Connal Parr

Assistant Professor in History.
Views my Own. Books: Solidarity and Pressure: The Story of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement and Paving the Path to Peace

[Connal Parr @ParrConnal]

Delighted that my book arrived today. Now feels real @OUPHistory

[The Observer @ObserverUK]

In weaponising Henry Nowak’s tragic death, the right has come full circle on identity politics https://t.co/HYP0UbCa8d

[BBC News NI @BBCNewsNI]

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to the families of five people shot dead by the Army in Belfast in 1972. https://t.co/t5xi56ADmc

[The Irish Times @IrishTimes]

🔺Ken Early: Arsenal came out for the second half knowing it would consist of 2,700 seconds and that their objective was to kill them all: “Exterminate all the brutes.”

⚽️ If Arsenal are unpopular with neutrals, it’s because they waste everyone’s time. Not just their opponents’ time, but our time too

⚽️A way of playing that was more fun for everyone else might, in the end, be more fun for them too

Read here: https://t.co/F7YWBzntYD

#afc #arsenal

[Novara Media @novaramedia]

Being working class isn’t about manners or accent.

It’s about whether you depend on your wages to maintain your lifestyle, says British trade unionist @MickLynch4AGS.

“If you have to get up when the alarm clock rings and go out and do a job – and you depend on your earnings, rather than your assets – you are working class,” he explained.

[Rodin Simi @RodinSimi]

He's right. Arsenal were wasting time from the 6th minute until PSG scored. The game became a little more open afterward, but Arsenal were still defending with all 11 men behind the ball.

A club that claims to be the best in the world set a very poor UCL final record: the lowest possession, constant time-wasting, and a goal that came from a handball-assisted pass.

At one point, I thought they were actually going to win. Arsenal defended so well that neither Kvaratskhelia nor Doué managed a clear shot on target throughout the game.

[FootballFunnys @FootballFunnys]

CONFIRMED SIGHTING: Gabriel's penalty has been found and recovered in The Danube River in Budapest 😳

[Danis @DanisMCFC]

Well well well…
PGMOL title.

[Belfast Telegraph @BelTel]

The controversial £500m Tribeca scheme in Belfast city centre has been scrapped in favour of a new housing-led plan, its developer has said.

https://t.co/OclzykH77N

[Brian Groom @GroomB]

Titanic Men Going Home, Belfast, painting by Cupar Pilson, Irish artist.

[Connal Parr @ParrConnal]

This guy always nails it

[Novara Media @novaramedia]

“The Telegraph... is making space for racism.”

Former RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told senior Telegraph journalist Camilla Tominey that her newspaper is “on the way” to explicitly supporting Reform.

"The Telegraph seems to be preparing itself to become a full signed up affiliate of Reform," he said.

[Seán na Gealaí 🎃 @LeglessScut]

Accidentally said North of Ireland instead of Northern Ireland on a date with a Protestant girl from East Belfast

[The Observer @ObserverUK]

Andy Burnham slams Tony Blair for ignoring inequality in his defence of ‘radical centre’: @RSylvester1 speaks exclusively to the Mayor of Greater Manchester

Former prime minister’s intervention shows he ‘does not understand what’s going on’ in people’s lives, says Burnham
https://t.co/2LNHI8MaAe

[Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis]

Tony Blair is the living embodiment of what happens when political office becomes a down payment on future plunder. Ejected in 2007 by his own MPs as a massive liability, he bequeathed Britain a wild casino economy primed for the 2008 crash. And when the British economy crashed and burned, Mr Blair kept quiet while honing his skills at securing power by other means.

His first job, after his ejection from 10 Downing Street, was as the West’s Middle East envoy, with a supposed emphasis on Gaza. It took six painful years for Mr Blair’s tenure to prove a failure so profound it amounted to active complicity in Israel’s ethnic cleansing, in Palestinian erasure, and in paving the ground for the ongoing genocide.

Soon after, the Chilcot Inquiry demolished Blair’s Iraq lies, exposing him as a liar, a chancer and a war criminal responsible for countless corpses of Iraqis, but also of British soldiers.

Then came Blair’s real innovation: the financialisation of the ex-premiership itself. The Tony Blair Institute, fuelled by £130 million from Oracle's Larry Ellison—coincidentally, the largest individual donor to the Friends of the IDF—became a shadow state, brokering governance contracts for autocrats and companies like Palantir that weaponise AI to produce mega-death abroad and full-on surveillance of Western populations.

Now, in May 2026, this corporate fixer issues a 5700 word tantrum demanding that Labour embrace Trump even more than Starmer already has, denounce what is left of Labour’s betrayed Green New Deal, and trash the remnants of workers' rights. This is not the wisdom of an aging statesman. It is the frantic squirming of a man fearing his grip on oligarchic power might soon wane and whose entire post-10 Downing Street existence depends on preventing the many from ever reclaiming what the few have plundered.

https://t.co/1Onlpx9Nkh

[The Irish Times @IrishTimes]

Analysis: Sinn Féin caught between anti-establishment right and soft left https://t.co/zHAlRKec6D

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

🚨📈 OFFICIAL: TOTTENHAM ARE STAYING IN PREMIER LEAGUE.

[Connal Parr @ParrConnal]

Think Leinster need some psychological coaching for these finals

[Keith Jones @JonesyKeith123]

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has informed @IrelandFootball manager Heimir Hallgrímsson of his desire to pledge his allegiance to Ireland after missing out on Englands World Cup squad. Expects to be in squad for September’s Nations League games once passport issues are sorted. Keith.

[DepressedBergman @DannyDrinksWine]

Hans Zimmer explains why Ennio Morricone's score in Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon a Time in America' (1984) is his favourite movie score:

"'Ennio Morricone's score in 'Once Upon a Time in America' (1984) is at the top of the list because I can’t think of a more beautiful, haunting, soulful, emotional score to listen to."

("Hans Zimmer's 3 Favorite Movies Scores of All-Time", IGN, 2016)

P.S: On this day, 42 years ago, "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, France.

[JustBizarreFooty | B @JBFootyX]

🚨🎙️| Roy Keane:

“People will call me harsh, but I’m being honest, Burnley played against Arsenal and the officials. That’s what I saw. Arsenal fans can get angry all they want, but deep down they know some of those calls were embarrassing. Maybe this title race is being decided before the ball is even kicked.”

“Burnley were robbed, absolutely robbed. I’ve seen poor refereeing but this felt different. Every key moment somehow favored Arsenal. Funny that, isn’t it? After all these years without a title suddenly everything starts going their way. If that’s football now, we’re in trouble.”

“I don’t want excuses from Arsenal fans because if this happened to them they’d be screaming corruption for months. Burnley never got a fair chance. The referee had an absolute shocker and VAR? Don’t get me started. At some point you start asking questions, are Arsenal actually that good or are they just getting carried?”

[🥤 @TheImmortalKop]

The worst Premier League winners ever