
Bono: "I'm just a little bit boring to my kids now!"
In the week that U2 were honoured at the Ivor Novello Awards, Bono spoke to Brendan about fatherhood, music, politics, and the criticism he received earlier this year for accepting an award from President Joe Biden. He also spoke about the new film, Bono: Stories of Surrender, which will be released next week on Apple TV.

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Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+: 10 of the best new shows to stream in June
Stick From Wednesday, June 4th, Apple TV+ What do washed-up sports stars do when they've reached the end of the road and are looking for a signpost to redemption? Easy: they just stumble on a young prodigy, preferably from a dysfunctional background and with a few anger issues, and take them under their wing. Pryce Cahill is a former pro golfer – nicknamed Stick – whose career ended 20 years ago, followed soon after by his marriage and his job at a sporting-goods store. With lots of time on his hands and little else in prospect, Pryce encounters Santi, a troubled teenager who happens to be a genius with a golf club. Can Pryce help Santi hit the heights of PGA success that he never reached himself? And does Santi even want success? Owen Wilson stars as Stick in this comedy drama that plays a bit like Hoosiers meets Happy Gilmore. It's from the crowd that brought us Ted Lasso, so nuff said. Ginny & Georgia From Thursday, June 5th, Netflix Mother-daughter relationships can be a bit of a trial, but in the third series of this comedy drama the Miller family faces an actual trial – for murder. Series two ended with Georgia (Brianne Howey), the mom, being arrested on her own wedding day; her daughter, Ginny (Antonia Gentry), faces the dilemma of whether to believe in her mother's innocence or accept the overwhelming evidence against her. What she does know is that she doesn't want her mom to go to prison. Georgia is put under house arrest and made to wear an electronic ankle monitor, while Ginny has to run the gauntlet in the school corridor every day, with the eyes of her classmates burning through her head. Will the Miller family rise to their greatest challenge yet while still delivering some laugh-out-loud moments? You better believe it, peaches. Fubar From Thursday, June 12th, Netflix When it was announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be returning for a second series of this comedy spy show, the 'I'll be back' quips came thick and fast. In his first foray into TV territory, Arnie plays the CIA agent Luke Brunner, who has had to defer his retirement for one last espionage job. Now it looks as if the gold-watch ceremony will have to wait a bit longer, as in series two he faces a deadly foe in the form of an old flame, the German spy Greta Nelso, played with suitably over-the-top gusto by Carrie-Anne Moss. In series one Luke was pulled back out of retirement to rescue a fellow CIA operative – who turned out to be his daughter, Emma (Monica Barbaro). The cast members have all talked about how much fun they had making this series – let's hope it's just as much fun for us to watch. We Were Liars From Wednesday, June 18th, Prime Video Take a private island paradise off the coast of New England, add a sprinkle of rich, beautiful, privileged teenagers, top it off with a dash of smouldering passion and jealousy, and you've got the perfect recipe for a murder mystery. Cadence Sinclair Eastman is a scion of the wealthy, influential Sinclair family, and she and her siblings, cousins and close friends – known as the Liars – are spending another idyllic summer on the island, but then something bad happens, and the dynamic within the group changes irrevocably, while the island's unspoken omerta rule suddenly kicks in. Sounds like another variation on the 'I know what you did last summer' trope. It's based on the bestselling YA novel by E Lockhart, aka Emily Jenkins. READ MORE The Buccaneers From Wednesday, June 18th, Apple TV+ Those scandalous American girls are back in polite English society in the second series of the period drama, which is sort of like Bridgerton with a bit of a twang. In the 1870s a group of wealthy and brash young heiresses are sent over from the United States to gatecrash the London social scene and bag themselves husbands, but their extroverted ways quickly clash with the buttoned-up traditions of Victorian society. It's not long before they're setting gentlemen's pulses racing, and sending scandalised dowagers reaching for the smelling salts. In this second series the Buccaneers have become firmly integrated in London life, and Nan has become the Duchess of Tintagel, while Conchita is better known as Lady Brightlingsea. But they're still out to shake up the status quo, all to a fab, completely anachronistic soundtrack featuring Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga and The Last Dinner Party. The Waterfront From Thursday, June 19th, Netflix The Buckley family are the kingpins of their own fishing empire in a small village on the coast of North Carolina. Their name is on practically every business, shop and restaurant, so they have a bit of a hegemony here. But, beneath it all, business is going downhill, and the family patriarch, Harlan Buckley (Colt McCallany), must raise a couple of million to turn things around. He gets into bed with some shady drug smugglers, but as things spiral out of control and the body count piles up, it's looking more and more like the Buckleys will be sleeping with the fishes. Countdown From Wednesday, June 25th, Prime Video A dead Homeland Security agent, a secret taskforce and a terror plot that could end in millions of deaths: maybe I won't have another consonant after all, Rachel, thank you very much. Jensen Ackles from The Boys heads the cast of this action-thriller series created by Derek Haas, the mind behind the FBI series and all its variants. Ackles is the LAPD cop Mark Meachum, who is recruited into the taskforce after the Homeland Security guy is murdered in broad daylight. The murder is just the tip of the iceberg, and soon Ackles and the team are racing to stop the bad guys from turning the citizens of LA into DOA. The Bear From Thursday, June 26th, Disney+ Chef-patron Carmy Berzatto is back in kitchen hell in the fourth series of the foodie dramedy, and he's still in pursuit of excellence in the former sandwich shop in Chicago that he inherited after the suicide of his brother, Michael. Carmy, a Michelin-star chef, has turned the dive into a fine-dining restaurant, but success is far from a done deal. Money is running out, and the kitchen is still in chaos and turmoil. Can Carmy create a calmer atmosphere in this culinary crucible? Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy, with Ayo Edebiri, Oliver Platt and Jamie Lee Curtis among the cast. Squid Game From Friday, June 27th, Netflix How much of a gaming junkie do you have to be to go back into a game that could end in your death? In series two of the hit Korean series – Netflix's most successful non-English-language series – Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) went back into the game with a clear mission to take down the faceless organisation behind this murderous, macabre theme park, but in this third and final series he finds himself back in the Squid Game dorm after the failure of his attempted rebellion – and this time the games have been taken to even deadlier levels. Gi-hun must survive this last round and also outwit his treacherous adversary the Frontman as the tournament reaches its bloody, adrenaline-pumping climax. Smoke From Friday, June 27th, Apple TV+ The Rocket Man star Taron Egerton heads a strong cast in this new crime series about an arson investigator in pursuit of two serial pyromaniacs. Joining Egerton in the series – based on a true story – are Rafe Spall, Jurnee Smollett, Anna Chlumsky, Greg Kinnear and John Leguizamo. Egerton plays the investigator, with Smollett as the detective who becomes his reluctant partner; they'll have to find common ground if they are going to stop the firestarting spree before it gets completely out of control.


Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Little Museum of Dublin to reopen after year-long €4.3m makeover
The Little Museum of Dublin is set to reopen this week after a year-long, €4.3 million makeover. The museum's Georgian town house at 15 St Stephen's Green has been made fully accessible on all floors, and the interior has been refurbished and redecorated. But the contents, a gloriously eccentric and eclectic clutter of ephemera, charting the life and times of some of Dublin's great characters and events, remain largely unchanged, though much enhanced. It's a visitor experience that has made the Little Museum one of Europe's most popular destinations. READ MORE 'We are just behind the Acropolis and ahead of the British Museum [on Tripadvisor],' says director Trevor White. 'It's a handmade museum – people want to touch, feel and handle exhibits and that openness really resonates with our guests.' The refurbishment, which was part financed by Dublin City Council , the Department of Culture , Fáilte Ireland and private donations, has allowed for the introduction of new items, as well as reimagining popular displays, including the U2 -dominated Made in Dublin music room, which now has a striking maquette of Vera Klute 's head statue of Luke Kelly, his face looming out of a spotlit dark corner. New items also include Tara's Palace, a 2.5 metre by 4 metre miniature modelled on Leinster House (among others) that was in storage for years following its departure from Powerscourt House in Wicklow. The palace dominates a ground floor-over-basement room devoted to Georgian Dublin. Last weekend, contractors added the finishing touches to the refurbishment as head of museum design Dara Flynn and deputy curator Daryl Hendley Rooney reset the displays, aided by former Little Museum curator Simon O'Connor, until recently director of the Museum of Literature . The entrance to the museum is via the basement, off which a tiny rear garden will be home to an old K1 telephone box. A stairwell devoted to former Dublin lord mayor Alfie Byrne leads to the Little Library, a non-fiction archive and reading area. [ Tourism slump continues - April data shows decline in visitor numbers Opens in new window ] Adjoining the Tara's Palace/Georgian Dublin room on the ground floor is an Animals of Dublin room, aimed at primary schoolchildren. Brendan Bracken and Christy Brown dominate the stairwell returns up through the house. A first floor room overlooking Stephen's Green is dedicated to Dublin – from Victorian times through the city's Little Jerusalem Jewish quarter, Oscar Wilde , Nelson's Pillar and the 1916 revolutionary era. Other new items are more personal in origin. When Frankfurt-based lawyer Claire Lloyd was home in Glasgow last year to visit her father Christopher Thomson, he handed her an envelope, remarking: 'You'll like this.' Inside, there was a copy of a cartoon showing a rather portly fellow riding a bicycle while simultaneously tapping, two-finger style, on a portable typewriter balanced on the handlebars, pipe in mouth and a large-brimmed hat perched on his head. Nearby, the scene also depicted a policeman looking on, slightly aghast at the spectacle. A handwritten note across the top of the cartoon read: 'Irish Tatler sketch. December 1940.' And across the bottom was added: 'Really, it is somewhat libellous!' The writer identified himself merely as 'B'. [ In the editor's chair: RM Smyllie's life and Irish Times Opens in new window ] Another of the envelope's contents was a tiny newspaper cutting, a single column short, as small news items used to be known in newspapers, this one a mere 12 lines long. 'Honour for Irish Journalist,' said the headline. The piece recorded that on February 5th, 1939, the president of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, as it was known then, had conferred the honour of Officer of the Order of the White Lion on none other than 'Mr R M Smyllie, Editor of The Irish Times'. This too had a handwritten note. 'A Timida, a chara!' it said. 'I know this will interest you,' and it was signed 'Bertie'. It was posted to Ms Lloyd's great grandmother's cousin, Alexandra Smyllie, with whom Robert Maire Smyllie, known as Bertie Smyllie , corresponded regularly. Glasgow and Ayrshire-based Alexandra was evidently a little introverted, hence the Latin greeting – a timida – meaning shy one. Glasgow born but Sligo reared, Bertie Smyllie was a huge figure in Dublin. As editor, he shepherded The Irish Times from its soft, middle-of-the-road unionist background outlook, to one of being comfortable with, and accepting of, Irish independence. In the process, he imbued the paper with a distinctive literary bent, giving free rein to characters like Brian O'Nolan, aka Flann O'Brien , who wrote a column as Myles na gCopaleen. Smyllie's place in Irish history was a revelation to Ms Lloyd and her father. 'We had no idea,' she said during a recent visit to Ireland, including to Delgany Golf Club where Smyllie was captain in 1945 and 1946. 'I remember my grandmother telling me about him back in the 1980s when I was a child, ie, 'You know about Bertie, don't you? Bertie went to Ireland. He was a journalist.' Or 'Bertie was an editor. He worked for The Irish Times.' That was all I knew, and I forgot about him over the years ... until recently when we came across a few documents, letters and clippings in my grandmother's old files.' The cartoon and award story are now in the museum's Irish Times room, along with other items from the newspaper's history (including Smyllie's famous V-for-victory front page with which he wrong-footed the paper's wartime censor) and several new items, notably from former foreign correspondent Conor O'Clery 's distinguished career. A Chesterfield couch will encourage visitors to delve into books by Irish Times writers or just lounge a while, viewing Martyn Turner cartoons or photographs selected by retired picture editor Brenda Fitzsimons , and other newspaper ephemera. Beside the Irish Times room is at the top of the house will be rotating exhibition space – a selection of Mick Brown's photographs of Dublin from the 1960s through to the early 2000s and, later, an exhibition marking 200 years of the Coombe Hospital. The museum has one tiny room, space for a single chair and just one person. The occupant will be able to watch, on screen, as Mary Merritt, a survivor of a Magdalene Laundry, talks on camera about her life, much of it memorialised in the groundbreaking play, You Can Leave at Any Time. All part of the mosaic of Dublin. The Little Museum reopens to the public on Thursday


Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
U2 is true democracy, says Bono
U2 frontman Bono has described the band as a 'democracy'. The 65-year-old rocker explained how the iconic group – which also comprises The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr – all chip in with ideas for new music. However, the Beautiful Day singer added that it is usually the lead guitarist's suggestions that are given preference. Asked how U2 work after more than 40 years in the industry, Bono said: 'Bloody democracy. Thom Yorke from Radiohead says, 'A band is like the United Nations, except I'm America'. 'But U2 is an actual democracy. We all listen to each other, and then do what Edge says.' Bono takes centre stage in the new Apple TV+ documentary film Stories Of Surrender which documents a one-man performance he gave in New York in 2023 – although he doubts that his U2 bandmates are that interested in the project. He said: 'I think Larry only likes Westerns, Adam said he liked the moonwalk, so I think perhaps he was looking at a different film. Edge is always there. He's so supportive, especially when he sees me be open or be vulnerable, which is our definition of art.' The Dubliner describes the film as 'very intimate' and revealed that he took inspiration from the late Beatles icon John Lennon for the project. Father-of-four Bono explained: 'It was always, 'Break open the ribcage, show what's the heart, let it bleed'. 'That was the John Lennon way. So it starts with heart surgery.' Meanwhile, the singer recently teased that he wants U2 to make 'the sound of the future' on their next album. The With Or Without You artist said on Jimmy Kimmel! Live: 'We've been in the studio and you've sometimes got to deal with the past to get to the present, in order to make the sound of the future. That's what we want to do.' Bono also insisted that U2 continue to be very ambitious despite their long and successful career in music. He said: 'It's the sound of four men, who feel like their lives depend on it. I remind them, they do. 'Nobody needs a new U2 album unless it's an extraordinary one. I'm feeling very strong about it.'