Des Traynor

More in common: how Sheikh Mansour is linked to Liverpool’s owner Manchester City owner has a co-investment vehicle with the company that is the third-biggest shareholder in FSG

@declynchwriter.bsky.social @migueldelaney.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Stock of Spotify over last month showing sharp decline, from near $700 in value to $615.

Spotify is crashing HARD because of the boycott. Their stock dropped 11% in value over the last month. Let’s keep this going!

Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.

We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.

The Mulberry Empire By Philip Hensher I reviewed a novel called The Mulberry Empire in 2002 for the Weekender Supplement of the Irish Independent. I didn't like it much. It was a chore.

I reviewed a novel called The Mulberry Empire in 2002 for the Weekender Supplement of the Irish Independent. I didn't like it much. It was a chore.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-mulber...

Considering most of their regular political columnists are centre right, and since the retirement of token leftie Gene Kerrigan, a significant part of the electorate now have no representation in the paper.

I think it's disturbing that @independent.ie (Sunday Indpendent), under the editorship of Liz Kearney, now have 2 conservative catholic columnists, @davidaquinn.bsky.social and maria steen. Where is the balance? Apart from the occasional piece by @naoisedolan.bsky.social, the is no left wing voice..

Poor @davidaquinn.bsky.social

And? What's your point? One wrong justifies another?

Killjoy.

An insider’s intriguing red flag about the culture and ethics of trauma storytelling Trauma Industrial Complex: How Oversharing Became a Product in the Digital World by Darren McGarvey

Interesting stuff. My own 'trauma memoir' has been rejected by several hip Irish publishers (because it wouldn't sell). I may publish via the online route.

I note, in passing, that Paul D'Alton favours the triplicate adjectival clause.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

* thereafter

Mark O'Connell: No, you don’t need a cortisol detox. Why are we so addicted to the new language of therapy? People buy into a chemical understanding of human psychology when really what they’re describing is our deeply complex, irreducibly mysterious inner life

Another zinger from @mrkocnnll.bsky.social . Of course I've been talking about the 'abuse of language' perpetrated by therapy - but more specifically psychiatry - for years.

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

Nowhere Man By Aleksandar Hemon From 2003, it seems.

From 2003, it seems.

desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/nowhere-ma...

Not that you’d subscribe to such godless tenets. You’re rich because God wants you to be. All part of His plan.

I was painted as a ‘pantomime villainess’: Maria Steen reflects on failed bid for presidency In an exclusive interview, the barrister, conservative campaigner and stay-at-home mother talks about falling short in her attempt to get her name on the presidential ballot

Ré: the handbag:

“I wanted to expose the hypocrisy of the left who don’t love the poor; they just hate the rich,” she says.

Come now, Maria. Some people are rich because other people are poor, and vice versa. Marxism 101.

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Ruby Hamilton · Things go kerflooey: David Lynch’s Gee-Wizardry David Lynch’s​ films seemed to come out of nowhere. That’s what he said, anyway. Ideas were ‘little gifts …...

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996 Me on Seamus Heaney, 1999.

Me on Seamus Heaney, 1999.

desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/opened-gro...

Sudden Times By Dermot Healy This was a cracker. From 1999.

This was a cracker. From 1999.

desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/sudden-tim...

The Honeymoon By Justin Haythe Here's a weird one. Dude never published another novel, but therefore went into screenwriting instead. From 2004.

Here's a weird one. Dude never published another novel, but therefore went into screenwriting instead. From 2004.

desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-honeym...

Dave Portnoy tweet saying ‘absolutely disgusting and disturbing video from Charlie Kirk shooting today. Hoping for the best for him and his family. Anybody who is happy about this is a disgusting human.’

Pop Crave Tweet: ‘Barstool Sports CEO Dave Portnoy says he hopes a missile hits Greta Thunberg’s boat as she sails away with aid: “I hope they hit a f*cking, like, a missile on her boat. Knock that boat down. Greta or whatever her name is”

This explains it better than I can

Curtains By Katy Hayes Hard to believe I once review a novel called Curtains by Katy Hayes. 1997, it seems - a lifetime ago.

desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/curtains-b...

Team Eamon. Mogwai > Mumford & Sons.

Resurrection Man/Marc Evans/1998 Resurrection Man /Marc Evans/1998 Arriving amid a welter of unfavourable reviews, and running for only one week, twice daily at UCI Tallaght...

I also reviewed the filmisation of Eoin McNamee's Resurrection Man when it came out in 1998. Can't believe how good I was.

desmondtraynor.blogspot.com/2025/08/resu...

The Blue Tango By Eoin McNamee I find I reviewed Eoin McNamee's The Blue Tango in 2001, would it have been? A fine writer I spotted, even then.

I find I reviewed Eoin McNamee's The Blue Tango in 2001, would it have been? A fine writer I spotted, even then.

desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-blue-t...

A White Merc With Fins By James Hawes Hard to believe I once reviewed a novel called A White Merc with Fins. 1996 or thereabouts.

Hard to believe I once reviewed a novel called A White Merc with Fins. 1996 or thereabouts.

desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/a-white-me...

he was the Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia. Although I can see the advantages of instituting a faculty of 'Emeritus Studies' at some university. 6/6

only as pretexts for new horrors. The Palestinians, it seems, must pay for Hitler’s crimes, and the West must sign the invoice.'

One tiny, pedantic, editorial quibble: Rashid Khalidi was not the Edward Said Professor of Emeritus Studies at Columbia University; 5/6

To say otherwise is to collude in Israel’s other great crime, the use of the twentieth century’s central European horror as pretext and alibi for its own monstrousness. The old crimes continue; the old identities lose their meaning, in the game of genocidal musical chairs; the old horrors serve 4/6

'To call what Israel is doing in Gaza genocide is simply to speak the truth. Efforts to say otherwise deny the reality of what everyone can plainly see. To compare the current Israeli government to the Nazis is not antisemitism, as it might perhaps once have been, but bitter justice. 3/6

If you have any lingering doubts about how the live streamed genocide in Gaza is a turning point in post-1945 western history, this should disabuse you of them. Well done, Sir. Respect.' 2/6

The Monad Unchained - DRB The collapse of liberalism in the age of Trump and Netanyahu

An utterly brilliant, incredibly powerful piece of work by Kevin Power in DRB. I know of his work & reputation as a literary critic, but I didn't know he had this level of socio-political, historical and economic analysis in his wheelhouse. It's long, but do read it all. 1/6

drb.ie/articles/the...