There’s a two-hander scene in Kevin Rafter’s new book about the rise and fall of Magill magazine that jumps off the page like the dialogue in a Colm Tóibín novel – perhaps because Tóibín himself is telling the story. He’s also one of the two characters in this vignette – the other being Vincent Browne, Magill’s owner and box-office editor. We’re back in late 1982, and the 38-year-old Browne has just taken control of The Sunday Tribune, buying it from the liquidator thanks to a sizeable investment by the Guinness Peat Aviation owner Tony Ryan. The deal is done, but…

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