Listening to @profgalloway.com on #RagingModerates with @jessicatarlov.bsky.social fulminating on how many undifferentiated calumnies have been dumped into the world by the FBI’s chaotic release of the #EpsteinFiles, this from #Machiavelli came to mind…

Really interesting interview with @sdlp.bsky.social MLA Patsy McGlone by @mickfealty.bsky.social, on the work of back bench MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly as part of the @sluggerotoolepols.bsky.social 'Cato Project' youtu.be/-r5reTB0OUA?...

"The populist thrives in an environment where people act on their intuitions; so does the scammer. This doesn’t mean every populist is a con artist, but it does mean that they are likely to package their message in a similar way" on.ft.com/49j3ND2 By @timharford.ft.com Vindicates a 2015 tweet! 1/

pretty funny in retrospect that QAnon hinged on the idea that powerful elites at the highest levels of government were smart enough to talk in code when sending emails to each other about their despicable crimes

Unlike other newspapers, The Onion has never once declined to print pictures of Donald Trump with girls in bikinis in Jeffrey Epstein’s kitchen. Please subscribe to The Onion. membership.theonion.com

Translation: He’s weighing a pardon

Now, that’s interesting…

Study Finds Most Americans Can't Find Where They Are Being Deported On Map

It’s amazing just how politically naive some of the UK’s better public actors can be. The alternative to “BBC dominance” of the UK News market is an US style free for all in which only oligarchy wins. And for the record, I’m not the sort of outsider that Jo has apparently been listening to.

Trump is fighting as hard as he can to starve kids for negotiating leverage.

Because we have stopped paying directly for news, we have made it possible for dark money to disenfranchise us. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Hmmmm…

In case, like me, you didn’t stay up last night…

I don’t do book reviews very often, but @sjamcbride.bsky.social and @fotoole.bsky.social’s essays are one of very few intellectually and politically generous treatments of the #UnitedIreland question to date, while @philipstephens.bsky.social #OurDividedIsles provides rich historical context…

Online applications are open for the Newgrange Winter Solstice Lottery. Winners will experience the rare moment when sunlight floods the chamber at dawn. Free entry | Limited spaces | Apply now: solsticelottery.ie #Newgrange #WinterSolstice #HeritageIreland

An energy economist once told me that he was very enthusiastic about wind and solar energy supply because it was much harder to use for corrupt and political purposes than oil.

It’s an often remarked upon thing but searches for “What is the EU” and “What is Brexit” spiked in the UK after the vote. A failure of the media to explain, yes, but also an indication of how risky referendums are. Huge numbers didn’t know what they were voting for. www.npr.org/sections/all...

We have an odd set of blinkers about the ability of government to shape the media in the UK. It’s a kind of despair/complacency that has a historical explanation. 🧵

Aha, if you’re fairly quick you can read my 2007 essay on the life of Ian Paisley (as he was on the brink of doing what he often swore he would never do) for free until 4pm tomorrow: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/essays/57825...

I have never been so disappointed in a BBC piece. Breathless admiration is, as far as I knew, not the role of the BBC’s political editor when describing a party political conference. Description+detail yes, rigorous examination of the conference content, yes. This, absolutely no, in my opinion.

It’s not just the top rank either. I’ve heard the self same solipsistic guff coming out of regional pol corrs…

Reform call Connolly "Britain's favourite political prisoner" Soft on crime, soft on racism We don't have political prisoners. The woman who posted "“Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care” is not a national treasure, ouside their conference.

Ireland has a national blind spot. Michael D’s personal understanding of the role of President is based on the flawed idea that its office is co-equal to the Houses of the Oireachtas. It’s not. Dáil Éireann is the unrivalled base of power and democratic legitimacy. sluggerotoole.com/2023/06/21/p...

Never thought sobriety could be actively harmful? Think again…

What’s the point of worrying about Labour’s media strategy when successive governments have allowed the wider landscape to turn feral and nihilistic… Good, McLuhan rich thread from Paul…

There’s your epistemological crisis right there….

There is a large cohort of British and Irish journalists that I’ve admired for many years, and they exist across the political spectrum. But sometimes you have to mentally weaken the narrative frame through which it’s pitched and wait for the data (the editor hasn’t quite spotted) to land.

@profgalloway.com if the Prof is heading home soon, I’d love a coffee with him beforehand. Been holding plural space in Northern Ireland since 2002, and see parallels between his challenge to grift and drift from orderly accountability and the long stoicism of my @sluggerotoolepols.bsky.social blog.

Spot on…

How ambitious is the Government’s newly announced affordable homes programme? It is significantly bigger than recent funding packages, and almost as big (in annual terms) as the programme delivered by the last Labour government ⤵️

The brilliant Mark Blyth on #Inflation: nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/inf...

So sorry to learn that the great Barry McIlheney has died suddenly Here's a podcast recorded for @sluggerotoolepols.bsky.social with Mick Fealty a few years ago sluggerotoole.com/2020/07/22/c...

It’s a sob story for the ages. Meta, the global tech giant, is being cut down in its prime by the nasty old European Commission. As fairy tales go, there are plenty of tropes being served up here. It’s just a pity that none of them are true... www.businesspost.ie/article/char...

So many small powerful moments like this. RIP Pope Francis. www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/w...

If you think you can't make a political issue out of "people shouldn't be grabbed off the street and put in a foreign gulag forever," maybe consider getting out of politics/punditry. And these aren't technical slogans: they appear in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution (twice).

Lovely piece by @mickfealty.bsky.social on Rory McIlroy in @sluggerotoolepols.bsky.social sluggerotoole.com/2025/04/14/r...

Attorney for the Maryland father the Trump admin accidentally deported to an El Salvador prison: "He was 16-years-old at the time he came [to the U.S.] He came fleeing harassment, bullying, and attempts at forced-recruitment from the very gangs that they're now accusing him of being a member of."

I was sceptical about yet again going to the well of clamping down on avoidance to make the numbers add up but this is really convincing from @danneidle.bsky.social

Elon Musk accused of interfering with Irish politics X owner faces accusations of meddling in Irish politics, amplifying UFC star Conor McGregor's anti-immigration rhetoric www.thetimes.com/world/irelan...

#JobFairy for a key job in the UK domestic policy space..

Ever heard of the #MaraLagoAccord? When you stop hyperventilating, here’s a great conversation between Prof Helen Thompson and @TomMcTague.bsky.social… on Trump’s plan to bring trade and security into a single foreign policy space in order to restructure US debt. open.spotify.com/episode/3R14...

Yep.

Prophetic…

How will hte Eurozone deal with its new opportunities and threats? - Tariffs - Rising defence spending - Trump's trashing of the dollar as a reserve currency on.ft.com/4hLgAhY

he seems nice www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/m...

Amazing example of how a council planning decision ignores its own strategy (or perhaps conflicted by two strands of it).

“It’s also remarkable, if you think about it, that Trump officials are in effect offering excuses for a recession that hasn’t happened yet and is at this point only a possibility.” By @pkrugman.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Protest is not enough? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

#LONGREAD - Micheál Martin’s success routed in a long tradition of the politics of delivery and progress integral to establishment the modern success… #speirghorm #IrishPolitics #FiannaFáil