miceal.bsky.social
Former historian, retired bolshevik, ex italofilo and one-time fell runner. Currently very grumpy about the state of the world; birding to maintain my sanity. Co. Donegal, Ireland.
67 posts
57 followers
179 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
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Whimbrel on my patch in Co. Donegal this morning, Graham.
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Entirely legitimate.
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Heterodox view: don’t. Way, way too many domestic animals exist and mainly they reinforce our anthropocentrism. Find a means to know the real live natural world better; birds, bees, butterflies, mammals, whatever. Good (and cheaper) for you, great for the children.
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It’s a photographic guide. It focuses very much on plumage distinctions and gives almost no info. on vocalisation, habitat etc. It also covers age, gender and subspecies variation very thoroughly. I’d say it’s a fine complement to Collins and more useful for ‘intermediate to skilled’ birders.
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The UK is an important third country to us for a number of reasons and we’re dealing with it as such. People on this platform often say that the EU has moved on and that the UK isn’t important any more. It is important but the offence caused by Brexit is living rent-free in the heads of some of us.
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It is really quite remarkable how you would never know Northern Ireland existed from this ‘discussion’.
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Last November’s election results were a relief (in that the far right made no progress) but there’s a lot of toxic anti-immigrant sentiment around in Ireland. Many are tired of the FF/FG status quo and, as health and housing provision is abysmal, those offering easy answers become more attractive.
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100% on all of this, from the political price to the - more important - human cost.
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I’ve no idea why there’s such a sanguine view here of the likelihood of a majority in the north voting for reunification.
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No, John. No it wouldn’t.
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So, what kind of crisis will it take for the UK to get serious?
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My daughter likewise had a fabulous year at Bologna. Now it’s taken five years for a UK government to arrive at ‘ooh, maybe we can get away with a youth mobility scheme’.
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It’s not happening any time that anyone with a grey hair on their head need bother themselves about. What boils my piss is that I spent 25 years in UK higher education and each year welcomed smart (mainly) French and German students for a fantastic, life-enhancing Erasmus year.
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Trouble with this kind of talk is that it fails to take account of the new ones rolling off the Alf Garnett production line. Fact of life innit.
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This has to be a troll account.
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There should be one of those ‘advises against all but essential travel’ warnings on the FCO website.
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It’s a liberalish popish paper. Less unpleasant than much of the Italian media.
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It wasn’t ’some bureaucrat’ telling you when you could visit your home, it was the UK government.This phrasing suggests to me that if you hadn’t personally been inconvenienced by Brexit you would have been as enthusiastically anti-EU as the clowns who took the UK out.
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Chlorinated chicken is on the @ukgovernment.bsky.social menu.
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I’ve been saying this for ages. It’s the over-50s who need to be protected from social media (sent from my iPhone😀).
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Great to see your @bsky.app account active. I’d lost touch since I left the other place.
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I would be curious to know how many readers will mutter to themselves/opine deafeningly at the golf club (delete as appropriate) ‘We’re being punished for Brexit’.
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‘Ah, you’re too sensitive’.
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‘Ah, you’re too sensitive’.
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My daughter’s mother in law sends us a Christmas card each year from
Surrey with a UK second-class stamp on it. I absolutely KNOW what attitude lies behind it. Still makes it to Co. Donegal, mind you.
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Working in NW England some years ago, I used to have a lunchtime run with a Welsh co-worker. One day he said to me ‘Yeah, but we’re all British, right?’ A diplomatic incident in shorts, vest and running shoes.
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I’d never heard of him until then either. It doesn’t help us now but it’s nice to know there were others. I also knew immediately.
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I know most of the Russian ruling class used to speak French among themselves but I’m surprised that’s still the case; even more surprised that Trump speaks French. 😂
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And all because one attacked a horse belonging to @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu
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This US regime has made it clear that its peace terms are Putin’s, i.e. Russian victory. At what point does diplomacy become appeasement?
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You have to admit that if there’s still lead pipeline it could probably do with an upgrade😉.
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Seasoned with an unhealthy dose of socialism in one country.
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Living Marxism wasn’t an SWP mag, it was the forerunner of Spiked and was published by the ‘Revolutionary Communist Party’ (sic) of Baroness Fox et al; so perhaps her political trajectory isn’t that surprising.
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Which doesn’t make it right.
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It’s the only Brexit benefit. Conservation bodies have been calling for a ban on sandeel fishing for many years. They’re right and the EU must know it. In this case it’s arguing against its own protocol on restoring marine ecosystems. I guess the EU has to show Denmark whose side it’s on.
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@bsky.app in danger of descending into self-parody as liberals get all excited about a @nigella.bsky.social recipe for #ROASTPOTATOES - bah humbug.
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Jonathan, you write beautifully, navigating a course among Guardian football writers between the pretentiousness of some and the illiterate fanzine scribbles of others. But Tottenham and Liverpool ‘fishing in the same waters’. Go on with you.
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‘You’re in the United Kingdom whether you like it or not, but we’re not going to treat you as though you are.’