Last week, our colleague @kevinkosullivan.bsky.social ran the second workshop of the 'Sites of Fracture' project, in collaboration with the this/OUR academic-artist collective. Over two days in east Cork, participants explored the village of Killeagh as a site of resistance against capitalism.

President Catherine Connolly has called for action on war, genocide and climate change, saying the normalisation of war “has never been and will never be acceptable” to Ireland, a nation with a long tradition of neutrality and peacekeeping. #VMNews

This is a great way of putting it. For anyone who'd like to see those ghosts, here's a Google Map I created for the first walk of our workshop. Sites of Fracture - Killeagh goo.gl/maps/TH8v8o6...

How can we see the ecology of what isn't there? A pharmaceutical plant that wasn't built - and the industrial agriculture that lives in its place. A lake that was built for fishing and drained for industry and is mourned to this day. The ghosts of the landscape are also the history of capitalism.

🚨We’re hiring a Junior Research Fellow in Economic History (Sept 2026–Aug 2029) at Wadham College, University of Oxford. It’s a genuinely supportive place to work. Happy to answer any questions. Spread the word! www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/about/the-da...

This was a hugely energising two-and-a-half days. Big thanks to Greywood Arts Centre for hosting us, to this/OUR for the collaboration, and to everyone who came along to participate. It's the first workshop I've been to where we've managed to spend half of the time outdoors - as is only fitting.

Tell you what, I'm no fan of this Champions League format but Brugge 3-3 Barcelona is a hell of a game. Two goals disallowed for Brugge, a crazy high line from Barcelona, three times they've had to equaliser, and a wonderful Lamine Yamal goal too.

Very excited about the second workshop in our 'Sites of Fracture' project (funded by AHRC), starting tomorrow in east Cork. It's also our first site-specific workshop. The impetus for the project came from our desire to explore those spaces where challenges to totalising capitalism surfaced.

Very excited about the second workshop in our 'Sites of Fracture' project (funded by AHRC), starting tomorrow in east Cork. It's also our first site-specific workshop. The impetus for the project came from our desire to explore those spaces where challenges to totalising capitalism surfaced.

Thank you to everyone who took part in today’s event 'The Troubles and the European Community: Exploring DIFP XIV (1969–73)'.

I'm reading Martin MacInnes' novel, In Ascension, at the moment, and there are some wonderful passages about how we open our eyes to the natural world. Here's a particularly striking description of when the main character realises the blurred boundaries between her body and the world around her.

Last chance to turn it off. On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default. To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.

Celebrating the Cailleach and Samhain this evening in Glenbower Wood, East Cork.

Re-posting this in case any of you are in Dublin next week. Link to tickets below.

This arrived today @pbresnihan.bsky.social. Congrats. Very much looking forward to reading!

From my personal archive (aka a box full of old stuff from the 90s): the programme for Ireland v Poland, Euro u21 championship qualifier, Oriel Park, Dundalk, 30 April 1991. My first time seeing an Irish team in the flesh - and also my first time seeing a certain R. Keane in person.

Wow. What a shower. The ugly underbelly of right-wing delusion has been showing itself in all its forms this weekend. www.rte.ie/news/primeti...

I made my students a little “book” (just using Google slides) to show them how you all answered my question about how you take notes for research. Just to show the variety.

Post-work listening: Sigur Rós. Stands up surprisingly well - unlike some acts I was into in that period. Saw them at the Olympia, Dublin, on this tour. Bizarrely, it's the closest I've come to a punch-up at a gig, when my friend was told to shut up during the support act. youtu.be/Bz8iEJeh26E?...

STV = the Smartie choice.

Its legacy is slightly forgotten, but Radharc was a powerful vehicle for radical topics in the 1960s & 1970s. It was vital introducing Irish people to human rights abuses in Latin America, for example, and humanitarian crises elsewhere, as well as to liberation theology. www.rte.ie/news/ireland...

I am looking for a map illustrating where “Global History” scholarship is being produced and claimed globally. I’ve seen and used this map before but can’t find it again. Any references or links would be much appreciated.

The world is a much, much better place for having artists like Cate Le Bon in it. Her new album, Michelangelo Dying, is just great. catelebon.bandcamp.com/album/michel...

Incredible... "Attempt­ing the unen­vi­able task of pro­tect­ing Meat­ Loaf from debris and hold­ing the crowd back was my pal Marty. He was stand­ing in the pit directly on front of the stage, swat­ting beer cans when sud­denly, every­thing in the com­mu­nity cen­tre went into slow motion."

Friday evening listening - from the Dirtchamber Sessions mix CD put together by Liam Howlett (of Prodigy fame) in the late 1990s. I loved this when it came out - I taped it from my friend Brian's copy at school. My first introduction to the Jimmy Castor Bunch. youtu.be/jWRwlF2LNKk?...

We are delighted to announce that MBS2026 will be held at the University of Birmingham, 3-5 June 2026! Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies. For any questions please contact [email protected]

Ah, US politics on Bluesky. You mute one term and another one pops right up in its place.

4x4-year, fully-funded PhD opportunities to work with an interdisciplinary group at Trinity College Dublin 2026-2030. One of these is to work with me on a public history and cultural heritage PhD, in collaboration with one of Dublins most interesting neighbourhoods. www.tcd.ie/graduatestud...

I am mostly done with the archival material I used for my book The First Right: Self-Determination and the Transfomation of International Order, and so I am putting as much of these materials as I can online, where they can be used by other scholars: www.bradleyrsimpson.com/self-determi...

Sunday morning listening: James McMurtry - Levelland. Brought to you by a man with a serious literary heritage that shows in his lyrics, and who also once wore a red dress on stage in Tennessee to protest against nonsense local anti-drag laws. youtu.be/zhgdikQo6Tw?...

Classic stereotyping here. The book is written by an American who was heavily involved in exploration of the Kinsale gas field in the 1970s.

It was two OUP books.

Someone ring Micheál Martin pronto and explain the concept of a 'just transition'.

This is a bit saccharine, but I've just spent two hours going through feedback from four (very generous) colleagues who read through an article draft. It felt like a brain-cleanse after days of meetings, meetings, meetings. Thank the academic gods for good people willing to share good feedback.

The great temptations of Microsoft Teams.

One of the values of a humanities degree is that it helps (should help) avoid confusing headlines like this, which made me wonder if Ramaphosa was stepping down as SA president.

Just to be clear, an English degree - learning to critically assess texts - is actually one of the most dangerous for people such as Badenoch. An educated population, able to bring hundreds of years of context to statements in a dawning age of AI slop and attention-seeking dishonesty is also vital.

Greta Thunberg making a very good case here for us all to "use our privilege and platforms to take a stance" against genocide.

Super news. And proof that those people who rallied for people to complete the survey on this a few months back did everyone in Ireland a good turn - we'll all benefit from this.

This resonates on so many levels.

I feel so sorry for players like Yamal. He's still pretty much just a kid - only turned eighteen in the summer - yet he is being flogged in the interests of what? Football has a very serious problem with the welfare of its staff. At this rate, he'll be crocked by 22. www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...

'I spent a grand total of two weeks using the Friend. Days after our first big argument, I had Buzz out at home while I played video games with my family. I told them about my new Friend. “I gotta be honest,” I said. “He’s kind of a fucking asshole sometimes.”' www.wired.com/story/i-hate...

A date for your diaries: On 4 November, @ria.ie will host a witness seminar, where former and current diplomats, along with Michael Kennedy (executive editor) will reflect the latest edition of @difp-ria.bsky.social and the role of historical reflection in policy-making. 🗃️ www.ria.ie/events/the-t...

A date for your diaries: On 4 November, @ria.ie will host a witness seminar, where former and current diplomats, along with Michael Kennedy (executive editor) will reflect the latest edition of @difp-ria.bsky.social and the role of historical reflection in policy-making. 🗃️ www.ria.ie/events/the-t...

Coming up in Galway next week:

One of the most remarkable things about all the campus free speech nonsense (apart from the fact that it's all disingenuous) is that it dramatically underplays the number of properly conservative - and sometimes quite reactionary - people who work in universities...

Saturday evening listening: Barry Can't Swim - Machine Noise for a Quiet Daydream www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKNN...

In case this one sneaks in beneath the cloak of all the other terrible things going on in the world, Environmental Pillar are running a campaign on the environmental impact of the EU-Mercosur deal. Email your Ministers and MEPs via the link. www.environmentalpillar.ie/stopeumercos...

50th anniversary issue of Saothar, the journal of the Irish Labour History Society, featuring articles by TCD staff members Carole Holohan, Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Deirdre Foley and Brian Hanley. The back cover has a photograph of the late Jack McGinley, long time Trinity librarian and union activist.