Occasionally when working in the sports entertainment industry, you find yourself rolling towards an overwhelming question. Will Buckley has been a sports writer for over 15 years; readers of the Guardian and Observer will be familiar with his work. It's even possible a much wider group of people got to hear about his debut novel, written, we're told, without irony in a "semi-autobiographical" manner. Called The Man Who Hated Football, it was released last year to a sniffy enough response from the sporting press.

More black and white than colour for Ireland

Shortly before Christmas a deal was struck in Brussels which will probably have a greater impact on Ireland than almost any other decision taken at European level. The amazing thing about it is that, apart from a furore for a few days, it has hardly been remarked on since in the mainstream media. Yet this decision will inevitably change the fabric of society in many parts of the country; it will wipe out lifestyles and see even our landscapes change.

Are you so sick of hearing about The Pope's Children by David McWilliams that you can't bring yourself to read it? To save you the bother, here's a condensed (and satirised) version of the book

The rush to tell the story and the pressure for constant and instantaneous reporting led to the misreporting of the fate of 13 men trapped in a mine in West Virginia, highlighting once again the absence of fact-checking in often tragic stories

Ironically, the Irish Independent, which vigorously pursued the story, often makes much of its disregard for PC values. A similar incongruity could be observed in the recent treatment of the story of the death of Liam Lawlor, when several newspapers which have been assiduous in promoting the idea that sexual morality should not be subject to the collective conscience, went big on a story in which the "sting" had to do with the exact "moral" values such newspapers have worked assiduously to dislodge.

Familiar, gravelly women's voices held their own in the hours around noon on the second Sunday in January. Listeners now used to Marian's presence for two hours every Saturday and Sunday realise she has mastered (or mistressed) this new gig on a relatively familiar territory (Marian Finucane, Saturday & Sunday 11am-1pm). Her review of the Sunday papers began with a discussion of the newspaper coverage of the Frankie Byrne/Frank Hall documentary to be screened the following night.

Tomato fondue

Having shied away from the subject for the last few years, Hollywood is now turning in full force to the events of 9/11. Heather Timmons reports

Ancient gods, spot prizes, sports heroes, Irish artists: Dermot Bolger has his choice of idols on TV this week