Culture Thread 2/11/2025 gregtimo proposed in comments some while back the idea of a Culture Thread. It’s a great idea. Currently culture is a bit strange, but people read, listen to music, watch television and film and so on – spread the net wide, sports, activities, interests, all relevant – and…

Sunday and other stupid statements from this week All examples welcome. Quite the political analysis here: Ironically, what Fine Gael might need is a new, but very different, Garret FitzGerald — if such a person even exists. He or she would need Garret’s energy and intellect but instead of…

Conflict of interests… Wait, what? News this evening that: Ivan Yates’s role as a co-presenter of the popular Path to Power podcast with Today FMbroadcaster Matt Cooper has been ended “with immediate effect” after it emerged he had coached Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin during the recent presidential…

In praise of libraries Recently had to update my library card and was very impressed by how streamlined the library system is. Updating it online was almost immediate, no messing around, no having to bring it to the library itself. And using libraries is a pleasure these days. Emails when books…

Reading Deighton backwards Earlier in the year found myself picking up Len Deighton's Mexico Set. Like many of us I'd read a few books on the go - usually three or more, one non-fiction, a couple of fiction, one for falling asleep too. But with Mexico Set there was another purpose. Some time in…

Gaming news From the Journal this morning, not unexpected news. A UNION HAS claimed more than 30 UK staff of Rockstar Games – the developers of Grand Theft Auto – have been sacked in a “union-busting” move by bosses. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has said it appears that…

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… We Lost the Sea We Lost the Sea are an instrumental post-rock band from Sydney, Australia that have been around since 2007.

Outages Caught by this on Wednesday: Microsoft said its cloud services were recovering from an outage that disrupted its workplace software products and the operations of several companies. The outage hit a service called Azure Front Door, which acts as an entry point for web applications built on…

‘Hurtful’? GUBU. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has sought to defend himself and fight to survive as Fianna Fáil leader, saying that “no one gets it right all the time.” Mr Martin said MEP Billy Kelleher did not tell him soon enough that he wanted to run for president, while he wasn’t sure why former…

A deliberate confusion of terms? Note how the terms 'immigration' and 'migration' and 'asylum' are 'confused' in the following: Ireland is experiencing economic migration and people should not come here if they know “deep down” they won’t be granted international protection, Taoiseach Micheál…

ILA Podcast #67: Madeleine Johansson: Red Network In this episode we talk to Madeleine Johansson of Red Network. Madeleine moved from Sweden to Ireland in the 2000s where she became active with the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) and People Before Profit (PBP). She was a party organiser and…

Reform’s ceiling Interesting thread here: That point re an upper limit is really intriguing. It makes sense. The days of a simple binary +1 (plus nationalist parties) in the UK are long gone. So are the days when a party could gain a very significant share of the vote at an election. That said…

An outrageous and treacherous claim, and it must be refuted. Excellent piece by Theresa Reidy, which Stan noted, found in the Examiner. She writes about: a small but vocal minority of enraged voters. A total of 213,738 people spoiled their votes. And this figure is probably an under-estimate…

What you want to say – 29th October 2025 As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

Not before time? Fine Gael edition Yesterday wrote: Fine Gael may be licking their wounds, but theirs was a problem brought about by sheer bad political luck. Their front runner had to retire and they were left scrambling around for another option. If they made the wrong choice, and there was…

DCAR Statement Full text here. Last week a hugely significant Dublin City Council meeting took place, which neither Malachy Steenson nor Gavin Pepper bothered to attend. This was a specially convened meeting to consider three important reports, all of which will have a huge impact on housing…

That Business Post/RedC poll from the weekend So, the weekend brought not just the result of the Presidential election, but somewhat less remarkably, a poll from the Business Post/RedC stable. Sinn Féin 23 +2 Fine Gael 19 NC Fianna Fáil 17 - 1 Ind 12 -1 Social Democrats 9 +2 Independent Ireland 5…

Cedar Lounge Revolution Meetup, Mid-November? Usual place. Promised after the September meet-up, a late Autumn/early Winter gathering, for weighty discussion of the Presidential election results or maybe not. Anyone around early in usual spot some evening? Say November Thursday 13th, that week?

Not before time? Wasn't it on here that someone suggested just after the Jim Gavin debacle that in any other party Micheál Martin would be toast, and correctly so. But before he would find himself being roasted there was the small matter of the Presidential election to get out of the way. No point…

Left Archive: Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes, leaflets, 2011/2 To download the above please click on the following links: CAHWT LEAFLETDownload CAHWT 2Download Please click here to go the Left Archive. Many thanks to Joan Collins who forwarded these to the Archive.  These are the first…

A few thoughts on the Campaign It's been a crazy few months. Candidates dropping out for health reasons, Candidates dropping out as they realised they didn't have any support , A Candidate dropping out mid campaign and still on the ballot. A Candidate becoming a cause celebre for certain groups…

Sunday and other stupid statements from this week All examples welcome. There's this gem: The awkward truth is that the left has been predicting an imminent political breakthrough since Michael D himself was in short trousers. It never happens. Maybe this time will be different. Connolly surely…

Starry sky Was out in the back yard on Thursday night looking at the sky which due to the low temperature and lack of clouds was very impressive. A lot of stars visible given that it is inner city Dublin, and saw a shooting star too, first time in a very many years - and an impressive shooting…

Presidential Election: Count day thread Should have gone live at 9 but didn’t! Apologies.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Atom Juice You like Floyd? I don't much, bar Wish You Were Here, but be that as it may. You like Steely Dan? You like Yes? I'm with you on both of those, albeit less mid-period Yes and more 1980s Yes when Trevor Horn clambered on board. You like Santana?…

Signs of Hope – A continuing series Gewerkschaftler suggested this a while back and it's as good an idea now as it was then. Whatever else those of us on the left need some hope, need some tangible achievements to hold on to, something that gives a sense of how things can be made better: “I…

“The policy will need to be written very carefully to avoid any sort of complete unfairness.” To see the utter degradation of the Tory party, not that that is entirely unexpected to any of us following its history across decades, consider this: The Conservative MP Katie Lam was “broadly in line”…

Spot on

Voting Day Thread: No Kings here! Suspect everyone here would be of the opinion that voting is a key right, the fact we vote for the President of this state similarly, that spoiling a vote or not voting at all is pointless. The reality that the role of President is a non executive one (a good…

Maximum inefficiency, but the cruelty is the point Mention on This Week in Virology, another example of utter inefficiency and remarkable stupidity from the Trump administration. The Trump administration is scrambling to rehire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staffers that were let go…

Abolition of the British monarchy Republic, the group in the UK working towards abolition of the monarchy, noted that recent polling indicated support for the monarchy had hit record lows. The Morning Star covered this: Backing for the monarchy dropped from 86 per cent in 1983, when the British…

Lack of Choice As the two and pulled up horse race approaches it's finish, complaints from the Catholic fundamentalists and their Far Right allies that they have nobody that represents them on the ballot continue and their campaign to Spoil your vote goes from online and banners held up to traffic…

A gap in the British political spectrum? It's a sign of how far right of the centre UK politics is that Andrew Rawnsley can offer the following analysis in the Observer (by the by, what to make of that paper being detached from the Guardian and going solo? Difficult to understand the rationale.…

Rebels without a cause? A really good politics podcast from the Journal on the dissidents from the Labour Party and Green Party who have refused to vote for Catherine Connolly, and/or left their respective parties. They analysed their complaints forensically and found them lacking. The point was…

Less than three days to go So, a debate last evening. Strange notes struck in it, but no question that Connolly emerged the more calm and clear of the two. Humphrey's tried the attack line yet again on Connolly's work as a barrister - surely that's not worth it given the weight of opinion against…

What you want to say – 22nd October 2025 As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

The last debate of the election this evening! You can watch it on television or online or follow it here.

The New Ireland Forum and the alternative forum E

Critiquing the SCC One of the key elements of Tony Gregory's political work was a deep aversion to the Special Criminal Court. Every year when the Dáil sought to vote on continuing the use of emergency powers under the Offences Against the State Act he would vote against. Paul Hosford in the…

A consolation prize for a left locked out of government or a signpost of things to come? So, the last debate is this evening? Wonder how many will be checking in on it. If Fine Gael continue on their present course it could well be very ugly - and indicative of the deep dive into negativity they…

Presidential Election: Less than a week to go, any thoughts? Just preface this by saying that whatever else this has not been a dull contest, even in its closing days. Yesterday Catherine Connolly was faced with a publicity seeker, and Heather Humphreys got a somewhat surprising endorsement (or…

Quite a poll this weekend It's difficult to overstate how interesting the poll from Irish Times/IPSOS B&A is that landed this weekend. Headline figures will be well known to most of us: The state of the parties, when undecided voters and those unlikely to vote are excluded, is: Fianna Fáil on 17…

Ed Moloney Tributes have been paid to journalist Ed Moloney who has died aged 77. Mr Moloney was known for his coverage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the activities of the Provisional IRA, writing for publications including Magill, the Irish Times and the Sunday Tribune. Assistant…

Left Archive: Irish Socialist, no. 127, June 1973, Communist Party of Ireland To download the above please click on this link.  ISOC CPI copyreducegoDownload Please click here to go the Left Archive. Many thanks to Fergus White for forwarding this to the Archive. An edition of Irish Socialist from…

Culture Thread 19/10/2025 gregtimo proposed in comments some while back the idea of a Culture Thread. It’s a great idea. Currently culture is a bit strange, but people read, listen to music, watch television and film and so on – spread the net wide, sports, activities, interests, all relevant –…

Mick Barry on culture and politics… Nice to see this in the Examiner this week, a piece by Mick Barry of Solidarity on his cultural 'touchstones' including "The Clash, Corcadorca, and chess matches among his selections". He's got a monthly radio show here: The Mick Barry Radio Hour, where he DJs…

Sunday and other stupid statements from this week All examples welcome. The Independent opinion pages are filled this morning with pieces on one topic. Eilis O'Hanlon doesn't appear to understand the processes of nominating Presidential candidates (or party politics either) seeming to believe it's…

Sound Post Autumn 2025: Musicians’ Union of Ireland – Ceardchumann Ceoltóirí Éireann PDF here.

The Fermi paradox Another effort to address the Fermi paradox. That is The Fermi Paradox is that given the probability there is life in the universe as of yet we’ve found no evidence of same. There's no end of possible reasons for this - as noted here. There have been many attempts to resolve the…

Robert Forster and his Swedish band live Was at Robert Forster in the NCH the other night - a much appreciated early 60th birthday present - and it was an excellent gig - seen him, solo and with the Go-Betweens, almost too many times to count now. He's been loyal to the fans and they've been loyal…