November evening sun in Ballybunion, County Kerry, looking towards Kerry Head and the Dingle Peninsula. No filter.

Milestones: On this day in 1965, Irish theatre changed forever when John B Keane’s play The Field introduced the character of the Bull McCabe to the Irish stage.
Actors Ray McNally as ‘the Bull’ and Eamon Keane as ‘the Bird’ took Dublin by storm.

Vastly experienced EU negotiators gave Trump the optics of a win but will fillet the US in the details, knowing the Taco president will want to keep his win by conceding loads of goodies to keep it alive.

I'm scarlet for the page editors at the @irishtimes.com. Leo XIV was not the first American Pope; Pope Francis was. Get it right! Reporter Patsy McGarry’s copy emphasises Leo is the first US Pope. Maybe subs should have read it. This rare mistake makes the page a collector’s item.

Journalism could yet get a win in Trump’s America. Well, the Mick McCarthy trained Journalism is the favourite for today's Kentucky Derby!

Milestones: This week, in 1946, Peggy McCarthy died. Listen on the RTÉ link to how the Irish Church and State combined to destroy her life and how the people of Listowel fought for her to be buried with dignity 78 years ago. @rtedoconone.bsky.social
rte.ie/radio/docono...

On this day 66 years ago, February 2, 1959, Sive by playwright John B Keane had its world premiere in Walsh’s Ballroom in Listowel. The amateur cast could not have foreseen the enduring legacy of Sive, becoming a classic of the Irish stage and still captivating audiences 66 years later.

Today, international Holocaust Remembrance Day might be suitable to visit Ireland's only public Holocaust memorial in the Garden of Europe in Listowel.
Listowel-born Fr Michael Morrison was the chaplain with the British and Canadian troops who liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

A favourite tree and lookout post from my childhood became a victim #StormEówyn in the ‘Cow’s Lawn’ town park in #Listowel.

Milestones: Brian Looney, the editor who transformed The Cork Examiner into the Irish Examiner, died on January 9, 2023. An innovative newspaperman, he left his mark on Irish media, the craft of journalism, those he mentored, and his many friends. #OTD
Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

Scenes from the January Horse Fair in Listowel, January 2, 2025.

Fine Gael’s national election strategy clusterfuck, compounded by the party’s HQ-imposed candidate selection omnishambles, means really big heads have to roll and sincere apologies made to grassroots supporters and operators. #GE24

Listowel Races regulars will be amazed to see water so high on the bridge to the Island, compared to a normal flood. It’s not be this high since 1973. Some houses badly flooded too.

Fine Gael is in real electoral trouble in Donegal according to the latest TG4 Constituency Poll; this could be mirrored in Kerry, i.e. resulting in two FF gains and two FG losses as newcomers struggle to fill the boots of exiting TDs around the country #GE24 tg4-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/u...

My late mother, Mary Keane, loved Listowel and its people. She spent most of her life behind shop counters, mostly in the family pub. She offered this sage advice to those who want to see small towns thrive globally.
“If you don’t shop in your own town, then you won’t have a town to shop in.”

I gave a blood donation last week, and today, the IBTS says it has just been issued to ‘The Mater’. Hopefully, some good Kerry blood will help a patient’s recovery. Give blood, as stocks are low, with less than a week’s supply in five of the eight blood groups today.