European societies are not built for the climate reality we now inhabit
The terrifying heat-map of the future is here
Fintan O'Toole
Fintan O'Toole columns
Climate science suggests worse is to come
Global warming has largely fallen off the national and international agenda, surfacing only briefly when extreme weather events force it back into view
We have already had glimpses of climate-induced societal breakdown
At a fundamental level, we do not believe what we are experiencing: the catastrophic effects of global heating
Brexit not the only thing Daniel Hannan got ‘not even wrong’
His lordship was also wide of the mark about Covid
Brexit launched a new era of ‘not even wrong’ politics
Golden age promised by the Vote Leave campaign proved to be 100 per cent pyrite
Elon Musk conjures up a fantasy for Wall Street and a nightmare for Belfast
Dazzled SpaceX investors and frenzied brick-throwing boys in Belfast are all swallowing his dark fantasies
Women believed they had to pay to be safe giving birth. Why? The Rotunda told them so
In order to maintain the fear factor that drives women towards private care, the hospital’s board implicitly insulted its own staff
Lidl warns Government, Trump’s UFC ring on White House lawn and Shergar
Early Edition with Aideen Finnegan
Rotunda’s defiance of public policy shows us how some are born more equal
Let this sink in: a hospital that gets €100m a year in State funding is sticking two fingers up to the State’s Sláintecare policy
Fallout from the byelections
As Irish politics becomes more fragmented and unstable, a merger of FF and FG starts to make sense
A party that cannot get a tenth of the vote in Dublin or Galway retains power. This is dangerous
It feels like we’re in that strange hiatus now. Fianna Fáil has no ground beneath its feet
Artificial intelligence spells a real climate disaster
Despite the tech industry’s efforts to squash concern about the devastating climate impacts of AI, resistance is growing
Gerry Hutch and Bertie Ahern performed ‘Lanigan’s Ball racism’
Why are Hutch and Ahern so bothered about immigrants from Congo and Somalia? Because they are shorthand for ‘Darkest Africa’
How do we get from a cattle fair in Macroom in 1992 to the possible next governor of California?
Steve Hilton recognised early that oligarchic fascism could be dressed up as anti-elitism. And the signs were there at a Macroom cattle fair in 1992
How does a politician conclude a big truck needs three times more public money than a pensioner?
We have a political economy in which the only currency is the decibel
Fianna Fáil created a middle class but has little to say to a generation unable to join it
With its disastrous housing policies, Fianna Fáil has lost touch with its own successes
Ireland’s governing philosophy is learned helplessness – and it is getting worse
Every pressure group now knows it can be the unstoppable force that meets the moveable government
Who represents the Irish people?
The organisers of the fuel protests had neither the right nor the authority to speak on behalf of ‘the people of Ireland’
Ireland’s far-right movement will emerge from the ‘breakfast roll-atariat’
Fuel protests have seen big wheels driven over democratic norms
Trump’s random gibberish is more terrifying than lies. It is a sign of derangement
The US president isn’t making this stuff up – it’s making him up
Donald Trump is like a child pulling the wings off flies – all means and no end
We are seeing something new in human history: the relishing of annihilation as entertainment
Once one of the most influential people in Irish media, he ignored his own golden rule
A journalist using AI-generated quotes in articles about AI is like a doctor injecting one virus in the hope of curing another
Trump’s war on Iran could spell the end of the EU
A deep economic crisis, shocking terrorist attacks in EU cities plus an unprecedented wave of refugees would lead to a far-right surge that the EU may not survive
How Micheál Martin should handle Trump for St Patrick’s Day: ‘Lie back and think of Ireland’
From ‘silence, guile and cunning’ to ‘don’t go’, here’s some advice for the Taoiseach on how to survive the Shamrock Ceremony
Donald Trump is not mentally ill, but he is mad
Someone needs to tell him the truth or swathes of the world could be turned into Gaza writ large
Ireland has spent the last 70 years unsuccessfully trying to dethrone King Cattle
Mind-blowing documentary on RTÉ shows the parallel planet of Ireland’s cattle monarchy continues to exist
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the Catholic Church
Fintan O’Toole’s analogy between the decline of the Catholic Church and the potential fall of the British monarchy is clever
Britain’s King Charles should heed the lesson of the crumbling Irish Catholic Church
Abusers did not bring down the hierarchy here, it was down to the repeated cover-ups by bishops
Sinn Féin, Ukraine and the Spanish Civil War
In Ukraine ‘the issues are clearer’, and we cannot know who would have won in Spain with no intervention
Fintan O’Toole: What would fascism look like in the 2020s?
Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan
For Sinn Féin, Tiocfaidh ár lá is being replaced by Turn the Other Cheek
Sinn Féin is rightly proud of republicanism’s role in the fight against fascism in Spain. So why is it now opposing assistance for Ukraine?
Epstein files are where the grammar of wealth meets the vocabulary of the brothel
Jeffrey Epstein and his friends were culture warriors – the war they waged was against women
Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson will go down in history as crawlers and creeps
If we want to understand why democracy is in such trouble, we can learn plenty from the careers of two men who were once stellar figures in democratic politics
If Trump goes after Ireland, he will also destroy a lot of US wealth
We’ve made ourselves dependent on American capitalism but for America it’s a hugely lucrative dependency
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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