Declan Kidney finished down on his luck in the 2013 Six Nations: three defeats and a draw followed the solitary opening-day victory over Wales in Cardiff. Now, he is finished as Ireland coach. The 53-year-old former maths teacher from County Cork was shown the door by his governing body – a development widely predicted by Emerald Isle rugby experts after last month's excruciating loss to Italy in Rome, in which the Munsterman got his sums badly wrong.

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Letter: Is `Cassandra' a woman?

Sir: Your "resident Greek scholar" might have pointed out that, besides being murdered by Clytemnestra, Cassandra was, rather more relevantly, a woman ("Predictions galore in Cassandra hunt", 16 November). Shouldn't your line-up of the usual suspects - Austin Mitchell, Tony Banks, John Garrett - therefore have included a woman or two?

Losing the plot by the yard

THE USUAL SUSPECTS Bryan Singer (18) The Usual Suspects is a stylish thriller with an opening that evokes classic Hitchcock. But, says Adam Mars-Jones, the story soon snags on its own intricacies

FIRST-HAND : `I've had enough ... I want to die with dignity'

Peter, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, wants the right to end his own life
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