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Stephen Moran

@sjmoran.com
1.2K followers 327 following 3K posts

London Irish from Dublin, 1954-2854. Books: The London Silence, Day of the Flying Leaves, Ghosts and Pigeons. Made a living from computer programming. Website: StephenMoransMuseumOfIllusions.WordPress.com. Oligarchs depend on us. We don't need them.

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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 13m
I dedicate this story to Brother Basil, to the memory of Brother Basil if he has not lived into what would be his 90s or 100s. I You weren't such a bad old stick. I forgive you for blanking me. open.spotify.com/track/49qkJt... L.O.V.E. by Al Green.
open.spotify.com
L-O-V-E (Love)
Al Green · Al Green Is Love · Song · 1975
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 13h
Andy Burnham's speech to the Labour party annual conference www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... BBC iPlayer
bbc.co.uk
Politics Live - Andy Burnham’s Speech to the Labour Party Conference
Andy Burnham delivers his first speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool as Prime Minister.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 13h
Andy Burnham's speech to Labour's annual conference www.youtube.com/live/jyjTT_5... #UKLabour
youtube.com
Watch in full: Andy Burnham's keynote speech to Labour conference
YouTube video by ITV News
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 06/10/2024
It's Michealmas Daisy time here in London. In almost every front garden, they are blooming. You don't have to plant them, they visit for a fortnight or two and then they take their leaves. And their blossoms. "Whose garden was this?" What was Michealmas and what are daisies? #wildflowers #Michaelmas
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 28/09/2026
Let's face it, the Amazon logo is a willy, isn't it?
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 28/09/2026
It's the Slow Horses, isn't it? BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6... RAF Fairford suspects released on bail, head of counter-terror police says - BBC News
bbc.co.uk
RAF Fairford suspects released on bail, head of counter-terror police says
Laurence Taylor says the five men arrested on Sunday are still under investigation as police consider multiple lines of inquiry, including the possible involvement of a foreign state.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 28/09/2026
And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, the purple apples of the sun
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Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ukrainian civilians heroically ride bicycles, evading landmines while under Russian bombs and drones, to retrieve food and aid for others left behind in Russian-occupied Oleshky. About 40 children remain, while most of the other survivors are elderly people.
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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Google has started updating satellite images of Gaza. Holocaust. (📸 Barry Andrews MEP, European Parliament)
A single building is left standing amidst utter carnage. Every single building has been levelled across a few square miles pictures. Google maps identified one pile of rubble as a school.
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Jo Lloyd but jolly 🌍🐎 @jolloyds.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Interested to learn the term "Harvest Moon" only starts being used in the 18th century Coined, I guess, out of nostalgia for a seasonal, rural calendar, as people increasingly lived by the rhythms of industry and the city? Here is Samuel Palmer's lovely Harvest Moon from 1833
Men and women in pale clothes, faces hidden by their work, cut and stook a field of high, ripe corn. Full moon looks over them from between the treetops. A few large bright somewhat Van Goghy stars at top right. 
(https://interactive.britishart.yale.edu/critique-of-reason/362/the-harvest-moon)
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 26/09/2026
The reason why Donald Trump lies about everything is because he is as terrified of truth as an agoraphobe is of open spaces.
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Judi Sutherland @judisutherland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The first party to come out in favour of Rejoin will clean up at the next GE.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 24/09/2026
Apparently the outgoing US president doesn't like to be called Saddam Insane. What I can't wait for is the White House Balls. We know he wants to hold balls.
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Ewen Glass @ewenglass.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A wee one, published recently.
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Oliver @oliver48.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"A senator in Vermont has noticed who is buying Reform. Why do you think so many British papers haven't?" via Very Brexit Problems
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Sinéad Gleeson @sineadgleeson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
2,500 Irish writers, musicians and artists have now signed the @ipsc.bsky.social's Irish Artists’ Pledge to Boycott Israel. If you are an Irish cultural worker, please consider signing here: www.ipsc.ie/cultural-boy... #FreePalestine
ipsc.ie
2,500 Irish artists sign Irish Artists' Pledge to Boycott Israel!
Pledge now has more than 2,500 signatories, among them Irish cultural legends like Fontaines D.C., Kneecap, Stephen Rea, Sinéad Cusack, Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, CMAT, Damien Dempsey, Sharon Shannon, ...
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 22/09/2026
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a senile old man in possession of a seedy massage club in Florida must be in want of a ballroom.
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Jack Morris @jackmmorris.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
@neitherfishnorfoul.com is still open. I’d love to see protagonists with some fire in their bellies & characters who do not go gentle into that good night. Folks who don’t accept their fates. I’d also really love to see some stories where men aren’t stereotypes too. 1/2
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 14/07/2026
"Ireland's Enterprise Minister Peter Burke attended a private dinner with tech giant Meta at the US ambassador’s residence in February to discuss the “digital agenda for Ireland’s EU presidency,” amid a US drive to soften Europe’s policing of big tech." www.independent.ie/business/min...
independent.ie
Minister dined with Meta lobbyists at US ambassador’s residence amid US drive to soften Europe’s policing of big tech
Peter Burke’s intimate dinner with the tech giant’s reps was aimed at discussing ‘the digital agenda for Ireland’s EU presidency’
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 21/09/2026
"In a leaked document, the Irish Presidency proposes to EU Member States that the interest of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and SpaceX to make profits should take precedence over the fundamental right to data protection" noyb.eu/en/ai-eu-mem...
noyb.eu
AI: EU Member States plan “digital expropriation” of Europeans in the interest of AI companies
In a leaked document, the Irish Presidency proposes to EU Member States that the interest of AI companies to make profits should take precedence over the fundamental rights of Europeans.
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archivetvmusings @archivetvmusings.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Rutland Weekend Television (2nd June 1975). Time to relax with the latest edition of The Old Grey Whistle Test.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 21/09/2026
Beware falling bikes - sign Greenford Road
Day light, bluish sky. Small round blue and white sign showing a bicycle on top above a person holding hands with a small child. The sign is on top of a poll on a pavement beside a hedge on the left and leafy trees casting shadow patterns.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 20/09/2026
Line: "I used to know where every toenail clipping went. Now I don't know where any of them go."
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 20/09/2026
Uses for the White House Ballroom. Mr Trump, the outgoing president, has shown that he really loves wrestling and wrestlers. Remember that one he called so good looking he could be a model? Okay, the ballroom could be used for wrestling events! I think Mr Trump would love to hold wrestlers' balls.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 20/09/2026
About that ballroom, has anyone asked Trump if he intends to hold a lot of balls. I think he would like to. He certainly talks a lot of balls.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 20/09/2026
When Eve gave Adam the apple, was it with malus aforethought?
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 19/09/2026
I suggest that all social media platforms be treated in law as publishers and all posts be treated as submissions. The publication of such posts is the responsibility of the social media platforms owners. That will concentrate their minds.
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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The feeling is mutual. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Alex Hall Hall @alexhh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
That’s a hard agree from me. I am genuinely astonished at the number of otherwise sensible commentators who still discuss his latest wild actions as if they’re within the parameters of the normal policy making process.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 19/09/2026
Whenever El Presidente Trump is heard speaking in online apps, leave the app as you would a toilet some disgusting person was just in, till the air clears. This will pain the oligarchs who want to sell your time to advertisers. It gives them a reason they can understand to dump Trump. #TurnOffTrump
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 17/09/2026
Mark Carney's speech begins approx 13:45 into the recording. When he speaks in French, a translator is heard until he reverts to English. He even has some German, which he translates himself (from Goethe). Key quote: "We are not fairweather friends." www.youtube.com/live/O3rQUpu... #MarkCarney
youtube.com
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks in the European Parliament
YouTube video by European Parliament
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weird medieval guys @weirdmedieval.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
did you know that the English words druid, trust, truth, betroth, and truce all share a root word with “tree”? this reflects the longstanding spiritual and symbolic significance of trees in many European cultures
a hand drawn diagram of a tree showing the many words that come from the root word of ‘tree’
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Spitalfields Life @thegentleauthor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Here is the link to read my World of Interiors feature about the Cinema Museum house in the former workhouse where Charlie Chaplin was confined as a child: www.worldofinteriors.com/story/cinema...
worldofinteriors.com
Emotion pictures: how you can help secure a happy ending for Lambeth’s Cinema Museum
The founders of Britain’s best collection of cinema memorabilia are urgently casting around for donations in order to secure their home
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 17/09/2026
Former Canadian PM Jean Chrétien - "Vive Les Etats Unis et vive la Canada!" youtu.be/a2FLr8atHgg?... He says friendship involves being truthful with each other.
youtu.be
This is what leadership looks like
YouTube video by Duncan Fremlin
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 16/09/2026
It's lovely to see @stephen_colbert back on late night. I watched the YouTube catch up videos from the night before every day for years. If you don't like the beard, er, spoiler alert - guess. This is an entertaining interview. Ends very strong - and I don't mean the beard. youtu.be/FcUeQW3tSq0?...
youtu.be
Stephen Colbert on the Emmys, His Wife Hating His Beard & Gifting Jimmy His Captain America Shield
YouTube video by Jimmy Kimmel Live
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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
...and that's how you write a poem.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 16/09/2026
Other commenters have pointed out that we never hear such organised opposition to hundreds and at times thousands of soldiers staying at the same bases. If there's any mischief in a town or village, I imagine off-duty soldiers are as liable to be involved as anyone else.
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It would be quite 'something' if, after all the talk of leaving the EU to create CANZUK, there ends up being CANZEU without the UK
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 16/09/2026
Reminds me of John Steinbeck's comment about critics, from memory, "Unless they have the guts to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastards." McGahern stories are ace.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 15/09/2026
Some will say this is weird but I don't care. When I look at Marilyn in this montage, it's my mother I see. She's very like her. I told you it was weird. But I just feel love. Nothing else. youtu.be/GOlb7X-_YZM?... #PagingDoctorFreud
youtu.be
Marilyn Monroe - Forever Young
YouTube video by Diegol3d
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 14/09/2026
Augmented reality
Hand-painted orange marks on a rough granular surface that looks like sand but must be concrete. S, a line and a circle with three words CAM END inside it
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 14/09/2026
Driving a car is like life. You need to focus intently on the way ahead, only glance in the rear view mirror occasionally, and try not to kill anyone. -- Marcus O'Really
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 14/09/2026
My life already
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Emathion 📯 @emathion.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The French made a short film about what could happen after all immigrants would follow the ‘white, angry old man’s’ advice to go back where they came from.
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Spitalfields Life @thegentleauthor.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Gentle Author was in New York City 25 years ago today: spitalfieldslife.com/2026/09/11/a...
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 11/09/2026
London figs from the tree this morning
Six figs in a white bowl on the edge of a table
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 10/09/2026
Brilliant and with a brilliant gritty video in the heart of #Dublin. And I love the words, it's a nice bit of funny nonsense. youtu.be/cWbh_f5FcD4?... #NowPlaying Credits transcribed from YouTube: Taken from An Tairseach (coming soon - link on YouTube) starring Bríd Neachtain #SpeirGorm #SpéirGorm
youtu.be
Doireann Ní Ghlacáin - Madam Im A Darlin
YouTube video by doireann ni ghlacain
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 10/09/2026
By rights, all social media platform businesses should be considered and treated as publishers, and all posts considered submissions for publication. Adverts are also publications by the social media platform owners. It follows that the social media platform owners are liable for what they publish.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 10/09/2026
This is a good insight or beginning of, into why people are worried about AI. The key point that everyone in the world can agree on is that nobody wants AI to take over from humans. As soon as it can outsmart our clever people, it could get out of our control. It can hack, rewrite & disable systems.
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Stephen Moran @sjmoran.com · 10/09/2026
Extraordinary to think that while billions of dollars and roubles and shekels are spent on millions of tons of extraordinarily high-tech missiles and bombs, just three little pieces of lead in exactly the right places could cure half the ills of the world in a day.
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