It's been a crazy few months. Candidates dropping out for health reasons, Candidates dropping out as they realised they didn't have any support , A Candidate dropping out mid campaign and still on the ballot. A Candidate becoming a cause celebre for certain groups after not getting on the ballot despite trying her hardest to do so for a fortnight.

All examples welcome. There's this gem: The awkward truth is that the left has been predicting an imminent political breakthrough since Michael D himself was in short trousers. It never happens. Maybe this time will be different. Connolly surely believes it will. Being a socialist means never having to admit you’re wrong. Starting with Fintan O'Toole: Yet even as she savours her deserved victory, Connolly cannot be unaware that she was also soundly trounced by the real winner: indifference.

Was out in the back yard on Thursday night looking at the sky which due to the low temperature and lack of clouds was very impressive. A lot of stars visible given that it is inner city Dublin, and saw a shooting star too, first time in a very many years - and an impressive shooting star it was too. …

Should have gone live at 9 but didn’t! Apologies.

You like Floyd? I don't much, bar Wish You Were Here, but be that as it may. You like Steely Dan? You like Yes? I'm with you on both of those, albeit less mid-period Yes and more 1980s Yes when Trevor Horn clambered on board. You like Santana? Ditto. You like the idea that there might be a somewhat heavier take on those groups?

Gewerkschaftler suggested this a while back and it's as good an idea now as it was then. Whatever else those of us on the left need some hope, need some tangible achievements to hold on to, something that gives a sense of how things can be made better: “I suggest this blog should have a regular (weekly) slot where people can post happenings at the personal or political level that gives them hope that we’re perhaps not going to hell in a handbasket as quickly as we thought. Or as the phlegmatic Germans put it “hope dies last”.” Any contributions this week?

To see the utter degradation of the Tory party, not that that is entirely unexpected to any of us following its history across decades, consider this: The Conservative MP Katie Lam was “broadly in line” with party policy when she called for very large numbers of legally settled people to be deported from the UK, Kemi Badenoch’s spokesperson has said.

Suspect everyone here would be of the opinion that voting is a key right, the fact we vote for the President of this state similarly, that spoiling a vote or not voting at all is pointless. The reality that the role of President is a non executive one (a good thing too) does not take away from the importance of the position - the tone set by a Presidency is crucial too.

Mention on This Week in Virology, another example of utter inefficiency and remarkable stupidity from the Trump administration. The Trump administration is scrambling to rehire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staffers that were let go as part of the president’s promise to cull the federal workforce in response to the government shutdown. The firings on Friday were part of the…

Republic, the group in the UK working towards abolition of the monarchy, noted that recent polling indicated support for the monarchy had hit record lows. The Morning Star covered this: Backing for the monarchy dropped from 86 per cent in 1983, when the British Social Attitudes was first conducted, to 51 per cent by 2024. Meanwhile, 15 per cent of people now favour abolishing the monarchy, up from only 3 per cent in the first survey, and 38 per cent would prefer an elected head of state. Predictably, keeping the monarchy was strongest among supporters of the Conservative and Reform UK parties (82 per cent and 77 per cent respectively). 

As the two and pulled up horse race approaches it's finish, complaints from the Catholic fundamentalists and their Far Right allies that they have nobody that represents them on the ballot continue and their campaign to Spoil your vote goes from online and banners held up to traffic to posters and leaflets. It seems well financed. You'd wonder why anyone would spend sizeable sums of money encouraging voters to Spoil their vote.

It's a sign of how far right of the centre UK politics is that Andrew Rawnsley can offer the following analysis in the Observer (by the by, what to make of that paper being detached from the Guardian and going solo? Difficult to understand the rationale. The Guardian is now printing news stories on a Sunday and the Observer lacks the sense of being a paper with a daily counterpart.

A really good politics podcast from the Journal on the dissidents from the Labour Party and Green Party who have refused to vote for Catherine Connolly, and/or left their respective parties. They analysed their complaints forensically and found them lacking. The point was made that firstly it makes little sense for a Green Party person to vote Humphreys over Connolly given Fine Gael’s approach in the last government of using the GP as a mudguard. 

So, a debate last evening. Strange notes struck in it, but no question that Connolly emerged the more calm and clear of the two. Humphrey's tried the attack line yet again on Connolly's work as a barrister - surely that's not worth it given the weight of opinion against it. Too late for any polls, presumably? RTÉ felt: Ms Humphreys engaged in intense discussion over the 70-minutes, but there was no clear indication by the end of the programme that she had changed the dynamic of a contest which polls suggest favour Ms Connolly.

As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

You can watch it on television or online or follow it here.

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One of the key elements of Tony Gregory's political work was a deep aversion to the Special Criminal Court. Every year when the Dáil sought to vote on continuing the use of emergency powers under the Offences Against the State Act he would vote against. Paul Hosford in the Examiner makes a point about this and the way Catherine Connolly's criticism of the court was used against her, albeit to little effect.

So, the last debate is this evening? Wonder how many will be checking in on it. If Fine Gael continue on their present course it could well be very ugly - and indicative of the deep dive into negativity they have chosen. Cannot imagine that will work well for their candidate but they seem indifferent at this point to that. …

Just preface this by saying that whatever else this has not been a dull contest, even in its closing days. Yesterday Catherine Connolly was faced with a publicity seeker, and Heather Humphreys got a somewhat surprising endorsement (or was it? Maybe it wasn't?). But what is the feeling at this point, any thoughts or observations on the overall shape of the campaign?

It's difficult to overstate how interesting the poll from Irish Times/IPSOS B&A is that landed this weekend. Headline figures will be well known to most of us: The state of the parties, when undecided voters and those unlikely to vote are excluded, is: Fianna Fáil on 17 per cent (down five), Sinn Féin on 27 per cent (up five), and Fine Gael on 18 per cent (up one).

Tributes have been paid to journalist Ed Moloney who has died aged 77. Mr Moloney was known for his coverage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the activities of the Provisional IRA, writing for publications including Magill, the Irish Times and the Sunday Tribune. Assistant General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Séamus Dooley said Mr Moloney was one of the most consequential journalists of his generation.

To download the above please click on this link.  ISOC CPI copyreducegoDownload Please click here to go the Left Archive. Many thanks to Fergus White for forwarding this to the Archive. An edition of Irish Socialist from the Communist Party of Ireland, this dates from June 1973. As noted previous Irish Socialist was published initially by the Irish Workers’ Party and later the Communist Party of Ireland, after the former merged with the Communist Party of Northern Ireland.

gregtimo proposed in comments some while back the idea of a Culture Thread. It’s a great idea. Currently culture is a bit strange, but people read, listen to music, watch television and film and so on – spread the net wide, sports, activities, interests, all relevant – and any pointers are always welcome. And it’s not just those areas but many more. Suggestions as to new or old things, events that might have been missed, literally anything.