Labour Minister refuses to rule out Peter Mandelson return to House of Lords A LABOUR minister has refused to rule out that Peter Mandelson will be allowed to return to the House of Lords despite fresh links to his…

Mandelson simply CANNOT be allowed to be a law maker over the rest of us.

That should not be a difficult decision.

www.thenational.scot/news/2581467...

She Bangs the Drum with my son.

#TheGrandStretchIsBack baby!

Let’s be honest: nothing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have done in the last 56 years justifies the tremendous cost of bringing them back from the moon. NASA should’ve spared the long-suffering taxpayer and left them up there

Oh dear god, if brains were gunpowder you could not rustle up a sneeze.

Brexit did bring back all the bad feelings and worries of the past. The way Ireland and its leaders were spoken about was shocking. But it was a callback. It was people shaped by the UK's experience of colonialism and by ignorance. It was a will to dismiss.

It was not where we should be,

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US judge resigns after being disciplined for wearing Elvis wig in court In court, Judge Thornhill would play the singer's music from his phone and make

Meanwhile in that Missouri, a judge has resigned after being disciplined for wearing an Elvis wig in court and occasionally playing the singer's songs during proceedings. (By @nadineyousif.bsky.social for BBC News)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Post Office cases cast doubt on the “golden thread” of British justice, study says The “golden thread” of British justice – the principle that people are innocent until proven guilty – has been exposed by the Post Office Scandal as more deeply tarnished than previously thought, a ne...

Research by Karen Nokes @laws.ucl.ac.uk @richardmoorhead.bsky.social Rebecca Helm and Sally Day from @uniexeterlawschool.bsky.social shows "innocent until proven guilty" was rarely taken seriously enough when subpostmasters came into contact with the legal system

news.exeter.ac.uk/uncategorize...

Post Office scandal: Some defence lawyers 'defeatist' Lawyers were outgunned, out of their depth or uninterested in what clients had to say, academic report reveals.

@richardmoorhead.bsky.social, who leads the research, said defence lawyers sidestepped rather than addressed their clients’ assertions and focused solely on advising them to plead guilty www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/post-of...

With his ultimatum that Ukraine surrender to Russia, Trump finally wins a prize:

The Neville Chamberlain award for betraying peace, freedom, and justice.

Remember that time when Ireland rerouted an entire highway to avoid pissing off the fairies that truly nobody believes in but we’ll just in case

I remember John Major's government. If you told me that in 2025 he'd be a voice of sanity I'd have hurt myself laughing, and yet here we are.

Say what you like about their incompetence, but they show admirable skill at the long political suicide note.

I despair to see the Labour Party die before my eyes. I am Irish, but am of the European social democratic family. I have always felt a close bond with UK Labour. Now, it is diving down reactionary racist rabbit holes, betraying ts basic values of social solidarity. If this is Labour, let it die.

There's a new post on my blog concerning an Anglo-Irish family with a seat in Co. Offaly that was rebuilt in the 1890s but burned in the Troubles in 1923: landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2025/11/617-...

Taking off from Dublin airport. The entire airport as much as possible, taxiing and takeoffs, pauses at 1100 for the one minute’s silence. 🌺

I really appreciate your programme.You have every reason to feel proud.

My musical tribute to Pauline Collins who has died aged 85. She was brilliant and award-winning in the film Shirley Valentine. But I will always remember her as parlourmaid Sarah Moffit in the 1970s ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs.

Enjoyed the latest series of Slow Horses. 6 episodes felt too short in terms of normal expectations, but I’d rather get regular dollops of shorter series than wait 2 years for for next big one

I'd watch breathless marathon runners as a kid & thought you just had to gather enough air beforehand. I loved feeling the wind through the open window when driving. My father said if I kept my mouth open I'd get enough air to run a marathon. Great way to quieten a talkative child on a family drive.

I love an Irish General election. You can keep Jake Tapper striding through a VR map like a Colossus. I don't want Wolf Blitzer using a touchscreen to show voter turnout.
Give me a frazzled RTE reporter coming live from a playschool in Offaly watching votes being added with a pencil for two weeks.

A lot of Paddies I know in the UK (this one included) are listening to this sort of thing and wondering about our status in Britain

Which would have *huge* implications for N Ireland if ever it with became a political football

Been at Labour conference for the last couple of days. The phrase that keeps on reverberating around my mind is John Hume saying ‘you can’t eat a flag’

Very good stuff from Sadiq Khan at the Labour Irish society event. He said there are two reasons he loves coming to Labour Conference.

“One is the reception at the Labour Party Irish Society reception.

“The second is to get away from all the Sharia Law in London”

Mo Mowlam and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement - The History of Parliament 25 years ago this month the basis for peace in Northern Ireland – the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement – was signed after years of painstaking negotiations.

Born #OTD 1949, Mo Mowlam, Labour MP for Redcar, 1987-2001 and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, playing a decisive role in the Good Friday Agreement.

@emmapeplow.bsky.social reflects on her career and legacy, and how it has been discussed in our #OralHistory project. buff.ly/3ZGn5Z9

You may have been to the Isle of Wight, Woodstock even but you haven't lived unless you have been to The Plowing, the Hejira of rural Ireland