Europe
What happens when you design a law around Meta's architecture, and then apply it to leafletting Connemara?
Friend of the newsletter Sam Jeffers from WhoTargetsMe has, for his sins, been monitoring the online campaign ahead of today's local elections in Britain. Reform has taken a fundamentally different approach to this election, working hard to make itself the main character. As Sam summarises: In 2024, Reform’
Companies reach Unicorn size due to sheer ruthlessness; of their business practices and of the US idea of capitalism.
What happens when you design a law around Meta's architecture, and then apply it to leafletting Connemara?
Political mobilisation does not scale "spontaneously", and, once that fire is lit, there is no controlling what it burns.
Google appears to have deleted its political ad archive for the EU; so the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads - for countless elections across 27 countries - is all gone. We had been told
I really, really hope this isn't the start of a whole thing. Elon Musk has tweeted about the race for the Aras in the most profoundly ignorant and stupidly dangerous way possible. The tweet is screenshot below; in it Musk sub-tweets another tweet claiming Simon Harris "ordered
It is late and I am at my kitchen table, over-caffeinated again. This weekend I got to be part of the general election coverage, which is my Carnegie Hall / Champions League Final. I imagine it might be for some people who read this, so some thoughts: It really is as
Revealing "shadow campaigns" and how AI-driven “deepfake” tools are reshaping political messaging and authenticity.
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Sharing some incomplete thoughts on the narrative battle around the fuel protests, which feel like they are realigning Irish politics as we speak.
Political mobilisation does not scale "spontaneously", and, once that fire is lit, there is no controlling what it burns.
I will be on Virgin Media later this evening for the Tonight Show’s end of year review, and I thought I would share some of my speaking notes with you here. We’ve been asked to prep our “of the year”s; moment, story, villain and person. I only
The results are in; Catherine Connolly won the Irish Presidential election of 2025, gathering 914,143 - or 63% - of the vote. There is a lot of talk of spoiled ballots (including from me) - but - this win is historically comprehensive. Catherine Connolly has garnered the highest percentage
Over the last few months I have tried to dig out and get on the record some of the hidden and more ephemeral aspects of this election. Here is a recap of what we covered.
This video is worrying; it shows a combination of both intent and skill in building out very deceptive content, in a way that resonates with Irish audiences.
Aoife Dunne's "Sorry now" video is one of the most subtle yet devastating pieces of political content I have ever seen.
By burying the lede and handing over airtime, have Fine Gael committed an own goal?
Our politics is a techno-coloured pick-and-mix, this election is a Soviet department store
Fianna Fáil unlikely to get the €250k back from the state they would have if Jim Gavin had run
Have the dates on Google's Fidesz ads changed in its ad archive?
Google appears to have deleted its political ad archive for the EU; so the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads - for countless elections across 27 countries - is all gone. We had been told
