@marcmulholland.bsky.social
Private Eye used to caricature his accent back in the day:
December 1, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Private Eye used to caricature his accent back in the day:
A thread from my book; From 'Captain Rock' to 'Catholic Emancipation'.
December 1, 2025 at 4:22 PM
A thread from my book; From 'Captain Rock' to 'Catholic Emancipation'.
From my book, a general theory of 'mass killing' mentality. Generally one tries to write history sub specie aeternitatis, but this composition did unavoidably bear the impression of its time.
November 28, 2025 at 11:05 PM
From my book, a general theory of 'mass killing' mentality. Generally one tries to write history sub specie aeternitatis, but this composition did unavoidably bear the impression of its time.
Page 2 of 2:
November 28, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Page 2 of 2:
Here's the argument in some more detail. Page 1 of 2:
November 28, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Here's the argument in some more detail. Page 1 of 2:
6/ Some spoke of a coming showdown: “a war between the two churches is a war of extermination,” wrote one evangelical in 1827. [Note different sense of 'extermination' then:
November 27, 2025 at 1:57 PM
6/ Some spoke of a coming showdown: “a war between the two churches is a war of extermination,” wrote one evangelical in 1827. [Note different sense of 'extermination' then:
Samuel Gray was quite the character!
November 26, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Samuel Gray was quite the character!
The drip-drip-drip campaign against Irish neutrality continues. 'European defence' today, crack-pot US war against China tomorrow.
November 25, 2025 at 2:29 PM
The drip-drip-drip campaign against Irish neutrality continues. 'European defence' today, crack-pot US war against China tomorrow.
1798: The Second Defender Rising' (after the 1793 'Militia Riots')? A thread from my book.
November 14, 2025 at 11:45 AM
1798: The Second Defender Rising' (after the 1793 'Militia Riots')? A thread from my book.
A revolutionary bourgeoisie - the separatism of the United Irish men: what was all that about?
A thread from my book.
A thread from my book.
November 12, 2025 at 3:56 PM
A revolutionary bourgeoisie - the separatism of the United Irish men: what was all that about?
A thread from my book.
A thread from my book.
I think that's right. The usual consumer price index is far too flat. My suspicion is that a much better measure would be of 'labour commanded'. How much of other people's service would it employ. So, eg.:
November 12, 2025 at 9:18 AM
I think that's right. The usual consumer price index is far too flat. My suspicion is that a much better measure would be of 'labour commanded'. How much of other people's service would it employ. So, eg.:
It's a nice quote. I'm not quite at one with this kind of post-structuralist reading, however. It has the unhappy effect of reducing much of our valuable source material to nothing more than the 'colonial gaze'. Here's what I say:
November 11, 2025 at 12:00 PM
It's a nice quote. I'm not quite at one with this kind of post-structuralist reading, however. It has the unhappy effect of reducing much of our valuable source material to nothing more than the 'colonial gaze'. Here's what I say:
As everyone knows, Ireland was desperately poor, so when potato blight hit, its thoughtlessly philoprogenitive people were doomed.
But is that quite so ... ? From my book:
But is that quite so ... ? From my book:
November 11, 2025 at 9:31 AM
As everyone knows, Ireland was desperately poor, so when potato blight hit, its thoughtlessly philoprogenitive people were doomed.
But is that quite so ... ? From my book:
But is that quite so ... ? From my book:
Picture of my mother's mother at a military hospital, front centre, 1917.
November 9, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Picture of my mother's mother at a military hospital, front centre, 1917.
Thanks Vincent. I wouldn't much object to your fine formulation, but I settle a bit further on the scale re. the 'second' UI, not least due to MacNeven's testimony:
November 7, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Thanks Vincent. I wouldn't much object to your fine formulation, but I settle a bit further on the scale re. the 'second' UI, not least due to MacNeven's testimony:
Historians have generally argued that the United Irishmen 'took over' the Defenders. I reckon it's much more the other way round: the plebeian and peasant Defenders 'took over' the United Irish. We even have Thomas Addis Emmet trying to tell us this, by almost direct address.
November 6, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Historians have generally argued that the United Irishmen 'took over' the Defenders. I reckon it's much more the other way round: the plebeian and peasant Defenders 'took over' the United Irish. We even have Thomas Addis Emmet trying to tell us this, by almost direct address.
But there's something very unusual about this massacre. In my view, it was not a 'normal' faction-fight run to extremes, but "an opportunistic strike against peasant O’Connellites in the Liberator’s home county by its politically embittered Conservative gentry." From my book:
November 5, 2025 at 9:36 AM
But there's something very unusual about this massacre. In my view, it was not a 'normal' faction-fight run to extremes, but "an opportunistic strike against peasant O’Connellites in the Liberator’s home county by its politically embittered Conservative gentry." From my book:
From my book:
November 4, 2025 at 9:28 AM
From my book:
Irish stick-fighting in pre-Famine Ireland was not random mayhem, but a martial art. Not significantly more dangerous, I'd say, than pugilism (or horse-racing).
November 4, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Irish stick-fighting in pre-Famine Ireland was not random mayhem, but a martial art. Not significantly more dangerous, I'd say, than pugilism (or horse-racing).
One thing I've done in my books is to employ as a generic term for popular but covert peasant movements, from the Whiteboys of the 1760s to the Moonlighters of the 1880s. Here's why:
November 1, 2025 at 9:42 AM
One thing I've done in my books is to employ as a generic term for popular but covert peasant movements, from the Whiteboys of the 1760s to the Moonlighters of the 1880s. Here's why:
What kind of headline is that!? Who other than fanatical authoritarians and shills for the cartel would now accept it as reasonable and decent?
October 28, 2025 at 12:58 PM
What kind of headline is that!? Who other than fanatical authoritarians and shills for the cartel would now accept it as reasonable and decent?
Three things regarding the Irish Famine I worked out for my book, which I don't think have been noticed before.
1. Over the Famine years the landlord share of agricultural production, seized in rent, went up by one-quarter, from 28.5% to 36.14%.
1. Over the Famine years the landlord share of agricultural production, seized in rent, went up by one-quarter, from 28.5% to 36.14%.
October 28, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Three things regarding the Irish Famine I worked out for my book, which I don't think have been noticed before.
1. Over the Famine years the landlord share of agricultural production, seized in rent, went up by one-quarter, from 28.5% to 36.14%.
1. Over the Famine years the landlord share of agricultural production, seized in rent, went up by one-quarter, from 28.5% to 36.14%.
From the Book: The rise of the Defenders as a popular & peasant revolutionary organisation.
October 27, 2025 at 10:05 AM
From the Book: The rise of the Defenders as a popular & peasant revolutionary organisation.