There is a lot to learn from Ukraine - not least on the technological side - but I am surprised more attention is not being paid to learning from Ukrainian small unit combat experiences / junior leadership.

"PBP's Conor Reddy said that the invitation should be rescinded over ... military expansion in the Middle East whilst in office." Obama ended US military operations in Iraq; these recommenced because, well, ISIS. If you object to that, then many Syrians / Iraqis / Kurds may have something to say.

'There will be middle-aged men and women wondering why 2024 and 2025 are blanked out of their memories...embarking on journeys back to the traumatic scenes they coped with by turning them into foggy and dreamlike figments. They will ask themselves how “no one realised they were witnessing genocide”'

Is your social media feed quietly steering you to the far-right? Under the new US TikTok deal this is going to get worse. The first time I heard about this was via the "I Don't Speak German" podcast after a mother in the US was shocked to see what was showing up on her sons YouTube.

Moscow is always regarded as “shrewd“ until its backing of brittle regimes blows up in its face.

A couple of weeks ago Reham wrote for us from Gaza City. Since then, her beloved grandmother has died because they couldn't get the medications she needed. Now Reham and her other family members have been forced to flee her home - here is her update: www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

This, it seems, is what the BBC had in mind when it drew up plans in March to alter “story selection” to win over Reform voters.

Good moment to remember that US foreign policy is also being reoriented to enable foreign censors and authoritarian propaganda around the world www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

My ex shouting through the letterbox at 2am.

Starmer on 'vile lies' of Musk et al: “When populist politicians, convicted criminals + foreign billionaires take to the stage to encourage violence, make racist comments, and threaten our democracy, it casts a dark shadow of fear and violence across our society” www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

I could not believe that John Lee/Irish Daily Mail compared Orange marches down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown to what happens in Drum in Monaghan - the latter is attended by people of all backgrounds including FF / FG/ SF politicians and welcome in the community. But he did. 🙄 x.com/TonightVMTV/...

Ex SF MP Francis Molloy was on the evening news on Radio Ulster last night ahead of their presidential election announcement today. He said he didn't know the party's stance but suggested Heather Humphreys was the logical candidate if Republicans wanted to move towards a United Ireland for all.

Remembering Middlesbrough-born football manager Brian Clough, who died on this day 2004. ‘Rome wasn't built in a day, but I wasn't on that particular job.'

A lot to discuss / analyse but this commitment is welcome.

This is the eight-page deal between the British & Irish governments on handling the legacy of the Troubles, which has just been published. Quite a lot of information on what's to be changed, but the more significant point will be once we see legislation.

Say what?

Diarmaid Ferriter: UCD’s debating society rescinding an award to John Boyne is an odd decision

if you want more Ulster borderlands there is a 20% discount for the paperback of my book - Ulster's Lost Counties: Loyalism and Paramilitarism since 1920 - using the following code: HIST2125 www.cambridge.org/core/books/u...

Johnny Ryan is doing extremely important work.

‘Gotcha’ claims about Heather Humphreys’ husband have no place in modern Ireland www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

I spoke to Newstalk Breakfast earlier about a Shared Island, Heather Humphreys' campaign for president and coverage of her husband's past membership of the Orange Order. www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...

"You've let me down, you've let the squadron down... and worst of of all you've let yourself down."

An important piece!

This is superb by @edwardburke.bsky.social on need for reflection down here on reconciliation, & uncomfortable truths re. our past.Taoiseach’s shared island initiative seeks that, but doesn’t seem widely known at societal level.

Super article here in @irishtimes ‘Gotcha’ claims about Heather Humphreys’ husband have no place in modern Ireland www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

People going "gotcha" over someone in the south having a grandparent in the Orange Order should really concentrate on how they talk to people in the north who are currently members of that order

My opinion piece for the Irish Times www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

In 1970 Paddy Devlin MP describes the "misbehaviour of Scots regiments many years ago" / that legacy "carried on" to the Troubles. He is talking about the 1 Bn, Seaforth Highlanders, who clashed with Falls residents in 1921/1922, contrasted unfavourably with 1 Norfolks. www.rte.ie/archives/202...

Really disturbing, important journalism www.spiegel.de/internationa...

We can’t have a situation in Ireland where we talk about respect for traditions, ’a shared island‘ - and then launch a witch hunt against a Presidential candidate because her husband may have belonged to one of those traditions.

what a mensch @manchanmagan.bsky.social is www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

This needs to stop.

Important, sage analysis by @cerianbond.bsky.social www.cer.eu/publications...

What a loss, what a life. Conor Gearty. www.ucd.ie/president/ab...

Henry Patterson arguing for, among other things, a much greater appreciation of the history of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion...

My article in the Irish Examiner - Russia and Israel have given Europe a lesson it cannot ignore. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

My article in the Irish Examiner - Russia and Israel have given Europe a lesson it cannot ignore. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

In the past 36 hours, Israel has bombed: • Palestine (Gaza) • Syria (Homs, Latakia, Palmyra) • Lebanon (Hermel, Bekaa) • Tunisia (aid flotilla) • Qatar (Doha) • Yemen (Sanaa)

New in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' 'Irish Catholic Recruitment into the British Army during the American Revolution: A Case Study of the 46th Regiment of Foot', by Sadie Sunderland bit.ly/4m80z84 What can Irish recruitment tell us about the complexity of the C18th military? 1/2

Chinese military parade should ring alarm bells in Europe. Edward Burke is writing in todays @irishexaminer Pick up a copy today.

"The U.S. State Department has notified European countries that it’s terminating memorandums of understanding to cooperate on detecting and exposing disinformation spread by countries including Russia, China, and Iran" meduza.io/en/news/2025...

On the meeting of Xi, Putin, Kim, Modi, Lukashenko and others with @fareedzakaria.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/09/07/w...

Goodbye Melvyn Bragg, my working-class hero and our greatest broadcaster As Bragg retires, we need to reckon with the loss of working-class role models in the arts and media. Figures like Bragg just don’t exist anymore My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

Must read article (originally published in the FT) by Israeli historian Fania Oz-Salzburger begins with a statement of the obvious reality that must be the key to a just and lasting peace: “‘Here’s a truth to reckon with: neither Israelis nor Palestinians are going to disappear any time soon.”

The stakes are this high. "... Proxies who serve foreign interests before their own are algorithmically pushed into people’s feeds by giant American and Chinese social media companies. Those same algorithms push self-harm and suicide onto our children’s feeds. And yet we hesitate."

Spain has acted correctly. The actions of the Netanyahu government has left Madrid with no other choice. Other governments should follow suit 🇪🇸

Yes. Extraordinarily badly written.

Should have won / but I’ll take not losing to a team with a strong dose of fascism. Cork’s own Adam Idah 🙌 💪

Doubling down