Fintan O'Toole
@fotoole.bsky.social
Writer, Irish Times columnist, New York Review of Books contributor, We Don't Know Ourselves author.
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
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 Fintan O'Toole
From @fotoole.bsky.social's essay in the current Atlantic: "The pleasures that Trump offers his followers are sadistic ones, predicated on his invitation to enjoy the pain of others. His happiness is a zero-sum game: 'Real' Americans can experience it only if others are miserable."
November 4, 2025 at 12:05 PM
From @fotoole.bsky.social's essay in the current Atlantic: "The pleasures that Trump offers his followers are sadistic ones, predicated on his invitation to enjoy the pain of others. His happiness is a zero-sum game: 'Real' Americans can experience it only if others are miserable."
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
I was wondering what @fotoole.bsky.social thought about all this
Both a fair assessment of how we got here and a call to arms going forward
(I’m an old pinko so i agree w his conclusions)
Really interesting essay I’d highly recommend and I’m insisting my son read
Both a fair assessment of how we got here and a call to arms going forward
(I’m an old pinko so i agree w his conclusions)
Really interesting essay I’d highly recommend and I’m insisting my son read
“Being the party that feels the world’s pain is not a good answer to a president who invites his supporters to share the unalloyed joy of being able to inflict it.” — @fotoole.bsky.social on Kamala Harris’s new memoir
The Lingering Delusion | Fintan O’Toole
Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days succeeds at least in distilling the evasions and weaknesses of the modern Democratic Party.
buff.ly
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
I was wondering what @fotoole.bsky.social thought about all this
Both a fair assessment of how we got here and a call to arms going forward
(I’m an old pinko so i agree w his conclusions)
Really interesting essay I’d highly recommend and I’m insisting my son read
Both a fair assessment of how we got here and a call to arms going forward
(I’m an old pinko so i agree w his conclusions)
Really interesting essay I’d highly recommend and I’m insisting my son read
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
“Being the party that feels the world’s pain is not a good answer to a president who invites his supporters to share the unalloyed joy of being able to inflict it.” — @fotoole.bsky.social on Kamala Harris’s new memoir
The Lingering Delusion | Fintan O’Toole
Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days succeeds at least in distilling the evasions and weaknesses of the modern Democratic Party.
buff.ly
October 30, 2025 at 3:33 PM
“Being the party that feels the world’s pain is not a good answer to a president who invites his supporters to share the unalloyed joy of being able to inflict it.” — @fotoole.bsky.social on Kamala Harris’s new memoir
One of the heroines of modern Ireland
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Supreme Court contraception case
Landmark 1973 case found married couples had right to make private decisions on family planning
www.irishtimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:19 PM
One of the heroines of modern Ireland
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
Heaney, by @fotoole.bsky.social : observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Seamus Heaney’s poems for a darkening age | The Observer
Collected in a landmark new edition, the late Irish writer’s work is attuned to wonder, replete with humanity and rooted in the tragedies of history
observer.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Heaney, by @fotoole.bsky.social : observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
Typically brilliant essay by @fotoole.bsky.social on the Democrats and their inability to move past internal recrimination: www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Lingering Delusion | Fintan O’Toole
Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days succeeds at least in distilling the evasions and weaknesses of the modern Democratic Party.
www.nybooks.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Typically brilliant essay by @fotoole.bsky.social on the Democrats and their inability to move past internal recrimination: www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
On the Democrats
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Lingering Delusion | Fintan O’Toole
Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days succeeds at least in distilling the evasions and weaknesses of the modern Democratic Party.
www.nybooks.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM
On the Democrats
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
@fotoole.bsky.social on Heaney's initial reluctance to engage with the Troubles in his poems.
"He resisted gut instincts that could not be transmuted into art, steering clear, like Odysseus, of both the whirlpool of propaganda and the monster of indifference."
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
"He resisted gut instincts that could not be transmuted into art, steering clear, like Odysseus, of both the whirlpool of propaganda and the monster of indifference."
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Seamus Heaney’s poems for a darkening age | The Observer
Collected in a landmark new edition, the late Irish writer’s work is attuned to wonder, replete with humanity and rooted in the tragedies of history
observer.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 6:53 PM
@fotoole.bsky.social on Heaney's initial reluctance to engage with the Troubles in his poems.
"He resisted gut instincts that could not be transmuted into art, steering clear, like Odysseus, of both the whirlpool of propaganda and the monster of indifference."
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
"He resisted gut instincts that could not be transmuted into art, steering clear, like Odysseus, of both the whirlpool of propaganda and the monster of indifference."
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
This @fotoole.bsky.social piece is one of the best things I have ever read in a newspaper.
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Seamus Heaney’s poems for a darkening age | The Observer
Collected in a landmark new edition, the late Irish writer’s work is attuned to wonder, replete with humanity and rooted in the tragedies of history
observer.co.uk
October 26, 2025 at 12:22 PM
This @fotoole.bsky.social piece is one of the best things I have ever read in a newspaper.
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
'The Poems of Seamus Heaney', reviewed by @fotoole.bsky.social
A "glorious gathering-in of his achievement, edited with meticulous care by Rosie Lavan and Bernard O’Donoghue".
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Hear the editors speak at 'Circling The Square'.
www.thesourceartscentre.ie/whats-on/eve...
A "glorious gathering-in of his achievement, edited with meticulous care by Rosie Lavan and Bernard O’Donoghue".
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Hear the editors speak at 'Circling The Square'.
www.thesourceartscentre.ie/whats-on/eve...
Seamus Heaney’s poems for a darkening age | The Observer
Collected in a landmark new edition, the late Irish writer’s work is attuned to wonder, replete with humanity and rooted in the tragedies of history
observer.co.uk
October 26, 2025 at 7:22 AM
'The Poems of Seamus Heaney', reviewed by @fotoole.bsky.social
A "glorious gathering-in of his achievement, edited with meticulous care by Rosie Lavan and Bernard O’Donoghue".
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Hear the editors speak at 'Circling The Square'.
www.thesourceartscentre.ie/whats-on/eve...
A "glorious gathering-in of his achievement, edited with meticulous care by Rosie Lavan and Bernard O’Donoghue".
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Hear the editors speak at 'Circling The Square'.
www.thesourceartscentre.ie/whats-on/eve...
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
We are thrilled that our publication For and Against has been shortlisted!
🗳️ Vote here: www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/
@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie
#APIBA
#ReadersWanted
#StoriesMakeUs
🗳️ Vote here: www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/
@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie
#APIBA
#ReadersWanted
#StoriesMakeUs
October 24, 2025 at 11:14 AM
We are thrilled that our publication For and Against has been shortlisted!
🗳️ Vote here: www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/
@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie
#APIBA
#ReadersWanted
#StoriesMakeUs
🗳️ Vote here: www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/
@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie
#APIBA
#ReadersWanted
#StoriesMakeUs
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
Commission by the ARINS project, For and Against a united Ireland, is available in book shops and online: shop.ria.ie/products/for...
@arinsproject.bsky.social is a collaboration between the University of Notre Dame and the Royal Irish Academy.
@fotoole.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social
@arinsproject.bsky.social is a collaboration between the University of Notre Dame and the Royal Irish Academy.
@fotoole.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social
For and against a united Ireland
Shortlisted for An Post Book Award 2025 - BEST IRISH-PUBLISHED BOOK OF THE YEAR. See shortlist Book tickets to see the authors debate the strongest arguments for and against a united Ireland in The ...
shop.ria.ie
October 25, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Commission by the ARINS project, For and Against a united Ireland, is available in book shops and online: shop.ria.ie/products/for...
@arinsproject.bsky.social is a collaboration between the University of Notre Dame and the Royal Irish Academy.
@fotoole.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social
@arinsproject.bsky.social is a collaboration between the University of Notre Dame and the Royal Irish Academy.
@fotoole.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social
Sam and myself will be at the NCH in Dublin to present For & Against a United Ireland on Nov 30th
www.nch.ie/all-events-l...
www.nch.ie/all-events-l...
NCH Talks: Fintan O’Toole & Sam McBride: For and against a united Ireland | National Concert Hall
The National Concert Hall is a national cultural institution and the designated home of music in Ireland.
www.nch.ie
October 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Sam and myself will be at the NCH in Dublin to present For & Against a United Ireland on Nov 30th
www.nch.ie/all-events-l...
www.nch.ie/all-events-l...
Excellent review of For & Against a United Ireland by the ever-illuminating Katy Hayward
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
For and Against a United Ireland by Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride: Arguing to end apathy of ‘undecideds’
Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride demonstrate the importance of free and reasoned deliberation
www.irishtimes.com
October 25, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Excellent review of For & Against a United Ireland by the ever-illuminating Katy Hayward
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
Today in 1983 Stanislav Petrov saved the human race.
On duty at the Soviet early warning command centre, he refused to warn superiors of radar reports of an incoming US strike. It proved to be a false alarm. If the Soviets had responded it would have been all out nuclear war.
On duty at the Soviet early warning command centre, he refused to warn superiors of radar reports of an incoming US strike. It proved to be a false alarm. If the Soviets had responded it would have been all out nuclear war.
September 26, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Today in 1983 Stanislav Petrov saved the human race.
On duty at the Soviet early warning command centre, he refused to warn superiors of radar reports of an incoming US strike. It proved to be a false alarm. If the Soviets had responded it would have been all out nuclear war.
On duty at the Soviet early warning command centre, he refused to warn superiors of radar reports of an incoming US strike. It proved to be a false alarm. If the Soviets had responded it would have been all out nuclear war.
Very much looking forward to joining in this glorious tribute to the great Tim Robinson at the NCH on Sunday afternoon. I think there are a few tickets left.
www.nch.ie/all-events-l...
www.nch.ie/all-events-l...
Tradition Now: Our Time in Space - A Tribute to Tim Robinson | National Concert Hall
The National Concert Hall is a national cultural institution and the designated home of music in Ireland.
www.nch.ie
September 24, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Very much looking forward to joining in this glorious tribute to the great Tim Robinson at the NCH on Sunday afternoon. I think there are a few tickets left.
www.nch.ie/all-events-l...
www.nch.ie/all-events-l...
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
if you're interested in this area. Irish journalist Fintan O' Toole covered a lot of "the english question" back in 2018.
This missive outlines the gist of his book "Brexit and the politics of Pain" I recommend that too.
he's on here and well worth a follow. @fotoole.bsky.social
2/2
This missive outlines the gist of his book "Brexit and the politics of Pain" I recommend that too.
he's on here and well worth a follow. @fotoole.bsky.social
2/2
Fintan O'Toole | Brexit, Ireland and the English Question
YouTube video by World Affairs
www.youtube.com
September 11, 2025 at 12:14 PM
if you're interested in this area. Irish journalist Fintan O' Toole covered a lot of "the english question" back in 2018.
This missive outlines the gist of his book "Brexit and the politics of Pain" I recommend that too.
he's on here and well worth a follow. @fotoole.bsky.social
2/2
This missive outlines the gist of his book "Brexit and the politics of Pain" I recommend that too.
he's on here and well worth a follow. @fotoole.bsky.social
2/2
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
These two texts - to left of image - sound excellent and their review by @fotoole.bsky.social in the @thetls.bsky.social a superb piece of writing. I’ve been thinking about it all so much.
September 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM
These two texts - to left of image - sound excellent and their review by @fotoole.bsky.social in the @thetls.bsky.social a superb piece of writing. I’ve been thinking about it all so much.
Reposted by Fintan O'Toole
The first 500 copies have been signed by @fotoole.bsky.social and myself. Most have been pre-ordered but there are still some available from the publisher. Those copies should also arrive before the publication date of 20 October.
➡️ shop.ria.ie/products/for...
➡️ shop.ria.ie/products/for...
September 11, 2025 at 8:41 PM
The first 500 copies have been signed by @fotoole.bsky.social and myself. Most have been pre-ordered but there are still some available from the publisher. Those copies should also arrive before the publication date of 20 October.
➡️ shop.ria.ie/products/for...
➡️ shop.ria.ie/products/for...