Heart-lifting adaptation of Doyle’s children’s novel follows cheeky 12-year-old Mia as she faces the loss of her beloved granny

Roddy Doyle’s novel for kids, about childhood grief, has been turned into a gorgeous family animation with a big heart, charming without being too sugary. It’s a gentle introduction to death with its non-religious message that in the end, when someone dear to us dies, what we are left with is their love, and what they have shown us about how to love.

A cheeky, flame-haired 12-year-old Dublin girl called Mary, voiced by Mia O’Connor, wants to be a famous chef when she grows up. The movie opens with Mary competing for the summer camp at an elite catering school. When the snooty judges criticise her tarte tartin, Mary’s grandmother Emer (Rosaleen Linehan) lets rips at “the eejits with the clipboards”. Back at home, granny Emer falls ill and is rushed to hospital. The news is not good and, what with her granny being sick, plus hormones, Mary is raging. There’s real warmth in the scenes at home: her exhausted, worried mum Scarlett (Sharon Horgan) doesn’t cook (“this spag bol is about as Italian as Bono”), dad is cheerful taxi driver Paddy (Brendan Gleeson), and there’s two galumphing brothers; everyone drinks endless cups of tea.

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© Photograph: Dazzler Media

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© Photograph: Dazzler Media

Gerard Gorman faced unimaginable horror as an 11-year-old boarder in County Armagh. The pain haunted him for decades – then he took on the church

It was November 1970 and Northern Ireland was sliding into the Troubles, but for Gerard Gorman, a new pupil at St Colman’s College, the horror of that era began when Fr Malachy Finegan summoned him into a room, closed the door and told him to sit on a sofa.

Gorman was 11 years old and small for his age, with big blue eyes. Two months earlier, he had started as a boarder at the Catholic boys’ school in Newry, County Armagh. Staff tended to be aloof or intimidating, except Finegan, the religious education teacher, who was solicitous and avuncular.

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© Photograph: Paul Faith/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Paul Faith/The Guardian

United Ireland Should Be Political Objective, Former PM Says [ungated] - "'What I hope we'll see happen in the next government, no matter which parties are in it, is that that we'll see what is a long standing political aspiration toward unification become a political objective,' [former Prime Minister Leo] Varadkar said at an event in Belfast on Saturday."

• The inevitability of a united Ireland - "As demographics keep shifting, the direction of travel seems fixed despite ongoing conflict."
• The prospect of a united Ireland emerges as a republican leader takes office in Belfast - "Until now, Northern Ireland's first minister has always come from a British unionist party, but Sinn Fein, which advocates for Northern Ireland to rejoin the Republic, won the most seats in the assembly for the first time in 2022... The elevation of a nationalist to the top seat at Stormont has sparked the question of whether Irish unity is on the horizon." (Is a United Ireland on the Horizon?)
• Tall order for Sinn Fein to revive suddenly flagging Irish election hopes - "Failing to enter government for the first time would be a major setback to its ambition of seeking a referendum on unifying with Northern Ireland, the British region where it is already the lead party."
• A united Ireland is closer than ever. Let's make it a paradise for all of us, not just corporate tax-dodgers - "Arguing over anthems and flags is a distraction. This is our one chance to create an inclusive society across our whole island."

-United Ireland -A Republic for all -A Decade of Opportunity - Towards The New Republic --- *You remember the Irish Unification of 2024, right? - "Like a lot of Star Trek episodes, the 1990 episode 'The High Ground,' features a scene in which the characters discuss a real-world issue in the context of the show. In this case, Data the android (Brent Spiner) cites historical examples of the use of violence to successfully achieve political aims. He refers to the very real Mexican independence from Spain and, typically for Star Trek, a fictional example, the 'Kenzie Rebellion.' But it's his third example, the 'Irish Unification of 2024,' that's really captured the internet's imagination in that very year."

• Star Trek predicts United Ireland in 2024 - "This clip is taken from an episode called 'The High Ground'. The result of this short conversation, and the general theme of the program being centred around insurgency as a means to achieve freedom, led to the BBC (The British Broadcasting Corporation- Britain's national broadcaster) and Sky TV (a Satellite Broadcaster) putting a ban on showing the episode. When Sky did show the episode they cut the part about Irish reunification in 2024. In Ireland on RTE (Raidió Teilifís Éireann-Ireland's national broadcaster) the showing of the full episode came with a warning describing the content as 'Fictional and Aspirational.'"
• Did Star Trek predict an Irish reunification in 2024? - "As you can imagine, the episode was mired in controversy because of the mention of the Irish unification. As a result, the episode wasn't broadcast in the UK or Ireland unedited until 2006. In addition, the actual episode was also disliked by the series writer Ronald D Moore who said in an interview in 1995: 'We didn't have anything interesting to say about terrorism except that it's bad and Beverly gets kidnapped – ho hum. They take her down to the caves and we get to have nice, big preachy speeches about terrorism and freedom, fighting and security forces versus society. It's a very unsatisfying episode and the staff wasn't really happy with it.'"
• Could Star Trek's prediction that Ireland and Northern Ireland will reunify come true? - "The writer of that episode, Melinda Snodgrass, joins News Breakfast to discuss why she wrote that line in the 1990s."
• @MMSnodgrass: "It wasn't just filler. It was to reference the fact that Earth had united and nation states had ended in the Federation."[1]
• Star Trek's Biggest Prediction For 2024: Irish Unification Explained - "The episode aired in 1990 when the Troubles were ongoing and topical. The line implies that the Troubles/armed struggle lasted into the 2020s until the IRA got the U.K. to concede the territory to the Republic of Ireland. However, reality was not so violent. In the 1980s, the Sinn Féin party (meaning We Ourselves, then led by Irish Republican leader Gerry Adams) refocused on electoral politics. This culminated in the Good Friday Agreement between the British and Irish governments, signed in 1998. Under the agreement, Northern Ireland was still part of the U.K., but citizens could claim dual citizenship and the North would be self-governed (the new Northern Irish Assembly required power-sharing to maintain this balance). Moreover, if Northern Ireland chooses to leave the U.K. by referendum, they are allowed to do so."
• Sanctuary Districts And Irish Unification: Star Trek's Vision Of 2024 Comes Strikingly Close - "Despite living in a world of conflict, we have reason to be hopeful. We are growing as a people, but growth is painful. Star Trek gave us the confidence that war and social strife would push us to leave those injustices behind, but offscreen life offers no such reassurance. Science fiction predicted the future, but illustrated clearly that the path to get there would offer the same difficulties we'd always known. It's going to be up to us to make sure that the sacrifices we make now will be seen as worthwhile by future generations."

--- also btw... The Spark - Rhyme Island (BANGER OF THE YEAR)

GQ: "It's happening very fast," said Saurabh Netravalkar, the Team USA cricket player with the world-famous LinkedIn profile ... Several fans in attendance held up signs calling Kohli a god; one held up a sign asking Netravalkar for a job reference. Guardian: As it happened: USA beat Pakistan. The Athletic: So, for a son of Mumbai to inflict such a humiliating defeat on the old enemy was a case of Netravalkar - in the words of his younger sister Nidhi on social media - "making two countries happy". Times of India: Balancing his dual roles as a cricketer and a software engineer at Oracle, Netravalkar manages his demanding career alongside his sports commitments. Interviewed in cricbuzz: "I filed for a patent. It was an innovation algorithm that we had."

Cricinfo: After the Pakistan win, a screen grab of his Slack out-of-office message was all over social media. It said he would be away from work until June 17, when the group phase of the World Cup ends. Netravalkar is not thinking ahead to whether he might have to extend his leave of absence in case USA make it to the Super 8s... ...update on that: As of an hour ago, the USA have enough points so they can't be caught by Ireland, Canada or Pakistan in their group. This means the USA qualify, along with India, into the final group stage of the current World Cup: this also gives the USA automatic qualification for the same World Cup tournament in 2026, two years before cricket returns to the Olympics in Los Angeles. Saurabh is going to need to ask for an extension to WFWCM (Work From World Cup Matches).