Hugh Linehan

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

When Donald Trump unveiled his odd-looking little chart in the Rose Garden last week, the assembled audience included a number of burly men in hard hats. The message, unsubtle as always, was clear. Trump’s tariff war was being waged on behalf of those who make actual physical stuff. There were no software developers, financial analysts or Hollywood showrunners strategically positioned around the place (although they really could have done with a graphic designer).

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

The fifth anniversary of Ireland’s official lockdown fell last week, but there was a muted quality to the media retrospectives. That may reflect a limited public appetite for further stories about an experience most would rather forget. The Government seems equally demotivated.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

In 1997, Donegal voters registered their disgust at a proposal to shut down the network of masts their community had built over the years to ensure reception of Match of the Day, Top of the Pops and all the other riches of what was then still called multichannel land. Their election of Thomas Gildea as a “TV Deflector” candidate is now regarded as a quirky footnote of Irish political history.

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

In 1988, with Ireland in the doldrums economically, socially and politically, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary called The Road to God Knows Where. Visually poetic and angrily polemical, it painted a picture of a country that had failed its own young people. Its director, Alan Gilsenan, has gone on to have a prolific career at the intersections of documentary, drama and experimental cinema, exploring everything from Ireland’s mental-health system to its long-gone literary bohemia.

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

This is my last column in Ticket. Before any (delete as appropriate) rending of garments/dancing in streets/blank, indifferent stares, I should note that I’ll be popping up soon in another part of The Irish Times. As it happens, this year is also the 25th anniversary of what used to be called The Ticket – the definite article was dropped in a 2017 revamp – which I’ve been involved with, on and off, since the very beginning.