It’s been a very weird week, with Ireland taking centre stage in the discourse due to a scary riot, driven ostensibly by anti-immigration sentiment.
I had two articles published giving my take on the events- the first was this one in Unherd which gave me the opportunity to talk about the hidden impact of the Ashling Murphy murder trial, which concluded just before the riots started and in my opinion partly inspired them.
The second was this one published today in IM1776, in which I highlighted how differently the riots were playing out in the media, home and abroad. In general, online right wing voices outside Ireland have misled their readers as to how popular the riots are, and how far the energy contained in them can go.
Since I’m here I also wanted to give an update on this Substack generally. You’ll have noticed that the two most recent articles were for paid subscribers only. From here on in it’s going to be 50/50 paid and free for the foreseeable future. I want to make sure people who pay are getting something for their money but I’ll also be picking up the pace and free subscribers shouldn’t notice a difference.
The other reason, if I’m being honest, is we’re about to see a very heavy-handed Irish government response to online activity, not just hate speech laws but much tighter limiting of any political comment online. It’s already begun. Being able to paywall stories gives me a bit of extra security, even if it’s only psychological.
Fun times ahead!
Thanks for your IM-1776 piece. I'm a Brit and am more involved with or understanding of NI politics so it's interesting to hear it from an Irishman rather than another foreign observer like me. I'll read the rest of your SS with interest.
You have mentioned the extraordinary scale of demographic change in Ireland's recent history. To us Brits observing from across the Irish Sea, the scale and speed of apparent CULTURAL change is hard to fathom. A further essay on this would be most welcome. I have lived through a sixty-year cultural transformation in my country: an exponentially advancing middle class worship fad-by-fad of a (conveniently cost-free) 'Social Justice' pseudo religion. To the casual observer it looks like you Irish have managed it in a fraction of the time. Can that really be so? https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/invasion-of-the-virtue-signallers