Exactly 10 years since the Brexit vote, the verdict is in.

Steve Hilton’s “British career had been largely about wrapping hard-right ideas in touchy-feely niceness,” writes @fotoole.bsky.social. “Silicon Valley…would want to do the same thing in reverse, ditching its ‘Don’t be evil’ credo for the joy of being evil.”

I'll be giving the Yeats birthday lecture at the National Library in Dublin on Wednesday. All welcome. www.nli.ie/exhibitions-...

The great @fotoole.bsky.social poses a question that has haunted every truth-seeking journalist during the Trump years: "What can journalists do in a world where there is no shame and, apparently, no consequence?" www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/b...

One of the best written and informative books I have ever read is Fintan O'Toole's, 'We don't know ourselves - a personal history of Ireland since 1958' The section on the Hunger strikes is harrowing, gripping and very enlightening Treat yourself to a copy @fotoole.bsky.social

‘A delightful praise-song for both the Bard and the geniuses who labour to give his “local habitation and a name” a new postal address and a novel appellation.’— @fotoole.bsky.social #translation

😊🙏🏻 @annettedittert.bsky.social & @fotoole.bsky.social

One detail in this fascinating BBC investigation into the Russia-instigated attack on Keir Starmer's home is the way it shows, in passing but very clearly, that Tommy Robinson is to all intents and purposes a Russian asset. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Dylan, on life in your 80’s, is incredible. @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/06/14/o...

#YeatsDay With grovelling apologies to @fotoole.bsky.social @nlireland.bsky.social

Happy birthday to Anoushka Shankar! “…George Harrison, whom Anoushka refers to as ‘Uncle George.’ ‘He says he’s the president of my fan club,’ Anoushka giggles.” - Associated Press (1998) More at harrisonarchive.tumblr.com/post/8189602....

“Trump’s constant reference to the idea that the world has nothing better to do but sit around and laugh at America is not incompatible with American exceptionalism—it is a kind of backhanded compliment to it.” —@fotoole.bsky.social

“The great appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise”: a timely essay by his Irishness @fotoole.bsky.social on the project of imperialism and national vanity as lampooned in “Gulliver’s Travels.” www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

“When greatness is evoked as the natural condition of the nation, equality is humiliation. Because greatness can be measured only by comparison, it cannot exist on the level.” —@fotoole.bsky.social

Reading @fotoole.bsky.social on “contemporary sublime politics.” He articulates much of what I was thinking when making the cutout, “Lilliputian Men and Root Bound Plants” in 2024

Our 6/25 issue is now online, with @dchiasso.bsky.social on writing away from AI, Meghan O’Gieblyn on raising AI, Geoffrey Wheatcroft on Labour’s losses, @mmschwartz.bsky.social on the purloined papyrus, @fotoole.bsky.social on the president’s “greatness,” and much more.

ICYMI: “For and Against a United Ireland,” a book commissioned by @arinsproject.bsky.social, received the Ewart-Biggs Prize earlier this spring. Authors @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social also spoke to packed crowds on a U.S. tour. 👉 Read more: irishstudies.nd.edu/news/for-and...

Sam McBride and I will be at Hinterland in Kells on June 28th. www.hinterland.ie/p-669-fintan...

Sam McBride and I will be talking about a United Ireland in Armagh tomorrow evening as part of Jaipur Ireland. lflitfest.org/ireland/schedule

Tickets for 2026 Hinterland Fest now on sale at www.hinterland.ie Guests include @mcculld.bsky.social @miriamocal.bsky.social @fotoole.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social @cwallacedublin.bsky.social @patrickfreyne.bsky.social @edelcoffey.bsky.social @liznugent.bsky.social @rusbradburd.bsky.social

Happy 82nd birthday to thus extraordinary woman! impact.universityofgalway.ie/articles/mar...

If you happen to be in Oxford tonight I'll be giving the Isaiah Berlin lecture at 6 pm www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/event/2026-b...

Am incredibly chuffed to have been longlisted for @privateeyenews.bsky.social 's Paul Foot awards for investigation into Labour Together and APCO A real coup for a tiny outlet like Democracy for Sale So good to see such great stories nominated too. 😀 www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-aw...

Our Art Issue is now online, with Jed Perl on the Whitney Biennial, @fotoole.bsky.social on Trump’s precarious sanity, Elaine Blair on the Guerrilla Girls, Mark O’Connell on a death in London, Nick Laird on Seamus Heaney, Susan Tallman on Manet & Morisot, and more. https://go.nybooks.com/4eDS04E

Brilliant by @fotoole.bsky.social for @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social. "When the balance of power is lost and democratic accountability is replaced by a cult of the divinely inspired leader, the conditions that exacerbate derangement become the principles of governance." www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Fintan O’Toole (@fotoole.bsky.social) on Trump’s derangement syndrome

"...the only evidence that Trump might not be crazy is his obvious determination to seem so." Is Trump employing Richard Nixon's Madman Theory or is he really mad? Interesting essay from @fotoole.bsky.social... 🎁🔗

At least 88 corporations paid ZERO in income tax despite reporting $105 BILLION in profits. Meanwhile the average American paid $14.5% on their income. Our system is rigged to benefit billionaires. It’s time to fix it.

Should be part of his next test.

Don't underestimate what a huge defeat this is for the Trumpist project of destroying the EU and establishing ethnonationalism all over Europe. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/12/w...

From Roger Scruton cafes to paying Matt Goodwin $10k a month, Viktor Orban has built a network of populist right think tanks, journalists and activists Today Democracy for Sale delves into Orban’s allies on the British right Well worth a read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/orbans-brits

Thank you to all the Members of Congress who joined my Kidnapped and Disappeared hearing last week. As Ranking Member of the Immigration Subcommittee, I’ll continue working to organize Members to stand up to Trump’s lawlessness.

Two weeks ago, the Hungarian opposition was bracing for a false flag operation, an "emergency" that would allow Viktor Orban to turn the tide or even cancel an election he is losing. Now it appears to have arrived

This is absolutely fantastic. ht: @maddenifico.bsky.social

A DOGE staffer convened a meeting with Department of Energy officials to discuss the future of nuclear power and downplayed the risk of radiation exposure at nuclear test sites: “They are testing in Utah. … I don’t know, like 70 people live there.”

Colm Tóibín compliments “For and Against a United Ireland” in this piece for @nybooks.com. The book, written by @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social, was commissioned by @arinsproject.bsky.social — a joint project of the Keough-Naughton Institute and the Royal Irish Academy (@ria.ie).

I think @fotoole.bsky.social needs to make nice with Apple's voice-to-text folks.

I'm doing the very first event for my new book 'This is Also a Love Story' on Sunday May 10 at Phizzfest (Dublin 🇮🇪), with @fotoole.bsky.social (thank you to him!). More info & tickets here: phizzfest.ie/event/storie...