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Rita Larkin

@bellitum.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.1K following 439 posts

Retired teacher of English & French Onetime art historian. Books. Dogs. Gaeilge. Latin. Born 1948. From Tipperary. Lives in Clontarf, Dublin. Used to blog at bellitumsblog.wordpress.com

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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
No Maureen Dowd in The Irish Times today. No quiz night on BBC tonight. A dreary Monday.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I have a sneaking feeling that a bunch of old guys in funny hats & without a single seanfhocal between them might be enraged at the huge success of the Belfast Fleadh.
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Alan Kelly @akellyucc.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
To be fair, Ireland is well used to rich elderly Americans coming over and rambling aimlessly #speirgorm
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Why do white people who resent people with darker skin spend a considerable part of their lives sitting in the sun so that they might have darker skin also?
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Saying it again. I thank God for that extra bowl of stirabout our forebears must have got. Otherwise we might now be in Tennessee, Kentucky or some other ‘shithole’ state in the Trumpian world.
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RTÉ News @news.rte.ie · 23/08/2026
The annual commemoration of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins will take place at Béal na Bláth in Co Cork, marking 104 years since his death during the Civil War.
rte.ie
Annual Michael Collins commemoration to take place
The annual commemoration of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins will take place at Béal na Bláth in Co Cork, marking 104 years since his death during the Civil War.
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Yes, it does sound familiar.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Nobody gets things or picks things up any more. Everybody ‘grabs’ things.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
On the day before Elon Musk becomes the world's first trillionaire, all I can think about is that time in 2021 when the head of the UN World Food Program asked Musk to donate $6 billion to save 42 million people from starvation and he refused.
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Mary Grace Scary Face @emgeekay.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
I choose fighting climate change over defense spending, AI, and data centres. I choose my grandchildren and our planet.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Alan Titley i Scéal san IT inniu. Tá an ceart aige #hurley
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Watching Schama's History of Britain on BBC4. Heard him use the term 'County Connaught'.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Less than 48 hours to go to the release of #census1926. I’m all excited.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Me nerves #czeirl
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Marc de Faoite @marcdefaoite.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
If you just read one thing today ... #SpeirGorm pghrev.com/as-close-as-...
pghrev.com
As Close as I Can Get to an Articulation of Irish Identity - Pittsburgh Review of Books
I can’t write with any authority about Irish identity in the modern world because I’d have to speak for millions of people and I can barely do so for myself
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Jessie has done it. Yay!
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
They’re telling us the most popular baby names of last year. As my mammy used to say ‘All following one another chicken cum plock’.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Winter Olympics over at last so quiz night is back on BBC2. #RELIEF
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Carole (Ducky) (IrPsych) @caroleducky.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
youtu.be/_tmRw_z3Crs?...
youtu.be
Joyce Grenfell - Lumpy Latimer
YouTube video by Quityertalkin
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Quiz night on BBC2 has been sidelined in favour of the Winter Olympics. 😡
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
From what I have observed over the years Americans like algebra, the Dow Jones, the Super Bowl, the flag, guns and peanut butter & jelly.
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Derek Hollingsworth @derekholly7.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
The Origins of St. Brigid's Day & Imbolg. I look at the origins of what is now a Public Holiday in Ireland. Imbolg is one of the four Gaelic festivals; Brigid, a Saint & Goddess. I'd be very grateful for RTs! #StBrigidsDay #Brigid #Imbolg #LáFhéileBríde irishlanguagematters.com/2026/02/01/b...
irishlanguagematters.com
The Ancient Origins of St. Brigid’s Day and Imbolg
Imbolc is one of the four seasonal Gaelic festivals: Imbloc, Bealtaine, Lúnasa, Samhain. In Ireland, we now have Public Holidays marking each of these with Imbolc being the most recently created, i…
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Annual tribute to the foreBrigids (and Mary Brigid) God bless and save us all. May Patrick, Brigid and Colmcille guard each wall. May the Queen of heaven and the angels bright Keep us in our house from harm this night.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
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Joel Herman @joelherman.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
I’ll never be able to accept that so many people chose to put Trump in power. You have to wonder if a population can be more misinformed in the internet age than in preliterate societies?
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Why Donald Trump has the mind of a cat www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Why Donald Trump has the mind of a cat
Making sense of the 47th US president is not easy, but a 17th century philosopher could have the answer
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
RTE radio celebrating 100 years. I recall being told of the old guy who was taken aback on hearing the radio in the neighbours’ kitchen “Have them nothin’ to do only sing in’ and jiggin’ in the middle of the day?” @aodhbc.bsky.social
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William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 14/01/2026
let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Rampant cocaine use by normally decent people is Trump-level hypocrisy www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Kathy Sheridan: Rampant cocaine use of normally decent people is Trump-level hypocrisy
Cocaine is so readily available you can order a ‘bump’ from a handy menu over WhatsApp. But hypocrisy is as rampant as the drug
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Trump’s Walmart warmongering in Venezuela isn’t empire building, it’s entertainment www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Fintan O’Toole: Trump’s Kmart coup in Venezuela isn’t empire building, it’s entertainment
Capturing Maduro and putting him on display is US president's version of a Roman emperor’s triumph, entertainment for a senile king
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
"An aide to Farage when he was an MEP, tells Crick that his boss hated policy meetings. “He was totally out of his bloody depth. Intelligent people – he was scared of them. He has an inferiority complex about education and highly qualified people.” www.theguardian.com/books/2022/f....
theguardian.com
One Party After Another: The Disruptive Life of Nigel Farage review – the man who broke Britain
Michael Crick’s gripping and vivid study of Mr Brexit is full of revelatory stories, but pulls its punches at the end
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Gillian Martin @gillmartin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
#poetry #harlempoets #mamdani
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Not long now. Can’t wait. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Diarmaid Ferriter: Here’s one thing to look forward to this year – the release of the 1926 Census
Opening of this material will facilitate much research, and for many the chance to place our own family story in context
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Programme on Daniel O'Connell at 6.30 on RTE tonight followed by quiz night on BBC2. Yeah.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Watching Lady and the Tramp. Christmas tradition.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Annual Christmas treat. Watching Lady and the Tramp.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Frank McNally on 19th century engineering project that linked Tipperary with ‘civilisation’ www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-i...
irishtimes.com
Frank McNally on 19th century engineering project that linked Tipperary with ‘civilisation’
Fr Edmond Walsh was a late vocation, having previously worked as a carter
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Christmas special University Challenge (Alumni) tonight and tomorrow night on BBC2 at 7.30 pm
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Quiz night coming up on BBC2.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Dubspeak .
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
The woman who enchanted Proust – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of Gladys Marlborough www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-i...
irishtimes.com
The woman who enchanted Proust – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of Gladys Marlborough
Gladys, meanwhile, entertained herself and guests with memories of countless former lovers
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Quiz night starting now on BBC2
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Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨 @ciaraioch.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
First year selling my art at Christmas without the Other site, where most of my sales came from, as well as losing US orders to new tariffs, so it'll be a tough one - I put huge work into every order, so even if you can't buy, shares help get them in front of eyes. GRMA! www.ciaraioch.com/artprints
Collage of prints from my site 


#SpéirGorm #SpéirGhorm #IrelandOne of the handwritten gift notes that I can include for free with all orders, if desired.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
RTE did a box pop on whether Dublin airport should be renamed Seán Lemass airport. 2 individuals said they had never heard of SL. I’m in a weakness.
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Rita Larkin @bellitum.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Quiz night beginning now. BBC2
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