The British government has yet to respond to the call by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) on 13 November to begin talks with the group over its future, according to a senior figure within the organisation.

The media may replace the church as the "oppressive and arrogant force" it says religion once was, warns Bishop Willie Walsh. Journalists must be more successful at maintaining the value of their stock in the minds of the public they are there to serve, says Conor Brady

Three monologues about suicide. Not the kind of thing to get you to the theatre on a cold night. But this play is travelling to schools, where it should find an engaged and passionate audience for its sensitive storytelling, writes Colin Murphy

Princess Margaret, 'a shrill, hectoring, snobbish drunk,' was not the only monstrosity on TV this week, writes Dermot Bolger

On Saturday along with thousands of others I will make my way to Lansdowne Road to see the Irish rugby team play. I have been trying to remember how often I have done this and can't. A few times a year for the last 20 years, probably about 100 times.

We are either in for one of the longest election campaigns in recent times or Bertie's going to call a snap election if and when he thinks the conditions for such a contest would be most advantageous for Fianna Fáil. Timing will be everything. All the Leinster House parties are very clearly on an election footing.

Unionists will have to accept they are powerless to stop the British Government introducing legislation allowing IRA 'On-The-Runs' (OTRs) to return to Northern Ireland, David McNarry has said.

Anne Rice's new novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is written in the first person, with a seven-year-old Jesus as the protagonist. Holiness meets creature comforts in this well-researched 'incantation'. This is a must for new and old Anne Rice fans

One of the Ulster Defence Association's most high-profile and notorious leaders was arrested on Tuesday 8 November in a major police investigation into serious crime in the greater Belfast area.

Not being a mother himself, many of the gags in Fiona Looney's Dandelions go over Colin Murphy's head, but he can still see why it will be a huge hit