TonySearl

RIP to the incredible Glen Hansard. 🕊️

Today a chapter in Irish music has come to a heartbreaking end. Glen Hansard has sadly passed away at the age of 56 following a road traffic collision in Dublin. A proud Dubliner with a voice full of honesty, passion & soul 💚 Rest in peace, Glen. Thank you for the music 🕊️🕊️

I will always think of @Glen_Hansard busking on Grafton Street each Christmas Eve for the Simon community and the homeless - the Big Busk, which he started (and which inevitably also involved Bono and Sinéad O'Connor), was a huge part of returning to Dublin for the holidays, for me and many like me, living away. It made sense to someone who was himself a former Dublin busker - he quit school in Ballymun at 13 to play on his city's streets. He even played an Irish busker on a Simpsons episode ("In the Name of the Grandfather"). The Commitments, The Frames, the Swell Season came after, and so did an Oscar and an Emmy. And still every Christmas he was out busking for the homeless, and getting every other Irish musician to, too. And Once was both the perfect romantic comedy - the right amount bittersweet, no happy endings but we can value the moments of closeness we get, as long as they last - and the perfect Dublin film. I danced to Falling Slowly at my wedding. We're all Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guys today. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

RIP Glen Hansard ¿Podemos por favor parar 4 minutos y detenernos a apreciar lo absolutamente desgarradora y maravillosa que es Falling Slowly de la BSO de Once con la que ganó un Oscar?

Sometimes I would wonder if Glen Hansard really existed…. Seriously, he was such an angelic presence… not otherworldly…in fact, very present this presence… A smiling rascal if you needed him to be… this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun… no airs, plenty of graces... Of course, Glen was the shining star of the Christmas Eve busk… sometimes the only one reminding the rest of us that Christmas began with a refugee born in a manger, which is hardly a step from living on the street. To be utterly yourself by being more interested in others - a clue for any of us trying out different personas. He really was who you thought he was. He could never walk by a person living rough without checking they were OK… and more than that, he worked very hard so that less people had to live on the streets in the first place. When the crowds got bigger and for safety’s sake Glen had to agree to move the busk to a stage kindly provided outside The Gaiety Theatre, he would say 'we’ll give it our best but it’s not a busk if we’re not on the street!’ …because that’s who he was - a performer at eye level in any situation. The stage was a separation he wouldn’t recognize. Of all the grand and gigantic venues he and The Frames played, you sensed the street was his most favoured place to perform. And street people, his favourite audience. Voice of the streets. A choir of angels in one man. The rest of us blessed to stand there beside our very own and very earthed Angel Gabriel… All of us welcome in his choir, whatever shape or form. ….and I’m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist. For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case. May you rest in the peace you gave to so many. Bono

Morning!

At our five-borough municipal grocery stores, New Yorkers will get a 30% discount on eggs, milk, chicken, fresh produce and other everyday essentials. In the wealthiest city in the richest country in the world, no one should have to wonder how they’ll afford the food they need to feed themselves or their families.

We remain deeply committed to building a country where everyone is treated with dignity, where everyone belongs, and where communities are not subjected to racial vilification.

Today is an important win against forces who would rather see us fighting our neighbours than taking on a system broken by vested interests. The Greens oppose One Nation’s hate and division. We oppose the scapegoating of migrants by the major parties that allows hate to prosper.

This is a victory for justice. The Full Federal Court has just upheld the original finding that Pauline Hanson racially discriminated against Senator Mehreen Faruqi.  Hate speech is not free speech.

The enemy for @AlboMP is not One Nation, it is his voters who are angry! Angry about his position on Gaza, gas taxes, AUKUS, DV, homelessness! #auspol

Just 17% support AUKUS 53% oppose @TheAusInstitute @IPAusNet Too expensive Too impractical Too long to deliver Loss of Australian sovereignty thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/defenc…

Husic hasn't sold out his core values to the US/Israel war machine. Albo should listen to him. Husic remembers what Labor is supposed to be. #auspol theage.com.au/politics/feder…

Close Pine Gap immediately and cancel the AUKUS shitshow. The USA is not Australia's friend. We are simply geographically located in a desirable location for the USA war machine bases. facebook.com/share/v/1Cw19S…

The disgraceful handling of Ed Husic’s call for an overdue debate at conference shows that the ALP are no different to bullying board of management covertly shutting down workers voices. The very thing the party was formed to stand against. #auspol #insiders

Every day & twice on Sundays, I would rather the company of Ed Husic MP

This is sad. And admire Ed Husic for his courage in standing against the tide. abc.net.au/news/2026-07-2…

With Aukus, we lose our sovereignty to U.S.A. Australia doesn't need nuclear powered subs to defend our region, nor  nuclear waste disposal problems. Conventional subs will do the job, and we can have them sooner and cheaper. #auspol #aukus