Argentina can still win this match if Mike Pence has the courage.

You look like you need a Puffin. Have a Puffin. 📷️ Sue Wood

Brilliant conversation with Tom Morris & Nicole Flattery on @stingingfly.bsky.social podcast about the small mortifications in a writing career, relentless rejection, the idea of career progression (or lack of), associated anxieties, process or practice, loneliness. stingingfly.org/podcast/tom-...

Not a foul #ENGARG

It was a big decision for FIFA to make this match determined by number of fouls rather than goals, but it’s definitely had an impact #ENGARG

Best “remove glasses to look at something unbelievable” in cinema history.

Sam Neill, star of Jurassic Park films, Peaky Blinders and The Piano, dies aged 78

Tickets for Eva Gore-Booth Centenary Celebration at her birthplace Lissadell House, Sligo on 24 & 25 July are limited and may be booked 👇 Official opening by Sabina Higgins. Promises to be an enjoyable & engaging event @whaireland.bsky.social

Concerningly, I have not seen a published integrated assessment of these trends against the stated government policy to radically reduce reliance on fossil fuels, or against statutory climate and energy targets, or on its impact on household bills.

The narrative is that data centres support renewables growth, but renewables are not an end in themselves. Renewables don't bring decarbonisation, energy security and affordability if they are directed to support an isolated sector rather than to replace fossil fuels across our entire economy.

Even then, the requirement is relatively weak - 80% matching of demand across the year. This facilitates a large expansion of new gas-fired power generation capacity, which we are seeing play out in the planning system.

that is equivalent to the entire peak electricity demand of the whole country currently. This policy would allow data centres to run without adding new renewables for a 6-year period, before it requires them to finance or construct renewables.

What is even more striking is that data centre demand has matched 93% of the growth in renewable electricity generation (wind + solar + hydro) over the past decade. If we measure since 2020, data centre demand has grown nearly 3-times faster than renewable electricity growth.

Ireland is a huge outlier: This is more than three times the data centre consumption share of the Netherlands (7%), which is the second highest share in Europe (average 3%).

Thanks only to EU reporting requirements, we know that 18 data centres in Ireland used 627 megalitres of water in 2024. But there are 123 data centres operating here now, and just one data centre, Meta's Clonee facility, used 659 megalitres in 2023. 2/3 www.dublininquirer.com/does-irish-w...

"So much energy has been expended on bringing in AI, but if you look at that generation’s reaction, they’re utterly rejecting it." www.ign.com/articles/the...

Minister dined with Meta lobbyists at US ambassador’s residence amid US drive to soften Europe’s policing of big tech www.independent.ie/business/min...

'The Letter.' (c1919) Where Leo Whelan's teacher at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, William Orpen, took inspiration from Velasquez by way of a more energetic style, Whelan, as here, preferred more traditional brushwork in the manner of Vermeer and the early Dutch masters.

Man of the PayPal my favourite

Draconian tech bans are a sham designed to punish kids for the sins of the adults who've ruined our world, whether online or off. It's high time we began policing them, not our children. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

Ouch! 80% of Dublin’s electricity going to data centres? Tom Parlon, chair of the Irish Data Centres Supplier Alliance needs reminding that his members cannot ignore environmental and consumer concerns. europeancorrespondent.com/en/r/chat-ar...

The rhetoric around a European parliament vote to allow tech companies to monitor online chats in an effort to clamp down on child abuse has been so extreme that it’s not always clear that opposing sides are discussing the same thing. jrnl.ie/7097705

Alexis Petridis summing up everything that's magnificent about Total Eclipse of the Heart. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

The West Cork Literary Festival starts tomorrow and it is jam packed with stunning events ✨️ There is so much to see (this year's programme is unreal!), but make sure to catch Mary Morrissy in conversation with Danielle McLaughlin and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne on July 12-

It has been criminally underreported but Kelsey Pfendler has just rowed solo across the Pacific Ocean from the US coast to Hawaii in record time. A 2,400-mile unsupported journey in 43 days, 17 hours, and 55 minutes. Notably beating the Men’s record by 9 whole days.

"Thiel delivered four private, invite-only ‘Antichrist Lectures’ in the Ramsden Room of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University – again hosted by Orr. Previous leaks suggest that his version of the ‘Antichrist’ ranges from the climate activist Greta Thunberg to any regulation of AI."

A six-month investigation by Byline Times reveals that with the support of Palantir's Peter Thiel, Reform's policy chief James Orr has used the University of Cambridge as a student recruitment ground for a hard-right, theocratic political project aimed at bolstering talent in Farage’s party

Lads here's the @iccl.bsky.social petition against facial recognition technology, ye know what to do. #Speirgorm www.iccl.ie/i-do-not-con...

Heard some good advice from a great heath professional yestrday re the coming heatwave. For an instant temp drop: cold shower; ice-packs (can use bags of frozen peas too) placed on any of the bodily points in the attached image. Do no more than 1-2 ice-packs pts on either side each time. #SpeirGorm

Today I’m thrilled we’re launching The Corpse in Modern Irish Literature from @livunipress.bsky.social at the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures. www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

"This isn't something we normally test for."

AI fraud nearly derailed our next anthology. Today we’re talking about what went down, the things we missed, and publishing the report we wish we’d had when it happened. Read all about it on our new blog, and download the full report:

Israeli human rights groups say leading Palestinian doctor, held in harsh conditions for purely political reasons, is now near death. "He struggled to breathe and speak and seemed close to losing consciousness several times, during a Thurs visit. He fears he will be killed in Israeli custody"

Just had to explain who Peter Thiel is to my mother, a woman who has CNN on in her house every waking moment. Starting to think it’s a problem that men like this can just fly under the radar because their friends own the press.

The Silicon Valley billionaire and prominent supporter of President Donald Trump attacked the catholic leader over his calls to regulate AI.

The launch of this on Wed was one of the best things I've attended in a while. It's a very - *very* - powerful exhibition; the personal testimonies are simultaneously heartbreaking, anger-inducing (at the institutions), and hopeful. If you're in Galway, I highly recommend you go and take a look.

America keeps trying to get me to go to her birthday party and I’m like no girl u need to go to the hospital

Delighted to be shortlisted for this year's Biodiversity Photographer of the Year Awards with my shot below! You can see all the shortlisted pics here, stiff competition!! biodiversityweek.ie/photo-compet... #biodiversityweek2026

Thank you Google maps for protecting the cow's privacy

A secretive international conference linked to billionaire investor and Donald Trump ally Peter Thiel has been cancelled following weeks of controversy over its planned staging at Powerscourt Hotel in Co Wicklow jrnl.ie/7089941

Am so enjoying Billy Ramsell’s new collection ‘Render’ - congratulations to Billy and to @bansheepress.bsky.social on another gorgeous book. Read the whole world in the sum of ‘A Pocket Square’, a tiny poem, as economic and controlled as it expansive and expressive... #Poetry

Probably the best photo I will ever take of a dog going for a ball in a moorland wallow

Germany has successfully engineered a revolutionary transparent solar glass that generates clean electricity while remaining completely see-through from both sides, fundamentally transforming how buildings produce energy. #solarpower #ActOnClimate

This week, I attempt to indoctrinate my sport-averse son into the ways of football, by telling him the game's one true dirty little secret: it is the nerdiest thing on planet Earth. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

BREAKING NYT: A New York City panel just voted to freeze rents for nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments — fulfilling one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's key campaign promises and handing the mayor a major policy win six months into his tenure.

Just wow. I Googled to see if 18th century artist Henry Fuseli had ever painted Orpheus and Eurydice, and AI overview said: "It appears you may be blending the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with the distinct, spiraling noodle known as fusilli"

This is why cities need trees. Hard surfaces and parked cars can reach extreme temperatures, while shaded grass and tree-covered areas stay dramatically cooler. This is the urban heat island effect in one image: hard surfaces absorb and radiate heat, while vegetation and shade reduce it.

I know this has been pointed out many times by many people but I just want to reiterate: Anthropic is basically using Kurt Vonnegut's drawing of an asshole as the Claude logo

For this week's #WildflowerHour, here are some #PollinatorPals found in the garden this week #NoMowSummer #Tipperary #Ireland @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social

'Misty Morning, River Thurne, Norfolk,' (c1960) is a striking example of Edward Seago's mastery of watercolour, a work in which you can sense the magic of being on the river just after the break of dawn - a sense of timelessness.