Oh, Peter. He does love talking out of his arse. He says that anybody who was overpaid and doesn't pay it back won't be paid their pension. Under what possible legal theory?! www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

The actual story is that a family of American citizens trying to evacuate from a neighborhood that ICE had made unsafe, and then ICE tossed munitions into the car, causing three kids to be hospitalized and a six month old to stop breathing. DHS called the family “radical agitators”

Don't tread on me sure changed quick!

#Spéirgorm True but also, the terminology in the 1998 Act is outdated. The term CSAM is widely recognised now as the appropriate language ... language matters. MM could have used this moment to educate, he could have said the term used in the 1998 Act is outdated, the more appropriate term is CSAM.

"I agree that there is a compelling reason for this difference between how American college students are reacting to Palestine and to Iran, but I don't like that difference, so I am going to dismiss it anyway."

pretty sure he meant the other thing, grok, but very cool that those are your two things

The scene outside any Irish funeral.

Jimmy Kimmel offers to let Trump have one of his trophies if he will pull ICE out of Minneapolis.

There is a precedent for a person getting someone else's Nobel Prize. In 1943, the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun, gave his Nobel Prize in literature to Joseph Goebbels uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...

Roses are red Nazis are lurking Beware of them here because

🤬 How old does this academic journal publisher think I am? Five? And they're actually paying someone to come up with the idea and then someone else to execute it. I despair.

So both Micheál Martin & Patrick O'Donovan have given it the "but other places have problems too!" when it comes to leaving a website that publishes CSAM. I guess it's something to remember next time they tell us they are doing everything they can to combat violence/abuse against women & children

It’s crazy how it’s suddenly “wow we live in a police state” when it happens to white people

"And we now have María on the line who would like to swap a Nobel Peace Prize for the presidency of Venezuela..."

And yes, the media did interview the Taoiseach in someone’s kitchen in Wexford because it was raining. Great little country.

Once upon a time, a President of the United States saying "fuck you" and raising his middle finger to an American factory worker would be front page news around the world. Now it's a "colour lede" on a business analysis. www.ft.com/content/36ab...

"it's too hard to find out so we can't be bothered, but that won't stop us changing the legislation" I can't decide if he's stupid or he thinks everyone else is stupid

Question to Minister for Justice from @garygannontd.bsky.social: So, how many people have you been prevented from deporting because of the ECHR? Minister's reply: Uh, dunno. www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2026-01-13/1646/#pq_1646

"As I’ve noted before, to watch him scheming is to be reminded of a toddler hiding behind a cushion. “Where’s Robert? THERE HE IS! What’s Robert up to? WHO CAN SAY?” Like so many MPs, he thinks he’s Francis Urquhart, when in fact he’s Baldrick."

In the TNG episode "Arsenal of Freedom" a bunch of AI weapons destroyed an entire civilization. The entire points of the episode is warning against things like the Doomsday Plane and Grok. These two idiots. You can't make this stuff up.

Fragile Allegiance on PC.

This intro to David Frost's Telegraph column sums up so much that is wrong with British politics.

at long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus

again, "open borders" is a lie. interviewers who don't immediately call this out are complicit, and should get another job

I *guarantee* you that the people who want non legally qualified people deciding immigration appeals(!), wouldn’t settle for non legally qualified people deciding any civil cases- because that’s only type of court case they feel they’d ever be involved in. Everyone doing this knows it’s terrible

Appeals are about a point of law and asking for the courts interpretation to be reexamined. It’s insane to not have legally qualified people deciding if a point of law has been decided correctly by other judges?!!??

A really good, and timely, article. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

This is clearly depressing and radicalising in a way a tax wouldn't have been.

The single biggest thing (in cost terms) I’ve changed my mind about is UK tuition fees. Dreadful system, need to scrap it.

the problem with an untrained secret police squad that shoots people in their cars isn’t that they’re untrained

What's interesting to me about this is that people's perception are on average relatively accurate, but you can see the bigger misses on topics where there have been active misinformation campaigns - particularly employment and social housing

Presumably some of the 6.1% are diaspora Irish, too

This is where it is going. This is what Stephen Miller is pushing to Trump. The only reason it has not happened yet is that the violence is obviously coming from state actors. There is no insurrection to control. But we are one incident away from Trump sending in the military.

And there it is... Robert Jenrick defects

I do not think this reply, to a concern about the state transport body using X to update commuters (making them use X too) is really good enough.

Starmer keeps using this line, & it's bonkers. Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders". It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer

we're so "open borders" that a full year after jovi naturalised and almost 5 years since she settled permanently, i'm *still* arguing with the home office by phone. anyone, from any party, who claims we had open borders is simply lying

HAPPY NEW STAR TREK DAY!!!!! #StarTrek @trekculture.bsky.social

If I understand him, he wants to be able to invoke “the public good” whenever he feels like it to trump the legal rights of specific individuals or groups. He should call it the Will Of The People so we better understand where he’s coming from.

Interesting response from Taoiseach to question from Darren O'Rourke TD in relation to why the government wants to transfer costs of environmental law enforcement onto ordinary members of the public

I did a version with captions (having downloaded a training module Matrix-style)

Again, I refer to my post where I write about the Attorney General’s paper where he defined the “public interest” as meaning what the Government wants to spend money on. This is the return of the Royal Prerogative to Irish law, not seen since the Irish Supreme Court killed it in the 1960s.

After two years of polling that tried over and over to push immigration above issues like the cost of living and the lack of housing, I’m shocked to learn that people mistakenly believe that immigration is bigger than it really is. Shocked. It’s shocking. 😳

the European mission to Greenland was fourth in the BBC news running order this morning, which feels a bit like doing a light "and finally..." item about the archduke's motorcade taking a wrong turn in Sarajevo

When I stop laughing I'll provide some insightful analysis.

You do, apparently, under some circumstances have to have it to IBEC. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

I'll say it again: watching Robert Jenrick do "cunning politics" is like watching a toddler hide behind a cushion. "Where's Robert gone? THERE HE IS! Oh no! Where is he? THERE HE IS!"

🚨Last Chance The Irish Government is about to remove citizen's abilities to challenge illegal developments in our courts You still have till 5.30 to have your say @antaisce.bsky.social have provide excellent guidance on what’s wrong with the public consultation process and the proposal #Speirgorm

Have these people considered that Simon Harris is making fools of them?