Gráinne Lynch

Recommend! @praddenkeefe.bsky.social has found an extraordinary story with an incredible cast of characters that really encapsulates the weirdness of how London has changed these past decades. It's gripping and published by @picadorbooks.bsky.social

@thejournal.ie Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said she "can't say" whether the US and Israeli strikes on Iran are illegal under international law, as she faced questions about the Government's response to the rapidly escalating conflict

The people who are doing away with the triple lock and are desperate to end our policy of neutrality ‘can’t say’ that a clearly illegal attack under international law was illegal.

Blowing things up, kidnapping and killing foreign leaders, is good because it's Doing. Considering the consequences of Doing would be Thinking, which is weak and woke

A bunch of pale yellow primroses and their green leaves against a background of dried leaves, twigs and rotted bark at the bottom of my London garden.

I’m usually away at this time of year, invariably missing the moment when the primroses start blooming at the bottom of the garden. It is difficult to think of a plant that carries the hope and freshness of spring the way a primrose does. Worth staying home for.

She never fails to disappoint

This is making the rounds uncredited once again, so... 🤷‍♀️

Cartoon of yours truly with bad drawings taped to her, next to an upturned hat with a sign that reads WILL DOODLE FOR € (or validation) #speirghorm #speirgorm #art #artist

If prints aren't your thing but you'd like to support my doodles, newsletter, and raiméising, there's a voluntary tip jar here www.ciaraioch.com/tip-jar where there's the option to give a recurring or once-off tip. Even a euro or two a month assists my plan to invade England by dolphin-towed currach

The Countrywide sounds of Spring is really lovely and well worth a listen! Especially if you've never heard a cuckcoo before.

You know what you could do today instead of doomscrolling all day is go pick up a copy of Persepolis. It is stunningly good.

A photograph of an outdoor book swap with two tables of books, with 10 people browsing and chatting. The sun is shining and there is multi-coloured bunting.

Today’s particularly lovely Stoneybatter book swap. Around 100 books found new homes, including some now heading for a primary school library, and many chats were had. And the sun shone, and there were excellent dogs.

The world's biggest companies have caused $28 trillion in climate damage, a new study estimates: buff.ly/214kSa7

Read that again.

Time for the people that are fueling this crisis to pay for the damage they're causing.

#ActOnClimate

The world was saved because a human being didn't trust a computer.

The beach hedge around our back garden with its brown winter leaves on display.

If you live in Ireland and you need to trim a hedge it’s get it done this weekend or wait until September. It’s illegal to cut a hedge after 1 March before 1 September in most circumstances.

Ben inspired us! Today's top section in Garbage Day is a big list of all the indie and subscriber-driven media our team is following and supporting.
www.garbageday.email/p/i-love-you...

Hopefully a good starting point for anyone who wants to get away from Trump-compromised mainstream media.

Radiohead is demanding that the Trump administration take down a pro-ICE promotional video featuring a version of its song “Let Down” without permission.

Full statement from the band:

Britain is a rich country which has been captured by a small number of it's richest individuals over a number of decades. Its media hunts in packs, creating salience from irrelevancies, generating fears in the population unrelated to their actual problems in life and promoting the scapegoating of minorities while conducting little to no structural assessments of the real problems that the political and social worlds have inherited and intensified. It is surely of no little significance that it turns out that this model of public capture of political discourse for private gain is one which is revealed by these Epstein documents to have had been a global formula.

After today's English by-election result, a reminder;

www.thegist.ie/the-gist-uk-...

Matt Goodwin has been sent back to Substack. The Conservatives have lost their deposit. Keir Starmer has been told left wing voters are not a guarantee for Labour. Overall, British politics could do worse than follow Gorton and Denton.

So, any other news yesterday?
Anything important?

We finally did a proper deep dive into the menu at Honest to Goodness, and we needed a moment after trying some of dishes from the new menu... www.allthefood.ie/single-post/the-two-minute-review-honest-to-goodness

A jumbled mass of Goniatite fossils. The shells of these ancient relatives of Squid and Octopus, must have littered the sea floor that covered this area over 300 million years ago.
County Clare, Ireland.

Cormacscoast.com walking tours

The number of people living in emergency homelessness accommodation has surpassed 17,000 for the first time - the figure stood at 17,112 at the end of January 2026, including 5,319 children. The overall figure is up 10.6% in the last twelve months. @virginmedianews.bsky.social

Cool and How many of them have spouses who have rented out properties?

An embarrassment of very powerful decision-makers in government are landlords also deciding on rental legislation. Many of the same people are HAP recipients, this getting paid by the same government/state budgets they’re making decisions on 🤦🏾‍♀️🫠

#spéirghorm #IrishPol #LandlordDáil #Housing #HAP

Leave big tech behind! How to replace Amazon, Google, X, Meta, Apple – and more A handful of companies monopolise the web, with unprecedented access to our data. But there are many more ethical – and often distinctively European – alternatives

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Patrick Swindle is the CEO operating the Dilley concentration camp. There are people behind this. They must go to prison.

Welcome to SeanadVoter.ie. You can use this portal to apply to be entered on the Register of Electors for the Seanad Éireann Higher Education constituency. You are eligible to register as an elector if you: Are a citizen of Ireland AND Are 18 years of age or older AND Hold a degree from a designated institution The deadline for applications for the 2026 Register is 26 February 2026. The 2026 Register of Electors will be published on 1 June 2026.

Last day to register for the Seanad, if you aren't on the list already. There's some feckers in there that desperately need voting out.

www.seanadvoter.ie

#Seanad #SpeirGhorm

On my first trip to Oxford St, I was so surprised that it wasn't pedestrianised! In Dublin, the main shopping streets were car-free so it felt weird. I was also very disappointed that the train to Brighton didn't go along the coast like the dart line to Dun Laoghaire. No sea views? What's the point?

This is grossly unfair. Your father was a tabloid monster LONG before his death, from at least the Board of Trade report in 1971 onwards.