If any teachers/librarians/book bloggers would like to interview me about THE DAD TRAP for their blogs, just let me know!! Very happy to chat! #BookSky #PrimaryEduSky #KidLit

hmmmmmm

There we go. That there’s a headline.

Ready, aim, fire—the latest health trackers use sensors to check your urine for proper hydration, ketone levels, and possible kidney stones. www.wired.com/story/smart-...

Happy Nollaig na mBan! Here's a piece celebrating some of Ireland's most interesting women, with a thread about each of them here: bsky.app/profile/ciar... Prints also available (currently on sale): www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...

Appropriately angry response to Starmer’s recent former head of strategy from @stephenkb.bsky.social:

For anyone who is thinking about buying something from Decathlon, just a little low-key warning: the Decathlon website has become a sort of 'Amazon for fitness'; they are selling from third-parties now, and it isn't immediately obvious that this is the case.

Feeling VERY seen.

Ok, so I've just discovered 'Evil' on Now/SkyMax & I'm highly addicted.. it's very silly & a bit X-file-y & really rather good. How has it never been on my radar before?! #EvilTVSeries

wow you did it you pointed out that they’re hypocrites for the 900th time surely this time will bring them down

I talk a lot about The Professor, our adoptable foster dog, here but I do need to disclose a behavior issue. When you’re *almost* asleep, he likes to stick his nose into the back of your neck and you’re too tired to do anything about it so you just sleep with dog nose neck. Be warned.

If, like me, you did NOT get the ONE thing you wanted from Santy (a 95-year-old bachelor farmer with plenty land and a bad cough), treat yourself to a print from an Irish doodler instead - big discounts across the shop, including on bundles, so go on. Go on go on go ON. www.ciaraioch.com/artprints

One of the principles that @garius.bsky.social and I stand by at @theupfront.media is that our writing on air travel accessibility and disability — including this 2,500-word feature — should be free to read. Please share away, and subscribe to The Up Front to fund independent aviation journalism.

Husband sent me these photos from the morning walk in our Mayo bog meadow (we have 10 acres that we're slowly rewilding). I'm ready to jump straight back on a train from Dublin! #Mayo #Home

Lovely to turn on the radio in the car and have your voice keeping me company all the way home this afternoon @ronanhession.bsky.social

There's no shortage of anti-AI screeds online at the moment, and thankfully so, but if you only have time to read one, this has the advantage of deploying a sense of humour, a uniquely human trait that AI will try to imitate, but will never have.

This 🔥 Jane Kenyon #smallpoemsunday @tomsnarsky.bsky.social

The citation chain usually works like this: -supposition stated as fact -supposition with reference to reputable book from c.1930s -reputable book from c.1930s with reference to Sir Edward Chortlemuffin, 1782 - Sir Edward Chortlemuffin, "here's an idea I'll fart out," 1782 /2

Off to Dublin for a couple of days. Soaking up the afternoon golden Irish sunshine on the way. It's Therapy Monday tomorrow then hopefully some writing will be done before running back to Mayo...

For all that the media has spent years freaking out about what social media does to our brains, I don’t understand why there appears to be little effort to grapple with the fact that these chatbots are, for some not insignificant portion of the population, literally psychosis machines

This place really is the best of all worlds, sometimes. And can help, when - like me - you're recovering from a cruel and personally expensive publishing industry disaster, and you write quiet, niche books which are published by an indie publisher. A thread, with a few more thoughts about that...

Why do I have to read an Irish paper for a feature about this?

Bought myself a pair of New Year slippers from Aldi (this boy knows how to party!) Got a free giant needle in the toe... (NB it was a small prick and did no damage so I won't be suing for millions) Most excitement I've had in months... #BobsNewSlippers

It's a New Year, and there will be questions.

My very British husband got confused about what bean dish we were eating on New Years (it's Hoppin' John) and referred to it as "Jumping Joe" so I hope you are all eating some Jumping Joe today to welcome the new year and bring luck.

Usherettes - August Sander, 1926–1932,

Ooh, thank you @ivory1.bsky.social for being my 7000th Bluesky friend. Well that's 2026 sorted already. Obviously all you other lovely 6999 peeps are equally special & loved. Have yourselves a good evening & a very splendid new year. Bx

I popped to Tesco. I'm now home and having a little lie-down. It was A LOT.

remember I run an author q&a series on the Big Bearded Bookseller blog, the very first author to be involved was Lisette Auton, a MG author from the NE of England bigbeardedbookseller.uk/lisette-auto...

Look, numbers mean nothing but it's New Year's Eve & I have 6993 followers & it seems rude not to mention it. If you know anyone who enjoys k-wality Bluesky posts I'd be obliged etc etc...

5000+ years old, and it still precisely captures my mood entering 2026.

Joseph Weizenbaum was present at the creation of digital computing and is a major contributor to computer science. Leaders in the industry that was built on work like his show absolutely none of his humility; in fact they scorn it as weakness.

Here’s hoping that 2026 is a year of health and positive progress for all, not just the oligarchs.

When I was living in London in my 20s I caught the train 'home' to my parents for Xmas. I stopped at a pub outside the train station to fortify myself & someone at the bar asked if I was "Robert Johnston" . Behold, it was someone I went to school with, a sporty popular boy, 'leader of the pack' 1/2

These past few weeks I've kept coming back to the spectral beauty of Jacob Alon's In Limerence – and the more I do so, the more I follow it by listening to an album from 2020 that all but seems to pave the way for it. www.patreon.com/posts/its-ha...

@davidgerard.co.uk has a pretty good run down- his conclusion seems to be “not bad enough to jump ship yet, and there’s some spin-offs that seem safe”

Sunday sorted - coffee & the Christmas jigsaw... #BobsExcitingLife

Obie's having a lazy Sunday. Checking out the RTÉ Guide for an afternoon movie... #doglife

If you pay for specific digital files as a "purchase", ideally only do so if you have the means to download, convert, and store the file however you want, wherever you want. Otherwise it's not buying, it's renting, and a rental agreement can end at any time.

Khalil used to be an accountant with an ordinary life. Now he lives in a tent and worries about the health of his anemic son.

If this got more views on YouTube than the actual show, it would make my year. youtu.be/Y54OJC0FtCs

Watching ‘Jaws’ last night and towards the end, the action pauses for an almost 4 min monologue. I’ve been reading about writing techniques lately and one commonly repeated is to cut anything that doesn’t propel the plot forward aka ‘ kill your darlings’ www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii...

And from nowhere, a sudden thought that I'll never see or talk to my Dad again. That was a gut punch I didn't see coming. I blame Fleetwood Mac for coming on the stereo. Having a little cry now. He'll be dead 10 years come March '26 which is crazy. He was a difficult man but a great Dad. #Grief

Dan bought the kittens a cat tree and it is HUGE, this thing is *taller than us*, it took us all afternoon to assemble it and now the cats are like “I can see your house from here”

God, I always forget how much I fancy Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws. #ChristmasTV

Obie is the King of Christmas Day.

Happy Christmas from the wilds of Mayo. Apparently I spent too long on the phone to Mum so Obie was forced to adopt the pheasant doorstop for company... Jess, meanwhile, is prepping their new album cover...

Christmas is hard for many. The years roll, the ghosts at the table increase. We’re haunted by the absence of voices, of laughter engines who drank and ate with us. This can be day of remembrance rituals. For what it’s worth, Hooklanders near and far are in my candles today. Be gentle on yourselves.

Incidentally was looking into Raymond Briggs of why he made the ending of The Snowman so brutal and this quote tickled me

Happy Christmas Blueskyers. It's a lovely frosty quiet start to the day here in Mayo. Obie & Jess have been. working on their album cover. I'm wondering if it's too early to start cooking dinner... (It's a nut roast so doesn't take as long as a turkey).