Martina Devlin

1 week ago | independent.ie | Martina Devlin

Foxes are our last remaining wild dogs – the streets would be jammed with protesters if it was legal to hunt any other member of that speciesThe other night, a dreadful caterwauling from our cat woke us up, and we stumbled out of bed to find our 10-year-old tabby squaring up to a young fox on the bicycle shed roof. As soon as we switched on the light, the fox fled. Our tomcat, Chekhov, scrambled down, looked to us for praise and began patrolling his territory with a definite strut.

2 weeks ago | independent.ie | Martina Devlin

There is no guarantee they will rent or sell, but frictions are certain to be stirred up by a Mayo County Council official’s suggestionHistorical echoes are ringing at the proposal to boycott holiday-home owners who leave their properties idle for much of the year. Naturally enough, those empty buildings are a focus for resentment and division during a housing crisis. But such a tactic scapegoats individuals, and collateral damage and unintended consequences are inevitable.

3 weeks ago | independent.ie | Martina Devlin

The Brontë Birthplace, Thornton, was where Charlotte, Emily and Anne would have witnessed their Co Down-born father Patrick writing and being publishedIt’s not often a senior member of Britain’s royal family opens a cultural centre with extensive Irish connections, but that’s exactly what Queen Camilla did yesterday – and the Brontës were the reason.

4 weeks ago | independent.ie | Martina Devlin

The Nobel laureate wrote two poems for the Poems on the Dart project, but only one of them has been published so far“People say there’s no money in poetry. I say there’s no poetry in money,” literary agent Jonathan Williams said. For 25 years, he ran an imaginative initiative publishing poetry inside Dart train carriages. Commuters were able to read original and classic poems by a wide variety of poets – living and dead, female and male, in Irish and English.

1 month ago | independent.ie | Martina Devlin

These oversized vehicles are deadlier and more environmentally damaging than conventional cars, so it’s time to hit the brakesAutobesity is on the increase and it’s time to switch off the ignition on supersized SUVs and their hefty first cousins, crossover utility vehicles. SUV stands for sports utility vehicle, but strip away the marketing hype and questionable selling points about safety, and what’s left is the selfish utility vehicle.