Mark Paul

Dublin

London Correspondent at Irish Times

London Correspondent of The Irish Times. No longer a blue thick. I have more questions than answers. Let’s all speak freely. I was never in Saved By The Bell.

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Articles

UK supreme court’s biological sex ruling disappoints trans activists, lets off politicians

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

The UK’s supreme court decision that trans women are not defined as women under equality law is likely to have widespread ramifications for the regulation of how public space is shared in Britain’s hospitals, schools, armed services, sports, changing rooms and toilets. The biggest sigh of relief at the ruling, however, may come not from campaigners, but from British prime minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
‘Have you watched Adolescence yet?’ - Life imitates art for Kemi Badenoch

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

Right-wing British Twitter, or X as it is now known, is flooded with culture-war memes about the Netflix show Adolescence, in something of a backlash to the breathless, near-fawning reception that has greeted the fictional show about male youth’s susceptibility to online misogyny. Amusing in their preposterousness, the memes include images of police cars pointing loudspeakers out their windows at lone passing walkers: “Have you watched Adolescence yet?” blares an officer.
Goals scored and steelworks saved in Scunthorpe’s day of two halves

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

MPs and peers from across Britain raced to Westminster on Saturday morning for an emergency recall of parliament to pass laws to save British Steel and its 2,700 jobs in Scunthorpe. As they did so, the anxiety was palpable around the northern industrial town, 40km south of Hull in Lincolnshire. People in Scunthorpe weren’t just skittish over the steel jobs. They were also nervous about the football. Scunthorpe United had a crunch match at home to Spennymoor Town.
Who was David Joyce, the Galway man shot dead by UK police at a busy train station?

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

Tuesday of last week was a typical busy day at Milton Keynes Central rail station, 80 km north of London. But for one deeply troubled Irishman it would also be his last. David Joyce (38), originally from Galway, was shot dead by Thames Valley police. Milton Keynes, a city of 270,000 people, was developed from scratch in the Buckinghamshire countryside mostly between the 1970s and 1990s to relieve congestion in London.
Bits of history: more slivers emerge of Scotland’s sacred Stone of Destiny

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

It is a potent symbol of Scottish monarchy and nationhood with debated links to the real-life king Macbeth, who inspired William Shakespeare. It also has an undeniable association with the current British monarch, King Charles, who like his mother Elizabeth was crowned while sitting above it.
‘The worst mobile phone service in the rich world’

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

Minutes before the UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, gave her spring statement to the House of Commons last month, her immediate predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, rose to his feet to speak in the packed chamber. Hunt didn’t want to talk about the dire national finances, tax policy or Reeves’s increasingly desperate attempts to spur economic growth.
British judge who oversaw first ICC trial at The Hague appointed to chair Southport stabbings inquiry

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

A former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has been appointed to head a statutory inquiry into the July 2024 murders of three young girls in Southport, the British government has announced. Retired judge Adrian Fulford, who has presided over some of the UK’s most notorious criminal cases of recent years, will head the inquiry into the murders by Axel Rudakubana, the Cardiff-born son of immigrants from Rwanda.
Birmingham’s rubbish piles high against walls covered in pro-Palestine graffiti

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

Birmingham’s grand Centenary Square was abuzz on Saturday afternoon amid blue skies and a spring verve. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK had harnessed the anger of its members at a huge rally around the corner the previous night. But this morning, bother seemed blissfully far away.
Nigel Farage gears up for Reform UK’s ‘big moment’ in May 1st elections

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

May 1st is International Labour Day, but Nigel Farage hopes that, this year, it is also Reform UK’s day – local elections are due in England and his insurgent right-wing party could be the big winner. He insists May 1st has been his “whole focus” since Reform’s general election breakthrough last July.
Labour bets on growth to fund UK’s future but US tariffs could ruin it all

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

An off-mic exchange towards the end of Rachel Reeves’s economic spring statement on Wednesday captured the mood in the House of Commons. Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer had just announced a £14 billion (€16.8 billion) package of brutal spending cuts to shore up the UK’s ailing finances, including reductions in disability benefits and foreign aid. She appeared to blame some of Britain’s ills on the nervy atmosphere in the global economy.