Gary Kavanagh

I asked Claude to write my constitution. I thought its Amanda constitution was very touching.

Starmer is such a tragic character. Like a regional bank manager trying to navigate the global financial crisis using only company policy.

Tánaiste Simon Harris told a party meeting tonight that Finance officials are working on proposals for a savings and investment strategy designed to create better financial opportunities for citizens who wish to invest.

Final interview. They ask: "What's your biggest weakness?" Your mind races. You say "I'm a perfectionist." They cringe. No callback. Here's the answer that lands offers:

"Lest we forget, that Charles Haughey’s first claim to fame was his leadership of a mob that on the 7th of May 1945 – VE Day – to tear down Union Jacks being flown by a small number of Trinity College Dublin students, in celebration of the Nazi Evil being defeated. Notwithstanding Ireland’s cowardly neutrality, Haughey and his cabal instigated a riot, where Swastikas began to appear in all directions and which ended with Haughey setting a Union Jack alight. In most other countries, this reprehensible conduct would render the individuals responsible pariahs. In Ireland, Haughey served as Taoiseach on three separate occasions. Or the 12,000 brave Irish patriots that fought the Nazis who were treated as traitors upon their return home. Many were dismissed from the Irish Defence Forces, banned from state employment and deprived of their Defence Forces pay and pensions – for the crime of fighting humanity’s common evil. Or the delirious cheers of the Irish political classes when former US President Joe Biden ‘stuck’ it to the Brits, when he responded to the BBC’s request for a comment with ‘I’m Irish!’ What relevance is Biden’s heritage to answering a request for an interview? This ‘snub’ (quite frankly I am not too sure what you call it) furthered no policy objective and instead sent a message of petulance from the then–American President to the British Press, somehow derived from his Irishness. These actions aren’t anything to do with Brexit or British military conduct during the Troubles. Instead, they are to do with an absolutist distaste and disdain for British culture, the British people and any positive periods of British history...Principled differences must remain, but equally prejudice must be washed away. It is like that great parliamentarian who both Britain and Ireland may lay claim to, once said: “England and Ireland may flourish together. The world is large enough for both of us. Let it be our care not to make ourselves too little for it.” My Substack on "The Pettiness of Irish Anglophobia" 🇮🇪🇬🇧

Odd, last time I had a look it was European pension funds (among others) that kept funding the runaway US public debt. I agree - lets stop that.

Perfectly Orwellian. The US is now sanctioning those who monitor — not censor, mind you, just monitor — hate speech and disinformation, all in the name of “free speech.”

Judges are now being asked to stop jailing criminals. In a system where prison sentences are already rare, this is a staggering failure of government. Victims wait, Gardaí risk their lives, and communities pay the price while criminals face fewer consequences. This isn’t compassion. It’s collapse. A total disgrace and a betrayal of law abiding citizens. Enough is enough.

Big news: EU countries have approved the long-term immobilisation of the Russian Central Bank under Article 122, which requires only a qualified majority. This is a key element of the reparations loan.

Two conversations this weekend make me think that there's a vibe shift afoot in Silicon Valley around what one should work on and what is worthwhile. Culturally, it feels like the moment is ripe for new frameworks: • Davos expert morality is stale and discredited. • It's also

What do we believe in? Cheap energy! Massive industry! Nuclear power! More plutocrats! British chaebols! Industrial robots! And impressive moustaches!

European counter-plan. Ukraine NATO membership up to NATO; no territorial concessions; ceasefire along contact line; no cap on Ukrainian military; EU membership; reconstruction to be paid by Russia.