People

The president of UCD is ruffling a lot of feathers in the college by introducing radical reforms designed to bring it into the twenty-first century. But is he up to the job? John Byrne reports.

The latest account of the life of Van Morrison reveals him to be a man who was viewed by colleagues as 'a total lunatic, an idiot and a weirdo' and once addressed an audience as 'pigs'. By Tom Galvin

Enjoying the freedom of being an Independent, still having a zest for politics, Beverly Flynn is not fazed by the disbandment of Mícheál Ó Móráin's cumann in Castlebar. She talks to Eoin Ó Murchú

For all the publicity people like Mary Robinson and Bertie Ahern may garner, the majority of movers and shakers in Ireland are relatively unknown.

He was a magnificent pope who presided over a controversial pontificate, at times daring and defensive, inspiring and insular. John Paul II, 263nd successor of St Peter, leaves behind the irony of a world more united because of his life and legacy, and a church more divided, writes John L Allen Jr.

Revered or reviled, John Paul II has been a giant amongst popes. Eamon Duffy reviews the legacy of Karol Wojtyla, the Polish Pope

Bruce Springsteen speaks in praise of Bono and U2.

Possibly the most famous whistleblower of all time, Jeffrey Wigand paid a heavy price for the information he supplied about the tobacco industry. He tells John Byrne about his admiration for Micheál Martin, his fears for the Third World and how smoking literally changed his life. Photograph by Tom Galvin

The U2 story is simple: how a rock group formed by a 14 year old drummer at Mount Temple School in Dublin had visions beyond possibility - and how, through a mix of dogged determination and careful militaristic planning and hard bloody work allied to the luck of the angels, they realised these over-ambitious dreams ten-fold.

Kelly Dougherty is a 26-year-old Irish American who served for a year with the US military in Iraq, but is now a prominent anti-war activist. Here she talks about what made her change sides, why she joined the army in the first place and Ireland's role in the conflict. Interview and photograph by William Hederman