Jane Hardy

Jazz singer and actress Jacqui Dankworth is returning to Belfast this September.

From misdiagnosis to advocacy: a mother's mission to change autism support

Imelda May’s portrayal of Kathleen Kearney Behan is vivid, inspiring, clear sighted and mainly unsentimental. Although the final song Sweet Molly Malone, and this is a dramatized life stitched together with music, might suggest otherwise. We start with an old woman in a religious nursing home bed, listening to something spiritual and announcing herself. She is, from the beginning, feisty. She declares she doesn’t want a long illness, is ready to die tonight if necessary, but muses on matters philosophical. Who is God, for example, and what came before Him? And what about heaven and hell? Incidentally, May acts old age very well.

What can art do in the face of possibly humanity’s greatest challenge, climate change? Raise awareness, for a start, and the new exhibitions at The MAC, Belfast, make a powerful argument for loving the planet, as Jane Hardy discovers.

Copy link Jo Fong and George Orange’s performance piece, The Rest of our Lives, is the most life affirming, joyous and thought-provoking slice of performance art I have seen. It’s about nothing less than the meaning of life, well, life from fifty onwards and trounces preconceptions. It begins haltingly, with modest moves from George, and warnings from Jo that it cost more for a ticket in Dartmouth. We enter a world of middle-aged wonder, partly that we can still boogie. After one testing manoeuvre, Jo comments on George ‘Well, he is fifty-eight.’

Misreading threats in Pyongyang two decades ago preceded nuclear weapons. Now similar fears spread across Asia.

Kim's renewed military confidence and Lee's pragmatic diplomacy create the ideal conditions for a meeting.

Kim’s renewed military confidence and Lee’s pragmatic diplomacy create the ideal conditions for a meeting.

Ask Grace Tobin about the point of international Disability Pride Month, and she doesn't say ‘raising awareness'.