Political analysts predict the 2008 US presidential election could be a lady's contest. Robin Toner looks at the contenders

Conor Brady on the scandals and challenges that faced the Irish media in 2005

With the fridge still full of left overs and things you forgot to use over Christmas, Darina Allen advises on how to use them up

Not just a film about two gay cowboys, Brokeback Mountain looks at the gaping divide between nature and culture; the freedom of the wild and the restrictions of the civilised world. By Manohla Dargis

The family of Pat Finucane are canvassing cross-party support for a full public inquiry into his murder in 1989

A year on from the tsunami there are some images burned into my mind. Images of death and horror on an industrial scale, mass graves, blank eyed children and a smell of rotting flesh which you can actually feel on your body. It was an event which was unparalleled in recent history and something any of us who were near any of the countries affected will never forget.

She watched the sk darken, threatening rain. "There's no light at all these days," she said. "It's been the darkest winter. I hate the rain or the cold, but don't mind it at all when there's no light." Father Greenwood sighed and glanced at the window. "Most people hate the winter," he said. She could think of nothing more to say and hoped that he might go now. Instead, he reached down and pulled up one of his grey socks, then waited for a moment before he inpsected the other and then pulled that up too. " "Have you seen Frank lately?" he asked

A review in two halves, by Colin Murphy, with Danny and Oisin Gilligan

Rich, thin royals wandering the earth, sheep trying to find their way in life, the Irish homeless in London and Gaelic stew were all part of Dermot Bolger's TV week

Questions now arise over the Castlereagh 'break-in' in March 2002 and the IRA 'property portfolio' and links between the police and loyalist paramilitaries. By Colm Heatley