Conceived by Ian Spero and produced by his company BigTime, Rockchic is a lovingly crafted and expertly staged tribute to the life and times of the electric guitar, featuring a decade-by-decade history of the instrument spanning its 75 years in commercial production. Over 130 guitars are featured, including instruments owned and signed by artists like Keith Richards, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Paul Mc Cartney and Neil Young.
Don't let those Christians fool you – kissing under the mistletoe into the house is an old pagan ritual, says Éanna Ní Lamhna
Droimneach mór, Larus marinus: Often reaching a length of over 75cm, the Great Black-backed Gull, is the largest gull species in Ireland and, for that matter, the world. It is a common year-round resident here, though it is strictly confined to coastal areas. Unlike many of our other common gull species, it never occurs more than a few miles inland.
Asylum-seekers: The cost of compassion
Vincent Browne article: A misplaced compliment to Murtagh
Gangland Murders: ‘Respectable' drug users share blame
Lansdowne redevelopment: Well-heeled residents stop progress
Irish Health services: Children's hospital bugs Bertie
Great economy, bad health; In praise of St Vincent's staff; Correction
If Ireland wasn't in fear of Muslims at the beginning of Prime Time Investigates' ‘Suspicious Minds' documentary, it certainly was at the end. Dubious commentators, alarmist allegations and the flimsiest of evidence – not the stuff we are used to from the programme's erstwhile reliable research team
The day after Anthony Campbell and Martin Hyland were murdered in Finglas, Mary Wilson was a composed, clear voice (Drivetime, 5-6.30pm, weekdays, RTÉ Radio 1). She didn't do the usual lazy RTÉ thing of getting Paul Reynolds on air to shout loudly from the scene of the crime, spurting Garda leaks. Instead, she gave Independent TD Tony Gregory a long stretch to explain the situation. He questioned whether the Garda have the resources to catch the killers. He told of how detection rates for gangland murders are incredibly low.
Much attention has been focused on the Irish hare recently and it is even the subject of an official survey. Is it an Arctic or a Varying hare? Enquiring minds want to know. It is certainly a unique endemic animal. Everywhere else that such hares are found, they turn white in winter, hence the name “Varying”. In Britain, they are called Blue hares, with “blue” meaning a type of white.
International Human Rights Day was on 10 December, but it would be a lie to say we celebrated it. Right now, in Darfur, Amnesty International is receiving reports of villages where the men have been killed and young girls have been raped by the Janjaweed militia and then abandoned by their own communities. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, despair about the future is fuelling violence while the dire economic situation is trapping an entire population in deep poverty. Similar comments could be made about Iraq, Chechnya and so many other situations.
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Daniel Ellsberg wanted to know why John F Kennedy had increased the number of US troops in Vietnam when it was obvious that their presence there was not the solution. After a two-year stint in Vietnam, Ellsberg was asked to participate in a top-secret US Department of Defence study on Vietnam. This gave him access to documents which proved the American people had been consistently misled by Kennedy and Nixon on Vietnam.