Trump's security strategy is explicit about Washington’s contest with Beijing. “China and Russia want to shape a world antithetical to US values and interests. Eight years later, Russia receives only a handful of mentions in the National Security Strategy published last Friday and Moscow is no longer identified as an adversary. And it calls time on the western alliance in its current form, declaring that “the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over”. These changes require fresh thinking in the European Union that goes beyond the current preoccupation with spending more on defence.

They were “famously good”, said fellow dramatist Patrick Marber, and “even courtly”, added theatre critic Nick Curtis. Actors remembered a man who was “very kind” (Tom Hollander), and “clever and kind” (Harriet Walter), while the writer Harry Mount devoted an entire article to “the extraordinary manners of the late Tom Stoppard”. Apologies, or the lack of them, are another baffling aspect of office manners. Another example of good manners helping the good mannered is the simple, cheap, yet inordinately effective act of saying thank you. Ultimately, good manners add to the sum of human happiness, while rudeness does the opposite.

It is understood the drones also flew into the path Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s aircraft had taken approaching Ireland. “I think it’s fair to say that we think this is part of a co-ordinated threat to EU and Ukrainian interests,” the Minister said in Brussels. It is understood footage of the drones was captured by the crew of the Naval Service’s LE William Butler Yeats. The strong belief is that Russia is behind the interference, using drones to cause disruption in Europe and to embarrass pro-Ukrainian governments. Mr O’Callaghan said the gardaí did a “very good job” in ensuring the security of Mr Zelenskiy’s official visit to Ireland.

The Government is expected to extend the vacant property grant scheme to 2030, targeting 20,000 payments in that period. Photograph: Artur Widak/GettyHomebuyers purchasing more expensive properties in Dublin could be blocked from accessing the State’s vacant property grant, under proposals being considered by the Government. Figures compiled by the Department of Housing suggest some 22 per cent of homes that have sought the grant in Dublin would be in excess of this threshold. The grant application process includes self-assessed property valuations but also the most recent purchase price of the property. It found the scheme was making a significant contribution to refurbishing vacant and derelict homes.

Mohamed Salah has sensationally claimed he has been 'thrown under the bus' and has no relationship with Arne Slot. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA WireMohamed Salah could be omitted from Liverpool’s Champions League trip to Milan to play Inter on Tuesday after his outspoken attack on the club and Arne Slot. The 33-year-old also claimed he no longer has a relationship with Slot, who omitted the forward from his starting lineup for a third game in succession. Slot now has to decide whether to include the disillusioned player in his plans for Inter. Liverpool will train at their AXA base in Kirkby on Monday morning, with the first 15 minutes open to the media.

In November last year, in the throes of the final days of her term, the then minister for tourism, Catherine Martin, published her Tourism Policy Framework 2025-2030. Government has finally acknowledged this and state agencies for tourism – Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland – now sit along other important economic agencies such as IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. A new national tourism policy statement, entitled A New Era for Irish Tourism, has been launched by the Government. Although light on detail, the Government’s new tourism policy certainly delivers a sense of purpose. Eoghan O’Mara Walsh is chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation

It is important for Ireland that British prime minister Keir Starmer's negotiations with the EU to reset the relationship are successful. If the Liz Truss budget was a horror show, compared to the economic disaster of Brexit it was a minor upset. In 2016, the IMF estimated that the cost to the UK of Brexit would be a loss of 4 per cent of GDP. While the UK’s current economic difficulties are due to Brexit, the Labour government feels unable to set the record straight – it doesn’t want to alienate Red Wall voters who backed Brexit. A thriving UK economy is important for Ireland – it remains a crucial market.

The foyer in London’s Zedwell Hotel is blissfully laid back: soft lighting, honey-coloured wood, people talking quietly as they check in on iPads. This is the Zedwell cocoon hotel, I’m booked into the Zedwell capsules. I go back out into the crashing glare of Piccadilly and arrive at the Capsule Hotel 20 seconds later. Inside the Zedwell capsule hotel, there’s a livelier vibe and a smaller foyer, the design is more industrial, a mix of slate grey walls and wood. Back in the Zedwell, there’s a sociable buzz in the communal bathroom with its lines of shiny white sinks.

Vodafone Ireland and Atlantic Technological University have won €4.6 million EU backing to develop digital training for building apprentices. Photograph: iStockphotoVodafone Ireland and Atlantic Technological University (ATU) have won €4.6 million from the European Union to develop digital training for engineering and construction apprentices in the west of Ireland. ATU, Vodafone and FifthIngenium will develop virtual construction labs allowing students to practice building using digital models, systems that simulate real building environments and 3D video streaming to teach technical skills. Vodafone and ATU noted that the Government recently pledged to promote careers in construction by expanding apprenticeships, boosting recruitment and improving training opportunities. Sheila Kavanagh, network director at Vodafone Ireland, said access to training depends on strong digital infrastructure.

Patricia Lyons: Her children 'missed out on the influence of Irish culture here'. “Nobody had heard of Ireland, it was amazing,” she says, adding that people would think she had mentioned “Holland” as her home country. “Even quite educated people would have no contact with Ireland or Irish people.” She would then have to explain Ireland was in fact an island beside England. Many of her women friends were college graduates who had studied abroad: “Intelligent young divorced Dominican women, against the status quo... Her children, she says, “missed out on the influence of Irish culture here”.

Martin Parr at the Guildhall Art Gallery Unseen City exhibition in London in 2016. Photograph: Emily Pennick/PA WireBritish photographer Martin Parr has died at the age of 73, his foundation has announced. Parr, who was one of the best-known documentary photographers of his time, died on Saturday at his home in Bristol, the Martin Parr Foundation said. An Instagram post said the Martin Parr Foundation and Magnum Photos “will work together to preserve and share Martin’s legacy”. At the time, Perry described him “a major player in the whole culture of photography.”Parr established a dedicated space for the Martin Parr Foundation in 2017.

With Dún Laoghaire no longer operational, the company now departs from Dublin Port, as well as Rosslare. Affable and straight-talking, Mårtensson makes no bones about the fact Ireland and the Irish Sea are hugely important to the company. “The Irish Sea is the most important sea for Stena Line,” he says. “Ireland and the Irish Sea is equal to zero today when it comes to the green transition. “I don’t think AI will lead to less crew on our ships but we will use them more efficiently,” he says.

Poor information and murky bidding are depressing the number of homes sold in the Republic, a new report finds. Joanne Geary, managing director of MyHome, believes fully transparent bidding could improve how the market functions. It also argued for a conveyancing profession capable of navigating legal problems in sales and for standard information on property websites. Close to half of residential sales are on sites with online bidding or auctions, including MyHome Offers, MySherryFitz and MyDNG, among others. Their advantage is that they give buyers a transparent bidding history for the properties in which they are interested as well as allowing them to place their own offer, Ms Geary points out.

For those of us who once toiled in the lower decks of the good ship Evening Press on the dockside at Burgh Quay, there was one voice missing from those two days that rocked Irish football in mid-November. Or how he imagined Hill 16 “as lively as the Main Street of Knocknagoshel on Good Friday” when Dublin fell to Kerry in the 1978 All-Ireland final. Fortunately, it was a promise he could not keep, Castle Island being as sacred to him as Ayers Rock to the Aborigines of Australia. Though he soldiered on elsewhere in print, he never fully got over his “feelings of loneliness and desolation when I pass by that great stranded ship between Burgh Quay and Poolbeg Street”. On his centenary at the weekend, he was fondly remembered in the many hostelries he graced with his anoraked presence, from his adopted home in Portobello to Castle Island, his final resting place beside his parents, Michael and Ellen.

Rory McIlroy acknowledges the applause after sinking a birdie putt during the final round of the Australian Open. Photograph: William West/AFP via GettyRory McIlroy has called on organisers ​of the Australian Open to reschedule the event in an effort to attract a stronger international field to ‍the tournament in the future. “I’ve been excited to come back down here for a ‌while, it’s been over 10 years since I played in the Australian Open,” McIlroy said after his final ⁠round. “Hopefully the Australian Open can find a date that accommodates everyone and everyone can at least have the option ‍to come down and play.”The tournament marked the end of a stellar season for the 36-year-old. In addition to his long-awaited Masters success, McIlroy won a seventh Race to Dubai title plus the Irish Open and was a member of the European team that successfully defended the Ryder Cup in the U.S. in September.