Marching into Spring 🌱☀️

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back, feeling solar-powered and ready to deliver news of the Irish at home and abroad into your inbox. The Craic is the weekly newsletter from Shift, the app for the global Irish. Want Shift? Get it here. And do us a wee favor, pass The Craic onto a friend by asking them to sign up here. Now, a word from our sponsors… US! 👍

News from Home

Mass Effect. A study of religious practices across Europe shows that the Irish are still up there with the most devout nations, with only around one third of us claiming the no religion that John Lennon once imagined. France and the UK are among the least religious, with a majority in those countries claiming the old atheism.

Cat Yourself On. If you don’t mill around the sewers of social media, you’ll not be aware of the Jessie Buckley ‘controversy’ swirling around at the mo. Ireland’s future Oscar winner (we’re calling it now) is being cancelled in some quarters. Why? Because in a throwaway comment in an interview, she joked that she hates cats and that the felines are “mean”. It’s all a bit preposterous, but we guess when such outrage greets a nothing-burger, it means you’ve made it.

Dreary Me. Nobody expects glorious sunshine across January and February this side of the Equator, yet the weather gods were really having a laugh recently: 60-something days of rain in a row were recorded for 2026 – a complete washout. Yet, the last few days (in some parts of the island) have been glorious. Whisper it, but it might be time to leave the Big Coat™️ at home till October.

The Craic Recommends. We haven’t read it yet – because it’s not out until March 26th – but we know that there’s a lot of buzz around the great Colm Tóibín’s new collection of short stories, The News from Dublin. It’s Tóibín’s first short story collection since 2010. As ever, we’d politely ask that if you are interested in pre-ordering, please do so from an independent Irish bookseller. Big Bezos and Amazon have enough cash.

The Irish Influence

With the good feeling back in Irish rugby thanks to that historic win over England, we thought we’d highlight the man who represents the heart of the Irish team, the captain Caelan Doris. The 27-year-old has quietly improved to become one of the world’s best rugby players, being nominated for the World Player of the Year in 2024. Doris is incredibly driven – you can see by his media interviews the demands he makes on his teammates – and he’s a handsome aul bugger, too. Ireland plays Wales this evening. Nothing short of a resounding victory will do for Doris.

Cúpla Focal

Tá an tEarrach linn {taw un tarr-ohk linn} – spring is in the air. You can take all the meteorological charts, groundhogs, and baby lambs you want, but The Craic has one firm measurement to measure when spring is back – when we see the first signs of life returning to Irish beer gardens 🍻🌱. Tá an tEarrach linn – literally, spring is with us – and we are very happy about it. 

Blast from the Past

One of the most satisfying parts of creating The Craic every week is that we can delve into lesser-known parts of Irish history, and one that fascinates us more than most is the “Showband era”. And thus, we present to you the fantastically-named Red Hurley (it’s as if AI came up with the name of an Irish person). Red was number one in the Irish charts fifty years ago this week with “Broken Promises”. While he has one of those Conway-Twitty-1970s-style heads on him that makes him look like he is mentally undressing every woman (and man) in the room, Red boasted a wonderful, Roy Orbison-esque voice. He would represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest later that year.

And One Last Thing….

Yes, it’s March, and yes, that means that there will be all sorts of PPEs (Pre-Paddy’s Events) around the US. Made-up acronyms aside, Team Shift will be popping up like gophers across various events before the big day. Darren’s going to be at the Chicago River dyeing next week, whereas Paul and Patrick will be attending an Irish business owners’ event in Tulsa on Friday, followed by an Irish festival in the city on Saturday. As for Vivienne, she’ll be in NYC spreading the good word of Shift before the main event. We will have a big Paddy’s Day special for The Craic next week, but if you see any of us floating about Chicago, Tulsa, or NYC, be sure to say hello!