Inside Politics Newsletter (Irish Times)

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Life in a Trump stronghold in Virginia: ‘Most people just see those of us who live in Appalachia as hick’

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Keith Duggan

“There are two words that a southwest Virginian just cannot say,” Bill Smith explains as he sips a whiskey in Good Times, one of the more recent places to open in the town of Big Stone Gap. He pauses for effect. Because they don’t want to be impolite? “Well. That’s part of it. They also don’t want to hang their asses. You can hear it in the jokes. Someone can say something really cutting.
The Baltics are rapidly becoming a cauldron of EU growth when other parts of Europe are stagnating

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | David McWilliams

It’s not every day you find yourself in the Orthodox church where Alexander Pushkin’s great-grandfather was baptised. There is something calming about these dark, ornate and often windowless churches. The great-grandfather of Pushkin – the man whom many regard as the epitome of Slavic genius – was from central Africa (modern day Cameroon), a fact that adds to Pushkin’s image as a romantic outsider.
FD Technologies chairwoman urges investors to back takeover

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

FD Technologies chair Donna Troy has urged investors to back a £541.6 million (€643.04 million) sale of the Newry-based data and analytics company to US private equity firm TA Associates at a special meeting on June 30th, saying there are risks to it delivering on its full potential as a standalone public company.
Ireland’s plan to weaken legal protections for waterways will push many of them beyond recovery

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Ella McSweeney |ella mcsweeney

If I went to my doctor with a cancerous tumour that was treatable and curable, and he shrugged it off and told me to accept it – knowing that without treatment, it would eventually kill me – I’d think he had lost his mind. Yet this is how the Irish State plans to treat some of our most treasured rivers, lakes and estuaries.
UN Ocean Conference 3: will it lead to protecting the high seas from all extraction, forever?

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Kevin O'Sullivan

It is a gathering almost on the scale of that which convened in 2015 to hammer out the landmark Paris climate agreement. The 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) is an attempt to secure global agreement to protect our high seas. It could be a rare win for multilateralism at a time of geopolitical tension.
Little Simz: ‘I was about to play the biggest show in my career. Meanwhile, everything behind closed doors is insane’

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Ed Power

Glastonbury 2024 should have been an all-time high for Simbiatu Ajikawo. On the Saturday evening of the festival the rapper and producer better known as Little Simz took to the main stage to perform a kaleidoscopic swirl of songs that celebrated her dexterity as a rhymer, her gift for instantly catchy beats and her brooding, enigmatic stage presence. Yet while the skies were largely sunny and the music cast a glorious spell, storm clouds swirled inside her head.
Sarah Maria Griffin: ‘I will be trying to figure out what the internet means to me for the rest of my life’

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Martin Doyle

Tell us about your new novel, Eat the Ones You LoveEat the Ones You Love is a story about two women who work in a flower shop in a fictionalised Dublin shopping centre, and an orchid, who watches them with bad intentions. It’s about hunger, desire and working for minimum wage. You quit writing after feeling burnt-out and trained as a florist only to be thwarted by the pandemic. How did you return to writing? I came back gradually.
Secondary schools face threat of industrial action after ASTI rejects Leaving Cert reform package

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Carl O'Brien

Second-level schools face the threat of industrial action in the autumn after the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) voted to reject a package of supports aimed at easing the roll-out of Leaving Certificate reforms. ASTI members rejected the measures by a margin of 68 per cent to 32 per cent. The turnout was 73 per cent. The vote means second level teachers are now divided after the Teachers’ Union of Ireland last week voted to accept the package.
Carl O’Brien: ‘Take a deep breath - the weekend is a time to recharge’

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Carl O'Brien

Phew – that was intense. The first few days of the exams really are the hardest. The weekend, thankfully, offers the chance of some much-needed respite for everyone. Leaving Cert students who sat maths paper one on Friday afternoon may well feel deflated. But remember: if it was hard for them, it was hard for lots of others too. Our live coverage of the exams on Friday includes lots of comments from students who really struggled with the content and questions.
Unions to meet with Wellman examiner to discuss possible sale

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Emmet Malone

Unions representing about 200 of the 217 staff at the Wellman recycling plant in Mullagh, Co Cavan will meet with examiner Kieran Wallace of Interpath Advisory on Monday as part of an effort to find a buyer for the facility and prevent job losses. The unions say the plant has considerable untapped potential and safeguarding it and its workforce should be a particular priority for government given its environment significance.