It’s Christmas Eve and so much about this time of year is about the things we do and eat – not because we particularly want to do them or even enjoy eating them – but it’s traditional.

So what are the traditions we’ve clung to and what are the new ones that have crept up on us?

Who sends Christmas cards anymore? And why have Poinsettias, once such an exotic seasonal plant, fallen out of favour?

Irish Times feature writer Laura Slattery has been teasing out the traditions that make an Irish Christmas.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At a time when there are media think pieces galore about how atomised entertainment is, how people don’t talk about TV like they used to; how the music industry is fractured beyond repair; and how young people are too stuck to their screens to engage in real-life politics, 2025 proved all that wrong.

RTÉ’s smash hit reality TV show Traitors Ireland was a ratings juggernaut that dished up endless water-cooler moments. Oasis played two triumphant Croke Park gigs, with all talk about eye-watering ticket prices forgotten in the blazing sunshine and general euphoria. And Kneecap’s frontman Liam Óg hAnnaidh aka Mo Chara’s London court appearances became mini-festivals with music mixing with politics.

And then where was Lily Allen’s tell-all album, West End Girl and presidential hopeful Maria Steen and her handbag.

These and other much-talked about highlights are picked over by Aideen Finnegan from the Irish Times podcast team and journalist Niamh Browne.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

British far-right activist Tommy Robinson is the UK’s most notorious anti-Muslim activist.

At 43, he is the street leader of the radical right-wing nationalist upsurge gripping Britain.

An estimated 150,000 like-minded protesters turned out in London in September for his “Unite the Kingdom” march and for months Irish Times London correspondent Mark Paul has tried to get an interview with him.

And then the call came out of the blue on a cold December evening.

Robinson was planning a stunt in an hour’s time – to announce the date of his next protest – and would the Irish Times like to come?

In the end the stunt failed for technical reasons but Paul got to see how the avowed right-wing radical works and got to shadow him the following day.

At a choral service – to “bring the Christ back into Christmas” he got to see how Robinson is mixing his newfound conversion to evangelical Christianity with his anti-immigrant message.

Paul tells In the News how Robinson’s new style of campaigning echoes the Maga movement that got Donald Trump elected.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.