A woman recording an ICE agent tells him "Shame on you." The agent responds, "Have you all not learned from the past couple of days?" "Learned what?" she asks Then he knocks her phone out of her hand

What is wrong with (some) men who feel the need to use X/Grok to create images of women and girls without their clothes? The fact that their minds even go there is unfathomable. Yes, sort out X/Grok/AI, etc but something else will pop up to replace them. We need to address how (some) men see women

Do you work with a bookseller who goes above and beyond? Our nominations for the O’Brien Bookseller of the Year Award 2026 are now OPEN and we’d love to hear from you! It’s easy to nominate and the winner will join some of the best people in the industry on the list of winners.

My 7yo son is such an inveterate bookworm that pals regularly ask me for reading recommendations which might get their kids - especially boys - reading too. So this week, I turn the reins of my column to the man himself, so he can give you his BOOKS OF THE YEAR. observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Artists as the world crumbles around us

CNN: We have major breaking news. CNN just learning of explosions in Caracas, Venezuela… We have now have CNN's own teams that have personally witnessed explosions.

Our message from Dublin today, and every day, Ireland stands with Palestine, always. #FreePalestine 🇵🇸

Don't think I've spoken to a single artist who didn't struggle this Christmas, and I spoke to a lot, so even if it's not my work I'd really encourage people to try to support a local artist that you like instead of big corporations - every single sale makes a real, tangible difference to their life.

Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”

On our Annual Christmas Tree Walk. Little One: Well, I think they will need Rudolph tonight! It's so cloudy up there it looks just like fog Husband: Oh yeah, you know that they got the idea for fog lights on cars from Rudolph? Little One: Wowww Me: *swoon*

Blue sky and Solstice sun. We are open 'til 6pm.

Parenting with lingering vertigo: entirely forgot smallest child is a vegetarian and dished him up roast chicken and potatoes. He's now having glazed carrots and a bowl of cereal for dinner :/

I understand that a lot of folks have been misled by fear-mongering and powerful regressive voices but it’s still astonishing to me that so many have fallen for the idea that oppressively policing other people’s gender identity and expression could in any way be part of an enlightened future.

When you drift through some unheralded point in your 40s, you start accumulating actuarial risks. The odds of illness, heart attack, or the chances losing of a parent go up. But there is another risk- particularly acute for men. There is a risk you will lose your capacity for joy.

"Petite" sizes often don't take plus-sized shorter women into account, while "Curvy" sizes rarely acknowledge that plus-size women aren't always tall, so I'd like to propose a new women's clothing size category - Little Teapot, for those of us who are short AND stout

We all know Clarke's "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" Well we have corollary:

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

So Santa has asked me to help out in getting a typewriter to a 10yo boy. Who knew they were so hard to find these days? Any pointers of even where to look? We are coming up blank. #SpeirGorm

An illustrated line from the Prayer Of St. Brendan The Navigator, who is said to have travelled from County Kerry in Ireland to America a thousand years before Columbus made his journey. Trust in the darkness. 🌌 Prints available here: www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...

So apart from being very talented my brother David is very brave. While his film Eternity was being wrapped up he had a very serious diagnosis and he has written about it here time.com/7339094/eter...

Blew out my front tyre swerving into a ditch out of the way of an oncoming Range Rover with floodlight strength LED headlights. The sooner these are regulated the better - both the size of range rovers et al and those fkn LED headlights

I've written a novel, Experts in a Dying Field. It's out on Penguin Sandycove in June. It's about about a band and a tragedy & art for art's sake & aging & loss & community & Dublin. There's a fox in it. & sheet music. The beautiful cover's by Jack Smyth. You can preorder: linktr.ee/expertsinady...

An Post last posting dates for Christmas

Record breaking prices for artwork sales do not, sadly, represent an investment in art and artists. Investors are reducing their taxable profits before the end of the tax year with big one-off purchases while universities cut their humanities faculties and artists earn less than minimum wage.

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). We honour the memory of those who have been murdered due to transphobia and to raise awareness about the ongoing violence and discrimination faced by the transgender community. #TDoR

Your Burke name is the first name on this list you've never seen before (with the same first letter as your actual name) + Burke. Link in alt text. Signed, Dabbasheth Burke.

Shopping local can be choosing a small independent bookshop far away across the sea from where you are but close to the loved one you wish to gift a book to #ShopLocal

I’ve written another romcom! It’s about two scriptwriters who can’t stop arguing but have to work together to save a TV show. Also there is kissing. I loved writing it and you can pre-order it here! linktr.ee/LoveSceneAnn...

It would be one thing having a "debate" on immigration if people meant they wanted a "debate" based on facts. But what most people seem to mean when they say they want a debate is that is they want us to pretend a bunch of entirely made up bullshit is true.

🚨Missing: Gabe, 14, last seen yesterday (Friday 14th) in Bray. Contact the Gardaí with any information.

There's a roundabout in Cork where even during the worst traffic, drivers unfailingly allow others to merge in a "zip" by local custom. Driving through it restores my faith in society, every time. I just found out it's known as the "soundabout", and that's just wonderful.

Not because I had a small part to play but because now more than ever we need to amplify kindness and human connection, let me share with you the Tale of Kathleen & John After I had given directions to Kathleen (as I was to learn was her name) she headed off with her trusty walking frame, Esmeralda

Go vote against him. It's the last award, but you can use the arrows to skip through other categories if you don't want to vote in them. scxo9qtv33a.typeform.com/apiba25-vote

Catherine Connolly only says "bye" once at the end of a phonecall. #smearthebejaysis

On this day in 1974 the BBC launched Ceefax, the world's first teletext service using unused lines in the television signal to transmit news and other information that viewers could access on demand. The technology was developed by BBC engineers Geoff Larkby and Barry Pyatt in the late 1960s

Another typical morning in town after Culture Night, sean-nós singers left strewn around the footpaths, poets carelessly stuffed under park benches, a lone interpretive dancer being gently blown around the square

@johngreensbluesky.bsky.social Thank you for singing "We're here because". I needed that.

#Women #GOP #Epstein #Congress

Hidden within the hustle and bustle of Dublin city is a secret world of wildlife. Beautifully illustrated throughout with over two hundred photographs, drawings and maps, the new edition of ‘Wild Dublin’ is being released this September.

Me, being Very Proud of myself for Admitting I Need Help, asking my son to open a tin for me. Discovering the tin opener is in fact broken, and this was *not* a Me Issue. Attempting to force the tin opener to work and hurting myself. Quite The Genius.

Bravo, secondhand French bookshop, bravo👏👏👏

Love is... collecting your prescriptions together and turning it into a breakfast date.

'I have, in the past, been shortlisted for my work alongside writers whose views I did not agree with. But in those instances, their positions didn’t undermine the stated values and politics of the prize.' This from Jason Okundaye really hits the nail on the head.

I am one of the 14 authors who chose to leave the Polari Prize, and I find myself frustrated and saddened at the way this entire story has been represented. 1/

Would you like to contribute to the public consultation about the Basic Income for the Arts? 💡 Fill out this survey from Minister O’Donovan at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport: ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/run...

I accidentally smacked a wasp in the face and now I feel kind of guilty.

We're now at 8 books withdrawn, that's a full third of the books across both Polari Prize Longlists, and two judges have stepped down.

Strong letter in Friday's Irish Times, the Central Bank must not renew its deal to keep fundraising for apartheid Israel's genocide of Palestinians in September. #StopFundingGenocide