Frank Armstrong

I review in depth a recent history of dissenting journalism in 20th Century Ireland. It is a concern for Irish democracy that the editors wonder whether it will be possible for future historians to compile two volumes on 21st century Irish periodicals. cassandravoices.com/history/a-vari…

I laugh that people say I'm a failed journalist. I believe with all my being, and any and all logic and history, that any media that takes a cent from the government ceases to be journalism. I'd rather fail than be bought. Ps look up the individual names here for fun.

The problem with @SenatorMcDowell analysis is that he still assumes that vaccines "saved us." He seems unaware that COVID was circulating for at least the preceding six months (prior to March, 2020) without devastating consequences. Nor does he explore the spike in excess deaths after the pandemic, which I have attributed to the lockdowns, rather than the vaccines, as many do. In a way it's an article that fits well with Irish Times propaganda, with McDowell acting as the "lone wolf"ex-PD in providing a liberal critique of government excesses. What's missing is a forensic critique of the harms lockdown visited on the poor, the young and the infirm, and the broader cultural slide into the digital abyss. irishtimes.com/opinion/2026/0…

It’s curious that @IpsoNews, which was established to enforce standards in the UK press, hasn’t launched an investigation into @pressgazette findings of more than 1,000 “experts” who don’t exist being quoted by journalists. It’s called fiction and it appears to be systematic

God almighty.

RTÈ piece as a mouthpiece for the British Army... Clear NATO drum banging. This senior member of an army that has committed atrocities across the globe (inc Ireland) says: "Ireland has always been a prisoner of geography". No it's been a prisoner of British imperialism.

Shocking that a quote like this from a senior officer in the British army passes without comment by our national broadcaster. "The RAF is here to get used to operating from here, and who knows where that will take us." rte.ie/news/2026/0427…

We are so poorly served by our public broadcaster and legacy media in general.

Rosa Feodora tendency to overthink is also one of her greatest strengths. Beyond its darker sides, if you learn how to ride it, overthinking can become a powerful tool: cassandravoices.com/culture/music/…

In 2019, I warned that the NHS was being sold off to private U.S companies. The media's response? I was peddling Russian propaganda. One of those companies is Palantir, a company that has enabled genocide in Gaza. We were right then — and we are right now: Kick Palantir out.

Kaja Kallas: Excluding Israel from Eurovision would be "mistaken" & "punish the Israeli people" -- but the EU will cut funding to the Venice Biennale because Russia's participation is "morally wrong" while it "bombs museums, destroys churches and seeks to erase Ukrainian culture"

@lukeming You should read Raymond Crotty on how agricultural subsidies have kept the price of land artificially high, deterring productivity and ultimately depopulating and impoverishing rural Ireland, especially the West. cooperative-individualism.org/crotty-raymond…

I've never lived on farm. But if it wasn't for money from the Common Agricultural Policy my parents would have had to emigrate again in the 1980s. As a carpenter he put in fitted cupboards, windows and doors for scores of farmers in the area. None of this would have happened without money from the CAP flowing in to the area that I live in. My father and mother subsequently spent this money in local businesess such as Super Valu, hairdressers, clothes shops, mechanics etc. Ultimately everyone in rural areas benefit from this money. Varadkar really hasn't a clue what he's talking about. Nothing new there.

"The Journal has seen those attempting to pivot the conversation to immigration being removed from organising WhatsApp groups in multiple cases" thejournal.ie/ireland-protes… Thus totally undermines @fotoole's attempt to taint #fuelprotest with "far-right" associations.

"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." Comments from Hillary Clinton in 2008 quoted by Reuters reuters.com/article/econom…

The protests in Ireland are not about just fuel! They are about the distance between Ireland on this graph and every other modern and developed economy. Ireland is second wealthiest but gets waaaaay less than any other country for that wealth. By a golden mile. That visual gap in this graph? That’s what people are protesting. It’s a lack of infrastructure and the everyday enshittification of services, the economy, and the additional difficulty of trying to live, relative to peers in any other country. It also highlights why people don’t get uniformly listened to! - because there is no government architecture to engage meaningfully across this huge gap. That gap is a three hour drive to work in traffic, a 14 month wait for an MRI, buses that don’t arrive, trains that don’t exist, schools that have no places for your kids, houses that are unaffordable, pubs that close before midnight, €12 sandwiches, expensive fuel. People feel this gap, even if they can’t explain it precisely. And that builds into resentment, and ultimately protest. Fuel just happened to be the next thing that could be pointed to, today.

@HMcEntee @magyarpeterMP In the weeks ahead I've done big work on your Euro connections for my pod and who you work for. This isn't some traitor roar from a crowd. You're beyond corrupt.

Bizarre to find @CiaranCuffe greeting Peter Magyar as a beacon of democracy, given he's further to the right than Orban. Is this simply down to a hope he frees up billions to support the forever war in Ukraine? x.com/i/status/20434… From the Guardian theguardian.com/world/2026/apr…

David Langwallner wonders if Gerry 'the Monk' Hutch would be any worse than some of the gangsters currently in power. He explores whether there could be any substance to his candidature. cassandravoices.com/current-affair…

Irish Times are at it again! Today’s Irish Times features a piece by Ciaran O’Connor @ciaranoconnor. The Irish Times fails to disclose that O’Connor is in fact a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). The ISD is funded by the George Soros Open Society Foundations, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK government, and has received over $6m in US Department of State funding. Surprisingly or perhaps unsurprisingly, in 2019 following the death of Jeffrey Epstein, Ciaran O’Connor worked to “fact check” those spreading “conspiracy theories” about Epstein. Important work no doubt. It’s always interesting to scratch just below the surface on a contributor to the Irish Times, who the IT tell us is merely “a researcher and journalist who focuses on extremism and technology”.

A euro per litre of diesel goes to the state. Defended on the grounds that high taxes change behaviour. They don't. You can't change behaviour when you have no options. Flawed environmental economics dressed up as climate policy = political backlash.

Like, Orban looks 10% down in polls, he's been there 16 years, chances are slim, economic model running out of gas, but he's not alone in the EU, that movement is growing and yet this political half-info we still get from journalists is disgraceful.