Highlights From Moncrieff

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced a new award for Stunt Design, which will be inaugurated at the 2028 Oscars.Joining Seán to discuss this is Mike O’Shea, an Irish film Stunt Consultant who has worked on movies such as Mission Impossible and No Time to Die…Image: Paramount Pictures

With the weather as glorious as it is, many people will be taking the chance to get out in nature and get hiking.Mountaineering Ireland have issued an urgent appeal for the public to prepare themselves when going on walking trails, and importantly to stay away from the Mourne Mountains because of fire.Helen Lawless joins Seán to discuss.

Seán’s guest lost her son in the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack. After campaigning for many years for event venues to be obliged to prepare for terrorist attacks, ‘Martyn’s Law’, named after her son, was signed into law last week.Joining to discuss is Campaigner Figen Murray…Image: Peter Byrne/PA

How long does it take you to fall in love?And, is there such a thing as a slow burn, or should it be a whirlwind at the beginning?Jake Maddock, a Relationship Coach and author, has touched a nerve online declaring that for the first eight weeks of meeting somebody, you should only see them once a week so as not to rush it…Matchmaker Mairead Loughman joins Seán to discuss.

It’s the nature of news that once a conflict has ended, that country seems to slip out of our news feed, as if everything has been resolved and nothing remains to be decided.But, of course, that is far from the truth…Journalist Sally Hayden has visited Syria to see how things are playing out on the ground in the aftermath of the revolution. She joins Seán to discuss.

How do we try to save face when we’ve lost an argument or made a fool of yourself? After Trump’s tariff u-turn, do you apologise? Do you try to change the goalposts or pretend it never happened?Henry McKean has been out asking the public, and joins Seán to discuss.Image: Reuters

Are you any good at solving a Rubik’s cube?And have you heard of speedcubing?The new competition seems to be taking over the country as interest soars in the sport, with children keen to take part and solve rubix cubes as quickly as possible.For more on this, Seán is joined by Kevin Timmons from Speedcubing Ireland…

A new documentary film examines two charity concerts that John Lennon and Yoko Ono organised in the early 1970s, using a treasure trove of contemporary footage. Joining Seán to discuss more is Sam Rice-Edwards, Co-Director of One to One: John & Yoko…

Author Anthony Horowitz has revealed that he writes a letter to his wife with details of how his book ends, just in case he gets hit by a bus before finishing it.The novelist doesn’t want to leave his readers in suspense if anything happened to him, and confessed to this habit. So, what other weird and wacky writer superstitions do authors follow?Bestselling novelist Liz Nugent joins Seán to discuss.

If you’ve spent any time on the internet, you may have noticed that emotional intelligence is in short supply, and apparently only 36% of us actually qualify as emotionally intelligent.It seems an unlikely solution, but could AI help us to empathise better with our fellow humans?MarieToft is a Generative AI Thought Leader and Consultant and Founder of Emotionise AI. She joins Seán to discuss.

Whether you blame them for the black death, or you just think they’re a bit gross, rats don’t have a fantastic reputation among us humans.And maybe that’s part of the problem.In an effort to rehabilitate the image of the humble rodent, PETA have written to the Cambridge dictionary asking for them to change the definition of “Rat”...Jennifer White from PETA joins Seán to discuss.

Are misinformation and body shaming continuing to cause problems for women and their menstrual cycle? Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh, Doctor and Columnist with the Irish Independent, has been writing about her thoughts on this in the newspaper and she joins me now…

Teeth are all anybody is talking about these days when it comes to TV and film, thanks in part to the fascination with Aimee Lou Wood in The White Lotus... but, for many years, we have seen actors get a set of false teeth and transform into new characters.Remember Mike Myers in Austin Powers and Jonah Hill in Wolf of Wall Street?The man behind those teeth is Leading Dental Technician and creator of SPFX Teeth, Gary Archer. He joins Seán to discuss.

Life has a funny way of working out, but if you’ve just been dumped, lost your job and have nowhere to live, things can feel pretty miserable.Aoife Dunne came to terms with the grief of losing her mother and built a loyal following online sharing the highs and lows of navigating life in your late thirties when you’re still just figuring it out...She joins Seán to discuss.

As the weather improves, many people will be digging out their summer whites. But, how do you revamp these garments to make them look as good as new, after spending last summer sweating in them?Joining Seán to discuss is Laura de Barra, author of ‘Garment Goddess’...

Alarming price increases in both chocolate and butter are having a major impact on the baking and chocolate industry in Ireland…Joining Seán to discuss this is Graham Herterich, AKA the Cupcake Bloke, owner of The Bakery in Rialto…

It's been a bumper season for sightings of the Eurasian Hoopoe on Ireland’s south coast, an exotic bird with a pink mohawk.Joining Seán to discuss the sightings is Paul Connaughton, an Ornithologist who sits on the Irish Rare Birds Committee…

While the ongoing pedestrianisation of many towns and cities around Ireland since the pandemic often brings benefits, it can put a toll on retail businesses. One particular street in Dublin City, Drury Street, has exploded in popularity over the past two years, leading to large crowds of people congregating.Joining Seán to discuss this is Clare Grennan, co-owner of Irish Design Shop…

A new book claims that the French president Emmanuel Macron wears so much aftershave that his staff can smell him before they see him coming. So, how should aftershave be worn and should Irish men follow the French way of doing it?Joining Seán to discuss is Sadie Chowen, Creative Director of the Burren Perfumery…

A major part of our public discourse in recent years has been about the so-called ‘culture wars’.These discussions seem to exhibit an ever increasing toxicity which likely doesn’t help anyone.So, how do we make peace?Professor AC Grayling, Philosopher and Author of ‘Discriminations: Making Peace in the Culture Wars’, joins Seán to discuss.