Des Traynor
@desthedog.bsky.social
Writer, I guess. How about you?
Sunn O)))'s new album features artwork by @markrothko.bsky.social. I spotted an affinity between these artists in an essay I wrote in Oct 2024. This brilliant piece of prescient criticism was rejected at the time by papervisualart.com, by whom it had been commissioned. substack.com/home/post/p-...
January 23, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Sunn O)))'s new album features artwork by @markrothko.bsky.social. I spotted an affinity between these artists in an essay I wrote in Oct 2024. This brilliant piece of prescient criticism was rejected at the time by papervisualart.com, by whom it had been commissioned. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Such a shame that the odious Elon Musk chose to call his X AI chatbot Grok - after a concept found in Robert A Heinlein's 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Does the Heinlein estate know???
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
Grok images of children probably not prosecutable, says child protection expert
‘Law or no law’, there is no reason for a programme to generate images of people without clothes on, says former garda
www.irishtimes.com
January 11, 2026 at 4:50 PM
Such a shame that the odious Elon Musk chose to call his X AI chatbot Grok - after a concept found in Robert A Heinlein's 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Does the Heinlein estate know???
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
It makes sense that Paul Howard is best friends with Chris De Burgh. Yes, it definitely makes sense. @rteradio1.bsky.social
January 10, 2026 at 12:12 PM
It makes sense that Paul Howard is best friends with Chris De Burgh. Yes, it definitely makes sense. @rteradio1.bsky.social
I reviewed quite a few novels by Michel Houellebecq. Here they are, in what I think are chronological order.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/platform-b...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/platform-b...
Platform By Michel Houellebecq
I reviewed quite a few novels by Michel Houellebecq. Here they are, in what I think are chronological order.
desmondtraynor.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 6:37 PM
I reviewed quite a few novels by Michel Houellebecq. Here they are, in what I think are chronological order.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/platform-b...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/platform-b...
I'm getting behind the The Complex Cultural & Arts space. Stop the eviction! Please sign & share my.uplift.ie/petitions/sa... @uplift.ie
Save The Complex in Dublin
I'm getting behind the The Complex Cultural & Arts space. Stop the eviction! Please sign & share
my.uplift.ie
December 4, 2025 at 10:52 AM
I'm getting behind the The Complex Cultural & Arts space. Stop the eviction! Please sign & share my.uplift.ie/petitions/sa... @uplift.ie
Reposted by Des Traynor
Spotify is crashing HARD because of the boycott. Their stock dropped 11% in value over the last month. Let’s keep this going!
Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.
We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.
We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
November 7, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Spotify is crashing HARD because of the boycott. Their stock dropped 11% in value over the last month. Let’s keep this going!
Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.
We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.
We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
I reviewed a novel called The Mulberry Empire in 2002 for the Weekender Supplement of the Irish Independent. I didn't like it much. It was a chore.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-mulber...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-mulber...
The Mulberry Empire By Philip Hensher
I reviewed a novel called The Mulberry Empire in 2002 for the Weekender Supplement of the Irish Independent. I didn't like it much. It was a chore.
desmondtraynor.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I reviewed a novel called The Mulberry Empire in 2002 for the Weekender Supplement of the Irish Independent. I didn't like it much. It was a chore.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-mulber...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-mulber...
I think it's disturbing that @independent.ie (Sunday Indpendent), under the editorship of Liz Kearney, now have 2 conservative catholic columnists, @davidaquinn.bsky.social and maria steen. Where is the balance? Apart from the occasional piece by @naoisedolan.bsky.social, the is no left wing voice..
Liz Kearney announced as new editor of the Sunday Independent
The new editor of the Sunday Independent will be Liz Kearney, Mediahuis Ireland has announced.
The new editor of the Sunday Independent will be Liz Kearney, Mediahuis Ireland has announced.
www.independent.ie
October 27, 2025 at 7:21 AM
I think it's disturbing that @independent.ie (Sunday Indpendent), under the editorship of Liz Kearney, now have 2 conservative catholic columnists, @davidaquinn.bsky.social and maria steen. Where is the balance? Apart from the occasional piece by @naoisedolan.bsky.social, the is no left wing voice..
Interesting stuff. My own 'trauma memoir' has been rejected by several hip Irish publishers (because it wouldn't sell). I may publish via the online route.
I note, in passing, that Paul D'Alton favours the triplicate adjectival clause.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
I note, in passing, that Paul D'Alton favours the triplicate adjectival clause.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
An insider’s intriguing red flag about the culture and ethics of trauma storytelling
Trauma Industrial Complex: How Oversharing Became a Product in the Digital World by Darren McGarvey
www.irishtimes.com
October 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Interesting stuff. My own 'trauma memoir' has been rejected by several hip Irish publishers (because it wouldn't sell). I may publish via the online route.
I note, in passing, that Paul D'Alton favours the triplicate adjectival clause.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
I note, in passing, that Paul D'Alton favours the triplicate adjectival clause.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Another zinger from @mrkocnnll.bsky.social . Of course I've been talking about the 'abuse of language' perpetrated by therapy - but more specifically psychiatry - for years.
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
Mark O'Connell: No, you don’t need a cortisol detox. Why are we so addicted to the new language of therapy?
People buy into a chemical understanding of human psychology when really what they’re describing is our deeply complex, irreducibly mysterious inner life
www.irishtimes.com
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Another zinger from @mrkocnnll.bsky.social . Of course I've been talking about the 'abuse of language' perpetrated by therapy - but more specifically psychiatry - for years.
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
Nowhere Man By Aleksandar Hemon
From 2003, it seems.
desmondtraynor.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Ré: the handbag:
“I wanted to expose the hypocrisy of the left who don’t love the poor; they just hate the rich,” she says.
Come now, Maria. Some people are rich because other people are poor, and vice versa. Marxism 101.
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
“I wanted to expose the hypocrisy of the left who don’t love the poor; they just hate the rich,” she says.
Come now, Maria. Some people are rich because other people are poor, and vice versa. Marxism 101.
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
I was painted as a ‘pantomime villainess’: Maria Steen reflects on failed bid for presidency
In an exclusive interview, the barrister, conservative campaigner and stay-at-home mother talks about falling short in her attempt to get her name on the presidential ballot
www.irishtimes.com
September 27, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Ré: the handbag:
“I wanted to expose the hypocrisy of the left who don’t love the poor; they just hate the rich,” she says.
Come now, Maria. Some people are rich because other people are poor, and vice versa. Marxism 101.
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
“I wanted to expose the hypocrisy of the left who don’t love the poor; they just hate the rich,” she says.
Come now, Maria. Some people are rich because other people are poor, and vice versa. Marxism 101.
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996
Me on Seamus Heaney, 1999.
desmondtraynor.substack.com
September 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Sudden Times By Dermot Healy
This was a cracker. From 1999.
desmondtraynor.substack.com
September 19, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Here's a weird one. Dude never published another novel, but therefore went into screenwriting instead. From 2004.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-honeym...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-honeym...
The Honeymoon By Justin Haythe
Here's a weird one. Dude never published another novel, but therefore went into screenwriting instead. From 2004.
desmondtraynor.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Here's a weird one. Dude never published another novel, but therefore went into screenwriting instead. From 2004.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-honeym...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-honeym...
Reposted by Des Traynor
This explains it better than I can
September 10, 2025 at 9:24 PM
This explains it better than I can
I also reviewed the filmisation of Eoin McNamee's Resurrection Man when it came out in 1998. Can't believe how good I was.
desmondtraynor.blogspot.com/2025/08/resu...
desmondtraynor.blogspot.com/2025/08/resu...
Resurrection Man/Marc Evans/1998
Resurrection Man /Marc Evans/1998 Arriving amid a welter of unfavourable reviews, and running for only one week, twice daily at UCI Tallaght...
desmondtraynor.blogspot.com
August 24, 2025 at 1:42 AM
I also reviewed the filmisation of Eoin McNamee's Resurrection Man when it came out in 1998. Can't believe how good I was.
desmondtraynor.blogspot.com/2025/08/resu...
desmondtraynor.blogspot.com/2025/08/resu...
I find I reviewed Eoin McNamee's The Blue Tango in 2001, would it have been? A fine writer I spotted, even then.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-blue-t...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-blue-t...
The Blue Tango By Eoin McNamee
I find I reviewed Eoin McNamee's The Blue Tango in 2001, would it have been? A fine writer I spotted, even then.
desmondtraynor.substack.com
August 24, 2025 at 1:19 AM
I find I reviewed Eoin McNamee's The Blue Tango in 2001, would it have been? A fine writer I spotted, even then.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-blue-t...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/the-blue-t...
Hard to believe I once reviewed a novel called A White Merc with Fins. 1996 or thereabouts.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/a-white-me...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/a-white-me...
A White Merc With Fins By James Hawes
Hard to believe I once reviewed a novel called A White Merc with Fins. 1996 or thereabouts.
desmondtraynor.substack.com
August 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Hard to believe I once reviewed a novel called A White Merc with Fins. 1996 or thereabouts.
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/a-white-me...
desmondtraynor.substack.com/p/a-white-me...