The Irish Times

Patrick Freyne: Last year I reviewed Christmas stuff but had to leave out a lot, because the MSM, as usual, couldn’t handle my truth-saying. So, once again, here is my assessment of Christmas things before Big Brother (my editor) stops me from waking you all up. Santy Check out Father Christmas, with his staff of mistletoe and his long flowing robe and long beard, and behold the lushly bearded Santa Claus, in his snugly fitted, Coke-shilling velvet suit. These guys are basically an Englishman and a Yank. They’re nothing compared with Santy, who is from Athlone and smokes rollies. Santy is best met in a failing shopping centre in the midlands in the early 1980s. He has a red anorak, a felt bobble hat, a wad of cotton wool glued to his face and sadness in his eyes. In his own way he is magical. It’s unclear if Santy had the official endorsement of the supermarket in which he operated, but he certainly remained one step ahead of security at all times Tap the link in our bio to read more

Dublin's annual live animal crib, featuring sheep, a donkey and goats, has officially opened at the Mansion House. #ireland #christmas

Your Top Stories on Thursday, including: 🏠 Irish house prices ‘overvalued by 10%’ 🚲 Cyclists and e-scooter users 11 times more likely to be seriously injured 🔲 Customers unlikely to get back deposits paid to failed Dublin window firm 👉 Charges dropped against teen arrested over killing of Irish chef Shaun Brady 🎅 Patrick Freyne: Here’s what the mainstream media don’t want you to know about Christmas Read more by clicking the link in our bio

Finn McRedmond: A non-comprehensive list of jokes that are both ubiquitous and unfunny: Britain’s performative dislike of the French; I hate my mother-in-law jokes; Ricky Gervais’s routine of “everyone is too sensitive these days”; anything that invokes bodily function; anything that starts with “knock knock”; “covfefe”; descriptions of Donald Trump as “the orange man”; and, finally, Irish people riffing on “hating” the English. Given this disposition I remain a somewhat unlikely fan of Saturday Night Live and its writer’s room that groans under the weight of cliché. I find its rhetorical caution, unambitious approach to humour, and careful adherence to social orthodoxies calming. It is a completely unchallenging TV show. But all of this – the show’s inherent laziness – went too far this weekend with Paul Mescal as its host. Mescal – on his stated mission to correct stereotypes about the Irish – says in his opening monologue: “People also think the Irish hate British people. That’s not true, we just don’t consider them people.” Tap the link in our bio for more

Last Friday night, 12-year-old Abiha Mansoor rocked a red Santa dress and gripped the attention of the watching nation with her powerful, confident and joyful rendition of Carey’s song as she closed out the Late Late Toy Show. Carey could hardly have done it better. Wait, was that really Mariah Carey in a pre-recorded video, name-checking the Toy Show, and wishing all the participants well? It was. Some begrudgers out there – most likely those silly people who don’t believe in Santa – said it must have been created by AI, but no folks, that really was Mariah Carey. And to add to the magic of the show, host Patrick Kielty told Abiha that Carey’s people had listened to her singing, and were so impressed that they were going to fly her and her mother Mariam out to Las Vegas to attend one of Carey’s shows. This was right before Abiha did her big number, and it was clear from her face that this news was a total surprise to her. 📲Click on the link in bio to read the full story

✈️Frances did as she was instructed but ”of course it was rejected as the flight was not cancelled. After hours of talking to chat bots, an agent/bot eventually said somebody from the refund section would contact me within 48 hours. That was on November 22nd. They did not come back to me. She says she paid €953.07 for the tickets and “every avenue that I have tried to contact them has been a dead end”. 📲Click on the link in bio to read more

Eye witnesses have said that a number of people have been injured. However, it is not known how serious their injuries are. It is understood that the bus crashed through a hedge and into a field following the collision with the car Tap the link in our bio for more

Your morning coffee could become even pricier in the new year after the cost of coffee beans on international commodity markets soared to a record high. The price for arabica beans, the world’s most popular variety, topped $3.44 a pound on Tuesday, having risen more than 80 per cent this year. Meanwhile, the cost of cheaper robusta beans, used in instant coffee, has almost doubled this year, with the price touching $5,694 a metric tonne in late November. The price pressure follows predictions of smaller harvests this year after the world’s largest producers, Brazil and Vietnam, were hit by bad weather. The squeeze comes at a time when consumer demand for cups of coffee continues to grow. Last month, Nestlé, which owns leading brands including Nescafé and Nespresso, said it would continue to increase prices and shrink pack sizes in an attempt to offset higher bean prices. The price of Nescafé Original instant coffee is up 15 per cent year on year in UK supermarkets, according to the key value items price tracker in the trade magazine the Grocer

The stories you need to start your day. 👉Subsidiary of main children’s hospital contractor to secure major state building project 👉One in five Irish people expect to pay mortgage in retirement, survey finds 👉Tips for avoiding a January credit-card hangover 👉Jordie Barrett: ‘I came to Leinster to grow my game’ Click the link in our bio to read the full briefing.

'I am 38 and living at home. This is bad enough, but what is worse is that I feel I have such domineering parents that they are preventing me being an adult. I was living away from home with a girlfriend for a couple of years and, at the time, it felt that my life was on a track to somewhere. But then it all fell apart. She left me, and I was a wreck for quite a while. I was unable to function at work and, eventually, lost my job and my friends all departed as I became more of a burden (and a drinker, if I’m honest). I had to move home, back into my bedroom, which still had my posters on the wall, and I probably went back to being a teenager. Smoking dope gave me some peace, and I suppose I withdrew from life in general and I began to realise that this was a hole I could not get out of. My mother walked me to the family GP, and I’m on some medications and he referred me for therapy. Of course, my parents are paying for this, and I think both my therapist and I feel that this is a bit queasy, but maybe better than nothing. We are working on some basic stuff, like getting out of bed at reasonable times, giving up smoking and preparing to look for a job. The problem is that I feel like a child most of the time, with my mother doing my washing and cooking my meals, so I’m not sure if this is the right direction for me. All my friends have their own families now and no one can spare time to go for a drink, or they are all into fitness and want to go running or go to the gym instead and this holds no attraction for me.' Tap the link in our bio to read more

Christ Church Cathedral has hosted a blessing and carol service for dogs associated with Peata, the Pet Visiting Scheme in which volunteers and their dogs visit caring institutions and nursing homes 📸: @nickbradshawphotos

Newly elected Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes has been suspended from the party with “immediate effect”. This comes following the revelation that he sold his shares in a US software company that supplies the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) a month after he was elected as a councillor last June. His suspension was announced in a statement from party deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan on Tuesday evening. 📲Click on the link in bio to read more