Emma Walsh

Greta Thunberg, arriving back in Europe after her abduction by Israel in international waters, explains in 40 seconds why western governments are colluding in genocide:

It is one of the saddest and most undersung legacies of The Troubles, but the necessary breakthroughs in trauma surgery have served the world.

Medicine learned from our history, law enforcement apparently did not.

Breakfast in bed. Pastries on a plate in foreground, a mug of tea and a book in the background

Foreground - a large yellow mug of tea and a blue plate with a sausage sandwich stacked on it. Newspapers below. Background - blurred view of football match on tv

Two tomato plants stalks in a large pink pot

Sun soaked balcony, potted plants along railings. Foreground has a paper back copy of Orbital on top of legs stretched out

It's been a Sunday well spent on the balcony. Seeds down. Saplings repotted. Sun soaked up. And halfway through this week's bookclub read.

We're more than used to hearing that muppet talk nonsense but hearing the cheers that follow it is the terrifying bit.

Hearing people laugh in response to the thinnest veiled threat of a hostile takeover of another territory. That's the bit.

Mícheál Lehane said on the Six One that the National Gallery scanner is "the size of a large drinks trolly" and frankly that's a dangerously revealing and unhelpful comparison for all involved.

#BanGreyHoundRacing

#speirgorm

Public libraries are amazing!
Did you know you can borrow a book from any library in the country and return it to any other library?
Did you know they have subscriptions to huge amounts of national and international media that you can access?

Sorry, did that man really use the words "you have to learn from history"??

An interior photo of a living room with a white rug, brown leather sofa, tall bookcase, pink table with a lamp and orchid on top, a large tv screen and cluttered shelves underneath. Text overlayed reads '25 things for 2025, not late for January, just in time for Imbolc'

A screenshot of the linked blog featuring items 1 to 9 on my list of 25 things for 2025

Just before January slipped away on Friday night, I got my list of things for the year out into the world.

A petition for new year intentions to be made on 31st of January rather than the 1st.

open.substack.com/pub/emmawals...

Kathy Sheridan: Tech bros welcome masculine energy back to workplace. It’s news to me it ever went away There was overreach after the #MeToo movement but the backlash against women we’re seeing now is ferocious

Reminded by Kathy Sheridan's great piece this morning that what men fear is that women will laugh at them. It is the epitaph they'll put on this chapter of US politics.

Unfortunately, the other half of that remark remains equally true.

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

Resistance can take many forms.

A great day for the various parishes

Lovely hearing the uilleann pipes on Oliver Callan this morning. My granddad played them, though his lungs had put an end to it by the time I was around, and the sound of them always goes straight to a place in my heart.

How is this weirdly quaint?

No, you don't understand, I can change him.

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron. Delicious stuff.

If I was head of the BBC, I would insist that at least one episode of University Challenge per series has only double-barrelled surname contestants.

The world deserves the poetic joy of those announcements.

Yesssss

Happy Nollaig na mBan, here's a thread and some drawings of a few interesting ones.

A very sincere and grateful happy new year to whoever donated the never-worn-tags-on Sezane skirt to Oxfam Ringsend. My spring wardrobe thanks you profusely 🙏

Lost to Violence: The 37 women killed in Ireland in the last five years The Journal Investigates shines a spotlight on the women lost to violence in Ireland since 2020.

"The majority of the killers – or suspects – were known to the women."

At least 62 women killed on the island of Ireland since 2020.

www.thejournal.ie/investigates...

Art swap brings new Turner paintings to Scotland Thirty eight watercolours from Ireland will go on display in Edinburgh with a Scottish collection shown in Dublin.

Every January, the National Gallery 🇮🇪 shows our collection of Turner watercolours (from the Henry Vaughan bequest). But this year, they’ve swapped our Turners for ones from Edinburgh (also from the Vaughan bequest) and they’re on show now! Free admission. You should go!

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Now listen up. Words to live by in 2025 (and beyond). Be the light.

Getting a jump start on the resolutions... Started pottering, got sincere, recommended some reads. Will do better, promise.

Turns out relentless rain is a good motivator for me. How I don't write more often is a mystery but it got me back on the horse yesterday.

This was a "just get words down" exercise so obviously I got very sincere & ended up talking books.

Happy New Year!

emmawalsh.substack.com/p/getting-a-...

YouTube video by BBC Music CMAT - Without You (Jools' Annual Hootenanny 2024)

To start your 2025 I suggest watching the amazing Irish artist CMAT singing Without You. Probably the best version I've ever heard. youtu.be/G0DTzK8eDdk

A section of a book, highlighted in orange, about 'a major lunar standstill' in 2025. The moon will oscillate between being extremely high and extremely low, barely slimming the horizon, and appearing dramatically big as a result.

A large yellow mug of tea, the cover of 'The Almanac, A Seasonal Guide to 2025' both on a dark and light blue patchwork women blanket. In the background, a brown teapot in front of a Christmas tree, lit up with fairy lights.

Big year for big moons ahead.

Today has been setbacks and faff and the near demise of a much beloved houseplant but it will be remembered as the day I finally conquered - at the bould age of 35 - a roux from scratch.

Just enough light in the year to squeeze in a little win.

Jimmy Carter

Appropriately, got it in number 5.

Wordle 1,289 5/6

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