The real threat to democracy doesn't come from 'family voting'. It comes from the losing side refusing go accept they've lost
28.02.2026 11:03 — 👍 3299 🔁 829 💬 282 📌 129
The real threat to democracy doesn't come from 'family voting'. It comes from the losing side refusing go accept they've lost
28.02.2026 11:03 — 👍 3299 🔁 829 💬 282 📌 129Reacting to Labour's devastating loss to the Green Party in Gorton and Denton, Keir Starmer claims that only Labour can unite communities. I agree. He convinced Muslims to vote for a white working class woman representing a party led by a gay Jewish man.
27.02.2026 21:38 — 👍 1394 🔁 342 💬 24 📌 13Over the past eighteen months, the political science consensus on the nature of Labour's vote has been absolutely correct - and yet also completely ignored by pundits and strategists who continue to get it wrong.
27.02.2026 11:46 — 👍 160 🔁 70 💬 4 📌 4
@martamiori.bsky.social and I have been writing, since 2024, about why Labour's 'Reform' challenge and emphasis was based on a misunderstanding of Labour's vote. Here for anyone interested: politicscentre.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
27.02.2026 08:02 — 👍 115 🔁 62 💬 2 📌 16The 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
27.02.2026 14:06 — 👍 51 🔁 31 💬 7 📌 18
Following up some of my morning thoughts: "Labour’s basic electoral problem comes from the fact that left-leaning voters are indeed choosing to vote against rather than for parties. The problem is that progressives aren’t just voting against Reform. They are now actively voting against Labour."
27.02.2026 14:15 — 👍 194 🔁 54 💬 11 📌 15Keir Starmer's attempt to paint the Greens as extremists yet again reveals his intolerance of political difference. His instincts are illiberal and authoritarian.
27.02.2026 19:44 — 👍 1665 🔁 349 💬 101 📌 20
Labour MP Ian Byrne: "The lines from the PM and Cabinet today essentially labelling the Green Party as extremist is appalling, desperate and frankly embarrassing.
"It also makes very clear that the leadership has zero understanding of where it has been going wrong."
The current argument of the British right is that Muslims turned out in "blocs" with "family voting" to cast their ballots for a party led by a gay Jewish man, and this shows that multiculturalism has failed, voting is "sectarian" and we are in a crisis.
Hmmmmmm.
“Can you imagine explaining being afraid of UEFA “disciplinary measures” to an orphan amputee who lives in a tent?”
~Aoife Moore
The Irish News
☕️🥐
Remember when Rutte said Europe should stop dreaming about defending itself?
Moritz Graefrath and I wrote an answer to that claim in @warontherocks.bsky.social.
warontherocks.com/2026/02/brea...
Declan Ganley's "source" for his concerns regarding the dangers of a new solar farm in North Galway is a conspiracy theorist blog called The West Awakes, a blog by a transphobic anti vaxxer, who promotes conspiracy theories.
24.02.2026 14:47 — 👍 16 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 0
Communities on Ireland's west coast say they will fight to safeguard their traditional seaweed rights against what they describe as a "corporate takeover "of their livelihoods.
21.02.2026 10:51 — 👍 59 🔁 27 💬 5 📌 3
Screenshot of a CNN segment shared by Acyn. A split-screen shows commentator Lydia Moynihan on the left and Kevin O’Leary on the right during a heated exchange. The chyron reads, “Obama: Dems need to avoid scolding and ‘virtue-signaling.’” The post quotes O’Leary referencing China and concentration camps, and McGowan responding about West Virginia.
I spent my childhood inside of American concentration camps. I know one when I see one. And that is what ICE is building.
17.02.2026 21:00 — 👍 36720 🔁 11204 💬 1004 📌 377
First article of 2026 out. "India’s security approach and its space in global politics", with Vidushi Kaushik (lead author), @dublincityuni.bsky.social, in Revista UNISCI, Universidad Complutense de Madrid - issue focused on India's new role in Global Politics.
www.unisci.es/indias-secur...
We all dread the arrival of our monthly electricity and gas energy bills
And the govt task force hasn’t bothered their backsides
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...
If you're a victim of repeated flooding, you need to start looking at land use upstream.
One of these sponges up vast amounts of water, releasing it slowly, the other does not. One reduces flooding, the other *increases* it.
Without addressing this core driver, it'll just keep on getting worse.
Downing Street has rejected the prospect of rejoining an EU customs union after an official from the bloc said Brussels would have an “open mind” to discussing it
03.02.2026 15:09 — 👍 0 🔁 3 💬 2 📌 2
More than 12,000 homes are needed in Gaeltacht communities to meet EU minimum standard, an analysis on a new website has suggested. jrnl.ie/6943165t
03.02.2026 20:00 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Around Banbridge tomorrow night? I will be in the Town Hall at 7pm, with Prof Colin Harvey @cjharvey1.bsky.social of QUB. Talking about my research on the UK subvention and the possible economic costs and benefits of a united Ireland. Report here
all-islandeconomy.com/analysing-th...
A good read. Instead of discount on rates, follow Manchester’s example and double rates on empty units, 4 times normal the following year, then 8 times- followed by CPOs if landlords do not pay. Rents drop, units, and houses get filled. Everyone benefits (except the existing institutional landlords
02.02.2026 18:04 — 👍 10 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Jeffrey Epstein sent money to Mandelson’s husband after prison release, emails reveal
30.01.2026 18:51 — 👍 147 🔁 63 💬 18 📌 14
Al Jazeera denounces YouTube's submission to the ban of its broadcast in Israel and calls for adherence to international conventions.
29.01.2026 16:39 — 👍 165 🔁 73 💬 7 📌 2For the Irish times to publish this article, without mentioning that Ray Bassett argued that the Republic should have seriously considered leaving the EU, is to seriously mis-represent this quote. The truth is the opposite. The UK Govt was reckless about Northern Ireland and the EU was positive
29.01.2026 10:58 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
A great opportunity to work with the Human Rights Consortium on a Bill of Rights for NI.
Further information here:
www.humanrightsconsortium.org/job-advertis...
The Telegraph’s political editor is saying, more subtly, what others are saying brutally.
27.01.2026 12:55 — 👍 1014 🔁 408 💬 110 📌 57
NTA continues to force Irish Rail to stay on X despite child sexual abuse material scandal
Irish and international experts have said social media platform X was generating child sexual abuse material, as well as nonconsensual "undressing" images of adults, but the National Transport Authority…
It tells you everything you need to know that Reform are parachuting in a rent-an-extremist - this isn't about representing the people of Gorton and Denton, it's about using this place as a platform for their careers.
Manchester will show him the door.
A former scholar of the far right will stand as a far-right candidate in the U.K.
Anyone who knows Matt, or has followed his career, will not be surprised by this. It is, nevertheless, a good reminder that the tides have turned and the grift is moving (far) right these days, also within academia.
