My children’s primary school operates a lot more efficiently than O’Leary’s Ryanair
I wouldn’t employ the chief executive of a budget airline to run a country – or, for that matter, to campaign for the re-election of a party that does
Mark O’Connell: This man has the most despicable job in America. He doesn’t have to seem like he’s enjoying it
As State Department Spokesperson, it is Matthew Miller’s job to communicate to the media the administration’s position in relation to Israel’s mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza
Neom, Saudi Arabia’s new city for ex-pats, is steeped in the blood of thousands of dead workers
The luxury desert city was built by a jackboot regime using the labour of ‘trapped slaves’
Mark O’Connell: Had this technology existed when I was a student, I might not have been above using it
Generative AI: If I hadn’t created this ‘podcast’, it would have taken me a few minutes before I realised something was amiss
Glitch, glitch. Watching Trump dance for 40 minutes was like watching an empire buffer
Critics saw the strange spectacle as evidence of his cognitive decline. To me, it felt like witnessing a politician who has done away with the pretence of politics
Elon Musk makes being a billionaire plutocrat look profoundly uncool
Musk is the focus of a quasi-messianic cult that believes he will save humanity by building a self-sustaining civilisation on Mars. But he will die, on Earth, as he was born
Can AI ever replicate human art? Maybe that’s the wrong question
There’s an important difference between art made by AI, and art made using AI
The illusion that the language of human rights carries any moral weight is over
Over the course of this year we have witnessed the final collapse of the idea that western democracies are united by a commitment to rights and the rule of law
I’ve spent time with a would-be presidential assassin, but Ryan Routh is an enigma
The latest apparent Trump assassination attempt was such a non-event there’s a debate raging over whether it even merits a Wikipedia page. But it’s instructive for what it tells us about the United States
When I found my book on Blinkist I wasn’t sure how affronted to be
Blinkist takes non-fiction titles and grinds them down into a dense mulch that resembles a literary version of a protein shake
I salute Oasis as the comrades they have lately become
The Gallagher brothers embraced the logic of capitalism so wholeheartedly that they have made its flaws luridly, even dangerously visible
Ireland’s far-right activists don’t want what they say they want
Vulnerable foreigners in tents are a source of joy to the far right. They give the activists licence to unleash their inner animal
We are prioritising all the wrong kinds of weirdos
Pioneer inventors including Buckminster Fuller imagined a technology-driven future directed towards sustainability but it is a future that has been forgotten
Boeing’s description of the weapons it sells makes for an object lesson in cognitive dissonance
The contrast between the abstract corporate sales language and the concrete reality of the destruction wrought by bombs in Gaza is jarring
People don’t set small businesses on fire because they love their country
For all the rhetoric about opposing globalist elites, the far right clearly follows a form of globalism