Edel Brosnan
@edelb.bsky.social
Back in that Dublin after a looong time in that London. Writer, strategiser, reader, ranter. Reposts not an endorsement, all opinions my own. As this my personal account, there will also be cat pics: don’t @ me, cats are great.
Afternoon! Can anyone recommend an EV charger installer? #speirgorm
Glib ‘it’s social media’ analysis will never explain fully why young adults are more anxious- there’s more to it than that. Good hypothesis here:
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3w agoNew post: Young people are increasingly unhappy. It's a real phenomenon + nothing to do with "snowflakes". There are lots of standard culprits - social media, school, economy - but none can explain the long-term trend. So what is going on? (£/free trial) samf.substack.com/p/the-agency...
Welcome proposal for anyone who is serious about growing the film/TV industry in Ireland www.irishtimes.com/business/202... #speirgorm
irishtimes.com
Cannot wait to read Mixtape, a round up of the 1980s alternative scene in Dublin, and not just because my cousin is one of the busking veterans interviewed in it: jrnl.ie/7150576 #speirgorm
Why nostalgia can be 'a bit like snorting Pop Rocks': Sharing memories of 1980s Dublin
A new book explores what Dublin City was like in the 1980s by speaking to those who were there.
jrnl.ie
As of Cabinet yesterday, one now needs the ability to communicate in order to be considered a citizen. Yet in the first three months of 2026, not a single child in ten counties was given a plan on how the State would deliver them with speech and language therapy. This week’s column @thejournal.ie:
Gavan Reilly: Six months by law. 24.3 months in reality. Ireland's disability numbers don't add up
The eye-watering numbers of children waiting for Assessment of Need in this country expose a broken system offering little hope to families.
jrnl.ie
UK good on integration. One reason behind rising academic standards is that second generation immigrants do well. There are high levels of intermarriage, comparitively, and a high proportion of immigrants identifying as British. Why take notes from Nordic countries which don't do as well as we do.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 3w agoShould Britain learn from Denmark on integration? Or might Denmark and Sweden see what they might learn from Britain?
Brussels not looking too shabby this evening. We will draw a polite veil over Brussels Airport because the rest of the city has been an early autumn delight.
Peter has written a guest post which you can read here peterfrankopan.substack.com/p/how-did-he...
How Did Hermes Reach China? A Silk Road Detective Story
Peter Stewart is an outstanding scholar with a remarkable breadth of interests.
peterfrankopan.substack.com
We could make public transport free for what we're spending to keep it cheap to drive jrnl.ie/7152882
We could make public transport free for what we're spending to keep it cheap to drive
But most drivers can’t trust or don’t have the public transport system they need.
jrnl.ie
Poll: Are You Happy Fontaines Are Playing Slane Or Did You Last Listen To A Brand New Song In 2002? https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2026/09/01/poll-are-you-happy-fontaines-are-playing-slane-or-did-you-last-listen-to-a-brand-new-song-in-2002/
🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 @dorianlynskey.bsky.social and @iandunt.bsky.social tell the story of Section 28, the 1988 legislation that cast a chilling shadow over the lives of gay men and lesbians in the UK for the next 15 years ➡️ linktr.ee/originstoryp...
I met some spectacular old rainforest oaks just outside Bandon the other day. Trees this size are now insanely rare in Ireland. Hard to believe they were once extremely commonplace.
Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Archaeologist: That's not a cup, it's a pot.
Air pollution stunts children’s lung growth. New Queen Mary research found that improvements in air quality after the introduction of London’s ULEZ are associated with accelerated lung growth in children. Read more: shorturl.at/Jx86o
Incredible research shows how the lungs of London children have been affected by harmful emissions. When air pollution is reduced, lungs can grow properly again.
Queen Mary University of London@qmul.bsky.social · last mo.Air pollution stunts children’s lung growth. New Queen Mary research found that improvements in air quality after the introduction of London’s ULEZ are associated with accelerated lung growth in children. Read more: shorturl.at/Jx86o
I’ve seen Tony so you don’t have to: a dreary trudge through the plot point cliches of the overused hero’s journey. Depressing to see a rich and contradictory life reduced to by numbers storytelling www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
'I don't think he would've been happy': Why Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony fails to honour the chef's work
The new film about the US culinary titan is entertaining. But it sidelines the workers, many immigrants or people of colour, that to him were the real stars of the restaurant industry.
bbc.com
Seagulls and corvids do not like the partial eclipse around these parts and are making a noise about it. Pigeons seem chill. I love the uncanny not-quite-right twilight. Cat is feigning indifference.
Ireland’s notorious mother and baby institutions operated until the late 1990s. Zoei Bonny was the last baby to die under the care of Bessborough, in Cork, in 1994. Her mother Cindi shared her story with me a few days ago. Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/t...
Bessborough survivor Cindi Bonny on the death of her baby Zoei in 1994
Podcast Episode · The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast · 31 July · 36min
podcasts.apple.com
Cats Aid Dublin raffle! All proceeds go to the cats in their care, like our foster girl Pepper www.catsaid.ie/2026/08/inte...
Movie Exec: And I wanna cast...the worst guy I can think of Producer: Ok, or we could get Ralph Fiennes or-- Movie EXEC: THE WORST GUY
Eleanor Morton@eleanormorton.bsky.social · 2mo agoMovie Exec: I wanna do a Christmas Carol prequel Producer: Ok, the thing is the story itself is kind of a-- Movie Exec: I WANNA DO A CHRISTMAS CAROL PREQUEL
Up Kerry (but if it’s not going to be us, I can live with it being Mayo) #speirgorm # cantwealljustgetalong
Misleading maps and false stats are spread by the far-right to manufacture a crisis. They are intended to scare people into feeling that Ireland is changing so fast that they can’t keep up. jrnl.ie/7108860
How statistics can be twisted to push the Great Replacement conspiracy theory
Misleading maps manufacture a crisis that the data does not support.
jrnl.ie
Please share! A rare PhD studentship @kingshistory.bsky.social *fully* funded by @slaveryinwar.bsky.social to work with myself and Maeve Ryan, supported by a broader community of experts in Caribbean history, transatlantic slavery, and the history of war. www.kcl.ac.uk/study/fundin... 🗃️
AHRC Studentship: Slavery and the Seven Years’ War within and across the Caribbean Archipelago | King's College London
The Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) is pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded AHRC doctoral studentship, to be jointly supervised across History and War Studies
kcl.ac.uk
My week of movies at my favourite Irish festival. Featuring dope dealers from Estonia, posh brats from America, warrior women from Guatemala and a man with a mission from Poland. open.substack.com/pub/saturday...
And I fell in love with the Galway Film Fleadh
Watching very good obscure movies with a hey eye ay eye ay
open.substack.com
Astonishing that not expecting experts to do important work for free in their spare time speeded up decision making and quality of decisions. Absolutely noone could have predicted this. Groundbreaking.
Nature@nature.com · 3mo agoA journal trialled paying their reviewers and found it led to faster first editorial decisions – and increased review quality go.nature.com/3RcRfpY
That @naomialderman.bsky.social is so fucking brilliant. If you've found yourself falling out the reading habit, she has created a kind of Couch-to-5K of reading open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
let's do a 'couch to 5k' for reading
we're going to work ourselves back to good 'reading fitness' over the next eight weeks. come and join us.
open.substack.com