WITHIN A WEEK of European Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks telling a Belfast conference that Britain cannot avoid its responsibility for legacy issues, the British Government circulated a paper complaining of the financial costs of dealing with the past. Free article

A HUGE BANNER hangs from the second floor of Carrisbrook House on Pembroke Road in Dublin City. It’s been there so long that the lettering advertising office space for rent has largely faded. The prime location of these business units in the capital’s swish ‘D4’ district seems to be offset by the neighbours a potential tenant would be forced to endure. Premium service article

THE Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the controversial trade deal being negotiated behind closed doors by Brussels and Washington, is supposed to be aimed at boosting trade between the US and the EU through the reduction of regulations but it also threatens jobs, public services and the environment. Free article

ALLEGORY, COMEDY and symbolism play a huge part in how we see our world. When Roberto Benigni, the Italian comedy writer, wrote his Oscar-winning film La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful) – taking the title from a comment made by Leon Troksky (when the Russian realised that Stalin’s assassins were coming for him in Mexico) – he inverted the horrors of the Holocaust to create a story of love and joy for life. He took very seriously the words of the film’s title song: Free article

16 Lives Series: ÉamonnCeannt. By Mary Gallagher Thomas MacDonagh. By Shane Kenna O’Brien Press, €12.99 each Free article

Belfast Days: A 1972 Teenage Diary By Eimear O’Callaghan. Merrion, €16.95 Free article

I RECALL one time collecting our Ciara from school. Normally she would be bubbly and effusive – black cat, black kitten – but this day she was less than gruntled. The cause, it transpired, was the soccer match ‘Teacher’ had organised in the yard. Don’t fret, Ciara’s displeasure was not based on cultural disdain. Rather, she was peeved over the fact that Teacher had introduced them to the concept of games in which no one wins and nobody loses. Free article

LONG-SERVING Cavan County Councillor Charlie Boylan was the recipient of high praise and good wishes at a packed function in Donohoe’s of Ballyhaise on 11 October. Free article

MÍCHEÁL S. Ó LOINGSIGH, who died on 6 November, was apprenticed at The Kerryman newspaper as a teenager. He became a master printer following his studies at the London College of Printing. He helped establish Drogheda Printers, of which he was Managing Director for much of his working life and which printed An Phoblacht/Republican News for many years during the conflict. Free article

AELISH MORRISON, aged 76, died recently after a long illness bravely borne. The news of her death was received with great sadness in the town of Shannon and in her native Derry City. Free article

All notices and obituaries should be sent to [email protected] by Friday 19 December 2014 Free article