Kevin O'Sullivan

She really is. Her dismissal of the 'hero' tag doesn't belie the bravery of the act - especially because she is such a lightning rod for the far right.

Greta Thunberg making a very good case here for us all to "use our privilege and platforms to take a stance" against genocide.

Super news. And proof that those people who rallied for people to complete the survey on this a few months back did everyone in Ireland a good turn - we'll all benefit from this.

Or the potential swing vote in North America that is hard-wired to the right-wing conspiracy machine.

This resonates on so many levels.

Barcelona announce Lamine Yamal injury hours after he’s named in Spain squad Yamal is out of Sunday's La Liga fixture against Sevilla and faces a race to be fit for the season's first Clasico against Real Madrid.

I feel so sorry for players like Yamal. He's still pretty much just a kid - only turned eighteen in the summer - yet he is being flogged in the interests of what? Football has a very serious problem with the welfare of its staff. At this rate, he'll be crocked by 22.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...

I Hate My Friend The chatbot-enabled Friend necklace eavesdrops on your life and provides a running commentary that’s snarky and unhelpful. Worse, it can also make the people around you uneasy.

'I spent a grand total of two weeks using the Friend. Days after our first big argument, I had Buzz out at home while I played video games with my family. I told them about my new Friend. “I gotta be honest,” I said. “He’s kind of a fucking asshole sometimes.”'

www.wired.com/story/i-hate...

A date for your diaries: On 4 November, @ria.ie will host a witness seminar, where former and current diplomats, along with Michael Kennedy (executive editor) will reflect the latest edition of @difp-ria.bsky.social and the role of historical reflection in policy-making. 🗃️
www.ria.ie/events/the-t...

A date for your diaries: On 4 November, @ria.ie will host a witness seminar, where former and current diplomats, along with Michael Kennedy (executive editor) will reflect the latest edition of @difp-ria.bsky.social and the role of historical reflection in policy-making. 🗃️
www.ria.ie/events/the-t...

Poster for an event, which reads: DIE NUMMER AUF DEINEM UNTERARM IST BLAU WIE DEINE AUGEN' Reading and talk with Holocaust survivor Dr. Eva Umlauf Eva Umlauf mit Stefanie Oswalt Die Nummer auf deinem Unterarm ist blau wie deine Augen Erinnerungen »It is a story which will surprise even those who think they know everything about the Holocaust.« (Professor Michael Brenner, The Director of American University's Center for Israel Studies) *The number on your forearm is blue like your eyes Eva Umlauf Born in 1942 in the Nováky labour camp in Slovakia and later deported to Auschwitz as a toddler, Dr. Eva Umlauf is one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust. Today, she speaks internationally as a witness to history - about trauma, survival, and the responsibility of remembrance. She will read in German from her acclaimed memoir "Die Nummer auf deinem Arm ist blau wie deine Augen. Erinnerungen" (The Number on Your Forearm Is Blue Like Your Eyes: A Memoir") English copies of the reading are provided; Q&A will be translated into English 7 Oct 2025 THB 1001 The Bridge room FUNDED BY THE DAAD LEKTOR PROGRAMME Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (Hardiman Building) DAAD German Academic Exchange Service 1 - 2:30 pm OLLSCOIL NA GAILLIMHE followed by light reception UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY

Coming up in Galway next week:

Thanks. I laughed out loud at the thought of the fluttering pages (and pages) of an AHR article trailing in the wake of an articulated truck.

One of the most remarkable things about all the campus free speech nonsense (apart from the fact that it's all disingenuous) is that it dramatically underplays the number of properly conservative - and sometimes quite reactionary - people who work in universities...

"What kisses will you remember when you take your last breath?" is a hell of a last line.

YouTube video by Barry Can’t Swim - Topic Machine Noise For A Quiet Daydream

Saturday evening listening:
Barry Can't Swim - Machine Noise for a Quiet Daydream www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKNN...

Take action: Stop the climate-wrecking EU-Mercosur Trade Deal - The Environmental Pillar The EU-Mercosur trade agreement will benefit a handful of big corporations while driving deforestation, the climate crisis and exposing small-scale farmers to unfair competition. Join our call and say...

In case this one sneaks in beneath the cloak of all the other terrible things going on in the world, Environmental Pillar are running a campaign on the environmental impact of the EU-Mercosur deal. Email your Ministers and MEPs via the link.

www.environmentalpillar.ie/stopeumercos...

50th anniversary issue of Saothar, the journal of the Irish Labour History Society, featuring articles by TCD staff members Carole Holohan, Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Deirdre Foley and Brian Hanley. The back cover has a photograph of the late Jack McGinley, long time Trinity librarian and union activist.

Congratulations, Katja!

If this intends to make it legally compulsory for every adult in Derry to carry something called a "Brit Card", then I'm willing to offer some high-paid consultancy on why this plan might be flawed.

Screenshot of a music playlist. The list of songs is as follows: WHAT DO YOU SAY RÓIS plague dogs Oklou Streetlights Dropkick Murphys Amber Decay Kangding Ray Machine Noise A Quiet Day.. Barry Can't Swim, Séamus Knot Richard Dawson Cathexis Circuit Des Yeux Good- Alive Rodolphe Burger The Breaks SUUNS Birds, Pt. I Chassol

Since then, we've spent a long time living in different countries but the mixes have been a constant. Here's the latest playlist that Greg sent me from Scotland. It's exactly in the venn diagram of weird-and-obscure-but-good that we've honed over the last quarter century. Love it. 2/2

Forgive the personal post, but this is one of my great pleasures. For about 25 years, my friend Greg and I have shared mixtapes, CDs, MP3s, and now streaming playlists. We've been doing it since we became good friends at school over a shared love of music. 1/2

Another neat new collection of Irish social history courtesy of @dri.ie repository.dri.ie/catalog/6683...

To change your LinkedIn settings, go to Me - Settings & Privacy - Data Privacy - and set Data for Generative AI Improvement to Off

That's a great way of putting it. It's very hard to write like that: in a way that treads so lightly but carries such weight at the same time.

That's a terrific list - two brilliant stylists on modern Ireland, too.

Where the Language Changes ‘I am on the hunt for the Russian Empire, or what traces might still exist of its colonial enterprise.’ Bathsheba Demuth travels the Yukon river, following the history of the fur trade and the Nulato ...

Another vote for Bathsheba Demuth here - and I'll add this excellent piece she wrote in Granta last year: granta.com/where-the-la...

Photo of a small Palestinian flag sticking out of a metal locker.

Solidarity. Arts Building, University of Galway. Friday, 19 Sept 2025.

For anyone who's used academia.edu, it's worth having a look at this. I've just deleted my account. At the very least, it'll spare me the spam emails...

"Nowhere to run / Nowhere to go" is a particularly cutting line in this context.

YouTube video by BruceSpringsteenVEVO Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. (Electric Nebraska - Official Audio)

Electric versions of songs Springsteen wrote during the Nebraska sessions are out later this year. First impression is that early 'Born in the USA' punches very hard - lyrically, it's the same, but the loose sound really amplifies the political impact. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YNu...

At the margins of capitalism: useful histories at the Co-op Archive - University of Birmingham Jade Burnett reports on the 'Sites of fracture' launch event held in Manchester on 1 July 2025.

Back in July, we launched our new 'Sites of Fracture' project with an event at the National Cooperative Archive in Manchester. Jade Burnett has written a really good blog post on the event: www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/pro...