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Sophie Clarke

Sophie Clarke

The Irish News

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From ‘sex work’ to Trump’s ugly argument with President Zelensky, there’s just too much information

08.03.2025 9

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Ireland rugby team see the light with ban on red-green kit clash in Six Nations

01.03.2025 8

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Donald Trump won’t stop me doing the right thing and cleaning up after my dog

16.02.2025 10

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Live-action Disney films lack the escapist magic of the originals

09.02.2025 10

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Are advances in technology eroding our traditions?

02.02.2025 10

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

The Belfast Giants are one local team we can all support

26.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

OTT ‘yellow’ warnings exceed the reality of our weather

19.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

TikTok brain and my sadness at how classic children’s TV is a turn-off for today’s kids

11.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

From Derry Girls to Kneecap, our arts sector already punches above its weight. How good could it be if it was properly funded?

IRELAND and the concept of ‘Irishness’ is now, it seems, firmly established in the cultural mainstream beyond our shores. If I had to pinpoint when...

05.01.2025 9

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

New year, new me? No thanks - why I won’t be making any New Year’s resolutions

THIS stage of the holiday festivities can often feel a bit flat; presents have been opened, the Christmas dinner has been eaten and Gavin and...

29.12.2024 2

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Is the office Christmas party a thing of the past?

SO another firm fixture on the seasonal schedule currently taking place across towns and cities is the annual Christmas work ‘do’. This is...

22.12.2024 3

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

How Graham Norton inspired me to write my own Nativity play

I AM sure many of you have already been or will be attending Christmas performances at schools, community centres and churches this month. I am...

14.12.2024 5

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

May McFettridge is a prodigious talent and an absolute master of her craft

LAST weekend saw the return of panto season at Belfast’s Grand Opera House. This year’s production is Peter Pan and, as with recent shows, will be...

08.12.2024 3

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Why watching Nigella, Jamie and Gordon’s cooking shows won’t improve your Christmas dinner (But they’re still fun to watch)

SO last week saw the final of the Great British Bake Off and more episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals with the judges whittling down...

30.11.2024 4

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Exiles from X flee toxicity, seeking a kinder, safer social media climate under Bluesky

WORLD Kindness Day was celebrated last week – on November 13 to be precise. I only became aware of it after the date had passed but I was quite...

23.11.2024 2

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

From pumpkins to Christmas trees: Why are some of us jumping into the holiday spirit in November?

LAST week when walking my fully DNA tested miniature schnauzer Ferdy (apologies for the obvious ‘nepotism’ in last week’s column) I was...

17.11.2024 2

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Why I decided to DNA test my dog and what I discovered

I first started contemplating dog DNA testing after people regularly stopped to ask about my dog’s breed. Granted, Ferdy isn’t your regular looking...

10.11.2024 10

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Saoirse Ronan’s subtle slap delivers a stone-cold truth about women’s safety

There’s nothing that screams Friday night quite like settling down for the evening and tuning into The Graham Norton Show - I love it. From...

03.11.2024 2

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Liam Payne and the ultimate price of fame

CELEBRITIES are often denied dignity in death, particularly when they die young or unexpectedly. There is a thriving market in morbid memorabilia –...

26.10.2024 2

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Netflix’s Nobody Wants This shows there’s an appetite for love stories that take place later in life

IT’S a quest that has dominated people’s lives since the dawn of time, yet meeting the love of your life is usually depicted as a young person’s...

20.10.2024 3

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Paul Mescal and Gladiator II: The fate of the cinema is in your hands

Last week, for the first time in a long time, I went to the cinema to watch the new Joker: Folie à Deux film. The showing was in the Avenue Cinema,...

12.10.2024 3

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Why I’m sleeping in a tent outside Stormont

Probably, like most of Generation Z, I have never camped – not in the proper sense anyway. In order to have an ‘authentic’ camping experience I...

11.10.2024 20

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Grand Central Station, traffic jams, MOT delays and L-plate dramas

I am not a very confident driver – I will openly admit that. I once arrived home and was shocked to discover several ugly brown stripes along the...

06.10.2024 3

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Netflix’s ‘Monsters’ and true crime’s false narrative

PROLIFIC American television writer and director Ryan Murphy has been courting controversy since his career began. The unique style and...

28.09.2024 4

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Why the woke are saying ‘I don’t’

OVER the last few years my social media has become increasingly inundated with Facebook and Instagram posts by old school and university chums...

22.09.2024 3

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Flaky friendships? Sometimes it is more about quantity than quality

Over the last few decades pop culture has popularised intense, passionate female friendship: from the ironclad connection between Sex and the...

14.09.2024 3

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Chappell Roan wants to be left alone

OF all my teenage phases, my stint as a 5 Seconds of Summer mega-fan is by far the most embarrassing. After stumbling across the melancholic black...

07.09.2024 2

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Jermaine Jenas and the fine line between self-confidence and self-sabotage

I recently wrote about the relatively new phenomenon of cancel culture but on the flip side of that is the concept of self-sabotage. This is when...

31.08.2024 3

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Why Noah Kahan lost a fan

I remember the sheer delight I felt when, many months ago, I snagged two tickets to see Noah Kahan at Belfast Vital last Saturday. I was looking...

25.08.2024 30

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

They call it puppy love

AS I write, Ferdy, our black, woolly, teddy bear-esque miniature schnauzer is sprawled on the floor fast asleep next to my desk. Don’t take this,...

18.08.2024 1

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Is it time we cancelled cancel culture and its ‘virtual vigilantes’?

DURING recent times, the notion that a person can be ‘cancelled’ – a word I must regularly accessorise with frilly quotation marks for my own...

03.08.2024 5

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

New AI de-ageing could be a disaster

Let’s be honest: technology has improved my life in ways that still surprise and delight me on a daily basis. My phone is also a torch, my TV...

27.07.2024 2

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Dating shows today seem to be more about the love of the limelight

It might be hard to believe but despite being a self-professed hopeless romantic, dating shows aren’t really my thing. Don’t get me wrong - there...

20.07.2024 1

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke

Me and my premature quarter-life crisis

I was recently scrolling through Instagram, not paying much attention – there’s only so many pictures of people in well-coordinated outfits posing...

14.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Sophie Clarke