This week's selection of long reads covers a diverse range of topics, from the Super Bowl to whether or not there's a future for the humble DVD.
"We had a very precious time with him, even though he wasn't breathing" - Sarah tells her story
An Irish woman was advised by an Irish consultant to seek a termination in the UK for her child carrying a fatal foetal abnormality. Sarah’s story (not her real name) was carried by Ellen Coyne in the Ireland Edition of the Times earlier this week, and Coyne detailed the story for Newstalk Breakfast.
DVD is dead - long live DVD
The recent announcement that Xtra-vision would cease trading marked the end of an era. For some, the era of physical media ended years ago - with the arrival of digital television, perhaps, or as their hard-drives quickly filled with gigabytes of shadily but easily procured movie files.
For others it was a more gradual process, with Netflix and the like slowly, but fundamentally, altering their viewing habits. And yet…for some loyal film fans DVD & Blu-Ray are not only alive & kicking, they remain as essential as ever.
What does a city need to provide to host the Super Bowl?
Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers meet on Sunday night in Levi's Stadium at Super Bowl 50.
The new home of the San Francisco 49ers was only opened in the summer of 2014 and has already hosted last year's WrestleMania event, but the stadium won the rights to host Sunday's game in 2013, more than a year before it was even opened.
How can a stadium that has not been fully built win the rights to host the biggest game in American Football? For the NFL, the Super Bowl is more than just 60 minutes of football.
Can Fianna Fáil's new generation win back the public?
As a number of new voices hope to make an impact in the coming weeks, leaving the crash behind, Newstalk's Joseph Conroy caught up with a some of those who hope that they can move the party away from its traditional image of being "male, stale and beyond the Pale".
What's going on with Chinese football?
Although the arrival of Pep Guardiola to Manchester City trumped everything else that went on during the January transfer window, the sudden explosion of Chinese football into the market has also been making headlines.
Notably, Chelsea sold Ramires to Jiangsu Suning, Gervinho left Roma to join Hebei China Fortune, Freddy Guarin move to Shanghai Shenhua and Jackson Martínez completeed a stunning move to Guangzhou Evergrande for a fee in the region of €45 million from La Liga title challengers Atlético Madrid. So where has the money come from and why is it being spent on football?
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