Denis Stewart

"Saving Palestine and Humanity from the Horrors of Israeli Genocide"

Mustafa Barghouti

Sunday 25th May
1-3pm
Drawing Room
Queen's University Belfast
Students’ Union Building
One Elmwood

And online

Free and open to all but registration required
tiny.cc/l42k001

"They say that the first casualty of war is truth. In the stoked-up culture wars of the current moment, another important casualty is complexity and nuance." -Carol Ballantine

A new study shows a way out of Labour’s electoral dilemma With many slim majorities, Labour MPs fear losing votes to left and right. But a major new study suggests there is a way forward

This is useful, from @eastangliabylines.co.uk

“…if all of the ‘Reform-curious’ abandoned Labour for Reform, Labour would lose 123 seats, but they would keep a parliamentary majority. But on the other hand, if the Liberal Democrat- & Green-curious switched, Labour would lose 250 and the election”

Green deputy launches leadership bid with UK ‘eco-populism’ vision Exclusive: Surprise challenger Zack Polanski says party can learn from success of Nigel Farage and Reform UK

While I'm not involved in any political party, I think @zackpolanski.bsky.social's analysis is correct. Thanks to Labour's multiple, infuriating failures, the Greens could become huge here, but only if they are bolder, more assertive and, yes, "eco-populist". www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

To survive the Chaoscene, we will need resilient communities | Aeon Essays The climate crisis is here. In order to thrive in these dangerous and precarious times, we must build resilient communities

"...the #climate crisis presents an opportunity to reimagine how we live together, turning away from atomisation and embracing a more interconnected, communal approach to resilience."

Read my latest article for #Aeon - 'Welcome to the Chaoscene'.

aeon.co/essays/to-su...

Resurgence & Ecologist - Unexpected pollinators Cover image: Mangrove by Beatrice Forshall

Unexpected Pollinators
Issue 350 • May/June 2025 > www.resurgence.org/magazine/iss...

In this issue we celebrate pollinators – and not just the ones you would expect us to include. Bees & butterflies, of course, but slugs & snails, mice & bats, lizards & beetles are important pollinators too...

The Canadian election, which I stayed up most of the night watching, delivered a liberal government (while they are not left, better than the Cons esp on LGBTI issues) but the most delicious part is seeing the obnoxious Poilievre lose his seat! Trump lite politics not a big winner in Canada 🇨🇦 , eh!

Fintan O’Toole: Is nothing sacred, even at a pope’s funeral? We are at a very strange moment in our cultural evolution – one that threatens the very possibility of spiritual experience

"Before there is religion, there is the numinous ..The numinous is all about paying attention." - @fotoole.bsky.social
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Towards a "common-sense platform of 'climate popularism' .."

In these dark times, the virtue we need is hopeful pessimism | Aeon Essays We must keep the flame of pessimism burning: it is a virtue for our deeply troubled times, when crude optimism is a vice

"What hopeful pessimism asks ..is that we strive for change without certainties, without expecting anything from our efforts other than the knowledge that we have done what we are called upon to do as moral agents in a time of change."
aeon.co/essays/in-th...
'Hopeful Pessimism' is a worth a look

Vilified, arrested, held incommunicado: that's the price of protest in Britain today | George Monbiot It seems to me that whatever the charges facing the activists at the Quaker meeting house raid, their fundamental crime is dissent, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

"Whatever charges the people gathering in the Quaker meeting house may face, it seems to me that their fundamental crime is dissent ..." - @georgemonbiot.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There’s a psychosexual dimension to Trump’s tariffs. You don’t have to be Freud to see it When they bought into Trump, the tech bros purchased his whole inflated persona – every whim, craze and dark fantasy

"If it cannot impose limits on Trump’s erratic impulses, the US will find itself friendless. An America that can do anything is one that can be trusted with nothing." - @fotoole.bsky.social, in typically incisive form

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Neuropsychologist Ian Robertson: McIlroy’s reaction to double bogey was one of the strangest things at the Masters Winning, as McIlroy is discovering, is like an amazing vaccine against negative evaluation - that’s why Oscar winners live longer than nominees

"After the final round, McIlroy revealed what he was most proud of in his performance. Funnily enough, it wasn’t his drives, chips and putts that made him most proud, it was “how I responded to setbacks”." - Neuropsychologist, Ian Robertson
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

The author speaking beside a lecturn with a slide displayed with the Māori proverb “I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on the past”

A tour de force from @romankrznaric.bsky.social talking about his book History for Tomorrow and so, so much more this evening at another great @imaginebelfast.bsky.social event.
Still musing on these beautiful words: “I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on the past”

Quakers condemn police raid on Westminster Meeting House Police broke into a Quaker Meeting House last night (27 March) and arrested six young people holding a meeting over concerns for the climate and Gaza.

You think the arbitrary arrest of political dissenters cannot happen in the UK? It already does. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

YouTube video by Antidote Carrickfergus Greengrocers: How to rebuild community through food

💪 Want to get in on the action? Click the link in our bio to support @Carrick Greengrocers, or find projects that build the world we need near you 💪

Meet the folks rebuilding their community through healthier, locally-sourced food.

youtu.be/qbG_N-TI2n8

#comedy #food #community

The History of the Progressive Unionist Party 1979-2001, its role in the 1994-98 Political Process, & why it supported the Belfast Agreement

David Rose
Tues 29 April
6 Univ Sq, rm 0G/006
@qubelfastofficial.bsky.social
4-6pm
Free & open to all, registration- www.ticketsource.co.uk/qubseca/t-mo...

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.