Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘Ireland’ Category

1300 Days of Putin’s Terror and Tyranny – Protest, Russian Embassy, 186 Orwell Road, Tuesday September 16, 3.00pm

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The diverse group that have been protesting outside the Russian embassy on Orwell Road since February 2022 will be holding an event outside the embassy on Tuesday,September 16 commencing at 3pm.

The event is to mark the passing of 1300 days since the start of Russia’s illegal full scale invasion of Ukraine.

It will comprise a number of  invited speakers and some music and song. All are welcome to attend.

Poster advertising the event :

  

Readers are invited to circulate this blog post and poster to contacts and networks.

Bad Man Dies in Utah, USA – Sniper Kills Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump Inflames Right-Wing Hatred

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A close friend and comrade, Mark Findlay writes :

Seriously, nothing good will come out of this, save a bit of schadenfreude. It will only enrage the far right even more and replacements will be found. Just like the daft idea of shooting Trump. He survived and made the most of it propaganda-wise. I am completely opposed to any idea of assassination of our opponents.

Let’s wait to see the results of the police investigation. At the time of writing no definitive evidence is in the public domain about the identity of the assassin.

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Graham Linehan, an obsessive anti-trans comedy writer (Father Ted), has been arrested by British cops “I arrived back in London to discover the UK is still a police state run by trans activists”

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Graham Linehan, the obsessive anti-trans comedy writer (Father Ted), has been arrested by British cops in a London airport after a ten hour transatlantic flight. “I arrived back in London to discover the UK is still a police state run by trans activists”

Given that Graham Linehan blogged about it, when he arrived back in Heathrow last night he was arrested over this tweet and two others. He has to show up for another interview in October. He also ended up in hospital with high blood pressure and is banned from tweeting.

Aidan Comerford (@aidancomerford.bsky.social) 2025-09-02T09:07:48.310Z

https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/i-just-got-arrested-again.

The anti-trans “left” will go crazy.

John Meehan September 2 2025

Written by tomasoflatharta

Sep 2, 2025 at 1:10 pm

Matt Morrison would not survive in an American immigration holding cell – he boarded a one-way flight to Dublin leaving behind a life he had built in the USA

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The numbers of people leaving the USA to live in Ireland (26 county bit) are increasing. All the numbers are here. 


Ireland and USA – More people emigrating from the USA to Ireland than the other way around – Central Statistics Office Numbers

I am guessing, but I think this may be the first time since records began that more people emigrated from the USA to Ireland than the other way around. It would be interesting to view population flows between the US and the 6 county bit of Ireland. Readers may wish to discuss changing times.

Far-right crazies such as Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are destroying the lives of of ordinary people everywhere.
Matthew Morrison’s personal story offers context.

John Meehan September 2 2025


‘The walls were closing in,’ says ex-IRA man who self-deported over ICE fears

Catherine Fegan, Belfast Telegraph, September 1st, 2025


Matthew ‘Matt’ Morrison said he wouldn’t survive in an American immigration holding cell.

“I wouldn’t have my medication,” the 69-year-old told the Irish Independent this week.

“They would take my brace off my legs. They would take my stick. The fact is 12 or 13 people have died this year alone [in US immigration detention centres]. So, you understand the type of fear I had.”

Morrison, a former member of the IRA, had been living in the US for almost 40 years when he decided to “self-deport” back to Ireland over fears that he might be picked up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Matthew Morrison, with his wife Sandra Riley Swift, in 2025. Courtesy of Morrison Family

Originally from Derry, Morrison moved to St Louis, Missouri, in 1985 after spending 10 years in prison.

In 1976, he was imprisoned over attempted murder in an IRA raid on a British army barracks.

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Global call: Ukraine must receive all it needs to win a just peace! – Consider Signing A Petition

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Link :
Global Call – Ukraine Must receive all it needs to win a just peace

To: The European Commission, the governments of European Union Member States and the United Kingdom

After US president Trump’s “summits” with Putin (August 15) and European leaders (August 18) Ukraine confronts the appalling prospect of an unjust “peace” settlement that rewards the Russian aggressor. 

If forced on Ukraine, it will legitimise:

  • The violent Russian occupation of a fifth of Ukrainian territory and the swap to Russia of territory and people presently under Ukrainian administration
  • The destruction of Ukraine’s towns, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, environment and heritage
  • The murder of tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens and the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children, and
  • The genocidal Russification of the occupied territories, and a host of other war crimes. 

It will also place the burden of ending the war not on aggressor Russia but on Ukraine, its victim–even as the Putin regime steps up its bombardments of Ukraine’s cities and infrastructure.

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Yankee Spies in Greenland – “We do not spy on friends” says Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen

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Diplomatic and Political skirmishes between the USA and western European governments – Ireland, Denmark, France to name but a few – are spreading.

Here is a case study.

Copenhagen is not amused by Yankee covert operations in Greenland :

Denmark summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen on Wednesday after Danish media reported that Americans with ties to President Donald Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Danish broadcaster DR reported that at least three U.S. citizens linked to the U.S. government were involved in activities that, reportedly, authorities fear could be used covertly to support Trump’s desire to make Greenland part of the United States.

Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the U.S. chargé d’affaires — currently its most senior diplomat in Denmark — had been summoned in response. He called any interference in Danish affairs “unacceptable,” and emphasized that Copenhagen “will of course not accept covert operations on our territory,” in a statement emailed by his ministry, according to the AP.


The news is spreading :


Yankee Spies in Greenland – “We do not spy on friends” declares Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen

When powerful governments publicly argue like this – in this case the former (?) friends Denmark and the USA – is it useful to declare “a plague on both your houses”?

The answer is No. Concrete analysis is needed, and concrete answers must be promoted.
The war of words escalated after a provocative visit by Donald Trump’s vice president JD Vance to Greenland in April 2025.

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British Rail Union (RMT) Demands Justice for Workers Threatened With Deportation

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Here is very interesting news from London.

Source :
Jim Denham, Shiraz Socialist – Tube Workers Against Deportations

Posted in Tubeworker’s blog on 22 August 2025

RMT has called a demonstration at the Home Office on 4 September to demand justice for TfL and LUL workers threatened with deportation due to visa sponsorship revocation.

The demonstration takes place from 08:00 at 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.

Background on the issue

Posted in Tubeworker’s blog on 5 August 2025:

A number of London Underground workers are facing possible deportation, after changes to visa-sponsorship rules moved their roles into a different category.

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Epping Forest Asylum Hotel Case Judge Mr Stephen Eyre has right-wing form in the 6 County bit of Ireland

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We are used to NIMBY (Not in my back-yard) racists in Ireland attacking asylum-seekers and refugees in vulnerable accommodation. This political plague is currently sweeping across the British State. An Epping Forest Judge, Mr Stephen Eyre, has political form in the six-county bit of Ireland


Judge in Epping Forest asylum hotel case ran for Tories in NI poll

Liam Tunney, Belfast Telegraph, August 22nd, 2025

A judge behind a landmark ruling on hotels accommodating asylum seekers in the UK once stood for election in Northern Ireland.

Stephen Eyre’s ruling on the legality of The Bell Hotel’s eligibility to house asylum seekers has sparked a wave of complaints to local authorities across the UK, including three councils in Northern Ireland.

The action, taken by Epping Forest District Council against Somani Hotels, alleged the group had not notified the local planning authority of a change of use for the premises.

Mr Eyre is a former election candidate for the Conservative Party, standing in Birmingham Hodge Hill in 1987, Stourbridge in 2001 and again in a 2004 by-election in Birmingham Hodge Hill.

In the 1992 General Election, he stood in Strangford as the Conservatives attempted to gain a foothold in Northern Ireland.

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Once Upon A Time in the White House – Civilised People Wondered : Would timid European powers back the nauseating Trump-Putin “peace in our time” war crime plan and assist the carve-up of Ukraine?

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Two fascist gun-slingers : convicted rapist President Donald Trump (USA) and indicted international war criminal Vladimir Putin (Russia), embraced in Alaska. The USA grabbed Alaska in the 19th Century through a deal with Russia, its imperialist partner-in-crime. Uncle Sam took over the vast icy territory through the ugly and brutal method of ethnic cleansing. Civilised people hoped this ugly feature of international capitalism was a thing of the past. Wishful thinking : it is returning with ominous force in the 21st Century – especially in Ukraine and Palestine.

Volodymyr Zelensky was a target of the Alaska fascist-fascist war-crime plan. The President of Ukraine was summoned to the White House (Washington DC). A charade was staged.

Leaders of the main imperialist powers in Western Europe saw a car-crash coming : On the one hand they were opposed to witnessing Zelensky crushed by the fascist-fascist Trump-Putin steamroller, and they did not want to be accomplices to an infamous surrender. Haunting memories : the pathetic 1938 British Imperialist leader Neville Chamberlain came back from a Munich summit with the Nazi warlord Adolf Hitler – “peace in our time” said Neville, as the people of Czechoslovakia and its leader Edvard Benes were sacrificed. One year later – “peaceful” Herr Hitler invaded Poland, World War Two began.

On the other hand Macron of France, Merz of Germany – and company – wanted to avoid a direct and open clash with the White House gangster, Putin’s ally Trump. Therefore, observers were offered a charade : One after another Zelensky, Macron, Merz, Von der Leyen, Meloni, Starmer, and Rutte smeared the vain gangster Trump with praise.

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Denys Pilash – A socialist in Ukraine – Versus Trump-Putin “realist” commentator Prof John Mearsheimer – concerning the Alaska fascist-fascist plan to carve up Ukraine

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In weeks months and years to come, people all over the globe will look back at the Russian imperialist invasion of Ukraine and wonder why more people of the left failed to agree with Denys Pilash. Denys is a Ukrainian political scientist, historian, a member of the Ukrainian democratic socialist organization Sotsialnyi Rukh, and an editor at Commons: Journal of Social Criticism. Mearsheimer is a right-wing Professor who works in Chicago.

Denys Pilash (Sotsialnyi Rukh V John Mearsheimer on Democracy Now

Professor Mearsheimer (Chicago); Trump-Putin, fascist-fascist twins; Denys Pilash, Sotsialnyi Rukh Social Movement) Ukraine

President Trump says he is working on a “deal” to end the Russia-Ukraine war by hosting a series of meetings between the U.S., European Union, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. Putin is insisting Russia keep areas of Ukraine that it has seized, including the long-contested Donbas region, while Zelensky is asking the U.S. for security guarantees to prevent future invasion by its powerful neighbor. We host a conversation with two political scientists, University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and Ukrainian democratic socialist Denys Pilash, about the likely outcome of the talks and the roots of the conflict. Mearsheimer says “the sides remain so far apart” when it comes to the possibility of a ceasefire during peace negotiations that “the best outcome would be to settle this war now.” Pilash, on the other hand, says there are still measures that can be taken to pressure Russia to agree to a ceasefire and to secure more favorable postwar terms for Ukraine.

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