Finbarr O'Reilly

Nostalgia Ends Here: The 2000s Sucked, Actually A decade of recession, war, and fearmongering. But at least we had clear plastic electronics...

I wrote a whole piece about how dire the media landscape was in the 2000s, and how everything became an apologia for the police state:

www.typebarmagazine.com/2024/05/29/nostalgia-ends-here-the-2000s-sucked-actually/

That, as they say, is how you do it.

Time is the main bit that was missing for me. Pointless to compare the attitudes of 20-somethings and 70-somethings now. What were boomers' attitudes 50 years ago?

Well I hate to imagine what a *worse* political strategist would do to the polling.

Awks.

Sparing a thought for all the parents who remembered at half past eight this morning that its World Book Day.

Oh no, it's a... Farage

Gen Z men twice as likely as baby boomers to believe wives should obey husbands Global survey shows young men hold more traditional views about gender roles than older generations

'Men in their 20s are fucking eejits' headline aside, what a dumb survey.

Of course fewer boomers believe this now - they've had 50 years of experience with women.

The comparison should surely be 'what did boomers believe when they were eejits in their 20s?'.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Trump says he fears Iran’s next leader could be ‘as bad as the previous person’ US president suggests worst-case result of assassination would be regime change that fails to relieve repression

We know what you mean, Don.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Oh now I get it. Dubai is Golgafrinchan Ark B.

An expat in Dubai has a startling revelation: the Stephen Collins cartoon Reality check …

Just outstanding.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Mine was more Secret Seven than Mallory Towers, but otherwise almost identical. Is it an Irish thing, I wonder?
In fact, the first thing I remember writing was a terrible knock-off of a Three Investigators story. I loved those books so much.

This is nothing. Just send Mahmood out again to announce some more anti-refugee policies and you can easily find your way to fifth place.

The Luvvie Spoonful

Screen grab from FT: Trump 'very disappointed' in Starmer's stance on Iran strikes US president says prime minister 'took far too long' to allow UK bases to be used for strikes Image shows B-1 bomber taking off from Diego Garcia

Britain knew this once, but despite all the flag-waving, 'history' podcasts and Spitfire flypasts, it has forgotten the lesson:

Nothing will ever be enough for fascists.

"A mensch": an honuorable, decent, and upstanding individual.

"A Louise Mensch": an almost forgotten type of nutjob who texts the Pope to complain that his anti-war stance is woke.

Neil Patrick Harris in Starship Troopers?

Refugee status to be temporary as Shabana Mahmood rips up rules on UK asylum Home secretary announces 30-month protection limit, with refugees required to leave if their home countries are later judged safe

We just have to hope she never gets Starkiller Base operational www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

a less affluent suburb of manchester just elected a plumber & those who insist we listen to the working class are furious

turns out it doesn't count if you're pro-trans & pro-immigration

As an academic born and raised in Denmark who researches and writes about Danish politics, I can confidently say that Cowley has no idea what he’s talking about. The piece is full of factual errors and falsehoods

A Danish lesson for Labour on how to stop migrants and start winning Like the home secretary, I visited recently to learn how the centre-left is riding high and reclaiming the asylum debate from the populist right

Denmark has *far* worse outcomes - economic, social and integration - than the UK.

Just a fantasyland for those who want an excuse for their own xenophobia and/or are incapable of doing the hard work of confronting the UK's real problems.

www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

The Telegraph Tom Sharpe Ireland’s freeloading on the Royal Navy has plumbed new depths. It must stop We don’t have enough resources to look after ourselves properly – let alone carry the Irish

They're are at it again, lads.

Next they'll need Irish waters for their defence, need to stop craic traffickers and want to mine for Kerrygold.

Maybe we can lease some Martello towers back to ye, Tom, eh?

But a party source said Mahmood would not learn “the wrong lessons” from the byelection. “The idea that we are losing Muslim voters over immigration is plain wrong,” a party source said.

True. For example, Labour has lost my vote over immigration and I'm not a Muslim.

SS-GB News?
The Man in the Reich Asshole?

This Robotic Fish Feeds On Plastic Waste | Weather.com This plastic-eating, self-powered robotic fish could mark the beginning of a new era in environmental cleanup, in which technology doesn’t just consume energy but gives some back to the planet.

Don't say I didn't warn ye.

weather.com/science/envi...

What am I saying? The Tories were 50 votes from a *fifth-place* finish

the Greens keep saying the kinds of things that people who vote Labour agree with and Labour keep calling it dangerous extremism, and I’m not sure you could plan a better voter alienation strategy

The current argument of the British right is that Muslims turned out in "blocs" with "family voting" to cast their ballots for a party led by a gay Jewish man, and this shows that multiculturalism has failed, voting is "sectarian" and we are in a crisis.

Hmmmmmm.