Isn’t the first job of a political leader to run their *own* country?

Two men have been convicted of mounting an Isis-inspired terror plot targeting Jewish people in Manchester Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, planned to carry out a mass shooting, while Walid's younger brother Bilel Saadaoui failed to tell the authorities what he knew about their plan

Former leader of the British National Party Nick Griffin has appeared in court accused of stirring up racial hatred - for allegedly sharing a cartoon on social media that showed a giant spider with a Star of David on its head.

As usual, a perceptive article by Johnny Ryan on MAGA and AI. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Noam Chomsky has spent about 60 years telling us that billionaires control the world through corporate propaganda.

New article by @bphaanshuus.bsky.social and Øyvind Bugge Solheim “The community impact of terrorism: The case of the 2022 Pride terrorist attack in Norway”

'The Secret Sex Lives of Our Ancestors': Listen to Pious and Promiscuous author @leannecalvert.bsky.social in conversation with Fin O’Dwyer on the Irish History Podcast about sex in 18th-century Presbyterian Ulster: from paternity and gossip to adultery and runaway spouses.

Not a definitive account, and with some gaps/inaccuracies in my opinion, but a good primer on the general state of play in Ireland. globalextremism.org/ireland-2025/

The NVE label is a revolutionary approach to countering violent extremism likely to challenge analysts’ preexisting understanding of political violence and broaden the counterterrorism umbrella to include cases previously deemed nonideological. @lawfaremedia.org

When Paul Doyle ploughed his car into dense crowds celebrating Liverpool's Premier League victory in May, many believed they were witnessing a terror attack But the only motive prosecutors could find is what a judge described as "inexplicable and undiluted fury" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/w...

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

My first knowledge of the Bondi Beach massacre was someone calling it a false flag. We skip over any sort of empathy or shock right to conspiracy theories and unhinged antisemitic ranting. We are completely lost.

Utterly miserable news from Australia. www.nbcnews.com/world/austra...

This is delusion and disinformation worthy of the Soviet Union. Antifa is seemingly the new “Polish Military Organisation” for the US government.

Unfortunate headline which may give an unwary reader the impression that what the report said was no collusion occurred at all, rather than in the specific instance of Dublin/Monaghan bombings. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

You don’t say. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...

Jury trials didn’t originate with Magna Carta nortonview.wordpress.com/2025/12/07/j...

Former Fine Gael minister and MEP Paddy Cooney dies aged 94

Digital “loverboys“? gnet-research.org/2025/12/05/c...

Interesting piece. Much German neo-Nazi material originated in the USA due to strict censorship in Germany. Similarly, British Nazis used to print materials in Ireland, which had lax incitement to hatred law compared to Britain. theconversation.com/far-right-ex...

And following on from the previous post, this is Keith Woods’s old friend, Nick Fuentes. Fuentes and Woods are something of a mutual appreciation society. www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

More on the online “ethnic entrepreneurs” of the Irish far-right. m.independent.ie/podcasts/the...

Next Wednesday, we make our final Visit of 2025 to historians @lshtm.bsky.social and @ioe.bsky.social. Our focus is on working as a historian outside 'traditional' history departments - something that's increasingly common. The RHS welcomes historians to join us, wherever they work bit.ly/3KBcnTy

The Irish Times view on the Garda taser trial: strong case needed for widespread use

David Lammy doing a “reverse Diplock”, restricting jury trials to most serious offences. www.lbc.co.uk/article/davi...

Com moderator Bradley Talbot (29) from Portsmouth sentenced for role in sadistic chat group