Seaghan MacConmidhe

The daft thing is that with Proportional Representation there'd be no need for this self-destructive war within Labour. It could split into its component parts - left and right - and people could vote for what they wanted. It's only First-Past-the-Post that forces these irreconcilables together.

The one thing that is growing extremely fast is the wealth of the top billionaires:

The top 0.00001% used to own the equivalent of 3% of national income in wealth in 2010

Now they own the equivalent of 12% of national income!

Back to GDP:

There is no productivity miracle in the US.

The growth of productivity (= GDP per hour worked) has slowed down markedly.

From 1.9% in the period 1980-2010 to 1.1% in 2010-2025

If you think the rise of tech has made people more productive, think again

We hear it all the time:

Since the turn of the 2010s, thanks to the rise of tech, the US has pulled ahead economically.

This idea is everywhere from Washington to Davos—and it's paralyzing Europe

But it's simply not true!

Let's look at what's really happening, with charts🧵

EU moves closer to using its trade bazooka against the US Capitals are backing a more forceful response to Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

🚨🚨 EU moves closer to using its #tradebazooka against the US as Germany has joined France in saying it will ask @ec.europa.eu to explore unleashing the #Anti-CoercionInstrument at the emergency EU leaders' summit in Brussels on Thursday evening.🧵
www.politico.eu/article/eu-b...

So far the "Board of Peace" is Trump, Orban, Lukaschenko and Netanyahu.

Which if you wrote in a satire would be considered too outlandish and sent back.

We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.

This fiction was useful. And American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security and support for frameworks for resolving disputes. So, we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals. And we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works.

In the face of European leader after European leader meekly invoking “rules-based order”, “international law”, “closely monitoring”, “the UN Charter”…

It’s almost alien to see someone say “yeah, no, that was a lie and we all knew it.”

Majority of CEOs report zero payoff from AI splurge : PwC survey finds more than half of 4,500+ biz leaders see no revenue growth nor cost savings

"More than half of CEOs report seeing neither increased revenue nor decreased costs from AI, despite massive investments in the technology, according to a PwC survey of 4,454 business leaders."

Irish political leaders cannot claim that we need new law before the Grok CSAM machine can be shut down

Here is a table of available law to protect our children—>
www.iccl.ie/wp-content/u...

Many people think immigration happening on larger scale than is really the case The report by the ESRI found that many people overestimated the proportion of people in Ireland who were born in another country.

"People guessed around 43.8% of people born outside of Ireland were availing of social housing compared to the real figure of 6.1%."

www.thejournal.ie/immigration-...

Who’s who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter A look inside Elon Musk’s big tent

There we go. That there’s a headline.

Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive? Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?

"They're trying to change our habits, because all of the projections rely on people becoming truly dependent on the technology. Whether or not it's actually a good thing for society isn't considered to be a factor."

Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive? Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?

"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."

You know the way the UK Gov keeps thinking its found a way to solve Brexit stuff, only to be reminded of the Good Friday Agreement?

That's us but with data protection laws

A10-0197/2025 - Jörgen Warborn - Proposition de la Commission 5 + Ireland / PPE : Carberry, Doherty, Kelly, Walsh Ireland / Renew : Mullooly 6 - Ireland / Renew : Cowen, Kelleher, McNamara, Ní Mhurchú Ireland / The Left : Flanagan, Funchion

Here are the Irish MEPs who just sided with the far-right (fascists, racists, sexists, homophobes, climate deniers) from across the EU

They've voted to gut protections that would have made businesses check and report their supply chains for child labour, human rights abuse or nature destruction

there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all

Objectors will be on the hook to pay six-figure legal costs under judicial reviews clampdown Objectors will have to foot six-figure legal bills for successful judicial review cases in a new move being brought to the Cabinet to speed up the supply of infrastructure and housing.

Whatever your view on judicial review and NIMBY-ism, this is an appalling attack on the rule-of-law —

If a person successfully (successfully!) proves wrongdoing by the state, the state will bankrupt them?

Cui bono? Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael conies and the worst days of An Bord Pleanála corruption.

history will ultimately decide this but i think joyce carol oates might have just landed the most devastating burn in human history. like the death star trench run of posting

The tweet reads: Ivan Yates, he's the guy who went bankrupt running a fucking bookies in Ireland.

The funniest thing about the Catherine Connolly smear campaign is that the establishment seems to be following Ivan Yates' advice, despite his impressive record of getting things spectacularly wrong, as highlighted on this old but evergreen tweet from @prayforpatrick.bsky.social

Niall Donald talking about how Jim Gavin ripped him off included the truest, most Irish statement I’ve ever heard in my life, like this absolutely would be what your friends would say to you in these circumstances

The Basic Income for the Arts Scheme is €325 a week, similar to what they gave out during the pandemic. This is how much they've deemed one needs in order to live in Ireland. So why is disability benefit only €244? Why are disabled and sick people expected to live so far below the poverty line?

Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda hits out at AI-generated videos of her dead father: ‘stop doing this to him’ Film-maker tells the public to stop sending her videos, saying: ‘You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings’

"And for the love of EVERYTHING, stop calling it ‘the future,’ AI is just badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be re-consumed. You are taking in the Human Centipede of content, and from the very very end of the line".
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...

history teacher in 50 years: So in September, that’s when the president signed an executive order criminalizing anti-fascism and saying all resistance would be crushed

student: oh so that’s when the whole country realized they were living under fascism

teacher: haha what? oh no lol not at all. no.

The police will tell you they have 'no choice' because PA are a proscribed organisation but come to Belfast and you learn very quickly that is a lie.

This is absolutely a choice.

Queen

Ruth Coppinger TD, who had organised a rally against McGregor at Dublin City Co says the person to thank for his withdrawal is Nikita Hand for "exposing him".

"That took away any shred of credibility he had to get support... he did not want to run a gauntlet of people calling him a rapist."

Didn't we decide, as a society, when Google tried to introduce this kind of technology a few years ago, that yes there's some interesting fun ideas in embedded tech glasses, but the possibility of covertly recording/spying on other people in public was too ick?

Or does Zuckerberg welcome the creep?

I often think about this letter to the New Statesman.

It's from a 1960s Tory, and neatly summarises how British politics has shifted massively to the right, and taken Starmer's Labour party with it.

#PoliticsLive

Gen AI out here making the case for strong moral rights.

Excerpt from the article: "The anti-immigrant activists also carried a flag of Jesus of Nazareth – possibly history’s most famous refugee - and Welsh-born immigrant, St Patrick, much to the mirth of onlookers, who posted dozens of bemused videos on Galwegian social media channels regarding the marchers’ misspelled ‘Galimh’ banner. United Irishmen, crowned harps, ‘Erin go bragh’ and Sacred Heart flags were also flown by marchers, who played songs by lifelong socialist, Luke Kelly, amplified through loudhailers. One woman was dressed up as Anglo-Irish nationalist and socialist revolutionary, Constance Markievicz."

"Visitors stage anti-migrant march in Galway"

Other journalists should take notes on reporting from Maxim Kelly.

www.advertiser.ie/galway/artic...