In 1942 James Kerr wrote the following in the Dublin Historical Record: ‘The extraordinary persistence of traditional knowledge in Ireland is illustrated by the fact that a prescription of Diancecht’s is known and used in Ireland to the present day. It is known as ‘Diancecht’s porridge’, and is given for […]
Columnists
After weeks of rain rolling down every hill in Ireland it seems the spring has arrived. The weather is very changeable but give me four seasons in a day any day rather than wall-to-wall grey. It doesn’t take much sunshine for everything to kick into action and the birds are […]
Excuse my language but WTF have they been doing to the hedgerows? It’s Armageddon out there. Except that Armageddon is defined as the last battle between good and evil before the Day of Judgement, and if the hedgerows represent Good and the machines shredding them represent Evil – then it’s […]
After Trump won the USA presidential election, I promised myself that I wasn’t going to allow my 2025 articles become dominated by his political journey. However, he unleashes so much global negativity on a daily basis, that’s its difficult to navigate from the political chaos he is causing internally and […]
This month, I’ve gone deep into the world of salt — its history, where we source it, how it has shaped civilisations, and, of course, which are the best salts to use in our kitchen! Salt has influenced human civilisation for thousands of years, shaping trade, economies, and even wars. […]
Travelling in India is always an adventure. So much traffic – buses, trucks, cars, tuk tuks and scooters all rushing everywhere like a crazy dance. It takes awhile to acclimatise and realise that as long as we take a calculated risk when crossing the road we won’t be run over. […]