Mel Farrell

My thanks to Timothy Ellis-Dale for this fair review of our edited collection on the 1923 General Election in the Irish Free State. Check it out in @enghistrev.bsky.social

The shift away from the US continues. Ten countries have now signed on for Macron’s Forward Deterrence initiative, including the UK, Germany and Poland, WSJ reports. Under the plan, France would station nuclear-capable fighter jets across Europe as trust in the US erodes.

Lula holds Brazil, Vučić defeated in Serbia. A bad day for the fascists. A good day for democracy. So it goes

WE DID IT. I CANT FUCKING BELIEVED WE DEFEATED USA WE DEFEATED A COUP WE DEFEATED META WE DEFEATED EVERYONE WHO TRIED TO SILENCE BRAZILIA PEOPLE LULA WON GUYS. THE PEOPLE WON.

Lula has been reelected president, Brazilian media has now called. An extraordinary comeback for the left-wing politician who trailed by 2 points in round 1 but managed to hold off Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son.

A stunning defeat for a Trump-aligned right-wing leader in Europe. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, whose government cultivated close ties with Donald Trump and his family, has conceded defeat to a student-led opposition movement in a historic parliamentary election.

So, the baddies don't always triumph! #avfc

What a horrible period we are living through

America, please send them packing this time.

🚨🚨This could be a turning point. Amid #Starlink crisis, #Finnish tech giants #ICEYE and #Nokia signed a letter of intent with #Ukraine's Defense Ministry yesterday formalizing a partnership aimed at developing Ukraine's own #satellitecommunicationssystem. kyivindependent.com/amid-starlin...

Kushner also failed to disclose himself as an agent of a foreign government, having been paid nearly $2 billion in total by foreign leaders. trib.al/JC1elLM

The mad worldwide data centre rush brings environmental vandalism to Finland. Google ordered to stop but it's estimated that a quarter of a million trees over the 330 hectare forest have been killed. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Just marvellous that Jared is doing the hard sell for Russia who, predictably, is collecting blackmailable material illicitly from his iPhone, showing he’s as corrupt as fuck. Then he’s stung by Dutch Intelligence. It’s a thing of beauty. vanityfair.com/story/jared-ku...

Elon Musk sabotaged Western defensive military operations against Putin's Russia. He committed an act of outright treachery. He is a malign force working against the West, and cannot be allowed to wield such vast wealth, power and influence any longer.

Danger here.

Despite the Trump administration's best efforts, Alberta votes not to break up Canada

US gave us no warning of Russian strikes on Kyiv power plants, Zelenskyy says

Donald Trump has abandoned the Western order, turning America into a Russian ally, @radiofreetom.bsky.social argues:

Zuckerberg's own employees confirm that he directed an intentional effort to throw the Brazilian election in favor of Flávio Bolsonaro, apparently because he understood this is what Trump wanted. www.reuters.com/world/americ...

This is nothing less than a battlefield intervention by the US in favour of Russia.

Trump really is 💯 Russia’s man. Always was www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

The president of Brazil has won a court case against Meta, after accusing them of restricting his posts and algorithmically favoring his opponent, Flavio Bolsonaro www.nbcnews.com/world/south-...

😡😡😡 “Meta employees acknowledged in internal communications that the Instagram accounts of Brazilian ​President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were hindered by ‌restrictions during [Brazil’s] election” & that Meta “recommended the profile ​of challenger…Flavio Bolsonaro” & “his ​WhatsApp channel…” 1/

Surprise Surprise

This is probably the most explosive development in generations - US President siding with the invader of a European democracy. This is a real crisis and yet you wouldn't think it from media, public discourse.

Putin and Trump. Enemies of peace. Enemies of Ukraine. Enemies of the west. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

It is just shocking to see the US starting to openly support Putin/Russia. This loss in trust will be infeasible to be repaired for decades. Trump is finally separating the US from Europe - a bigger present to Putin and Xi cannot be imagined.

Piers Morgan: Do you feel betrayed? 🇺🇦 Zelensky: Yes. It's a pity that we are losing a strong partner. Piers Morgan: You think you're losing America? 🇺🇦 Zelensky: Yeah, but not because of us. We can't be weak. We're not selling our country. Look, It's our lives. It's our country, home, children.

How do decent Americans feel about the fact that their country is now actively siding with Russia in a war against Europeans?

Trump and Musk going all out to protect Putin

Putin has not funded disruption and chaos across Europe and the UK solely to weaken his enemies. He also knows that disruption and chaos favour the far right. And the far right loves Putin. It will abandon Ukraine and build him a highway into Europe.

"The amount of fuel Russia could export is too small, the impact on pricing too slight, the narrative too late to shape electoral outcomes: This looks, instead, like something very different: an abrupt, Hail Mary attempt to force Ukraine to surrender" www.theatlantic.com/idea/2026/10...

the caption that tells you everything you need to know

English football just finds itself in a completely ludicrous, damaging situation now. And it has been a very long time coming

What a weird world we live in - Ukraine hits a data centre deep in Russia - Irish twitter users see racist posts about IPAS centres in Offaly fall off a cliff

Great stuff Conor: All eyes on Anfield as tainted City return to the fray share.google/cAINA5kuZcu4...

And now the best part: Bot traffic from the #Yandex network has plunged to near zero following the strike on its Vladimir data center. Bot traffic includes automated requests from search crawlers, scrapers and other online services. Twitter must be a ghost town by now.

NEW: Prime Minister Andy Burnham finally breaks a decade of UK govt silence…& reveals there was ‘clear’ Russian interference in the Brexit vote. 1/

Zelensky held urgent calls with leaders of the UK, France, Finland, and Norway following Trump remarks, coordinating a joint diplomatic response against White House moves as European partners push back together.

*Useful idiot* doesn't do this abject dunderhead justice

So let's get this straight: Russia just murdered over 65 people in Ukraine in less than 48 hours. Crushed a building on top of sleeping families to celebrate Putin's birthday. And today, the U.S. announces that they are lifting sanctions on Russian diesel and planning to buy some,

Donald Trump again spitting on the grave of every dead Ukrainian. He’s again spitting on the grave of every American service member killed in his war against Iran. He’s making crystal clear again that he is not on the side of the free world. Tell me again that he’s not a Russian asset. Go ahead.

The United States is now officially allied with Vladimir Putin and Russia. We will fund Russia’s genocidal war machine in exchange for Putin helping Trump and the Republican Party in the midterms. One of the most shameful and disgusting days in the history of this Republic.

Turning state violence into a public spectacle is a very fascist move BTW.

Dark.

Something very depressing about hearing ‘Drumcree’ at the top of morning news Reminds me of my teenage years when it seemed to be a constant. Now feels like unionism banging the drum - geddit? - while the whole world has changed around them

The Ukrainian military is one of the most innovative fighting forces on earth, and its people are even more remarkable. That's exactly why our commitment to them matters more than ever. I review my full trip at the link below in the comments, give it a listen and a read!