Veronica McClarey @VMcclarey

1/2 #MagdaleneLaundries “In the laundries themselves some women spent weeks, others months, more of them years, but the thread that ran through their many stories was a palpable sense of suffocation, not just physical in that they were incarcerated but psychological,

One of Ireland’s most respected filmmakers to introduce her critically acclaimed movie in Co Derry derrynow.com/news/home/1900…

24 July 2023: Ann Blackwood, 71, was found fatally injured in a cemetery in Stubbington, Hampshire. Her ex-husband, Martin Suter, 66, has pleaded guilty to murder. He also faces 6 additional charges regarding assaulting a girl under 14.

First they came for the refugees, but I did not speak out - as I was not a refugee. Then the came for people of colour, but I did not speak out, as I was not a person of colour Then they came for the disabled, but I did not speak out, as I was not disabled Then they came…

Ok. Those that know my account already know that me/we reported a sexual predator, my English teacher, to police in 2018. It took 7 years to get him to court. The trial has been brutal for us all. But tonight 15 year old, vulnerable, sworn to secrecy, broken me, will sleep…

What is missing from this debate, in every country where they have tried to pass this legislation, is the buyers. We don’t hear from them, we don’t see them. We don’t see them out giving newspaper articles, talking about their ‘right to buy sex’. The reason that we don’t is…

Lovely to hear the Woodland Trust talking about a ‘mast year’ on @BBCr4today - one in which our woods abound in nuts and acorns. ‘Mast’ in this sense meant a ‘feeding’ or ‘fattening’, because the fallen fruit of our beeches, oaks, and chestnuts was used as fodder for pigs.

23 September 1938 | Dutch Jewish girl, Marianne Aandagt, was born in Amsterdam. She was deported to #Auschwitz from #Westerbork in July 1942. She was murdered in a gas chamber after arrival selection. --- Video about the first two gas chambers created near Auschwitz…

From Novara Media: A massive general strike called by grassroots trade unions in support of Gaza is underway throughout Italy, with many sectors including railways, ports, local public transport, schools and public services taking part. Workers downed tools at midnight on Sunday…

On a recent flight from Oslo to Dublin, I found myself seated beside an elderly lady from South City Dublin who worked in “government and just recently retired.” she said. After a few minutes of chatting, she assumed I wasn’t Irish. 1/6

Today I offer a reminder of the word ‘forswunk’ (13th century): exhausted from too much work. To be ‘foreswunk’ (my own version) is to be exhausted before you even begin.

I will tell you something that happened before my eyes while I was at the hospital — an event that almost killed me with pain and sorrow. While I was watching my wife's condition with intense anxiety and a worry that gnawed at my soul, a small child arrived with very serious and…

That’s horrible to death. Two 13-year-old brothers weighing only 8.5 kg each were found bedridden in frontline Pokrovsk. They survived over a year under the care of their 10-year-old brother, Platón, after their grandmother's death, Ukrainska Pravda reports. 1/

1/2 The Lost Children of #Tuam begins filming via @rtenews #LiamNeeson and #CatherineCorless are among the producers of the film, which is presented by BBC Film and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland in association with Coimisiún na Meán, RTÉ, Ireland's Port Pictures, Element Pictures,

Grotesque: following allegations of child sexual abuse, Catholic Church almost dropped Fr. Anthony McSweeney but decided instead to move him to another parish. Finally jailed, part of his defence, was that ‘he was too fat to fit a teenager on him.’ bbc.com/news/uk-englan…

Word of the Day is ‘snerdle’ (19th century): to lie warm and still beneath the covers for as long as humanly possible.

Defying those who told him to "stick to football", @GaryLineker chooses to use his platform to speak up against Israel's genocide in Gaza and for the rights of refugees in the UK. Congratulations to Gary Lineker for winning Best TV Presenter at the National Television Awards.

Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal are now all considering boycotting Eurovision unless Israel are removed. Like if they should. RT if Israel should be kicked out

1/4. In the late 1940’s Sheila Deasy, a waitress, pregnant and unwed was placed in St. Pat’s on the Navan Road in #Dublin -#MotherAndBabyHome. Her son John died within the institution at just two months old on the 12th February 1948. His death record states inanition’ or

5 September 1932 | A Dutch Jewish boy, David Ossendrijver, was born in Rotterdam. He arrived at #Auschwitz on 7 April 1944 in a transport of 240 Jews deported from #Westerbork. He was among 111 of them murdered in a gas chamber after the selection.