Duncan Morrow

After Hiroshima, the only way to stop escalation to the extremes is to find ways to escape our conflicts before they escalate to the extremes. Otherwise, ‘doing what it takes’ means justifying mass slaughter as ‘collateral’ to a higher end

80 years today since the world lost its innocence about the potential for human beings to destroy all human life.

news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi...

Helsinki just went a full year without a single traffic death The capital city is Finnish’ed with car-related fatalities.

So, it can be done. No traffic-related deaths in a year in a city of 700,000.

www.politico.eu/article/hels...

Almost a third of people in Gaza 'not eating for days,' UN warns Israel faces increasing pressure from Western allies to lift restrictions into the flow of aid into Gaza.

Torture is playing out in front of our eyes in real time. We cannot avert our eyes or pretend we didn’t see. I feel like a complicit bystander every day now. Surely no security rationale justifies this? For the sake of all our futures , we need action not words now.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The failure to stop the starvation of Gaza is one of the disasters of our time. On top of the appalling civilian suffering, the collapse of any reality to the concept of an ‘international community’ will haunt us for years. And Israel’s isolation will deepen.

Build it and they will come.

Hard to think of a more diabolical image. We are losing a grip on our humanity.

Turner skies not sweltering heat in Belfast tonight

Judge quashes decision by NI Executive to upgrade A5 road An Executive decision to proceed with the A5 road upgrade has been quashed at the High Court in Belfast.

The failure of a government Department to pay attention to its own laws and rules once is unfortunate, the failure to do it time and time again is careless.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/...

Getting to the shocking human, social and economic cost of racially-motivated violence in NI at today’s seminar on ‘Planning our way out of Division’ @ulsteruni.bsky.social Despair and determination.

Not normally in the Taliban about these issues- but this is a crime against the apostrophe…

NI riots: Ballymena school absence rates spike in the wake of violence Paul Givan says there are cases where some children taking part in the riots in Ballymena attacked the homes of classmates.

This is a problem of adult origin: some of us are giving children the idea that attacking their peers is is acceptable behaviour.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Larne: Leisure centre attacked in third night of violence in Northern Ireland This comes after two days of violence, in which 32 officers were injured and six people arrested.

Just returned from the hospital where my sister is seriously ill and being intensively cared for by nurses and staff who came here from Africa and Asia. Doing the night shift. So this is unbearable, shameful actually.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As I walked out by Annadale this morning.. I saw a visitor

Excellent Conference of the European University Information Systems (EUNIS) @ulsteruni.bsky.social this week. Vital discussions and signposts on the future of AI, education, engagement and ethics which should be part of a wider conversation. Great graphic recording by Ruth Graham. #EUNIS25

It's King Kong vs Godzilla all over again, isn't it...

I'm just glad one of these men has the nuclear codes and the other has all our personal data.

Live Updates: Trump Threatens to Cut Elon Musk’s Government Contracts as Feud Escalates

Only one sun in these two solar systems - but even quicker fallout than anticipated.

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

I’m convinced the association of cycling with the carry basket more than with lycra is a key step in normalising it as an everyday activity for all ages and genders. Not getting into the hemet debate -but few on view in Meran/o last week while the off-road tracks were brilliant.

Ken Bloomfield was a crucial advocate for change in NI from within the system. His work after retirement was groundbreaking, especially in relation to victims. Along with Maurice Hayes and George Quigley he was a key public servant enabling NI’s transition in the 1990s.

Great turnout for the Taking Boys Seriously Educators Conference @ulsteruni.bsky.social Focussing on how to engage with boys and young men in a time if significant challenges for boys in education

The problem with the UK's trade deals isn't the negotiating agility of the government. It is the strategic weakness of the UK's position. Neither the deal with the US nor with the EU restored the status quo of previous years: they may limit the damage but they do not erase it.

Closer alignment has been the solution to the Irish Sea border since the beginning. Good to see reality catching up.

Council of Europe accuses Israel of deliberate starvation in Gaza The Council warned that Israel's actions risk fueling future conflict, while the UN rights chief condemned the escalating offensive and blockade as tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

The starvation of Gaza in front of our eyes without a significant action from anyone to stop the onslaught has become both a crime and an unbearable stain on every western state.

www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

Posting this weather forecast for Belfast as proof that it actually happened..

Sunshine days in Belfast: City Hall, St Anne’s Cathedral, St Patricks and Carlisle Memorial while Napoleon sleeps on Cave Hill. Views from @ulsteruni.bsky.social

Forget Brits out – Sinn Féin’s hapless ministers can’t even get cars out of a tiny Belfast street Belfast’s Hill Street is shorter than the short walk from Dublin’s GPO to O’Connell Bridge, yet this tiny cobbled street is exposing a baffling ineptitude at the top of Sinn Fein.

The failure to pedestrianise Hill St is genuinely bizarre. It would cost next to nothing and all the key stakeholders want it: but for some reason Ministers won’t budge. What explains this?
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/colu...

Dancing on the street in the sunshine 🌞 to celebrate 50years of a Ballynafeigh Community House and one if the most successful community-based intercultural districts in Belfast. A genuinely remarkable story.

On the banks of the Foyle this morning

A man with literally no concern for others. Quite remarkably infantile. And actually mad.