Culture | The sports pageOpening ceremonies remain a core part of the Olympic experiencePhotograph: Getty Images Jul 25th 2024SOME 1.5BN people will tune in on July 26th to watch the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, or so reckons the International Olympic Committee. If the real number comes close to that the show would rival the final of the...

Culture | The river runs through itYet the river plays an even more vital role in the culture and economy of the city Trying to solve trash-flow problemsPhotograph: Reuters Jul 25th 2024|GENNEVILLIERS, PARIS AND VITRY-SUR-SEINE“I was born on a boat,” says Jacky Delannoy, a 66-year-old captain, standing on the bridge of a container ship moored to the...

Culture | Page-turners“Hillbilly Elegy” and “The Art of the Deal” reveal a lot about who the men are—and werePhotograph: Getty Images Jul 24th 2024|New York“READING well”, wrote Harold Bloom, a well-read literary critic, is “the most healing of pleasures.” Apparently Bloom did not read many books by political candidates. They combine a salesman’s saccharine...

Culture | Going down to the woodsReleased 25 years ago, it was a masterclass in doing more with lessPhotograph: Eyevine Jul 23rd 2024IF YOU WANT to scare people, it helps if they believe the tale is real. Mary Shelley opened her novel “Frankenstein” (1818) with a series of letters. Bram Stoker put diary entries and newspaper clippings into “Dracula”...

Culture | Off the reservationA new novel follows a man cast out from the tribe in which he grew upPhotograph: Eyevine Jul 22nd 2024HOW NATIVE AMERICAN is Native American enough? That is the question at the centre of “Fire Exit”, Morgan Talty’s heart-wrenching debut novel about a man’s exile from his community. Charles Lamosway has been barred from living...

Culture | The sports pageGaelic football and hurling are loved by millions across the island. And nobody gets paidPhotograph: Getty Images Jul 19th 2024DUBLIN HAVE long been one of the dominant teams in Gaelic football, an Irish sport. The men’s side have won nine All-Ireland finals, the sport’s biggest match, since 2011. So when Galway, a county in...