-beb79d79cc03.jpg","width":2578.0,"height":2711.0,"credit":"","caption":"Karen with Savannah","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2711.0,"width":2578.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2711.0,"width":2578.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1718.0,"width":2578.0,"x":0.0,"y":248.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2711.0,"width":1807.0,"x":383.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2578.0,"width":2578.0,"x":0.0,"y":33.0}}},{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/856a9e69-5e40-4e8c-bf8f-c125a355bda9/c5ccbbf6-d534-4032-8bcd-d291ba6a64a2/856a9e69-5e40-4e8c-bf8f-c125a355bda9.jpg","width":3209.0,"height":2178.0,"credit":"","caption":"From left 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What is it, what causes it and how do I treat it?","teaserHeadline":"Stay Well:\u2028My child has eczema. What is it, what causes it and how do I treat it?","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Deirdre McArdle","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Eczema is a relatively common condition that typically develops in childhood and affects 30pc of children. There is no specific cure for eczema, but newer treatments are helping sufferers to gain control of the condition.
","teaserLeadtext":"Eczema is a relatively common condition that typically develops in childhood and affects 30pc of children. There is no specific cure for eczema, but newer treatments are helping sufferers to gain control of the condition.
","summary":"\nThis well-known skin condition – which affects almost one third of children, can be a real\u2028irritant, but there are ways to manage it\n","subheadline":"","body":"Atopic eczema (or atopic dermatitis) is a non-contagious inflammatory skin condition. The main symptom associated with eczema is an intense itch.
Parents will recognise it on their child’s skin as red, dry patches of itchy skin most often seen at elbow creases and wrists, behind the knees, and on the face and neck. At times, these patches of skin can weep, develop a crust or become blistered.
“Atopic eczema is a genetic condition caused by a skin-barrier dysfunction, which leads to a systemic inflammatory response,” says Dr Cathal O’Connor, a dermatologist with a speciality in paediatric dermatology and atopic dermatitis, based in Cork’s South Infirmary Hospital.
“Ultimately, the skin is not functioning perfectly, which means that bugs can live on the skin and enter their system through the damaged skin barrier.”
In explaining this skin barrier dysfunction, Ruth Charles, a registered dietitian with a special interest in paediatric food allergy, uses a simple analogy.
“The easiest way for people to think about it is to imagine the skin is a brick wall with mortar in between making up the wall. The wall is solid and acts as a barrier between your garden and the road. With skin that is affected by eczema, you might have the bricks in the wall, but the mortar in between the bricks is either missing or faulty. So you don’t have a good barrier anymore, and as a result of that, things, including food, get through the skin and into the system.”
There is a widely held belief that eczema is caused by allergies to food or a response to particular washing powders or softeners, but as Charles points out “the eczema comes first”.
She says: “It is genetically pre-programmed to develop and is not driven by food or other irritants.”
Dr O’Connor is even more emphatic, saying: “We know definitively, food allergy does not cause eczema.
“In fact, eczema can often cause food allergies and not the other way around. One hundred per cent of children with food allergy had skin barrier dysfunction in early life, but less than 10pc of children with eczema have a food allergy.”
Eczema can often cause food allergies and not the other way around
This is important to note, and tallies with information from the Irish Skin Foundation, which advises parents not to remove food from their child’s diet to control their eczema, saying this approach is “ineffective and can affect nutrition”.
The organisation says that excluding food at a young age “can also increase the risk of developing immediate food allergy, especially in infants, as the immune system may lose tolerance to the excluded food”.
People with eczema may go through phases where their condition quietens down and is less severe, and then worsens and becomes severe again.
These severe phases are called flare-ups, where the eczema becomes active and causes that intense itch to return, along with the redness and dry skin.
“The causes of eczema flare-ups are complex. The main triggers are environmental – climate change is a big one in terms of humidity and temperature,” says Dr O’Connor.
If someone with eczema is too hot, this can trigger the condition. That’s why clothing can often be seen as a trigger, says Sheila Ryan, advanced nurse practitioner in dermatology, University Hospital Limerick.
“Man-made fabrics can increase heat, making children less comfortable and potentially inducing itchiness, which can aggravate eczema,” she says.
“A lot of dermatologists will recommend cotton clothing for people with eczema as it allows the skin to breathe more than man-made fabrics do.”
Stress is another one of the main triggers for many skin diseases, says Dr O’Connor.
“The brain/skin link is very strong. With atopic eczema, if you’re very stressed, this drives specific stress hormones that can make the eczema more intense,” he says.
For those with moderate or severe eczema, stress can be part and parcel of daily life. The intense itch associated with eczema can dramatically affect their quality of life and can lead them to have trouble sleeping, which in turn leads to physiological stress.
For parents who notice any dry patches or dry skin on their small baby, my advice is moisturise, moisturise, moisturise
Heat, sweat, certain fabrics, and environmental factors can all aggravate eczema. It’s important to try to identify and minimise exposure to these triggers.
While avoiding the triggers is important, this can be difficult to do, especially with environmental triggers. Both Charles and Dr O’Connor agree that controlling or managing the condition is vital to minimising the instances of flare-ups in the first place.
“For parents who notice any dry patches or dry skin on their small baby, my advice is moisturise, moisturise, moisturise,” says Charles. “But parents also need to understand there is no one-size-fits-all moisturiser. You will need to find the right cream for your child.”
Moisture is all-important in the treatment of eczema, so as well as a regular moisturising routine, parents should avoid using soap when washing their child’s skin. That’s because soap can dry out the skin, undoing the moisturising work they’ve done.
“Why we don’t like soap is because it will strip the skin of its moisturising properties. People can use soap substitutes or leave-on moisturisers, which can work to replace that loss of moisture, and help provide a seal on the skin,” adds Charles.
“If your child is very itchy, putting on moisturisers will help reduce the itch,” says Ryan. Mild eczema is characterised by patches behind the knees, in the elbow creases, or creases of the neck. In this case, keeping the skin moisturised will often be enough to manage the condition.
Severe eczema, on the other hand, will require a more aggressive approach, says Charles.
“If somebody is very itchy and red, and if they have broken skin, they will need a steroid cream, which is essentially an anti-inflammatory cream.
“If you have inflamed skin, you need an anti-inflammatory cream to help calm it down, and that means using a steroid. It’s prescribed by your doctor for a set amount of time and the strength that’s prescribed will be appropriate for the degree of inflammation,” she says.
Charles warns that using an anti-inflammatory cream if your child has severe eczema is essential to “break that cycle of itch, scratch, itch, scratch”.
Early aggressive intervention changes the trajectory, not just of eczema, but also of food allergy, asthma and hay fever
“We have to break that cycle and we do that with aggressive early skin management.”
The good news is that getting control of your child’s eczema early and getting their skin barrier working properly has a positive effect on your child’s immune system in general.
“Early aggressive intervention changes the trajectory, not just of eczema, but also of food allergy, asthma and hay fever. That’s because the skin barrier dysfunction is the cause of all those problems; it’s called the atopic or allergic march.
“If you don’t fix the skin, there’s a march towards food allergy, there’s a march towards asthma, there’s a march towards hay fever,” says Dr O’Connor.
“If we can get the immune system in their skin to calm down, which is really, really good for their immune system, they’re far less likely then to go on and develop other immune drivers like asthma and hay fever, in later life, and indeed, food allergies,” says Charles.
“Once eczema is diagnosed, once it’s treated properly, and once the skin gets quiet, then it’s onwards and upwards.”
The Irish Skin Foundation has a series of resources on eczema available on their website at irishskin.ie/eczema/. For guidance on eczema or any skin condition, you can also contact the ISF Ask-a-Nurse Helpline.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":3,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/dd0bd4c4-0bdb-47a3-b281-fca08051778c/e1daca8d-696a-4a8d-9cb0-53d3b18db1ce/tyImages_1306440635.jpg","width":2956.0,"height":2365.0,"credit":"","caption":"People with eczema may go through phases where their condition quietens down and is less severe, and then worsens and becomes severe again. Photo: Getty","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2365.0,"width":2956.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2365.0,"width":2956.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1970.0,"width":2956.0,"x":0.0,"y":98.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2365.0,"width":1576.0,"x":690.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2365.0,"width":2365.0,"x":293.0,"y":0.0}}},{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/d897d93e-1878-4222-8b58-5e53782d9315/460820c2-ae29-4462-8381-89fdce9e3af3/3b2ece69-214c-472e-a7eb-077e21507f53.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"Atopic eczema is a genetic condition caused by a skin-barrier dysfunction. 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Photo: Getty","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2365.0,"width":2956.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2365.0,"width":2956.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1970.0,"width":2956.0,"x":0.0,"y":98.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2365.0,"width":1576.0,"x":690.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2365.0,"width":2365.0,"x":293.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","cb8c7ca5-d385-4266-b829-587828096bef","f7226275-4e48-4f4f-af93-c51fc9cefdb1","24367c18-272a-4909-94bd-af0400e0a70c"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/life/family","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1700093982,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-11T11:00:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/family","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/family/five-ways-that-science-can-boost-your-childrens-view-of-the-world/a1700093982.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"bel001_metered"},"headline":"Five ways that science can boost your children's view of the world","teaserHeadline":"Five ways that science can boost your children's view of the world","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Paul Ian Cross","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"With the Northern Ireland Science Festival running from February 11-22, it’s the perfect time to take a moment to think about how science can shape not just what children learn, but how they see the world around them, and their place within it. You also don’t have to be scientifically minded to encourage your children to embrace science. You will be surprised how much you are doing already without realising it.
","teaserLeadtext":"With the Northern Ireland Science Festival running from February 11-22, it’s the perfect time to take a moment to think about how science can shape not just what children learn, but how they see the world around them, and their place within it. You also don’t have to be scientifically minded to encourage your children to embrace science. You will be surprised how much you are doing already without realising it.
","summary":"Scientist and researcher Paul Ian Cross advises parents on how to introduce this into their worlds\n","subheadline":"","body":"1. Wonder
As a scientist, I have a deep sense of wonder about the world. For me, wonder was the reason I became a scientist. For children, they are often more vocal about their wonder. It feels like they experience it closer to the surface. Then science gives shape and meaning to that everyday curiosity. I am still blown away by new breakthroughs in science and technology. Robots. Self-driving cars. How do they even work? I even gave one of the characters, Bea, in my children’s fiction series, SuperQuesters Mission, her own robot! I wish I’d had one as a child to tinker with. Imagine being a child and having your own robot. Ask your child what they would do with their own robot?
2. Curiosity
To be a true scientist, you need to embrace curiosity. Scientists constantly ask questions and test new ideas. Every piece of research or invention starts with a question. Sometimes the end isn’t an answer at all, but more questions! And that’s OK.
Children are naturally curious. You will, undoubtably, agree that children ask a lot of questions! This should be praised. Asking questions means that children are natural scientists. When children are encouraged to follow those questions, they start to see learning as something active rather than something that only happens at school. It’s ok for you to not know the answers but you can try to find them together in non-fiction books, fiction series (like SuperQuesters), museums, science events and more!
3. Creativity
I bet you weren’t expecting that! Scientists need imagination to solve problems. And for me, I feel that stories can play a part. That means that activities that involve problem-solving are a powerful way in which science supports children’s development. When problem-solving and storytelling come together, you have the perfect recipe for learning! The characters in the SuperQuesters Mission: River Crest Rescue and Rainforest Magic often must think creatively to solve problems together.
4. Mistakes are OK
It’s important for children to understand that there is rarely just one right answer. Different approaches can lead to different outcomes, and sometimes the first idea doesn’t work at all. This is the approach used by scientists, engineers and doctors. This brings us to the most valuable lesson science can teach: that mistakes are not something to be afraid of. I say this as a recovering perfectionist. It’s not always easy! But it’s true. In science, failure is part of the journey. Many important discoveries have come from experiments that didn’t go as expected. Penicillin, for example, was discovered because Alexander Fleming noticed mould growing where it shouldn’t have been and asked why.
For children, learning that it is normal to get things wrong, adjust and try again is hugely empowering. Parents can support this approach to learning by praising effort and not just results. This isn’t easy, as society conditions us to feel that we should win or lose. When a child hears ‘I like how you kept trying’ or ‘that was a clever way to try something different’ they learn that learning itself is valuable, not just getting the ‘right answer.’ The SuperQuesters often don’t find the solution to a problem straight away during their adventures. The friends encourage each other and focus on how important it is that they keep trying.
5. Working together
Science is also highly collaborative. Research teams include people with different skills, perspectives and ideas, often working towards the same goal. This is a positive message when children can sometimes feel pressure to be good at everything. In stories, we often see groups of friends solving problems together — one might be better at maths, another might be more creative. This is reflected in the SuperQuesters Mission series, where Lilli, Bea and Leo work together to solve problems and help various communities in the magical Questland.
In addition to these five ways that science can boost your children's view of the world, perhaps the most important thing science can give children is a sense that, with a little work, the world can be understandable. By understanding how things work, they might also be able to help improve things. Whether that be helping people live longer and happier lives or improving the environment for animals and humans alike. And surely that is A powerful way for any child to see their future.
Paul Ian Cross is a scientist and researcher. He is the author of the SuperQuesters Mission books including SuperQuesters Mission: River Crest Rescue, highly commended at the Teach Primary Awards 2025 and SuperQuesters Mission: Rainforest Magic. His new book SuperQuesters Mission: SuperQuesters Mission: Desert Danger is published in May 2026.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":2,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/1e6ec969-c643-4ad8-972c-19fe14ea5393/e95b2181-2a31-48f0-b0fc-4b6a175fe788/1e6ec969-c643-4ad8-972c-19fe14ea5393.jpg","width":2740.0,"height":2551.0,"credit":"","caption":"Paul Ian Cross","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2551.0,"width":2740.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2551.0,"width":2740.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1826.0,"width":2740.0,"x":0.0,"y":181.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2551.0,"width":1700.0,"x":520.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2551.0,"width":2551.0,"x":92.0,"y":0.0}}},{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/5667ce3a-231a-4398-9f9a-e4df8c28c61a/3cf6c91c-b634-43f3-8caf-080220573cef/5667ce3a-231a-4398-9f9a-e4df8c28c61a.jpg","width":1848.0,"height":2838.0,"credit":"","caption":"Super Questers","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2838.0,"width":1848.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2838.0,"width":1848.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1232.0,"width":1848.0,"x":0.0,"y":401.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2772.0,"width":1848.0,"x":0.0,"y":16.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1848.0,"width":1848.0,"x":0.0,"y":247.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/1e6ec969-c643-4ad8-972c-19fe14ea5393/e95b2181-2a31-48f0-b0fc-4b6a175fe788/1e6ec969-c643-4ad8-972c-19fe14ea5393.jpg","width":2740.0,"height":2551.0,"credit":"","caption":"Paul Ian Cross","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2551.0,"width":2740.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2551.0,"width":2740.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1826.0,"width":2740.0,"x":0.0,"y":181.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2551.0,"width":1700.0,"x":520.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2551.0,"width":2551.0,"x":92.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Belfast"],"regions":[],"ids":["20ad1ad9-4bbd-4418-a426-bb8f47463fca"],"slugs":["belfast"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Service Journalism"],"regions":[],"ids":["74b5bde6-c7ac-4cc0-ab94-572d6f5fc0f7"],"slugs":["service-journalism"]},"sectionIds":["4222289d-a594-4992-91fc-efef16c9bf0f","cb8c7ca5-d385-4266-b829-587828096bef","24367c18-272a-4909-94bd-af0400e0a70c"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"belfasttelegraph/life/family","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1038459380,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-02-11T11:00:00+0100","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland","url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/it-was-the-relief-of-being-seen-gay-former-crossfit-athlete-tells-how-tv-show-made-him-reflect-on-lost-years/a1038459380.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":false,"taboolaEnabled":true,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true},"headline":"‘It was the relief of being seen’: Gay former CrossFit athlete tells how TV show made him reflect on lost years","teaserHeadline":"‘It was the relief of being seen’: Gay former CrossFit athlete tells how TV show made him reflect on lost years","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Amy Cochrane","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A Co Down man who was formerly dubbed Ireland’s Fittest Man has said that watching the TV show Heated Rivalry made him reflect on his own athletic journey and coming to terms with his sexuality only after he stopped competing.
","teaserLeadtext":"A Co Down man who was formerly dubbed Ireland’s Fittest Man has said that watching the TV show Heated Rivalry made him reflect on his own athletic journey and coming to terms with his sexuality only after he stopped competing.
","summary":"Tale of romance between hockey players can help those struggling with sexuality, says former champion\n","subheadline":"","body":"Patrick Daniel (PD) Savage, from Leitrim, is a structural engineer and came out as gay last year on his 35th birthday.
Now 36, he said he wished that he had the courage then to “be more open” and to act as a point of reference for others.
PD said that watching Heated Rivalry “hit hard” because it “brought up what could have been, rather than loneliness or resentment.”
“I’m grateful I get to choose differently now,” he said, “and it’s great to see this kind of representation mainstream.”
The TV show is based on the popular Game Changer novels by Rachel Reid and has been streamed hundreds of millions of times right across the world.
The HBO Max six-episode series tells the story of the forbidden love affair between two professional ice hockey players.
Between the week of its debut and the week of its season finale, on December 27, viewership grew tenfold — from 30 million to 324 million streaming minutes logged.
It is in the global top 10 most watched shows of HBO Max.
PD said that the show is obviously relatable to most people who identify as gay but for him it felt more personal coming from an athletic background.
“It really made me reflect on my athletic journey how it could have been so different if I was able to accept myself,” he told this newspaper.
“It was the relief of being seen, I could relate.”
PD’s sports background started when he played for Liatroim Fontenoys GAC, from the age of 10 to 24, before moving into the world of CrossFit.
He was crowned All Ireland CrossFit champ and in 2020 qualified to compete in the CrossFit Games in the US representing Ireland.
“At the time, I knew of one openly gay American athlete who I had actually competed alongside as part of a team a few years earlier,” he said.
“But coming from different countries and backgrounds, it didn’t feel personally relatable. That’s why representation from all walks of life matters, everyone’s story and starting point is different.
“I wish I’d had the courage then to be more open and to act as a point of reference for others. I can’t change that now, but it’s why I’m willing to have these conversations today.
“Coming from team sports and being brought up playing GAA until I was 24 years old I understand the feeling of being in the changing room environment and how often it isn’t one big incident, but a throwaway comment or joke which is enough to send someone back into hiding or leave them carrying self-doubt for the rest of the day, week or even years.
“When you are already feeling isolated, those moments can spiral very quickly.”
Through his sporting career he also helped raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research after he lost his mum, Bernadette, in 2016. She had Lewy Bodies in Parkinson’s. He said that after his mum was diagnosed, training competitively became a “coping mechanism”.
“It gave me somewhere to put my energy when everything else felt uncertain,” he said.
“What followed was over a decade of training hard and becoming addicted to that constant cycle of improvement pushing myself, chasing progress, and the endorphins that comes with high-intensity training.
“The training cycles dictated my year. This gave me structure, direction and focus.
“In many ways, CrossFit allowed me to thrive. But it was also a way of coping.”
PD pointed out that he struggled to accept himself.
“Hindsight is 20/20, and it’s clear to me now how much I was willing to do to avoid dealing with my sexuality and the stigma I had around it,” he said.
“It wasn’t that I felt people wouldn’t accept me for being gay, I didn’t fully accept myself, and I didn’t know what that life could look like alongside the one I was already living.
“You get so used to surviving in a certain way that change feels impossible.
“It is crazy how you can feel so isolated in a room full of people, have massive anxiety over the direction of conversation and then relief you have to be on your own. I was so lucky to have a supportive family and in particular my sister Jennifer who made space for conversations.
“I would love if my story can help anyone who is currently dealing with the same.
“Everyone’s story is different, it doesn’t have to be a public announcement or a huge coming out party, it is just making small steps to living a life that aligns with you, and big TV shows like this can really help with representation, something I want to do for others competing in sports.”
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