I’m actually not one for romanticising or sanitising what the revolutionary period actually involved, but the idea that violence had no role in achieving the independence that was achieved, is crazy www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

Stephen Collins: State must stop promoting the myth Irish independence was achieved through violence

Admiration for cult of violence that motivated some 1916 leaders has warped popular understanding of our history for far too long, permeating popular culture

irishtimes.com

Intersection of my ‘middle aged man’ opinions and ‘communist’ opinions is that ‘eating out’ is a racket and a scam and that in a good society restaurants would serve as a public amenity to relieve domestic drudgery, not as a hedonic luxury industry

A middle aged woman on the train said ‘it’s nice to see a young fella with a bit of courtesy!’ and I am so vain that I am now treating 2026 as a success

Just reviewed a manuscript I highly suspected of being slop or slop-adjacent, but it wasn’t so clear that I could excuse myself from having to go through the motions. Felt sorry for myself, but more so for all journal editors. We are already in hell😬😬

I just love the idea of coming to an interview armed with your analog publications in tow. Suitcases of manuscripts arrayed like feathers of a peacock.

Natalie@noflashingneon.bsky.social · 2d ago

A former lecturer of mine went for an interview in a Spanish university and didn't realise you had to bring evidence of all your publications. The other candidates had wheelie suitcases full of them.

A former lecturer of mine went for an interview in a Spanish university and didn't realise you had to bring evidence of all your publications. The other candidates had wheelie suitcases full of them.

I think it’s easy to overstate what this affair says about academia generally. Academia is very high trust. In applying for something, you are generally taken at your word and don’t have to finely document every credential. A system like that is … www.bbc.com/news/article...

Jason Arday: Cambridge professor in plagiarism row quits

Prof Jason Arday said he had "concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away".

bbc.com

This piece is pretty fair in setting the (very damning) allegations in the wider context of black academics being genuinely singled out for scrutiny by anti-DEI activists. The main lesson IMHO is not to do with race, but more the danger of academic ‘celebrity’ … www.theguardian.com/education/ng...

Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor

Jason Arday was regarded as an academic superstar, but then questions about his work prompted scrutiny of his backstory and counterclaims of racism

theguardian.com

Libs will make out there is some fundamental civilisational conflict between EU and US at this juncture, but then leaders of both really will circle back to saying things essentially like ‘our motherland must be an impregnable fortress against the dangerous foreign Other!’

Think I’m going to stay at home and watch the 1997 version of the Odyssey for free on YouTube. Is there some way I can spin this into feeling morally superior?

The debate on ‘viewpoint diversity’ misses the wood for the trees. Academia doesn’t select directly for ‘viewpoint’, it selects based more on sensibility & socialisation. Those who ‘succeed’ will likely have to have internalised a certain set of attitudes and dispositions…

Some of us are using charcoal more to bake … kamado bbq erasure SMH🙄

weeder@weeder.bsky.social · 2w ago

Tired of all the damn infighting among the online grilling community.

Is there a single person who believes that fancy software intended to manage research profiles on institutional websites is more efficient than simply inputting text on a website

Tell me your most bourgeois problem today. I overproofed the dough for my flatbreads

I’m curious, does anybody believe there are real advantages to the British constitutional procedure for appointing Prime Ministers, in contrast with say, an assembly simply electing one (as happens e.g. in Ireland - no real role for head of state)

Willing France to win because although I also love Spain, one always assumes France could do with a mood boost: the country is famously despondent and preoccupied with its own supposed decline

Any discussion about civility & the propriety of the opposition leader calling the Taoiseach a ‘tosser’ has to be put in the context of him behaving in a frankly petulant & contemptuous way in parliamentary debates to the point of debasing the parliamentary process www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Mary Lou McDonald declines to withdraw Dáil remark about Taoiseach being a ‘tosser’

Sinn Féin leader overheard using slur last week during questions about costings for MetroLink project

irishtimes.com

All of the small plucky underdogs knocked out of the World Cup. The Tour de France already a foregone conclusion. There’ll be blackberries appearing soon, evenings drawing in. Another summer slipping away. You’re getting older.

‘Sometimes I feel like a grocery purchasing machine!’, I muse to the 9 year old. ‘Now you’re learning!’ she replies, without pausing.

Noticing how tech in many ways increases friction of everyday life rather than relieving it. Example: I’m in a coffee chain that has prohibitive double tier pricing. Huge palaver ahead of me in the queue as a staff helps an elderly woman figure out the app. Ultimately driven by profit not utility

Step 1: throw it in the bin. Step 2: buy a moka pot. www.theguardian.com/food/2026/ju...

The secret to great cafetiere coffee | Kitchen aide

Electronic scales are a non-negotiable, say connoisseurs. Add a pinch of patience, some trial and error, and you, too, can master the French press

theguardian.com

Turning out to be a good World Cup for the smaller European countries like Belgium, Norway and England

Fine but sounds a bit needy, honestly

And the orangutang dads don’t even join the parent WhatsApps SMH

Peak liberal-PMC mindset. Sensible, ‘mature’ choices do not need to be argued for or justified- they need to be ‘communicated’

A 5.25am train from Galway to Dublin with no coffee either in station or on train (cruel and unusual but anyway) and then on Dublin Bus: a very glamorous, well dressed woman taps me on the shoulder. A French accent: ‘your pullover!’, she says (with emphasis): it’s UPSIDE DOWN!’ (It was inside out)

Now that it’s acceptable to turn on the oven again 🥵

I do this tiresomely macho thing going on about how hot I need chilli to be and how no food is spicy enough and now my wife gifted me a sauce that is 50% Carolina reaper chilli so I suppose I have to eat it 😧😬

Vegetables wrapped in foil, on the dashboard of the car parked in sunlight. Easier than bbq.

There was this competition and I beat all the other dads this year, again