Sean Citizen

Superannuated bureaucrat, cat lover & grumpy old man. Now put out to grass so plenty of time to read (and very occasionally rant) on twitter, esp on Brexit.

[Sean Citizen @Sean_P_Citizen]

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Albert Einstein

[Sean Citizen @Sean_P_Citizen]

@RachelMoiselle I’m Irish and Russia has chosen to be my enemy.

A lot of foolish people seem unable to accept that just because we pose no threat to Russia, it doesn’t follow axiomatically that they aren’t our enemy. Russia is a voracious predator & sees us as prey.

[Paulie @Paulius152]

Is it any wonder we need other countries to defend us militarily when Irish people think this is how you hold a gun?

[Sean Citizen @Sean_P_Citizen]

@RachelMoiselle I entirely agree, although I admit had to google “ochlocracy” (it means mob rule)

In a liberal democracy, it is always understood that there may be a wide variety of views on any issue. In particular, nobody is forced to agree with the majority.

But the mob demands uniformity.

[Sean Citizen @Sean_P_Citizen]

@RachelMoiselle Again, the totalitarian assumption that Ireland’s thinking is homogeneous. In other contexts I imagine Aoife Moore would proclaim her support for diversity.

Well here’s some diversity for Aoife. I’m Irish & I think Ed has been treated abominably.

[Sean Citizen @Sean_P_Citizen]

@RachelMoiselle @ZzVvbbbbn The attribution of a single point of view to “the Irish people” grates on me. Irish people are fairly diverse & hold a wide variety of opinions about this (& many other questions). I’m an Irish person & I think the match should proceed & that the teams should shake hands.

[Eilis O'Hanlon @OHanlonEilis]

Tail wags dog

[Charlie Flanagan @CharlieFlanagan]

The right not to express an opinion on contentious political matters should be acknowledged & defended.

[Eilis O'Hanlon @OHanlonEilis]

This week's column on this week's hysteria. Single issue fanatics have take over Ireland, and nothing is safe from their ideologically charged tantrums.
https://t.co/s3EEQOXHL2

[actualiteitjunk @actualiteitjunk]

#Brexit...

[Charlie Walsham @CharlieWalsham_]

Democracy depends on the freedom to say three words without fear of professional or social destruction:

“I disagree with you.”

[The Irish Politics Newsletter @IrishPoliticsNL]

In the European Parliament today, Sinn Féin once again voted for Russia and against a motion to strengthen European preparedness and resilience. They voted the same way as Germany's far-right AfD.
Remember a vote for Sinn Féin is a vote for Russia.

[kiesha @kiesha9i]

If a cat sits on you, you cancel your plans. That's the rule.

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

Every 90 minutes, someone in the UK or Ireland dies by suicide.

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. Suicide is not inevitable. You can interrupt someone’s suicidal thoughts. You could save a life.

I've shared this video before; it's message remains as important and powerful as ever. You won't always know someone needs help so why not message that friend now and just check in?

[Charlie Walsham @CharlieWalsham_]

You don’t have to hate somebody to think they are wrong. You don’t have to be a bigot to oppose regressive religions. And you don’t have to follow every fashionable moral cause to be a decent human being.

We desperately need to relearn those distinctions.

[Sulkhan Metreveli @Sulkhan]

Credit where it's due, and it's rare enough to notice.

The most honest sentence from a Western leader this week came from Norway, at a funeral. Jonas Gahr Støre, on Zelensky: "His plane was nearly hit by a drone as it was taking off from Moldova. This is the reality he faces."

No "both sides." No "de-escalation." A fact, said plainly, by a man burying his king. Half of Brussels couldn't manage that with a script. Oslo managed it in grief.

[Charlie Walsham @CharlieWalsham_]

The most reliable way for journalism to lose the public is to take its bearings from other journalists. If the people around you in the newsroom, on the group chat and on your timeline all treat the same assumptions as settled, you will start to hear disagreement as extremism. That is not a reliable guide to the country. Journalism is supposed to test claims, including the fashionable ones. When the vocabulary of a political movement becomes the vocabulary of the bulletin, the testing has already stopped.

[Le Point @LePoint]

Ils crient à la souveraineté face à Bruxelles et s’agenouillent devant Moscou. Pourquoi les partis populistes européens sont-ils si complaisants avec la Russie ?

✒️ L'édito d’Étienne @Gernelle ➡️ https://t.co/tHBHI9M4B1

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

@Nigel_Farage Cat check: In a 2024 interview Farage praised Argentinian President Javier Milei - "All the things he’s done … That’s leadership … He is amazing.”

[Brigid Laffan @BrigidLaffan]

Serbia cannot become an EU member state until it faces up to its past