Mick Fealty
@mickfealty.bsky.social
Recovering social media addict…
Pinned
Review: Constitutional change in Ireland will likely be evolutionary, not revolutionary or violent…
Now does my project gather to a head. My charms crack not, my spirits obey, and time Goes upright with his carriage.—How’s the day? Prospero, Act 5, Scene 1 FOR AND AGAINST A UNITED IRELAND by Finta...
sluggerotoole.com
I don’t do book reviews very often, but @sjamcbride.bsky.social and @fotoole.bsky.social’s essays are one of very few intellectually and politically generous treatments of the #UnitedIreland question to date, while @philipstephens.bsky.social #OurDividedIsles provides rich historical context…
Reposted by Mick Fealty
"The populist thrives in an environment where people act on their intuitions; so does the scammer. This doesn’t mean every populist is a con artist, but it does mean that they are likely to package their message in a similar way" on.ft.com/49j3ND2
By @timharford.ft.com
Vindicates a 2015 tweet! 1/
By @timharford.ft.com
Vindicates a 2015 tweet! 1/
How populism became popular
It appeals more to a way of thinking than to a set of ideas — but is it just wrong?
on.ft.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:45 AM
"The populist thrives in an environment where people act on their intuitions; so does the scammer. This doesn’t mean every populist is a con artist, but it does mean that they are likely to package their message in a similar way" on.ft.com/49j3ND2
By @timharford.ft.com
Vindicates a 2015 tweet! 1/
By @timharford.ft.com
Vindicates a 2015 tweet! 1/
Reposted by Mick Fealty
pretty funny in retrospect that QAnon hinged on the idea that powerful elites at the highest levels of government were smart enough to talk in code when sending emails to each other about their despicable crimes
November 12, 2025 at 10:08 PM
pretty funny in retrospect that QAnon hinged on the idea that powerful elites at the highest levels of government were smart enough to talk in code when sending emails to each other about their despicable crimes
Reposted by Mick Fealty
Unlike other newspapers, The Onion has never once declined to print pictures of Donald Trump with girls in bikinis in Jeffrey Epstein’s kitchen.
Please subscribe to The Onion.
membership.theonion.com
Please subscribe to The Onion.
membership.theonion.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Unlike other newspapers, The Onion has never once declined to print pictures of Donald Trump with girls in bikinis in Jeffrey Epstein’s kitchen.
Please subscribe to The Onion.
membership.theonion.com
Please subscribe to The Onion.
membership.theonion.com
Reposted by Mick Fealty
Translation: He’s weighing a pardon
JUST IN: Trump not weighing pardon for Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, White House says
Trump not weighing pardon for Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell
A petition to release the Epstein files is expected to have enough signatures Wednesday evening.
trib.al
November 12, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Translation: He’s weighing a pardon
Now, that’s interesting…
November 12, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Now, that’s interesting…
Reposted by Mick Fealty
Reposted by Mick Fealty
Study Finds Most Americans Can't Find Where They Are Being Deported On Map
November 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Study Finds Most Americans Can't Find Where They Are Being Deported On Map
It’s amazing just how politically naive some of the UK’s better public actors can be. The alternative to “BBC dominance” of the UK News market is an US style free for all in which only oligarchy wins. And for the record, I’m not the sort of outsider that Jo has apparently been listening to.
Revealing division in my timeline between (1) my insider friends who have lived privileged lives who are very keen that we defend the BBC and think it's important it survives and (2) my outsider friends who feel (at best) ambivalent about the BBC's survival.
November 11, 2025 at 10:44 PM
It’s amazing just how politically naive some of the UK’s better public actors can be. The alternative to “BBC dominance” of the UK News market is an US style free for all in which only oligarchy wins. And for the record, I’m not the sort of outsider that Jo has apparently been listening to.
Reposted by Mick Fealty
Trump is fighting as hard as he can to starve kids for negotiating leverage.
November 6, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Trump is fighting as hard as he can to starve kids for negotiating leverage.
Reposted by Mick Fealty
Because we have stopped paying directly for news, we have made it possible for dark money to disenfranchise us.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
January 1, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Because we have stopped paying directly for news, we have made it possible for dark money to disenfranchise us.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Hmmmm…
Norway suspends $2.1tn oil fund’s ethics rules to avoid selling Big Tech stakes
Norway suspends $2.1tn oil fund’s ethics rules to avoid selling Big Tech stakes
Jens Stoltenberg says move will avoid forced sale of shares in Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet over their work for Israel
www.irishtimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Hmmmm…
In case, like me, you didn’t stay up last night…
A 15-point win for VA gov. A 5-point win for VA AG in a race he was expected to lose. A 13-point win for NJ gov, in a race that was expected to be close. An outright majority in NYC in a three-way race. A 30-point win for Prop 50 in CA. #BlueWave #Election2025
November 5, 2025 at 7:43 AM
In case, like me, you didn’t stay up last night…
I don’t do book reviews very often, but @sjamcbride.bsky.social and @fotoole.bsky.social’s essays are one of very few intellectually and politically generous treatments of the #UnitedIreland question to date, while @philipstephens.bsky.social #OurDividedIsles provides rich historical context…
Review: Constitutional change in Ireland will likely be evolutionary, not revolutionary or violent…
Now does my project gather to a head. My charms crack not, my spirits obey, and time Goes upright with his carriage.—How’s the day? Prospero, Act 5, Scene 1 FOR AND AGAINST A UNITED IRELAND by Finta...
sluggerotoole.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:41 AM
I don’t do book reviews very often, but @sjamcbride.bsky.social and @fotoole.bsky.social’s essays are one of very few intellectually and politically generous treatments of the #UnitedIreland question to date, while @philipstephens.bsky.social #OurDividedIsles provides rich historical context…
Reposted by Mick Fealty
Online applications are open for the Newgrange Winter Solstice Lottery.
Winners will experience the rare moment when sunlight floods the chamber at dawn.
Free entry | Limited spaces | Apply now: solsticelottery.ie
#Newgrange #WinterSolstice #HeritageIreland
Winners will experience the rare moment when sunlight floods the chamber at dawn.
Free entry | Limited spaces | Apply now: solsticelottery.ie
#Newgrange #WinterSolstice #HeritageIreland
September 7, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Online applications are open for the Newgrange Winter Solstice Lottery.
Winners will experience the rare moment when sunlight floods the chamber at dawn.
Free entry | Limited spaces | Apply now: solsticelottery.ie
#Newgrange #WinterSolstice #HeritageIreland
Winners will experience the rare moment when sunlight floods the chamber at dawn.
Free entry | Limited spaces | Apply now: solsticelottery.ie
#Newgrange #WinterSolstice #HeritageIreland
Reposted by Mick Fealty
An energy economist once told me that he was very enthusiastic about wind and solar energy supply because it was much harder to use for corrupt and political purposes than oil.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Friday defended the Trump administration’s decision to block a nearly completed $6.2 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island by saying offshore wind increases electricity prices and by downplaying the jobs at stake.
Energy Secretary Attacks Offshore Wind and Dismisses Climate Change
Chris Wright, who travels to Europe next week to promote American gas, called climate change “not incredibly important.”
nyti.ms
September 6, 2025 at 6:56 AM
An energy economist once told me that he was very enthusiastic about wind and solar energy supply because it was much harder to use for corrupt and political purposes than oil.
Reposted by Mick Fealty
It’s an often remarked upon thing but searches for “What is the EU” and “What is Brexit” spiked in the UK after the vote. A failure of the media to explain, yes, but also an indication of how risky referendums are. Huge numbers didn’t know what they were voting for.
www.npr.org/sections/all...
www.npr.org/sections/all...
After Brexit Vote, Britain Asks Google: 'What Is The EU?'
Google Trends shows that this was the second-searched EU-related question in the United Kingdom after polls closed. The first was "What does it mean to leave the EU?"
www.npr.org
September 7, 2025 at 9:50 AM
It’s an often remarked upon thing but searches for “What is the EU” and “What is Brexit” spiked in the UK after the vote. A failure of the media to explain, yes, but also an indication of how risky referendums are. Huge numbers didn’t know what they were voting for.
www.npr.org/sections/all...
www.npr.org/sections/all...
Reposted by Mick Fealty
We have an odd set of blinkers about the ability of government to shape the media in the UK. It’s a kind of despair/complacency that has a historical explanation. 🧵
September 6, 2025 at 8:07 PM
We have an odd set of blinkers about the ability of government to shape the media in the UK. It’s a kind of despair/complacency that has a historical explanation. 🧵
Aha, if you’re fairly quick you can read my 2007 essay on the life of Ian Paisley (as he was on the brink of doing what he often swore he would never do) for free until 4pm tomorrow: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/essays/57825...
September 7, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Aha, if you’re fairly quick you can read my 2007 essay on the life of Ian Paisley (as he was on the brink of doing what he often swore he would never do) for free until 4pm tomorrow: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/essays/57825...
Reposted by Mick Fealty
I have never been so disappointed in a BBC piece. Breathless admiration is, as far as I knew, not the role of the BBC’s political editor when describing a party political conference. Description+detail yes, rigorous examination of the conference content, yes. This, absolutely no, in my opinion.
Chris Mason: Reform conference shows party's growing ambition like never before
The conference feels like that of a big party - but retains the insurgency vibe that the party is seeking to channel.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 6, 2025 at 10:49 PM
I have never been so disappointed in a BBC piece. Breathless admiration is, as far as I knew, not the role of the BBC’s political editor when describing a party political conference. Description+detail yes, rigorous examination of the conference content, yes. This, absolutely no, in my opinion.
It’s not just the top rank either. I’ve heard the self same solipsistic guff coming out of regional pol corrs…
The BBC has always bent towards the status quo. But since Brexit it’s top journalists - who like Mason & Kuenssberg think they’re celebrities - have fawned over the protagonists of that ‘exciting story’: the rise of hard right populism. They’ve stopped being journalists & become celebrants.
I have never been so disappointed in a BBC piece. Breathless admiration is, as far as I knew, not the role of the BBC’s political editor when describing a party political conference. Description+detail yes, rigorous examination of the conference content, yes. This, absolutely no, in my opinion.
September 7, 2025 at 7:54 AM
It’s not just the top rank either. I’ve heard the self same solipsistic guff coming out of regional pol corrs…
Reposted by Mick Fealty
Reform call Connolly "Britain's favourite political prisoner"
Soft on crime, soft on racism
We don't have political prisoners.
The woman who posted "“Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care” is not a national treasure, ouside their conference.
Soft on crime, soft on racism
We don't have political prisoners.
The woman who posted "“Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care” is not a national treasure, ouside their conference.
September 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reform call Connolly "Britain's favourite political prisoner"
Soft on crime, soft on racism
We don't have political prisoners.
The woman who posted "“Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care” is not a national treasure, ouside their conference.
Soft on crime, soft on racism
We don't have political prisoners.
The woman who posted "“Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care” is not a national treasure, ouside their conference.
Ireland has a national blind spot. Michael D’s personal understanding of the role of President is based on the flawed idea that its office is co-equal to the Houses of the Oireachtas. It’s not. Dáil Éireann is the unrivalled base of power and democratic legitimacy. sluggerotoole.com/2023/06/21/p...
September 7, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Ireland has a national blind spot. Michael D’s personal understanding of the role of President is based on the flawed idea that its office is co-equal to the Houses of the Oireachtas. It’s not. Dáil Éireann is the unrivalled base of power and democratic legitimacy. sluggerotoole.com/2023/06/21/p...
Never thought sobriety could be actively harmful? Think again…
September 7, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Never thought sobriety could be actively harmful? Think again…
What’s the point of worrying about Labour’s media strategy when successive governments have allowed the wider landscape to turn feral and nihilistic… Good, McLuhan rich thread from Paul…
We have an odd set of blinkers about the ability of government to shape the media in the UK. It’s a kind of despair/complacency that has a historical explanation. 🧵
September 7, 2025 at 6:42 AM
What’s the point of worrying about Labour’s media strategy when successive governments have allowed the wider landscape to turn feral and nihilistic… Good, McLuhan rich thread from Paul…
There’s your epistemological crisis right there….
July 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM
There’s your epistemological crisis right there….