The amazing size of a trillion. We often read about millions, billions, and trillions with no real idea of the size of those numbers. But when we go beyond millions, the numbers grow incredibly, from a guitar to one tenth of a light year. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Ask the right questions. The Irish Presidential candidates debated on telly this week. Too many questions were about their political views. This is outside the remit of the President. Here are ten relevant questions that future debate hosts could ask them. micknugent.substack.com/p/ask-the-ri...

This Saturday: Why is it sometimes so difficult to discard harmful religious beliefs? Dr Darrel Ray will discuss religious trauma and your brain in Buswells Hotel this Saturday 27 Sep at 3pm. Admission free. Reserve your place at the link below. www.eventbrite.com/e/religious-...

Why is it so difficult to discard harmful religious beliefs? Dr Darrel Ray, psychologist and president of Recovering from Religion, will discuss religious trauma and your brain in Buswells Hotel, Dublin, on Saturday 27 Sept at 3pm. Admission free. www.eventbrite.com/e/religious-...

Just heard that the wonderful Tom Lehrer died last Saturday, aged 97. An amazing satirist, musician, mathematician, and way ahead of his time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=frAE...

Only three in ten Irish people now say they are religious. In a similar survey in 2011, seven in ten said they were Catholic. Secular and spiritual weddings are booming. So why does the Catholic Church still control our schools? micknugent.substack.com/p/only-three...

Do I have free will, or does my body just do things and let me notice later? After months of being unable to do so, I woke up one morning and swung my legs out of bed without even thinking about it. This fits in with brain experiments from the 1980s. micknugent.substack.com/p/did-my-leg...

Today’s impossible conundrum: if we could invent a time machine, which we can’t, would we just end up in the now-empty space where the Earth was at the time we went back to? That would be quite disappointing. ‬

Is the YouTube algorithm becoming increasingly fast and aggressive in updating your home page to videos similar to ones you have recently watched? It seems like it used to more gradually add more similar videos, but it now does so in a more overwhelming way.

Happy birthday to Debbie Harry who is 80 today! youtu.be/WGU_4-5RaxU?...

Who Does Google AI Think You Are? Fintan O’Toole has a wonderful article in today’s Irish Times titled “I have had more wives than Henry VIII. It’s news to me too.” Here’s my analysis, along with the cautionary tale of Scronkfinkle the sparrow. micknugent.substack.com/p/who-does-g...

What is real, and who matters? As I recover from illness, I find strength in reason, and in a philosophy called Sentientism. It asks us to care about everyone who can feel, and to build our beliefs on evidence, not faith. Read more in this post micknugent.substack.com/p/what-is-re...

I love The Ballad of Wallis Island. It’s like Gregory’s Girl with middle-aged adults: awkward, sad, charming, quirky, funny, beautiful. Tim Key is an eccentric lottery winner who reunites his favourite folk duo (Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan) for a private gig on a remote island. Well worth a watch.

Check out my new Substack post - the hidden gift of assisted dying: It’s about how we live, not just how we die. micknugent.substack.com/p/the-hidden...

Fifty years ago today, I had a euphoric rush when Lasher Lorimer scored for Leeds in the 1975 European Cup final. I was furious when the ref wrongly ruled the goal offside, and inconsolable when Bayern Munich won with two late goals. The best and worst moments of my childhood, both on the same day.

My new Substack post - the rise and fall of open American elections. I came of age during the democratic reforms and competitive primaries of the seventies. Now both main parties are theatrically democratic, but increasingly top-down. How can this be fixed? micknugent.substack.com/p/the-rise-a...

I used to study success, until I realised many successful people were unhappy. So I turned to happiness instead, and what science says about it. Here’s my take, in five simple steps, under the acronym H-A-P-P-Y. micknugent.substack.com/p/happying-y...

My new Substack post. Recent years have seen a massive culture shift in Irish marriages. Secular marriages are up, Christian marriages are down, and Spiritualist marriages are up. This is yet more evidence that Ireland is no longer a Christian country. micknugent.substack.com/p/massive-cu...

That was a wonderful FA Cup final. I loved seeing Palace’s passion and resilience overcome Man City’s billion pound dominance. ❤️💙#FACupfinal

I’m starting to blog again, now on Substack, two years after a fall and a rare neurological condition changed my life. Here’s what happened, and why I’m more grateful than ever to be alive. Please have a read and let me know what you think. micknugent.substack.com/p/the-fall-t...

My wife Anne Holliday died fourteen years ago today. Here’s the tribute I wrote to her back then. www.michaelnugent.com/featured/my-...