BEFORE the Covid pandemic I have to admit that I wasn’t really a whiskey drinker – apart from the odd Irish Coffee. Ever since, I have sampled and enjoyed many types of whiskey and expanded my knowledge in an industry which is growing year upon year.

AN ARDOYNE girl who died suddenly earlier this month will be remembered by her family as the "comedian of the room".

SCHOOLCHILDREN from Belfast are being encouraged to write a poem or submit a piece of artwork to run alongside a special exhibition that will take place in St Comgall’s in May. Moon Tell Me Truth is a collection of work by children from Gaza, who were asked to create an illustrated poem in response to two paintings by Palestinian artists as part of a competition run by the Hands Up Project. Visitors to St Comgall's will be able to see the two original artworks on display by Malak Mattar and Layla Mohammad Ibraheem Al Haj Abed and submit their own poem or piece of art – or both – for a competition to be judged at the end of the week by Leah Davis, artist in residence at The Duncairn, and Niamh McNally, Belfast-based poet.  In a collaboration with local schools, pupils from Holy Evangelists Primary School and St Louise’s College have recorded many of the poems from the children in Gaza and these will be heard as part of the exhibition.

We look back at the stories that were making the headlines this week in 1983

People (who have a lot of time on their hands) have been asking me what was my most vital contribution to the Irish Roundtable in the Valley tech conference at Stanford University Faculty Club on 9 May.