Antony Van Dyck is the Mozart of painting: a perfect miracle of form combined with rich and glowing statements in portraiture that capture and express life in a limitless and elegant way. He is among the ten greatest artists the world has ever produced. His own age recognised this. Artistically the most discerning king on any European throne at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Charles I, was his greatest patron, but others, like Philip of Spain, were after him. Read More...

John Boland, our television critic for the last decade, has set me brooding again about RTE. He wrote in his end-of-year column: ‘I can't think of a twelve-month period in which RTE made fewer programmes of substance or quality, but, hey, who needs programmes at all when you can marvel at Montrose's mission to turn every nonentity on its payroll into a celebrity?’ I thought this went to the heart of the matter. Read More...