NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives. ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...

Outsourcing / hollowing out of RTÉ continues as bosses close its in-house doc unit. "Instead of a return to the core values of our public-service remit, we have dramatically increased commercialisation, with whole swathes of the organisation now being primed for outsourcing." - union spokesperson

How Elon Musk boosts the British right.

“All’s Fair makes Sex and the City 2 look like a Mike Leigh film about bag ladies who live in the woods and own ferrets.”

Regarding the rightward turn FG & FF are taking on all kinds of immigration, here's a piece I wrote Nov 2019 on far-right rhetoric entering mainstream Irish politics. "This is a pattern: extreme rhetoric is heard, listened to and begins to seep into mainstream politics until it becomes part of it."

One of the many reasons this is a bad idea.

There’s a huge gulf between levels of fear of Dublin city centre, and levels of crime, a new survey shows. The City Centre Crime Victim Survey was commissioned by Dublin Inquirer and carried out by Amarách Research.

There’s an essay here on the role of good design/typography in successful campaigns!

An incredible result, an inspiring campaign that is already having an impact elsewhere, and instructive lessons for progressives everywhere. Great work New York!

Wrote about the Irish presidential election and its general political context for Foreign Policy.

Update on Translations in Dakar - Caitlin Kelly has a piece in the Guardian about it:

“There is a question that hovers over Irish politics: what will the parties of power do when they start to panic about losing it? Last week, after their joint debacle in the presidential election, we got the grim answer: turn on immigrants.” - @fotoole.bsky.social

Loved this piece on Grano, one of the best restaurants in Dublin.

The so-called "red tape" that needs cutting is Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's chaotic housing policies that created and then compounded the housing crisis. Zero point trying to blame anything or anyone else, or trying to pretend that the financialisation of housing isn't a core ideological failure.

I wrote about Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s rightwing signalling in the wake of their presidential election failures. If they persist in pursuing such a strategy, they will not attract disaffected voters, but dig a moat around themselves on increasingly eroding soil, until the sides collapse.

The Irish Times view on the attack on asylum seekers in Drogheda: premeditated and deeply shocking

New poll in the Sunday Independent: “43% of voters would prefer a left-wing government potentially including Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit-Solidarity. 40% would prefer a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-led government.” SF +2: 23 FG -2: 19 FF -2: 18 SD +1: 9 Lab +1: 5

“The investigation into the arson attack on an accommodation centre for refugees in Drogheda has been upgraded after CCTV showed a masked man breaking into the building before setting it ablaze using petrol.” - John Mooney reporting in the Sunday Times

Residents of Drogheda asylum seeker accommodation evacuated after suspected arson attack

Catherine Connolly to make Irish working language of Áras when she takes office

The Dutch radical right maintained its vote share this election. One election pledge was to deport the “children and grandchildren” of migrants. No amount of integration will ever be enough for some, because their policies are just a thin veil for bigotry My piece www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

Selling the left’s message in the digital age is an art – Ireland’s new president mastered it. I wrote about Catherine Connolly's campaign.

New from Lankum: Ghost Town. Incredible, and just in time for Samhain.

It’s almost like if cast tracts of the media go down an anti immigrant k-hole and supposedly ‘mainstream’ parties follow them, it has a significant impact on public attitudes Who’d a thunk it? 🤯

UK military equipment used by the RSF found in Sudan. "Evidence that the UK continued supplying military equipment to the UAE, despite the risk it could end up fuelling Sudan’s ruinous conflict, has prompted deep concern." Essential read on the UK-UAE-RSF nexus.

Great video report here showing the very charming interior of the Theatre Royal in Limerick, reopened for a theatre production having been idle for 30 years. This venue should be reopened permanently. What an asset.

I’ll be giving the closing address at the Irish Landscape Institute’s conference in Dublin next week about various ideas emerging from my Saving The City podcast series. If you haven’t listened to the series yet, please do! It’s on all platforms, and the feedback has been really heartening.

The far-right in the Netherlands leveraged a housing crisis and scapegoating asylum-seekers to gain power, with accusations of a political class normalising populist agendas and a “hostage” media. But the Dutch “experiment with far-right rule was, objectively, a total flop”. Far-right = failure.

More healthcare workers petition Minister for Health and the HSE, @ellenmcoyne.bsky.social reports. 473 staff at Beamount Hospital, 250 medical consultants in Ireland, staff at Children’s Health Ireland, and at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, back boycott of Israeli firm Teva Pharmaceuticals.

An Irish citizen has been held on remand in Germany since early September having been arrested following an alleged incident at an Elbit Systems building in Ulm.

Another good piece of writing from @benfraser.bsky.social on how the story of #Aras25 has shifted to focus not on a left-wing victory, but on right-wing grievances. "If they wanted a right-wing candidate, they need only have followed the rules and nominated one."

I've completed an analysis of the spoiled voter in the link below. This is a voter who will invariably come into play in the future. kevcunningham.substack.com/p/who-are-th...

For those interested in the work of Aoife Cawley, who designed the scarf for Catherine Connolly's campaign, I interviewed her last year for the Irish Times. At the time, she had just finished her degree show at the University of Dundee.

Una Mullally: Momentum with Catherine Connolly means trouble for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil

I spoke to Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh about the very sad death of her youngest sister, Bríd, and what it's like to lose a sibling.

A united left, and a cultural, social and political shift Catherine Connolly is reflecting and representing. I wrote about what Connolly’s victory means.

“Connolly was advised to avoid her hobby of rollerblading down Galway’s prom for fear of injury.” Jack Horgan-Jones writes about Catherine Connolly’s campaign operation.

Recent Aras elections saw multiple candidates get through process via Oireachtas or local authority support - 1997 had 5 candidates, 2011 had 7 and 2018 had 6. There is no need to change the system because the 2025 motley crew were late to process, poor quality or not serious about running at all.

“It proves that design can tell a story, carry a message, and connect with people on both an emotional and cultural level.” Anna Cassidy, the 26-year-old designer who created the brand identity for Catherine Connolly’s campaign.

“Aontú has sacked the leader of its youth wing and dismissed five other members after it learnt of the existence of ­secret WhatsApp groups where some Ógra Aontú members posted racist and antisemitic comments.” Be warned, the messages detailed in this article are absolutely vile.

Connolly's younger volunteers and organisers are fantastic and deserve huge credit. Smart, optimistic, strategic, disciplined, tapped into culture, positive message-bearers, excellent communicators. It's so great to see people putting their energy into a movement that expresses hope. 🇮🇪 #Aras25

Wrote this piece two weeks ago: - CC was reaching voters outside of traditional media - CC spoke about values and vision - HH's communication was very poor - CC's strength was calmness - HH had a tendency to freeze under no pressure - Fine Gael attack-style negative campaigning would backfire

Miriam Lord's winners and losers of #Aras25

As someone who tracks far-right, authoritarian, and conspiracy mobilisations in Ireland - online and off - I’m not surprised by the vote spoiling. Some people spoiled because they wanted a broader ballot, others because they ultimately express POVs about breaking democracy, not bolstering it.

Looking like a resounding victory for Catherine Connolly. A huge moment for the united left in Ireland, for the many young people whose energy and optimism fuelled Connolly’s campaign, and a pretty clear rejection of uninspiring government party candidates who couldn’t offer a vision. #Aras25

Two women who were canvassing in support of Catherine Connolly in north Dublin have allegedly been assaulted.

Some of the best coverage of #Aras25

I would like to see the turnout % at this polling station. 🇮🇪 #Aras25

I enjoyed reading this thought-provoking essay on the #Aras25 campaigns by @benfraser.bsky.social

Fintan O’Toole writes about Fine Gael’s “feckless populism”. “Humphreys surely knows that her cheap shot at Connolly comes with a very heavy price tag – it destroys Fine Gael’s historic claim to be the party of law and order.” #Aras25