Paul O’Brien

“It would be very difficult for Russia to sever all the data flows into the UK because there are so many of them from so many directions. It’d be a lot easier to cut Ireland off… Without taking the risk of directly targeting Britain, a Nato member.”

Latest ‘deep fakes’ of Irish politicians present new political disinformation risks This week Bank of Ireland issued a media alert following the circulation on social media of a ‘deep fake’ video of Presidential candidate Heather Humphreys promoting a fake investment platform. These ...

I put together a short piece on LinkedIn about the short leap between current deep fakes of Irish politicians for financial scams to wider political disinformation risks. It includes some examples of the latest very convincing deep fakes.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/latest...

‘If I felt Zuckerberg and Sandberg were monsters, I wouldn’t have worked at Meta’: Nick Clegg on tech bros, AI and Starmer’s half measures When Britain’s former deputy PM took a job at Meta, nothing could have prepared him for the ‘cloying conformity’ of the tech world. So why does he still think social media is a force for good?

Interesting perspectives from Nick Clegg post Meta.

“If you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

@hlinehan.bsky.social you and Pat should have had a PTSD warning at the start of the podcast for those who worked in politics during the crash.

The coming crypto crisis Bipartisan backing of stablecoins will hurt America’s economy and its politics

on.ft.com/4o9VLBi The coming crypto crisis

The new Comreg text checker only screens the SenderID but fraudsters just use random mobile numbers to get around it. The only solution is a scam filter to scan all text messages as has been deployed in other English speaking and EU countries.

Olivia Rodrigo at Marlay Park: Pop star surprises fans with Fontaines DC cover during a brilliantly energetic show Rodrigo is not just another Disney-approved star but a Gen Zer with a deep headbanging spirit

Marlay Park is just the Southside revenge for gigs at Malahide Castle.

Olivia Rodrigo at Marlay Park: Pop star surprises fans with Fontaines DC cover during a brilliantly energetic show

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Yesterday afternoon two ships, a helicopter and a maritime surveillance aircraft of Estonian forces ordered shadow tanker JAGUAR towards EE national waters, north of Tallin.

The attempt attracted a Russian fighter jet but the EE navy pursuit continued 4h to just 7 miles from Russia.

Baltic hot.

Pat Leahy: Enda Kenny offers five lessons for today’s politicians A perennial rule of politics comes to mind for former Fine Gael leader

Great piece!

Enda Kenny’s life and times offer five lessons for today’s politicians

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

Is the world losing faith in the almighty US dollar? Donald Trump’s trade war is forcing investors to confront the possibility that the dominance of the US currency might fade — or even end

What a great quote:

As Walter Wriston, the late Citicorp boss who was one of the titans of American banking, once observed: “Capital goes where it is welcome and stays where it is well treated.”

on.ft.com/44ruItE Is the world losing faith in the almighty US dollar?

Neck oil as a beer name 🤌

The thing about Europe: it’s the actual land of the free now Europe’s very real problems don’t look so bad by comparison

🇪🇺

The thing about Europe: it’s the actual land of the free now
economist.com/europe/2025/...
from The Economist

Ireland vulnerable to impact of gas disruption - study Damage to Ireland's subsea gas interconnectors would have a catastrophic impact on the country's energy supply, Minister for the Environment Darragh O'Brien has been warned.

www.rte.ie/news/ireland...

EU defence: Paying the price of the Russian threat Europe is embarking on a grand spending programme akin to the near trillion euro response to the Covid pandemic in the face of aggression from Russia and the increasing unreliability of the US under P...

Essential reading from @tconnellyrte.bsky.social . Great overview of the unfolding geopolitical lurch from an Irish and EU perspective.

www.rte.ie/news/analysi...

While in Brussels during the week I came across a senior diplomat from a large influential country and a banker who both learned English in Ireland as a teenager and had a very positive view of the country as a result. #softpower #packedlunch

‘The tide is turning’: why more parents are delaying access to smartphones for children starting secondary school Mounting concern over role of social media algorithms in pushing inappropriate content to young people

‘The tide is turning’: why more parents are delaying access to smartphones for children starting secondary school

How small Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek shocked Silicon Valley Hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng builds model on tight budget despite US attempt to halt China’s high-tech ambitions

Interesting development suggesting that AI technology won’t have much of a competitive moat. Possible that not everyone investing billions now will see that money come back.

How small Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek shocked Silicon Valley on.ft.com/4jA8WJB

EPP - European People's Party The EPP is centre-right, pro-European political party which gathers over 82 parties from 43 countries.

This EPP statement from the weekend is a sign of shifting political sands in the EU on regulatory burden. Lots of robust language on existing (and recently passed) legislation such as CSRD and CSDDD.

www.epp.eu/papers/europ...

You don’t get this quality content on the other platforms.

Nothing beats wet finger.

On the other hand… God I love caulking. I could do a podcast on caulking.

I don’t know how people of yesteryear painted walls without the company of podcasts.

‘That is Maganomics’: where Trump is taking America on trade Maverick economist turned presidential adviser Peter Navarro has helped bring back a world in which power takes precedence over economic exchange. Will he prove his critics wrong?

Good insight here on the intellectual influence behind the US push for tariffs. One question raised is if the US opts for a tariff wall, will the rest of the world simply trade around it? Big decisions ahead for the EU

‘That is Maganomics’: where Trump is taking America on trade on.ft.com/4h1VwnC

This was the fastest test I have.

We’ve Three 5G wireless broadband for the house and it is very very fast. Much better than cable broadband we previously had.

Negotiating a new Programme for Government Ibec Podcasts · Episode

I sat down with Ibec’s @nichola10.bsky.social to talk about how a Programme for Government is put together and why the process is important to future Gov stability. And it’s only a breezy 15 minutes!

open.spotify.com/episode/5oiT...

Today is 2024-12-14, the sun sets at 16:05:46 and the grand auld stretch tonight was 00 mins and 03 secs. #GrandStretch #TheGrandStretchIsBack

Visiting the UCD Belfield campus today and I’m struck by its recent and ongoing development. It’s a world class campus.