Celia Keenan

Magnificent.

Hardly comparable.

Revealed: Private jet owned by Trump friend used by ICE to deport Palestinians to West Bank Exclusive: Luxury aircraft owned by property tycoon close to US president’s family has twice flown Palestinian men from Arizona to Tel Aviv

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

and me

According to Reporters Without Borders, in 2025, Ireland was ranked 7th in the world for freedom of the press.

The United States was ranked 57th.

So we’ll be taking no complaints about censorship from US politicians, thanks.

#SpeirGorm

rsf.org/en

Maybe drop your obscenities?

ICE agents from US set to help with security at Winter Olympics in Italy The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are set to begin on February 6, with shock at the late news of ICE involvement.

They . . . they know where the United States borders are, don't they? I'd imagine it's important for their job.

www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/...

It was principally the state that provided homes for people, not the Catholic or any other church. The rate of building of social housing was remarkable in a new and impoverished state. It was the new market-driven doctrine of aggressive capitalism and light touch stateism that ended
provision.

Coiscéim Choilligh, the rooster’s step.

Got my son a book of interesting maps including this one, which is handy for settling and/or starting arguments, whether around the Christmas dinner table or online.

Another lapsed civil service Christmas tradition (along with the Christmas shopping half day – RIP) is the practice of bringing your kids. into the office to show them your workmates, office, sweets in the top drawer of your desk.

The wife/husband would come too. Quite the reveal on both sides.

... and a very blingy Christmas from the #FullScore team! Myself & @lindamcglynnoconnor (pictured) & producer Áine Fay (making the magic happen elsewhere) would like to thank you for your company on the complete classical experience- here's to a new year of great maaterworks! @rtelyricfm 🤶🎄🎁

Well that was an absolute joy. Thanks to Maggie O'Farrell and Chloé Zhao for being such warm, giving, interesting interviewees in front of a packed screen one this afternoon.

Thanks to everyone at the @irishfilminstitute.bsky.social for asking me to host...

Artist, member of Cumann na mBan, revolutionary and an Irish Jewish woman - rename that park after the wonderful Estella Solomons #speirgorm jewishmuseum.ie/jews-of-irel...

Statement from the Taoiseach condemning the denaming of Herzog Pk saying it would erase the history of Jewish people in Ireland

You would think that someone with a degree in history would understand that renaming a park cannot and will not erase any history of any community or group, similarly to how the taking down statues of slavers has not erased the history of slavery! #speirgorm

Polite public announcement:

I'm taking an extended break from reviewing books in order to rebalance my workload and focus on my writing.

Publisher/PR people: best not to send me proofs.

Likewise, blurb requests. I have always tried to be supportive but I need to read for my own writing now.

🙏

I’d never have guessed.

Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.

Zinaida Miller | Temporary Measures The Yellow Line is supposed to be temporary, but history suggests otherwise. Under ostensibly transient arrangements,...

‘Palestinians are told to wait for the next stage of the plan, while Israel’s gains become the baseline for the next round of negotiations. And the waiting never ends. Each phase is temporary, but every loss is permanent.’

Zinaida Miller on Gaza’s ‘Yellow Line’.

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...

Can you imagine TDs scrambling to change the Constitution or commentators hand-wringing in the media if it was leftists who behaved the way the spoiled vote crew did, in the same (minority) numbers, after several bigoted riots. Not so much forced to pander to them as willingly taking a running leap.

So happy to vote for a candidate whose values I share: peace, equality, social justice, compassion.

I’m not young, but am with young people here. Those tenants were treated dishonestly and with contempt. Not the action of a man of honour.

Reporters Without Borders Index ranks Ireland as seventh in the world when it comes to freedom of the press. These far-right guys hero-worship the United States, which is currently ranked fifty-seventh.

rsf.org/en/index

Good plan.

Autumn music.

Danny might be a bit low in a few vitamins himself.

Jimmy Kimmel fans boycott Disney and ABC in brutal reaction to axing (Irish Star Online) Fans of Jimmy Kimmel are boycotting ABC after the network pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air “indefinitely” over his comments connecting the alleged kille...

Good! 😡😡😡 l.smartnews.com/p-6e8Ppbby/3...

Disney has made a calculated decision that liberals will react with a whimper to the Kimmel announcement. Liberals could, if unified, bring Disney to its knees with a mass-boycott of Disney+.

I know I’m naive but it is pretty wild that the president of the United States just publicly declares he and the military killed some guys on a boat, multiple times, and the entirety of Congress doesn’t immediately hit a giant red IMPEACH button