A lot of guys are terribly keen to tell you how evil and shit social media is, and yet also terribly keen to tell you that any proposal to regulate social media is awful, unworkable and an affront to basic civil liberties, and that my friends is what the Freudians call reaction formation

Very brave of Uefa to show Ireland that it is actually good to boycott football matches.

This Christmas, only in theatres: Patrick Kavanagh's ADVENT - 'As I pulled on my trousers in a hurry I knew some strange thing had happened.' #speirgorm

Jesse Hawken@jessehawken.bsky.social · last wk.

Studio execs are going to want to adapt more poems for the big screen now

The solution to this kind of thing in Ireland is always "the companies have promised us they'll be good this time"

Conor Gallagher@conorgallagher.bsky.social · last wk.

Aughinish Alumina will, under a new oversight arrangement, be expected to provide the Government with regular evidence its products are not supplying the Russian military. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

It’s nice to see everyone’s textual analysis of The Odyssey It’s almost like the humanities give you entertainment, feelings, pleasure, and fun/interesting stuff to talk about, as well as lenses into both past and current society

they welcomed it in as a curiosity and it destroyed them

Lydia Polgreen@polgreen.bsky.social · last wk.

Uh, did Emily Wilson's Odyssey takedown crash the @lrb.co.uk website?

the last 2 minutes commentary by Midwest radio, based in County Mayo. Absolute Quality. #speirgorm Context for those not familiar: Mayo have lost 11 finals in the last 75 years and weren't expected to beat Kerry today in a spectacular final at Croke Park.

same vibe as to Cooke Report, for those of you old enough to remember the GSOC bugging scandal #speirgorm

RTÉ News@news.rte.ie · 2w ago

An independent review into Aughinish Alumina exports to Russia has made no "adverse findings" against the plant, but the Minister for Enterprise cited a "lack of verifiable internal trade data within Russia" since the country's invasion of Ukraine

If Ireland seriously examined nuclear, honestly and rigourously, it would be a good thing, and would (probably) result in no nuclear.

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 3mo ago

Ireland should ‘examine seriously’ nuclear power option, says Taoiseach

crazy to describe #TheOdyssey as woke when Nolan cut the one piece of female agency in the original text - Penelope's bed test.

my favourite bit of the IT Inside Politics podcast (I know, I know) is where they all pick their favourite article from the IT of the previous week. I listen with bated breath each time ... no one ever picks hers

Dónal Hassett@donalh.bsky.social · 2w ago

Something uplifting about reading a Finn McRedmond column at the start of a writing day. A reminder that any auld nonsense will be published in a newspaper of record so I shouldn't stress so much about my silly book chapter that no one will read.

"The job of the historian is not to make the past familiar, but the present strange"

Carlos Noreña@carlosfnorena.bsky.social · 3w ago

Ancient historians should resist "market" pressure to make our accounts of the deep past "relevant" to the world of the present. Sometimes, ancient history *does* have real explanatory power for the present. But sometimes it doesn't. And that's ok! Let us revel in the wild difference of the past!

have @tg4.bsky.social covered this yet? 'An Tiarna Ceann-Bruscair?' #speirgorm cc @darach.bsky.social

Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 4w ago

Rounding up some translations of Count Binface that have been appearing in foreign press 🇷🇴 Romanian: Contele Tomberonez 🇫🇷 French: Comte Tête-de-Poubelle (bin-head, more accurate than bin-face) 🇮🇹 Italian: Conte Faccia-da-Bidone 🇪🇸 Spanish: "un hombre con un cubo de basura en la cabeza" (!) Cont...

Also, they're playing on land.

Dexerto@dexerto.bsky.social · 4w ago

A Norway fan has gone viral for not taking part in their Row celebration after matches and won't do it if they win the World Cup "It’s factually wrong; they didn’t row, they sailed over the Atlantic”

There was an interesting bit in the attempted reformation of the Church in Ireland where the Bishop of Meath and clergy were asked why they were being so slow in ratifying Henry VIII's new marriage and their response was 'well which one?'

John McCafferty@jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 4w ago

10 July 1553: Jane Grey conducted down river to the Tower of #London (NPG)

a lot of celebratory posts about Ann Widdecombe's death getting hastily deleted right now

in case you missed it @news.rte.ie did another vox pop of luders 'enjoying the nice weather, shur we don't get it very often' followed by questioning an expert with 'can we definitively say this is climate change?' professional malpractice at this stage #speirgorm

FF MEPs now in the same Russia-ambivalent bracket as SF #speirgorm

RTÉ News@news.rte.ie · 4w ago

Fianna Fáil MEPs will abstain in a European Parliament vote tomorrow on a call for a ban on alumina exports to Russia

the @virtualtreasury.bsky.social is an extraordinary resource for Irish historical research and indeed national social and cultural understanding - it must be protected at all costs! long may it continue! many thanks to all involved #speirgorm

RTÉ News@news.rte.ie · last mo.

Almost 200,000 historical records have been released online by the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland. The release of the records will cover seven centuries of Irish history and will make over half a million documents free and permanently available to the public

this is like something Ardal O'Hanlon would ask (when playing David Brent in an Irish remake of The Office)

Darach Ó Séaghdha@darach.bsky.social · last mo.

Werewolves - Catholic or Protestant? I feel like it's the latter...

Govt has worked hard to ensure that the 'colour of a salmon was correct for the time of year' in the new Irish passport - a species which is critically endangered here because every one of our rivers is extremely polluted #speirgorm

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · last mo.

New Irish passport design ‘a real reflection of who we are,’ says Minister

bit random but where would I find an expert on this 👇 guy? #speirgorm

John McCafferty@jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 11mo ago

The Bodleian Library portrait of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, 1487 – 1534.

A really interesting subject/thread; however, Hession's law states that if an issue can't be resolved by one pithy post then it is above the pay grade of social media.

so the Dutch get to send two teams to the world cup and we don't even get to send one???!??

Olga Nesterova@onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 2mo ago

Hello Mag: King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and their daughter Princess Ariane entered the Curaçao FIFA World Cup team's locker room to celebrate with the players after their draw against Ecuador gave them their first ever WC point. The nation is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Journal@thejournal.ie · 2mo ago

Drone delivery company Manna is to temporarily cease all delivery operations in Ireland. The company said the decision reflects “the absence of a clear national policy framework for commercial drone delivery”. jrnl.ie/7076100

Ballybrack Bono strikes again

fesshole 🧻@fesshole.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I went to Ireland on holiday. My sister jokingly said, "Say hello to Bono for me!" When I returned I had a picture of Bono and said I chatted him up in a pub. She believed me and 10 years on still tells the story of her premonition at parties, but of course it didn't happen.

guy who has definitely quit politics for good

The Journal@thejournal.ie · 2mo ago

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he regrets how he approached trying to implement hate speech legislation while in office, and that he now believes it would have been better to try to regulate social media algorithms instead. jrnl.ie/7073816t

don't be alarmed, but I think there is massive change underway in Irish politics - Mícheál Martin is now saying 'in respect of' instead of his favoured 'in terms of' #speirgorm