@rofarrell.bsky.social
Emojinally intelligent economist.π§ DΓ©isean. (Views my own.) Lecturing economics @WeAreTUDublin Previously @OECD @NERI_Research Twitter: r_o_farrell
"Dress for the job you want, not the job you have"
28.10.2025 17:48 β π 2159 π 453 π¬ 125 π 20
Faced with Trumps' tariff chaos, the EU needs to reach a understanding with China, to reduce disruption. But it cannot be based on China massively diverting sales from US to EU while curtailing exports of critical materials for European production and clean tech on.ft.com/42FMvvI
13.10.2025 07:04 β π 4 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
What has to happen - must the lDF write GENOCIDE on their tanks & WAR CRIME on their planes - b4 Israel's backers, condoners, financiers and armourers put a stop to this clearly articulated criminal plan?
Europe has failed completely to use available tools.
I've certainly noticed it when talking to students and comparing with my time as a student.
08.05.2025 07:11 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Humanity has quietly passed a remarkable milestone: Alcohol consumption is declining, a turning point in a habit at least as old as civilization itself. This unnoticed shift suggests other long-standing habits (from smoking to red meat consumption) could potentially fade just as effortlessly.
07.05.2025 21:08 β π 455 π 105 π¬ 46 π 105βThe world cannot silently just watch while this humanitarian crisis is happening & this siege is also, of course, a continuation of many, many decades of illegal occupation.β
Zeteo contributor Greta Thunberg explains how Israel bombed a Gaza Aid ship w/ drones w/ humanitarian volunteers on board.
And it's such an easy thing for other countries to retaliate against: simply don't enforce copyright of US films.
Countries can still watch them, but the US loses.
Israel has been blocking Palestinian Christians from visiting their churches in Jerusalem this Easter, while "religious intolerance and antichristian sentiment has been made mainstream by Israeli political leadership". βοΈβ¦οΈ
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
The murderous attack from the air on defenceless civilians, in cynical pursuit of political aims is met with horror in the case of Ukraine, and in the case of Palestinians with indifference.
The glaring double standard is shameful. #Sumy #Gaza
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
In Ireland, since Covid there has been a strong sustained increase in teen employment, especially for girls working part-time.
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(Boys have higher rates for working full-time, so overall employment rates are fairly equal.)
Caving disguised as divide and rule.
The EU and other countries should not indulge the bully and be seduced by his blatant attempt to make China the fall guy.
How about odious and obsequious? π€
10.04.2025 20:27 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Brings home the full insanity of it all. USA dismantling production in an area, clean energy, where it had (thanks to IRA) a good claim to comparative advantage. And raising #tariffs against countries like Vietnam so as to reshore footwear and low-end electronics production π
Oh and the climate...
The silences produced by the generic framing of Trump as authoritarian, or Trump v. the constitution are not merely happenstance. Many of those defending universities are uncomfortable naming the crackdowns on pro-Palestinian, Israel-critical speech that have helped shape the Trump administration's most aggressive attacks on academia to date. Matters are not helped by the fact that the University administration makes a show of actually embracing the charges as a reasonable description of the situation on campus and a matter of the utmost urgency. Rather than addressing this concession head on, the resistance sidesteps it by aligning Trump with Erdogan or Orban, or treating him as a threat to the 1st Amendment. The result is an incomplete and incoherent account of how we have ended up where we are at.
Great essay by @adamtooze.bsky.social that explores why Palestine is so central to US campus politics. This section is worth highlighting, as it articulates the shortcomings of framing anti-Palestine repression primarily through discourses of free speech or Democracy v Authoritarianism (link below)
28.03.2025 17:12 β π 38 π 17 π¬ 1 π 0
Iβm just a girl standing in front of a boy telling him itβs not true he has become more right-wingβ¦ it is me who has become more left-wing π«
24.03.2025 20:24 β π 334 π 71 π¬ 18 π 6
Belatedly and agonisingly slowly, US support for Israel is declining and sympathy for Palestinians rising. But by the time the curves cross and US backing of the slaughter stops, it may well be too late. π
(Via @adamtooze.bsky.social)
It is a myth that large numbers of voters who formerly supported social democratic parties have defected to the far-right. Visit Chartbook Top Link to find out more!
18.03.2025 16:46 β π 35 π 9 π¬ 2 π 1ππππ¨π¨π§Ήπ
17.03.2025 06:37 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Excellent piece by @edwardluce.bsky.social ! Thank you Ed for speaking out.
www.ft.com/content/bcd3...
Beware!
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NEW 𧡠Is human intelligence starting to decline?
Recent results from major international tests show that the average personβs capacity to process information, use reasoning and solve novel problems has been falling since around the mid 2010s
What should we make of this?
www.ft.com/content/a801...
Source:
apps.bea.gov/iTable/?reqi...
Is Ireland really the 6th biggest investor in the US?
βοΈβοΈβοΈOn paper yes, but investment surged in 2014, just as our GDP got fluffier. βοΈβοΈβοΈ
It's worth watching the last 15 minutes of yesterday's 50 minute Trump/ Zelensky meeting to see how things escalated. πΊ
youtu.be/AcCeyvdkT8M
Common usage of the word feminist is a lot more recent than I thought, well into the second "wave" π of feminism.
01.03.2025 07:57 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Interesting French word: masculinist.
I've never heard in English a male equivalent of feminist.
From the news edits I had thought he was ambushed, but the full 50 minute video shows how it escalated.
youtu.be/AcCeyvdkT8M
From watching the news I thought Zelensky was ambushed.
Here's the full 50 minutes. 10 minutes to go the final question had some anodyne comments from Trump/JD about not insulting Putin if you want to make a deal with him. Then Zelensky interjected and it kicked off.
youtu.be/AcCeyvdkT8M
FINANCIAL TIMES Bullies often project, so take what they say about others as an indicator of what they think about themselves. That has long been true for Trump, and goes for Vance's speech as well. His most shocking line β "the threat that I worry the most about" is not Russia or China but "the threat from within" Europe β is best read as identifying the strongest adversary not of Europe, but of the Trump regime's goals. Russia and China, after all, may be geopolitical powers the US needs to come to an understanding with. But they pose no challenge, let alone an alternative model, to the Maga world Trump and Vance are busy building, especially inside the US itself. In contrast, the EU and Europe more broadly, if it can stay united, has the ability to put up resistance that matters to Maga America and its Big Tech oligarchy.
This, by @martinsandbu.ft.com is probably the best reading of what MAGA's assault on Europe means and what our takeaway should be. I hope UK leaders learn this and understand that aligning themselves with Europe is the right (morally AND strategically) move here.
24.02.2025 10:24 β π 92 π 32 π¬ 6 π 5
During the Cold War, the USSR had the benefit of various satellite states, and a global ideology.
However, even at peak the US πΊπΈ economy war far larger.
Arguably, the US now has a far stronger strategic challenger, with it's economy 72% that of China's. π¨π³
