Deportation flights; 'rough sex' defence; Australia; 'book-handling' in Berlin

The State paid more than €1 million for a single deportation flight when returning 42 adults and children from Ireland to South Africa in June.The ‘rough sex’ defence didn’t work for Lorcan Murphy. The 38 year old Dubliner - jailed for murder in Hungary last week - wasn’t the first to try it either.The reality of building a life in Sydney, Australia? “It’s bloody hard to afford anything,” writes Irishman Cormac McConville.In 1941 Brian O’Nolan, better known as Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen, proposed a Book Handling Agency in The Irish Times. On Sunday evening, 85 years later, Flann’s idea became reality in a Berlin bar where a crack team of literary experts was on hand to make unread books look well-read.Ireland’s second oldest woman is remarkable not only for her age (107), but Walburga Monaghan’s son Michael says it’s her general health, too. She rarely gets ill, takes no medication and her mind is sharp enough to continue The Irish Times Simplex crossword, something she has been doing for as long as she can remember.Presented by Aideen Finnegan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.