Irish Times Off Topic

This week Fionn Davenport and Laurence Mackin discuss the culture of online comments with Patrick Freyne and Christine Bohan. They also examine the legacy of Feile 25 years on with Will Leahy who has just finished a documentary on the subject. Off Topic is a weekly ideas and culture podcast. It is researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

In this week's Off Topic podcast Fionn Davenport and Hugh Linehan discuss the fallout from the Ashley Madison case with Kate Holmquist. Plus they analyse the components of the perfect summer hit with Louise Bruton. Off Topic is weekly culture and ideas podcast. It is researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week Fionn Davenport and Laurence Mackin discuss the magic, history and challenges of Monto with historian Terry Fagan, gallery owner Elaine Grainger and Louise Lowe of Anu Productions. They also talk to Sona Jobareth the world's leading female kora player. The podcast concludes with a consideration of Magic Mike XXL and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Off Topic is a weekly culture and ideas podcast. It is researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

TV experts Laura Slattery and Bernice Harrison join Fionn and Laurence to talk about Channel 4 drama Humans, in which humanoid helpers cause their masters untold problems in the home, the workplace and the bedroom, and Showtime's The Affair, a tale of infidelity told from different and sometimes contradictory perspectives. In part two: If computers reach and exceed human intelligence, what kind of world will that be? For Tim Urban of waitbutwhy.com, it's a matter of when, not if. Ian Brunswick of The Science Gallery is less convinced. They join Fionn and Laurence to speculate wildly. Off Topic is a weekly podcast produced by Sinead O'Shea and researched by Declan Conlon.

This week Fionn Davenport and Laurence Mackin discuss the findings of the Irish Times sex survey with Kate Holmquist and Tanya Sweeney. Off Topic is a weekly culture and ideas podcast. It is researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week the Off Topic team examine the increasing success of the podcasting medium with Jason Phipps, head of audio with The Guardian and Irish podcaster Gareth Stacks. The team also looks forward to the Galway Film Fleadh with festival director Miriam Allen, Oscar nominated director of Song of the Sea Tom Moore and Kathryn Kennedy who has produced My Name is Emily which will open the festival. Off Topic is a weekly ideas and culture podcast. It is researched by Declan Conlan and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week Fionn Davenport, Hugh Linehan and Laurence Mackin discuss the start of the festival season with Angela Dorgan and Eoin Butler. Also as as a new series of True Detective begins, Off Topic considers the dominance of the crime drama genre with Patrick Freyne. Plus the team take a closer look at the controversial New York Times article on the Berkeley tragedy. Off Topic is a weekly arts and ideas podcast. It is researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week Fintan O'Toole talks about how he reads Yeats on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Plus author Elizabeth Becker discusses the impact of tourism and responsibilities of travel journalism with Hugh Linehan, Fionn Davenport and Laurence Mackin. Off Topic is a weekly ideas and culture podcast researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week Hugh Linehan and Fionn Davenport discuss the future for Irish trans right in the wake of the positive publicity surrounding Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair cover. They are joined by Broden Giambrone, director of Transgender Equality Network Ireland. Hugh also speaks about the future of design with Stephen Bayley and considers the the use of hashtags for marketing purposes. Off Topic is a weekly culture and ideas podcast. It is researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week Hugh Linehan discusses gambling in Ireland with Patrick Freyne and interviews Joe Lee, the director of Fortune's Wheel which opens in Dublin next week. Off Topic is a weekly culture podcast which is produced by Sinead O'Shea and researched by Declan Conlon.

This week Off Topic welcomes fashion blogger and Mad Men aficionado Tom Fitzgerald and TV critic Bernice Harrison to examine the finale of the long-running AMC show and debate whether Don has attained advertising Nirvana. The panel also talk about the pros and cons of the IFTAs. Spoiler alert: there are very few pros. Finally, Fionn is reading The heart of everything that is: the untold story of Red Cloud , Laurence is evangelical about a new album, and Hugh takes stock of This Moment in Ireland on Referendum Day

This week Adrian Kavanagh, Karen Fricker and David Blake Knox join Fionn Davenport, Hugh Linehan and Laurence Mackin to discuss the Eurovision extravaganza to come this week.

Fintan O'Toole and Gina Menzies join Hugh Linehan and Fionn Davenport to discuss civil rights and individual conscience against the backdrop of the same sex marriage referendum. Off Topic is a weekly podcast about culture and ideas. It is researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week on Off Topique, Hugh and Fionn are joined by Cannes old hand Donald Clarke and Cannes neophyte Juliette Bonass to talk about the Ligue 1 of film festivals. Juliette, producer of 'Glasslands' and 'Noreen', is one of 20 chosen as Producers on the Move programme at the festival next month. In part 2, Oliver O'Hanlon is on the line to share the strange tale of Henri Béraud, France’s star reporter and flâneur of his day, who visited Ireland to cover the War of Independence and Civil War and to see what life was like for people in the street. Plus Fionn is astonished at the news agenda in the US, and Hugh looks to the future of Youtube.

Off Topic examines the state of the Irish publishing and book selling industry. The podcast is presented by Hugh Linehan, Fionn Davenport and Laurence Mackin, and features contributions from publisher Fergal Tobin, Raven Books owner Louisa Cameron and book critic Sara Keating. Off Topic is a weekly culture and ideas podcast. It is produced by Sinead O'Shea and researched by Declan Conlon.

In this week's Off Topic Hugh Linehan and Fionn Davenport analyse the impact of the Graham Dwyer trial with Kathy Sheridan and Fiona Gartland. Off Topic is a weekly culture and ideas podcast. It is researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week Fionn, Hugh and Laurence hop on board a carousel of nostalgia. First up, Mad Men: with just a few episodes left to come, the hit AMC show has entered the 70s, and with it its character's clothes. There's a lot more to these costumes than meets the eye, as Tom Fitzgerald, who has analysed every show's fashion on his blog tomandlorenzo.com, explains. But can the costumes reveal Don's ultimate fate? In part 2 it's time to look at vintage Irish culture, and helping with that is Brian McMahon, whose Brand New Retro blog catalogues the styles, magazines, advertisements and agony aunt columns of Ireland in days gone by. Plus, Hugh is questioning the fiscal responsibility of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, Laurence is surprised by Ghostpoet's full band, and Fionn flags the end of FX show Justified.

This week Hugh Linehan is joined by Patrick Freyne and Louis La Roc to discuss the origins of Numb, a story about a war correspondent. He also discusses the absence of female literary critics with Una Mullally and Laurence Mackin and Louisa Cameron from Raven Books. Off Topic is a weekly culture podcast researched by Declan Conlon and produced by Sinead O'Shea.

This week Fionn discusses the plans to celebrate the centenary of 1916 with Diarmuid Ferriter, Hugh Linehan, Fintan O'Toole and Laurence Mackin. They also chat about Madonna and Jay Z's plans to rescue art from technology via Tidal, Fallen by Lia Mills and how Periscope has upended aspect ratio.

Shame is understandably one of the less popular emotions, and has an especially bad reputation here in Ireland. But it does have its uses, says author and academic Jennifer Jacquet, who joins Fionn, Hugh and Laurence to talk about twitter furores, tarring and feathering, traffic mimes and corporate responsibility. Plus, Laurence is rewatching the greatest TV show of all time (arguably), Fionn wants us to watch cartoon sketch show Martin's Life, and Hugh is wondering about the visibility of the 150,000 strong Polish cohort in Ireland.