If you’re in Belfast on Monday March 2, I’ll be talking about Late Heaney with Mark Carruthers in the Heaney Center at Queen’s at 5.30pm. It would be good to see you, and there will be books. Please share too, and thank you to Peter and Glenn for having me home. The whole series looks terrific.

Such music in this sonnet The last line circles to the first & reminds me of the Ukrainian woman who gave seed packets to Russian soldiers so wildflowers will grow where they die Remember today the courage that's needed to stand against those better armed #poetry #poemoftheday #seamusheaneysunday

Do thou, too, remain warm among ice.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will skip the signing of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” in Davos after Switzerland confirmed it would enforce the ICC arrest warrant over war crimes in Gaza.

In case you missed the broadcast, the #TalkingHistory podcast with our Prof @downham.bsky.social is now available at www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig.... Enjoy!

The UK Government is letting people die for taking moral action to stop genocide in Gaza. Emergency solidarity demo tomorrow at 5.30pm.

Nonfiction books coming in 2026: Among promising titles are a book about France’s dark side and Jon Ronson’s exploration of multimillionaires searching for meaning in New England; plus new books by Katriona O’Sullivan, Rory Carroll and Sally Hayden www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

🗃️ An important theme in my “The Problem of Immigration in a Slaveholding Republic” @academic.oup.com, the intersection of Native & immigration history is central to @unlawfulentries.bsky.social forthcoming big book “Migration & the Origins of American Citizenship” global.oup.com/academic/pro... 🧵7/7

🗃️ Time to rewrite immigration history with Native history in mind. The US was founded on the conquest, dispossession, removal, exploitation, or genocide of Native people. Denial of that fact generated counter-myths: empty land, waste land, Manifest Destiny—and the slogan “nation of immigrants.” 🧵1/7

A poem by Amanda Gorman For Renee Nicole Good Killed by ICE on January 7th, 2026

People living in UK - especially GB - should not be thinking 'at least we're not as bad as America,' when Northern Ireland exists and civilians were being shot by state forces there for decades, and recent governments have given those forces amnesty. @grantsana.bsky.social leading bsky voice here.

CFP: Representing the Global Irish Working Class: National and International Contexts and Dialogues (University of Galway, 11-12 June 2026) irishstudies.nd.edu/events/cfp-r...

"I’m going to pause here just to review: an institution that purports to be a university has told a philosophy professor he is forbidden from teaching Plato." surreal times dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

This is how enjambment can work in a poem. Bridge 77 on the Macclesfield Canal allows a horse to cross the canal without having to untie it from the canal boat.

Out now: my new article "H. L. Morrow and Brian O’Nolan on Radio Éireann", published in the Journal of Flann O'Brien Studies' special issue "Flann O'Brien and the Radio" Available to read, free and open-access from @openlibhums.org here: parishreview.openlibhums.org/article/id/2...

Irish Council for Civil Liberties are concerned.

From the archive for Maeve Brennan, born on this day in 1917, my thoughts on THE SPRINGS OF AFFECTION, one the best collections of short stories I've read. One house, three families - quietly devastating stories, beautifully observed. #BookSky 💙📚 #BOTD jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/t...

This is your reminder that US tech companies are really terrified by EU regulations on privacy, safety, data protection etc (& their enforcement) ... and why it's so important not to kowtow to US industry. The EU holds a lot of power in this area and wielding it is critical right now

The first two hours this morning

First light 6:50

Wanna see real-life miracles? Fund scientific research. A team of US scientists just cured Alzheimer’s in mice — and there is now hope that the disease can be reversed in humans. futurism.com/health-medic...

Public service announcement: Due to AI data centres distorting the market, the price of RAM is going bananas. 1) If you have an old desktop computer you don’t use, it may have hundreds of euros of RAM in it. 2) If you need a new computer, it is likely the price will rise. It might be time to buy.

And the finest Christmas tradition has arrived — #DuvetKnowItsChristmas is today! 1) Follow @rhodri.biz 2) post your pics of your makeshift Christmas Eve sleeping arrangements and 3) give money to the homeless @centrepointuk.bsky.social

Tomorrow evening it’ll be my annual duty to vaguely shepherd the activity on the #duvetknowitschristmas hashtag and urge people to give small sums to charity. 7.30pm? Something like that?

Heads up to artists still using Twitter- Twitter is now adding an "Edit image" button under all images posted on the site that allows everyone to feed it into genAI and modify it as they wish with a prompt

A few of the best Bird pics from this year, 1 #Birds #Duck #Photography #Portishead

By loving James Merrill, ‘Christmas Tree’

In 2023 I became obsessed with videos of dads in cargo shortswaiting in parking lots during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. So when she came to town, I grabbed a camera and headed down to talk to them. I thought it'd be funny. It turned out to be something else entirely.

Great article in @theatlantic.com today about how the @abbeytheatre.bsky.social being Ireland’s National Theatre inspired the FTP in the USA and continues to influence thinking on national theatres & their importance.

The National Library of Ireland have received a donation of letters from a Donegal family on both sides of the Atlantic many of which deal with the American Civil War. No surprise a Pennsylvania Regiment features! highlandradio.com/2025/12/23/n...

Donald Trump, or as he’s known these days, ██████ █████

When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.

The painter Anne Madden has died at her home in Dublin. She was 93 years of age. One of the leading Irish artists of the 20th century, she became known for her epic canvases inspired by the Burren in Co Clare and its megalithic monuments.

Rob Reiner: I'm going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama. Us: Across your entire career? Reiner: In a 6 year period. Us: That sounds- Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.

Great that Sylvia Townsend Warner will be a visible presence in Dorchester. I wrote about her early life here: akennedysmith.substack.com/p/sylvia-tow...

We are delighted to announce that we'll be hosting the SSNCI conference in Maynooth next June. Call for papers attached. Please spread far and wide!

"These disparate sources have never before been brought together in a way that offers such an insight into the nature of Celtic languages spoken in these islands at the dawn of the historical period." www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

CMAT announced that The Late Late Toy Show viewers donated over €4m to the Toy Show Appeal during Friday night's show rte.ie/b/1547576

An accurate way to explain Irish Bluesky is #LateLateToyShow Book children that never got picked for the show.

Kid with the bodhran had the best timed wink. #LateLateToyShow

Has anyone written on Sean O'Casey's influence on Brecht? It can be in German!

Do go along to the launch of Antonia Hart's new monograph, The Commercial Lives of Irish Women, 1850-1922 (LUP). It is a brilliant piece of work, beautifully written, and well worth reading. Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street Thursday, 4th December | 7pm

Required reading of the most welcome sort in IHS this morning. 'It is in the space between our divining and conjuring that the argument lies, the debate happens, history is written and the story gets its endless quality.' www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

First year selling my art at Christmas without the Other site, where most of my sales came from, as well as losing US orders to new tariffs, so it'll be a tough one - I put huge work into every order, so even if you can't buy, shares help get them in front of eyes. GRMA! www.ciaraioch.com/artprints

Seals singing in a sea cave #Orkney 🦭🎧

This was a really special event: www.rte.ie/news/ireland...