Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘British State (aka UK)’ Category

“Decades-long collective failure to root out the worldwide networks of powerful men with wealth and influence who have raped, exploited and violated girls and women” – by Gordon Brown, ex British Prime Minister (2007 – 2010)

leave a comment »

British police arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (brother of English King Charles) because of his business and commercial ties to the convicted child-abuser Jeffrey Epstein, going back at least 25 years. News reports state that the police are questioning the British royal about his corrupt financial link with Epstein, but have not mentioned detailed allegations that these two men were participants in an international sex-trafficking ring.

The former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2007- 2010), writing in the New Statesman, has published hard evidence concerning possible Epstein-Mountbatten-Windsor international sex-trafficking crimes, and referred them to the British police.

For many years the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and the man who was formerly know as Prince Andrew have hidden in plain sight.

It is unlikely that the British state authorities, and police forces in other countries, can continue to turn a blind eye to these crimes.


GORDON BROWN: POLICE NEED TO INTERVIEW ANDREW

Link :
Gordon Brown : Police must investigate Epstein sex-trafficking allegations

What connects this month’s revelations to the sex trafficking crimes of Jeffrey Epstein is our decades-long collective failure to root out the worldwide networks of powerful men with wealth and influence who have raped, exploited and violated girls and women; treated them as less than human – and done so with almost complete impunity.

Read the rest of this entry »

Man Formerly Called Prince Andrew Arrested by British Cops on February 19 2026 – Why Did It Take So Long? – Criminal Behaviour Hiding in Plain Sight

leave a comment »

Ian Hislop, Private Eye’s editor, said: “It’s nice to see that Private Eye was getting close enough to the truth fifteen years ago to make some really appalling people – and their fine upstanding legal representatives – nervous.”

Ian Hislop, Private Eye’s editor, said: “It’s nice to see that Private Eye was getting close enough to the truth fifteen years ago to make some really appalling people – and their fine upstanding legal representatives – nervous.🧵3/5

Private Eye Magazine (@privateeyenews.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T20:45:12.688Z

“In our experience, it usually does take quite a while for prosecutors, justice departments and governments to sit up and take notice of what Private Eye has been saying all along.”

“In our experience, it usually does take quite a while for prosecutors, justice departments and governments to sit up and take notice of what Private Eye has been saying all along.”🧵4/5

Private Eye Magazine (@privateeyenews.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T20:45:12.689Z

Individuals operating within the network created by the late Jeffrey Epstein hired numerous people who threatened media organisations which were investigating a vast child abuse and financial corruption racket. One such individual was the Belfast Lawyer Paul Tweed, who wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 calling the magazine Private Eye “an absolute rag” :

This is the relevant magazine cover :

Belfast Telegraph Political Correspondent Sam McBride has done a fine job investigating the murky professional relationships between Paul Tweed, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Jeffrey Epstein.

The big lesson here is that the British and USA states ignored credible evidence for many years uncovered by investigators. This “tug the forelock” behaviour must cease. A first step in Ireland is to cease all official visits by members of the corrupt British royal family.

The least we can say is this :

Read here here the carefully chosen recent words of Belfast journalist Suzanne Breen, Belfast Telegraph political correspondent and a frequent contributor to BBC NI politics programmes :

“Chris Moore says William McGrath worked for MI5, and it’s even possible that he was planted in the children’s home as part of an intelligence-gathering operation. The journalist makes a compelling case that MI5 — at the very least — knew about what was happening and kept quiet.

Shamefully, there has been no adequate inquiry into Kincora. Some files have been destroyed, while others have been locked away by the British government to 2065 and 2085.

The most marginalised and vulnerable children were raped by powerful men, allegedly including King Charles’ grand uncle.

The building at the centre of the scandal was demolished three years ago, but the cover up of the crimes committed behind its walls continues. It is long past the time that the full truth was told about what happened in the house of horrors.”

John Meehan February 19 2026

A tribute to the outstanding  journalist Ed Moloney, who passed away in New York Aged 77

leave a comment »

https://wp.me/p1iwpM-4NB

Ed was a great friend and will be missed.

Condolences to Joan McKiernan, and all friends, colleagues, and  comrades.

A reminder : Ed Moloney’s work on issues concerning child abuse in the six-county bit of Ireland which remain unsolved :

John Meehan October 20 2025

Catherine Connolly Irish Presidential Campaign and Climate Change which threatens humanity

with one comment

In a Facebook  discussion, the Swiss eco-socialist activist Chris Zeller points out that the British “Your Party” makes no statement about climate change which threatens humanity – I wonder has the Catherine Connolly presidential campaign in Ireland made a climate change declaration?

Chris’s statement, which I endorse ” I have the impression that “Your Party” is no exception. In several European countries, we see that the traditional left and the trade unions are more or less consciously putting the ecological challenge on the back burner. I would go so far as to argue that the fossil fuel backlash we are seeing in all key sectors of capital has eaten deep into the traditional left and the trade unions.

We are currently less far along than we were possibly in 2019. However, the Earth system is changing abruptly. The effects will pose a concrete threat to the physical survival of a significant portion of humanity in just a few decades. Yet the imperialist countries – including trade unions and the left – assume that the suffering will spread far away from our societies in Europe and North America.

This, of course, raises important strategic questions. My working hypothesis is that we urgently need to build a transnational revolutionary eco-socialist vanguard.
We need collectives and organisations that vigorously oppose the fossil fuel backlash and the power of fossil fuel capital in general.” 

Paul Murphy TD Advocates an Ecosocialist Revolution

Possibly Catherine Connolly makes a good start here :

https://www.thejournal.ie/catherine-connolly-says-there-is-no-recognition-of-climate-emergency-in-budget-2026-6838080-Oct2025/

John Meehan October 13 2025

Caucusus Colonels’ Fable in Dublin’s Phoenix magazine – real journalism versus pro-Putin deliberate misinformation

leave a comment »


Down the rabbit hole” is an English-language idiom or trope which refers to getting deep into something, or ending up somewhere strange. Lewis Carroll introduced the phrase as the title for chapter one of his 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, after which the term slowly entered the English vernacular. The term is usually used as a metaphor for distraction.[1] In the 21st century, the term has come to describe a person who gets lost in research or loses track of time while using the internet.


Down the Rabbit Hole

Fact check: Fake claim British Colonels were ‘captured’ in Ukraine

The fable spread among all usual tankie publications – that is, organs which uncritically peddle pro-Putin propaganda – and influencers (for example the former British Westminster MP George Galloway). It fitted in with The Phoenix magazine’s pro-Putin takes on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The magazine has form :

The Phoenix magazine has form spreading fasle stories related to Ukraine. See "Two tweets, a ‘Phoenix’ fable and a hatchet to the bud of left solidarity with Ukraine." tomasoflatharta.com/2022/10/14/t…

John Meehan (@johndmeehan.bsky.social) 2025-08-13T16:40:20.841Z

The story surfaced in the first week of August 2025. It is a media disinformation classic – 2.78 million views, spread in 53 countries, 17,800 posts, spread in 16 different languages.

A quick internet check revealed the story was not appearing on reputable news sites, and that it was spreading like wildfire on pro-Putin conspiracy organs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reject Trump-Putin Partition of Ukraine Plan

leave a comment »

Reject Trump-Putin Partition of Ukraine Plan

Ukraine must determine its own future. Surrender to Trump-Putin will create a carnival of reaction in the heart of Europe. Been there, done that: Collins-Griffith 1922 Irish surrender to British Empire.

A useful article on the Trump-Putin Partition of Ukraine Plan is below.

Financial Times Saturday August 9 2025

 Christopher Miller in New York and Fabrice Deprez in Kyiv

Zelenskyy looks to European allies to stop handover of territory to Russia

Donald Trump said a peace deal with Russia could involve ‘some swapping’ of Ukrainian land

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainians ‘will not gift their land to the occupier’ 

Zelenskyy looks to European allies to stop handover of territory 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is trying to shore up European opposition to any loss of Ukrainian land to Russia after Donald Trump said that a peace deal might involve “some swapping of territory”.

People close to the Ukrainian president told the Financial Times that he was alarmed by Trump’s decision to hold a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week without inviting Ukraine to participate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Keir Starmer’s crazy comment about pro Palestine Kneecap playing at Glastonbury – ex taoiseach Leo Varadkar raps British PM’s loony statement

leave a comment »

Irish Rap performers Kneecap are booked to play at a huge music festival in Glastonbury, but British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer thinks that’s not “appropriate”. Starmer’s crazy comment is so off-the-wall that ex Irish taoiseach (prime minister) the ultra-conservative Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael), thought it was a gag.

Irish Times news report :

“Kneecap’s official Instagram page shared a screenshot of the article containing Mr Starmer’s comments, stating that “arming a fu*king genocide” was what’s “not appropriate”.

In a comment underneath the post, Mr Varadkar said he had thought the comment from Mr Starmer was a “gag”.

“[I] no longer hold office nor have any mandate so my views don’t count for so much anymore. I get that. But I really thought this was some sort of gag. It’s the role of artists to be avant garde, inappropriate, challenging, disruptive – from James Joyce to Sex Pistols and Playboy,” he said.”

See also at this link :


Starmer claims Kneecap Glastonbury set “not appropriate”

The Issue is Genocide in Palestine

Read the rest of this entry »

Fascism in Ireland 1922 – 2025

leave a comment »

Compared with most wealthy capitalist countries (for example Russia, the United States of America, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands) far-right racist politics have been late taking off in the two bits of Ireland in the early part of the 21st century. The article below – Irish Politics Affected by Fascism Since Partition in 1922 – provides useful context.

In my opinion it overlooks a critical reason for the relative weakness of racist poison in the 26 county bit of Ireland : the rise of a mass women’s liberation movement in Ireland since the 1960’s; collapse of the Catholic Church’s prestige and moral authority – especially since the early 1990’s – because of its criminal opposition to abortion, divorce, contraception, equal pay – and the institution’s role in systematic torture of women and babies in “homes”.

The 6 county bit of Ireland was not, strictly speaking, fascist – but this Orange State was “A Protestant State for a Protestant People” – and extreme right unionist parties have always shared racist and imperialist politics promoted by the British far-right.

Before the November 2025 Irish General Election far-right racist candidates hoped to build on a relatively significant breakthrough in the June 2025 European and Local Elections. However, a hero of Irish women, Nikita Hand, took a legal case, alleging violent rape, against the prominent kick-boxer racist Conor McGregor in October and November 2025.

More details here :

During the election campaign a woman called Nikita Hand took a legal civil action, alleging rape, against an international celebrity, the kick-boxing superstar Conor McGregor. McGregor is closely associated with a number of mini-Hitler racists, some of whom were elected to Dublin council seats in June 2024. These included Philip Sutcliffe (Dublin South-Central) and Paddy Holohan (Dublin South-West). Most rape trials in Ireland are held behind closed doors, and the details are not widely broadcast.

Link :

Irish General Election November 29 2024 – Return of a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Coalition – Setback for the Left

John Meehan April 28 2025


Irish Politics Affected by Fascism Since Partition in 1922

The Dublin riots, which caused an estimated €20 million worth of damage in November 2023, the violence that surrounded some of the protests in July last year and the week-long rioting in Belfast following the Southport stabbings shocked the political establishment in Ireland and the wider world. For decades there has been a political myth that Ireland is one of the few countries to have escaped the influence of fascist and far-right politics. The reality is that Ireland and Irish politics have been affected by fascism since the ideology first emerged a century ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

US base commander removed for refusing to lower Greenland and Danish flags at Pituffik Space Base – Small countries can humiliate imperialist bullies

with one comment

The latest news from the Greenland capital Nuuk tells us Yankee bullies have lost the plot.

Very few people live in Greenland; the population is only 56,000. The large island has attracted the attention of the United States of America (USA) super-power, which is blundering around in the Arctic wilderness.

The U.S. military announced Thursday it had removed Col. Susannah Meyers, commander of its Pituffik base in Greenland, stating it would not tolerate any pushback against President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Meyers sent an email to base personnel on March 31 distancing herself from U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s visit three days prior, according to the independent news organization Military.com.

President Trump’s threats are disintegrating in many parts of the globe; we should remember that small countries are not powerless. They can stand up to imperial mad dogs and inspire others. Danish Red-Green Alliance member of parliament Søren Søndergaard observes :

Finally, as you may know, Trump has announced that he is going to annex Greenland to the United States! Perhaps to gain free access to all of Greenland’s minerals. Perhaps to prevent other countries from using the new shipping routes that are appearing after the polar ice caps melt. Or maybe simply because if you add the territory of Canada and Greenland to that of the United States, the American territory will be larger than that of Russia and will constitute the largest country in the world. This gives a new meaning to the slogan ‘Make America Great Again’: ‘Make America “Great” Again’.
But the small and proud Greenlandic people have a saying: ‘Nothing about Greenland without Greenland’.

On Easter 1916 “the world did gaze with deep amaze” after small Ireland struck a deadly blow against the world’s then biggest imperial monster, the British Empire. This defiant message of resistance is immortalized here by Sinéad O’Connor and the Chieftains :

Read the rest of this entry »

British SWP Apologises For Making a Serious Mistake – the party is now opposed to all forms of sexism and oppression

leave a comment »

A whistleblowing contact has supplied the workers’ movement with two letters which the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) Central Committee is sending to members in Britain. There is no need for members of the organisation’s sister parties, such as the Irish Socialist Workers’ Network (SWN), to read these documents. They are strictly confidential.

We Demand Change Summit and the need to build confidence that the SWP has changed.

Read the rest of this entry »