Phil Dunster explains the game of splitting the G, where the first drink of a pint of Guinness should leave the top of the brew splitting the G on the glass. He notes that it became a viral thing, but most Irish people probably roll their eyes at it, thinking, 'Fuck's sake, just drink it.'
Most of us grew up with that familiar Irish awkwardness around sex - the blushing, the whispering, the pretending none of us have bodies or desires at all. But what happens when you meet someone who simply doesn't have that embarrassment? In this episode of Just Between Us, Jennifer Zamparelli is joined by comedian and sex-positive icon Bláthín de Burca, who talks about sex the way most Irish people talk about the weather: openly, casually, and without shame.
One of the great Irish songs is The Parting Glass. Nobody performed it better than Liam Clancy. At the end of every December, he sang it to remember those who had been lost during the year.
Back in 2008, when Nicola Coughlan was at drama school, a guy in her class swaggered over and, with all the brimming confidence of young men in the noughties, asked her, Do the Irish think the English are really cool? Coughlan, born in Galway, mimes processing the question. Well, she said, it's quite complicated. Like, there's a lot of history there, between the two countries. Like, there's a lot going on.
It was a shock to someone who grew up with a sense of solidarity between Black Caribbean and Irish immigrants I've always had an affinity for Irish culture. Yes, in that irritatingly reductive, romanticised way that everyone who isn't Irish seems to. But also in a way that, for a number of reasons, has long felt deeply meaningful. Rooted in strong familial bonds. In overlapping histories. In trust.
Noel Cunningham, a notable hotelier in Ireland, has embraced his roots by returning to his childhood home in Donegal, which he has filled with vibrant colors.
Healy sought the views of the Irish people about golf, regarding it as boring and elitist, prompting significant negative responses towards his stance rather than the sport itself.
"I always loved my father but I really learnt to like him. I realised how funny he was and how I might have missed some of his humour in my teenage years."
The pursuit that can best recreate my farming roots is gardening. It requires putting on the "old" clothes, not your "good" clothes, and a day at the graft is only satisfying when you end up wrecked, muck-flecked and in need of a nailbrush at the sink.
