@stephendouds.bsky.social
Here at last • Media prof (ex-BBC) • Art/Culture • Politics • Ormeau
Reposted
‘In his best moments, David Beckham is a reverse Dorothy Parker, curving another déclaration folle into the back of the net.
“We’re definitely going to get Brooklyn christened,” he said, “but we don’t know into which religion.”’
Andrew O’Hagan in 2024:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
“We’re definitely going to get Brooklyn christened,” he said, “but we don’t know into which religion.”’
Andrew O’Hagan in 2024:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Andrew O’Hagan · Push Me Pull You: Creating the Beckhams
In his best moments, David Beckham is a reverse Dorothy Parker, curving another déclaration folle into the back of the...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 24, 2026 at 9:53 AM
‘In his best moments, David Beckham is a reverse Dorothy Parker, curving another déclaration folle into the back of the net.
“We’re definitely going to get Brooklyn christened,” he said, “but we don’t know into which religion.”’
Andrew O’Hagan in 2024:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
“We’re definitely going to get Brooklyn christened,” he said, “but we don’t know into which religion.”’
Andrew O’Hagan in 2024:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ironic too that the right to self-determination is what the US celebrates every 4th of July. Turns out little has changed is 250 yrs….
January 18, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Ironic too that the right to self-determination is what the US celebrates every 4th of July. Turns out little has changed is 250 yrs….
Reposted
Great work by @lukejbutterly.bsky.social here…
New: At least 71% of those who had Child Benefit suspended were in fact legitimate beneficiaries who had not emigrated.
That figure may rise, as 23% of cases remain open. Only 5% been found to be fraudulent so far.
Senior HMRC officials were questioned by MPs about the scandal this morning
That figure may rise, as 23% of cases remain open. Only 5% been found to be fraudulent so far.
Senior HMRC officials were questioned by MPs about the scandal this morning
January 13, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Great work by @lukejbutterly.bsky.social here…
Can we just get to the second Tuesday of the year?
It feels like a very, very long time until the first Tuesday in November…
January 8, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Can we just get to the second Tuesday of the year?
Reposted
Absolutely magisterial interview with John Bew by @samfr.bsky.social and @ldfreedman.bsky.social. In a highly competitive field the most interesting thing I've read on Comment is Freed, on everything from the style of four administrations to our foreign policy challenges:
Interview with John Bew - adviser to four Prime Ministers
On Whitehall, Ukraine, Trump and the global challenges facing Britain
samf.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Absolutely magisterial interview with John Bew by @samfr.bsky.social and @ldfreedman.bsky.social. In a highly competitive field the most interesting thing I've read on Comment is Freed, on everything from the style of four administrations to our foreign policy challenges:
Reposted
If you're Irish you recognise ICE. They're the Black and Tans.
Reminder: ICE has a budget bigger than most militaries around the world.
It has increased its spending on weapons by 700% since Trump took office.
Trump is building his own personal military to terrorize American cities, trample on civil rights, and intimidate his opponents.
It has increased its spending on weapons by 700% since Trump took office.
Trump is building his own personal military to terrorize American cities, trample on civil rights, and intimidate his opponents.
January 7, 2026 at 8:16 PM
If you're Irish you recognise ICE. They're the Black and Tans.
Reposted
A bad verb for a bad thing.
January 5, 2026 at 9:11 PM
A bad verb for a bad thing.
Reposted
This week we are featuring some extraordinary Irish women in honour of #NollaignamBan. Mary Ann McCracken campaigned for the abolition of slavery, and argued that the liberty and equality sought by the United Irishmen should be extended to women. www.dib.ie/biography/mc... #DIBLives @ria.ie
January 5, 2026 at 8:47 AM
This week we are featuring some extraordinary Irish women in honour of #NollaignamBan. Mary Ann McCracken campaigned for the abolition of slavery, and argued that the liberty and equality sought by the United Irishmen should be extended to women. www.dib.ie/biography/mc... #DIBLives @ria.ie
Reposted
This was at the start of Lucy Worsley's Victorian Murder Club, just so you know how things are going ethically at the BBC.
January 5, 2026 at 9:02 PM
This was at the start of Lucy Worsley's Victorian Murder Club, just so you know how things are going ethically at the BBC.
A brilliant listen, shortened the walk home on the first working day of the year.
Please do Join @ronanhession.bsky.social at 4pm on BBC Radio 4 as he chats with James Naughtie about his debut novel
_Leonard and Hungry Paul_
@theguardian.com
@thetimes.com
@bbcworldbookclub.bsky.social
@thebookseller.com
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
_Leonard and Hungry Paul_
@theguardian.com
@thetimes.com
@bbcworldbookclub.bsky.social
@thebookseller.com
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - Bookclub, Rónán Hession
Rónán Hession takes questions on his debut novel, Leonard and Hungry Paul.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 5, 2026 at 9:04 PM
A brilliant listen, shortened the walk home on the first working day of the year.
Reposted
NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.
Jan. 6, 2021: A visual archive of the Capitol attack
NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.
n.pr
January 4, 2026 at 4:13 PM
NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.
Reposted
We’re embracing the cold today with Colin Middleton’s Winter: Camden street, and all of its crisp, frosty vibes! ❄️ With its cool palette it evokes fog and wintry air, especially the silvery-blues of the upper portion of the painting.
#CrawfordArtGallery #WinterVibes
#CrawfordArtGallery #WinterVibes
January 3, 2026 at 5:04 PM
We’re embracing the cold today with Colin Middleton’s Winter: Camden street, and all of its crisp, frosty vibes! ❄️ With its cool palette it evokes fog and wintry air, especially the silvery-blues of the upper portion of the painting.
#CrawfordArtGallery #WinterVibes
#CrawfordArtGallery #WinterVibes
That would be James Larkin surely and not his more poet cousin from Hull…..
January 3, 2026 at 11:54 PM
That would be James Larkin surely and not his more poet cousin from Hull…..
Reposted
I really enjoyed doing this.
Please do listen in on Sunday (or listen back afterwards) to hear me discuss Leonard and Hungry Paul with James Naughtie and a roomful of readers with interesting questions.
Please do listen in on Sunday (or listen back afterwards) to hear me discuss Leonard and Hungry Paul with James Naughtie and a roomful of readers with interesting questions.
A cracking start to the year.
@ronanhession.bsky.socialwill be speaking to James Naughtie on BBC Radio 4 - Book Club.
Sunday 4th January at 4pm.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Marvelous.
@thebookseller.com
@bookcornerhx.bsky.social
@forumbooks.bsky.social
@drakebookshop.bsky.social
@ronanhession.bsky.socialwill be speaking to James Naughtie on BBC Radio 4 - Book Club.
Sunday 4th January at 4pm.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Marvelous.
@thebookseller.com
@bookcornerhx.bsky.social
@forumbooks.bsky.social
@drakebookshop.bsky.social
BBC Radio 4 - Bookclub, Rónán Hession
Rónán Hession takes questions on his debut novel, Leonard and Hungry Paul.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 30, 2025 at 2:51 PM
I really enjoyed doing this.
Please do listen in on Sunday (or listen back afterwards) to hear me discuss Leonard and Hungry Paul with James Naughtie and a roomful of readers with interesting questions.
Please do listen in on Sunday (or listen back afterwards) to hear me discuss Leonard and Hungry Paul with James Naughtie and a roomful of readers with interesting questions.
Reposted
Am kinda blown away to win this tbh. The last time (actually the only time) I won anything at BJA was with openDemocracy and I couldn’t attend as was sick with long covid. Really nice to be here this evening
December 11, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Am kinda blown away to win this tbh. The last time (actually the only time) I won anything at BJA was with openDemocracy and I couldn’t attend as was sick with long covid. Really nice to be here this evening
The quality of the contributions (all day) more than matched the environs. First class from start to finish.
Fearghal McGarry opening our ‘From Boundary Commission to Border Poll?’ conference in the grand environs of the Belfast Harbour Offices
December 3, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The quality of the contributions (all day) more than matched the environs. First class from start to finish.
Immense thanks due to @ronanhession.bsky.social
Have you watched Leonard and Hungry Paul? Ah it's gorgeous.
December 3, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Immense thanks due to @ronanhession.bsky.social
0.00003% of annual GDP ?
BBC leading the news this morning with ‘BBC reveals’ that government has spent more than £100m on Covid inquiry
That only reaction is TaxPayers’ Alliance says a lot….
That only reaction is TaxPayers’ Alliance says a lot….
December 3, 2025 at 9:54 AM
0.00003% of annual GDP ?
Reposted
In the two weeks alone the PSNI has admitted to:
- additional surveillance of a journalist, and which they withheld from Tribunal;
- keeping journalists data for 7 years after court ordered it destroyed;
- withholding two spying ops from oversight body www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
- additional surveillance of a journalist, and which they withheld from Tribunal;
- keeping journalists data for 7 years after court ordered it destroyed;
- withholding two spying ops from oversight body www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
PSNI failed to disclose information about surveillance of journalist to spy tribunal
PSNI failed to disclose information about surveillance of journalist to spy tribunal
www.irishnews.com
September 22, 2025 at 8:28 AM
In the two weeks alone the PSNI has admitted to:
- additional surveillance of a journalist, and which they withheld from Tribunal;
- keeping journalists data for 7 years after court ordered it destroyed;
- withholding two spying ops from oversight body www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
- additional surveillance of a journalist, and which they withheld from Tribunal;
- keeping journalists data for 7 years after court ordered it destroyed;
- withholding two spying ops from oversight body www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
Reposted
Campaigners hold a monthly vigil to protest the use of Belfast International Airport by the US military.
Over 60 military flights landed at Belfast between October 2023 and December 2024, including to Israel.
WATCH: vimeo.com/1119366838?f...
Over 60 military flights landed at Belfast between October 2023 and December 2024, including to Israel.
WATCH: vimeo.com/1119366838?f...
Palestine
This is "Palestine" by Below the Radar on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
vimeo.com
September 18, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Campaigners hold a monthly vigil to protest the use of Belfast International Airport by the US military.
Over 60 military flights landed at Belfast between October 2023 and December 2024, including to Israel.
WATCH: vimeo.com/1119366838?f...
Over 60 military flights landed at Belfast between October 2023 and December 2024, including to Israel.
WATCH: vimeo.com/1119366838?f...
This is a model podcast. At last intelligent political conversation.
In the first episode of our new ‘On Politics’ series, host James Butler talks to former Labour MP Chris Mullin and the journalists Andy Beckett and Morgan Jones.
Can Labour recover from critical mistakes over tax, and who they should really be trying to represent?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRcO...
Can Labour recover from critical mistakes over tax, and who they should really be trying to represent?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRcO...
Labour's Tax Mistake
YouTube video by London Review of Books (LRB)
www.youtube.com
September 17, 2025 at 2:43 PM
This is a model podcast. At last intelligent political conversation.
Indispensable listening. After the slabberfest of daytime speech radio, it’s time for well-chosen music.
Leave behind the cares of the day and sail away into the sunset with a soulful soundtrack from the Creedon Show, weeknights 8-10pm @RTERadio1.
September 15, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Indispensable listening. After the slabberfest of daytime speech radio, it’s time for well-chosen music.
Reposted
Regional daily ABCs: Print circulation is down by average of 18% in H1 2025, with The Irish News the only UK regional daily with circulation above 20,000
Regional daily ABCs: Print circulation down by average of 18% in H1 2025
ABC regional daily newspaper circulation fell by 18% in in the first half of 2025, with one daily paper climbing above a 20,000 circulation.
pressgazette.co.uk
September 15, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Regional daily ABCs: Print circulation is down by average of 18% in H1 2025, with The Irish News the only UK regional daily with circulation above 20,000
Reposted
Interesting responses from McAlinden J to oral argument in the Judicial Review of Irish language signage at Central Station. Not only judicial exasperation with the farcical scenes of different Exec departments on different sides of the case but also an invocation of parity of esteem from the bench:
September 11, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Interesting responses from McAlinden J to oral argument in the Judicial Review of Irish language signage at Central Station. Not only judicial exasperation with the farcical scenes of different Exec departments on different sides of the case but also an invocation of parity of esteem from the bench:
Reposted
Michael Longley obituary in today's Irish Times: www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2...
Michael Longley obituary: Award-winning poet of emotional and intellectual depth
He was the last survivor of the Belfast triumvirate of poets which also included Derek Mahon and Seamus Heaney
www.irishtimes.com
February 1, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Michael Longley obituary in today's Irish Times: www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2...