ivanobrien.bsky.social

I'd have a bit more time for this MattyY take if I wasn't 99% sure that had the result gone the other way he be all over Twitter smugly claiming there are important lessons for leftists to learn from Lula's failure (be more conservative, do not fight for anything ever).

Haha I guess attacking an extremely popular, highly regarded, well-liked famous author with a pathetic and stupidly nonsensical broadside clearly driven by bitterness is one way to get people on your side

The Student List had no party machinery. It operated through university assemblies, protests and hiking between cities & towns. They had 2% of national TV political advertising airtime vs 93% for Vučić. This is one of the most remarkable grassroots democratic victories in modern European history.

Congrats to Lula on overcoming Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump to defeat Hospital Pervert Jr., even as his opposition literally blocked off roads and turned off bus service during election day. Fascists are scary but they are always, 100% of the time, ultimately gigantic fucking losers.

I was having conversations with journalists just a few months ago about whether democracy was doomed. Look at this year: Orban defeated. Vukic defeated. Bolsonaro Jr defeated. Trump heading to likely defeat in midterms. That’s the beauty of democracy. Voters can respond. Don’t count it out yet.

Brazil and Serbia, defying rise the tide of autocracy. This is how we do it, everywhere. 🌈

Art Spiegelman using AI because - in his own words - he felt too lazy to create something new using his own skills. I don’t think I can even process that. (Below: Self-Portrait with Maus Mask, by Art Spiegelman, 1989.)

The achievement of Serbian students overthrowing Aleksandar Vučić can't be overstated. In 2024, they began protesting. In 2025, they transformed a protest movement into civil dissidence. In 2026, they became a political party — and two months later, crushed a corrupt state-entrenched authoritarian.

Kids know it's OK to hug their granny if they want to. What they don't know is that it's OK to *not* hug granny when they do not want to. It's important to teach that to children and these people don't want us to.

“The harsh reality is that State funding per student is now over 30% lower in real terms than in 2008. This country ranks 36th out of 37 OECD countries for investment in higher education as a share of GDP” #HigherEducation #Ireland #SpeirGorm

Oh crikey we've annoyed the Roman statues. Mea maxima culpa. Me paenitet

This is horrific. And unsurprisingly the work of a "conservative" multimillionaire. Other adjectives might include creepy, prurient, dictatorial and abusive, not to mention, of course, transphobic. Once more with feeling: we need to get the money out of politics. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

It seems even Grok knows.

‘Taoiseach, will your Government do the decent thing, and let these students study?’ - Nicola Coughlan, Liam Cunningham, Hozier, Aisling Bea, Maeve Higgins, Denise Gough, Frances Black, Christy Moore, Siobhan McSweeney, Naoise Dolan, Joe Rooney

Greta Thunberg comes out to support Lula "If Bolsonaro wins, it will be a disaster for the entire planet... Latin America is not for sale. The eyes of the world are on you Brazil, we are counting on you."

There was a fucking hole in our planet’s *atmosphere* Like a legit, no joke, “this will unravel our entire ecosystem” hole in the world, and then we fixed it by working together across national and political lines As a species we decided, “we will survive” Let’s do that some more

Had a really bad dream where the Minister for Justice, in the name of the government, enabled a pile-on of a rape crisis centre because of a campaign to raise awareness of consent for children.

what drivers see when you're wearing hi-viz vs when you're not

We are delighted to see Paddy Donnelly in the shortlist for this year’s Irish Book Awards in the Author/Illustrator of the Year category. Congratulations, Paddy! Vote now! www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/ @irishbookawards.bsky.social

This, from the hugely experienced Irish courts reporter, Isabel Hayes, on the Minister for Justice’s performative outrage over an ad about children and consent, is worth reading.

My mother and sister both have careers I would describe as requiring professional-grade empathy. I consider them both experts at it. Many times, I’ve seen them educate people on the importance of respecting the bodily autonomy of children, most often via the advice: do not force them to hug.

1. A minister should not be able to censor the work of an NGO or advocacy group. The point of NGOs is to challenge, influence policy or act in the interests of their issue. 2. No one should touch a child without consent. 3. Jim O'Callaghan wants to be in the media every day this is a tactic.

It's a choice (a bad one) to tell readers this driver "passed too close to cyclists" when there's video evidence showing he drove his car into them, made contact and hurt someone. Fellow journalists: we can explore the nuances of punishment for drivers without obfuscating their dangerous behavior.

I am a grandparent (step-grandparent, if you're all about the blood) in a fairly complicated family, who only gets to see kiddo fairly infrequently. Sometimes they want to hug & sometimes they don't & that's 100% up to them. Hugs are absolutely the right place to start consent education!

The Minister for Justice’s week just keeps showing him in a better and better light.

This lady is God-tier funny 🤣

Protestors Criticized For Looting Businesses Without Forming Private Equity Firm First https://theonion.com/protestors-criticized-for-looting-businesses-without-fo-1843735351/

I strongly condemn the unwashed laundry in my laundry basket. I strongly condemn the soup stain on the kitchen floor. I strongly condemn the dirty dishes... Weird. It didn't get those chores done. Condemning shit is not action. It achieves *nothing*. It's a meaningless substitute for action.

The NHS tortured a cancer patient to death through medical neglect because she was trans. I hope Trans Legal Clinic tears everyone involved to shreds and brings a suit against the Ministry of Health for this, because this cannot allowed to go unchallenged

My latest @newscientist.com cartoon

Apocalypse now outside my bedroom window. This is done for sheep.

The terf-to-fash pipeline in action

No ISBNs in Canada for AI writing. This is a fantastic policy, and every country should do the same. www.canada.ca/en/library-a...

She is daddy’s dream.

Poll: Which Sally Rooney Book Made You Join Hamas? https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2026/10/15/poll-which-sally-rooney-book-made-you-join-hamas/

Excellent, as usual (if very depressing), by @iandunt.bsky.social -- iandunt.substack.com/p/these-are-...

NO COMPLAINTS! NOT ONE! Because people who aren't TERFs tend to be decent and want everyone to get their best treatment.

no offence but why is the British public being asked about my medical diagnosis, would it also like to check out my ankles and my elbows to decide whether I really have hypermobile joints, should I cough on them next time I have a cold so they can confirm that I'm ill

Taking lecture notes is a learning process. Remembering friends & deciding on dates with them is a social process. Knowing your care plan is about looking after yourself properly. The people who design these things are infantilised babies who have staff or they are, bear with me, evil