How lovely to hear Mary Vincent will be on In Our Time this morning after her long service as VP for Education at University of Sheffield.

Amazing & moving:

New post just out: "Cordon Sanitaires and Purity Spirals" Antisemitism is becoming mainstreamed on both left and right at an alarming rate. What can it teach us about the way radicalisation takes root? And can it be stopped? (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/c...

Bosnia are going to the World Cup! They have beaten Italy on penalties: 4-1 (!) www.theguardian.com/football/liv...

We were like this with the boiler yesterday. It was only... (voice cracks) fifteen! years old...

The native Irish version, the Eurasian lynx, is only slightly bigger than a Labrador dog, lives alone in forests, *never* attacks people, and very rarely our livestock or pets. Wouldn't it be just so wonderful to have them back, sharing the landscape with us again?

No AI in English Wikipedia, "with exceptions for copyediting one's own writing and machine translation from another language's Wikipedia". There is a lot here for universities and academic journals to learn from. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artific...

What a lovely tribute to the outgoing editor on the Today programme - it's so valuable to do! #BBCR4

Great work by David Voas and @conradhackett.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Is this going to be about Maureen Sweeney?! Super-excited - hope there will be lots of beautiful shots of Blacksod!

Aintín agus neacht: youtu.be/aCMevXd5Evs?...

This is lovely. I was trying to remember where I recognised the author's name from, and realised it was from the local comedy club Mum's the Word. Loved it! www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

The thread about which MP is the poshest is both hilarious and depressing. Dreaming of a time when social background is just not worth remembering.

Really enjoying You're Dead to Me on pre-Cromwellian conquest Ireland #BBCR4 McAndrew/Barrett surname turned out to be originally Welsh-Norman, a surprise. They came over & stole land in the 1300s 😂

Always great to finish up with the Bucks of Oranmore

The 'henchman Thomas Cromwell', is it? #ThoughtfortheDay

Today, March 20th, is World Rewilding Day! The thing is with rewilding, it doesn't just have the power to reverse nature loss, but to bring immense meaning, wonder and joy to the lives of all those who engage. After nearly 17 years myself, I can tell you it just keeps on getting better and better.

Just noticed from the seal of New York City that the Latin for New York is Novi Eboraci The Irish for New York is Nua Eabhrac en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of...

A friend mentioned in 2007 that Banksy was 'a public schoolboy from Bristol whose real name's Robin' - not a very closely-guarded secret

And another, from 2022 - very moved My grandmother told me stories about the Keane sisters bringing their accordions to the bog on fine days. She grew up in Killower, a couple of miles away www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xivj...

And the gorgeous East Galway accent - my grandmother still has a touch 💔💚

I'm sad about this - my grandmother is from close to Caherlistrane and knew the Keane sisters. Only 72.

The Fetzer reflections are in the second reply to his original post - surfaced here: www.trfetzer.com/discussion-o...

"My name may be forgotten when it comes, but the time will arrive when great outbreaks of cholera will be things of the past. And it is the knowledge of the way in which the disease is propagated which will cause them to disappear" Happy birthday to John Snow! His name & his work is not forgotten.

For the day that's in it: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Sorry but I'd rather England lost than Ireland won the whole thing I reflected on it, and what can you do with a lifetime's conditioning

Adventures in recovering Rang a Ceathair Irish: No time for formal study so I have RnaG on when I can Slowly the words are beginning to sound like separate words, most of which I don't know BUT I got that a drama festival is happening next week, including the Spiddal Players >>

The younger child is refusing to do 15 minutes' violin practice, arguing that her making a mother's day gift is the real priority I said the practice was the real gift & what I actually wanted She said she wanted to choose the gift I said it wouldn't be a gift if it's for her own gratification >>

I'm sitting in the bathtub Watching the dirty water Swirl down the plughole And on my stereo Is Caruso

Just catching up with Jessie Buckley's Desert Island Discs - so happy to hear her start with 'Thugamar féin an samhradh linn'

What dignity Jane Lapotaire had. I remember Time out of Mind being serialised years ago and was very moved by it: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

A surprise and pleasure to hear the Sportsman's Hornpipe on Raidio na Gaeltachta right now

I so hope this is real

Oh god Spórt an tSathairn Hours and hours of it Far too fast for my Rang a Ceathair Irish, largely names & numbers at speed, and I have *no interest* The RnaG equivalent of learning English from Radio 4 Gardeners' Question Time, played at double speed

Related to my Possession-esque quest, I like this from today's Louis Theroux interview: '"[Nietzsche] says, ‘Even when you lie, you nevertheless tell the truth with the shape your mouth makes when you’re doing so.’ There’s metadata that gives the game away".' www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Recognise so much of what Dwayne Fields is saying on Desert Island Discs - coming to England from a rural childhood

Reflection day today on a year of adventures in stoicism 💪 Still learning!

Standing room only, Birmingham-Manchester Everything is like this now

Some people under the illusion it's the first day of spring, a month late

How delightful to have an impromptu hour at Birmingham New Street station, enjoying the views of the different zones Not enough train drivers but lots of passengers - so couldn't get on the train following the cancelled train Another day, another Delay Repay!

*SO* thrilled yesterday to see the first screening of An Irish Atlantic Rainforest, the film about my 17-year journey rewilding a West Cork farm. It went far and away beyond my hopes: a mesmerisingly lovely, immersive piece of work, almost dreamlike in parts, but grounded in ecology and daily life.

I'm on a train full of football fans - 3 different teams! I'm sure the train manager, when he does his ticket checks, will ask them to stop playing music through their phones Surprised I haven't seen him come through yet

Other things to be pleased about - I've realised that one of my work benefits is the option buy a 7 percent off pre-paid voucher card for Iceland The 7 percents add up!

I just found one of the fabled cheap Advance tickets for a morning trip to Bristol! And not at 5am either. It feels as unlikely as Charlie Bucket The tickets have become extraordinarily expensive since I stopped doing that journey regularly

A lovely surprise to hear Luke Daniels' Wounded Hussar on RnaG just now An unaccompanied version was on his first album. I tried to learn some of the tunes - but they were all in crazy keys and so so fast

The Tragedy of Institutions: When they work, they're largely invisible. When largely invisible, they're taken for granted. When taken for granted, they seem unnecessary. When they seem unnecessary, someone eliminates them. Then they need rebuilding. Rebuilt, they're often worse.

Where my grandfather came from! Beautiful town 😍

Ag éisteacht leis an mbabhta maidine

Taoiseach Micheál Martin speaking at Trinity College, Cambridge, to mark the announcement of Professor Alvin Jackson as the first holder of the Childers Professorship in Modern Irish History, a new university chair endowed by a donation from the government of Ireland.