Writing & Media

I write reviews, opinion pieces, and features for The Irish Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, and various magazines and journals.

Recent Writing & Media:

‘The Myth of the West’, The Irish Times, 22 May 2023

‘The End of Empire traumatised Britain’, The Irish Times, 13 May 2023

Ireland’s Edge podcast, series 3: The Good Life

‘The World is Remembering the Holocaust All Wrong’, The Irish Times, 28 January 2023

‘Silicon Playgrounds: Estonia & e-residency’, The Fence Issue 13, October 2022

‘Annie Ernaux and the power of writing’, The Irish Times, 6 October 2022

‘Ukrainian wheat has long been at the heart of Russian imperialism’: Review of Oceans of Grain, The Irish Times, 28 May 2022

‘A book of evidence’: Review of My Fourth Time, We Drowned, The Irish Times, 26 March 2022

‘When Data Gets Personal’: [watch] Interview with David Kenny, Ireland’s Edge

‘By Memory Inspired’: [watch] Interview with Séamas O’Reilly, Ireland’s Edge

‘European since the beginning’: Review of Muslims and the Making of Modern Europe, The Irish Times, 29 January 2022

Ireland’s Edge podcast, series 2: Altered States

‘From the First Pen’: Review of The Presidents’ Letters, The Irish Times, 30 October 2021

‘Food: Past & Present’/’Alimentação: passado e presente’, Electra 13, Summer 2021

Ireland’s Edge podcast, series 1: Available Light & the Known World

‘Writing Women’s Lives & History’, History Workshop Podcast, 8 March 2021

‘Menschenmetzger’, London Review of Books Blog, 24 November 2020

‘They were anti-fascists’: Review of The International Brigades, The Irish Times, 14 November 2020

‘An embodiment of authoritarianism, patriarchy, and imperialism’: Review of Salazar, The Irish Times, 11 October 2020

‘Historians pay tribute to John Hume’, The Irish Times, 4 August 2020

‘Agitate, agitate, agitate’: Review of Black Abolitionists in Ireland, The Irish Times, 18 July 2020

‘Four Years On: Radical History after Brexit’, History Workshop, 23 June 2020

‘The history of epidemics is not yet over’: Review of Epidemics & Society, The Irish Times, 6 June 2020

‘Can food save the world?’: Review of Sitopia, The Guardian, 12 March 2020

‘The hero who first exposed Auschwitz’: Review of The Volunteer, The Irish Times, 22 February 2020

‘An alarming take on the future of humanity’: Review of Food or War, The Irish Times, 27 January 2020

‘The radical racist who still haunts British politics’: Review of Enoch Powell, The Irish Times, 28 December 2019

‘Digging up the past’: Review of Potato, The Irish Times, 7 December 2019

‘Remaking the West’: Review of Empire of Democracy, The Irish Times, 2 September 2019

‘The politics of language’: Review of Our Tangled Speech, The Irish Times, 9 August 2019

‘Notes from Black Europe: Review of Afropean’, Financial Times, 27 July 2019

‘Spain’s History Election’, Tortoise, 27 April 2019

‘Independent Ireland’s minority’: Review of Protestant and Irish, The Irish Times, Culture, 13 April 2019

‘We are what we eat: Food and Identity’, Tortoise, 9 March 2019

‘Before the Backstop’: Review of The Border, The Guardian, 2 February 2019

‘Beyond the Backstop: How Ireland sees Brexit’, Financial Times, Weekend, 26 January 2019

‘A scene that will live in the Irish memory until the end of time’: Review of The Maamtrasna Murders: Language, Life & Death in 19th century Ireland, The Irish Times, Culture, 8 December 2018

‘Peace, trade, and Border issues a result of a century of tireless diplomacy’, The Irish Times, 1 December 2018

‘The only certainty is uncertainty’: Review of Roller-Coaster: Europe 1950-2017, The Guardian, 8 November 2018

‘Ireland’s Islands’: Review of On the Edge, The Irish Times, Culture, 13 October 2018

‘A definitive guide to an extraordinary life’: Review of Thomas Cromwell: A Life, The Irish Times, Culture, 6 October 2018

‘Historical nonsense underpins UK’s Brexit floundering’, The Irish Times, Opinion, 17 September 2018

‘Timely jolt to deluded “Bullshit Britain”‘: Review of The Rise and Fall of the British Nation, The Irish Times, Culture, 1 September 2018

‘The Dictator and the Future of Spain’: Review of Franco: A Biography, The Guardian, 4 August 2018

‘Festering every sore in Irish society’: Review of Stacking the Coffins: Influenza, War, & Revolution in Ireland, 1918-19, The Irish Times, Culture, 30 June 2018

BBC Radio 3, Free Thinking: ‘Food in History’, 26 June 2018

‘Irish food takes centre stage’: Review of Ireland’s Green Larder, The Irish Times, Culture, 19 May 2018

‘A Timely Reminder’: Review of Ireland, West Germany, & the New Europe, 1945-73: Best Friend & Ally?, The Irish Times, Culture, 3 March 2018

‘The Anxious Empire’: Review of Victorious Century: The United Kingdom, 1800-1906, Financial Times, Books, 23 December 2017

‘An eye for an eye’: Review of The IRA in Britain, 1919-23, The Irish Times, Culture, 23 December 2017

Video of Migration Nation discussions at Other Voices/Ireland’s Edge

‘The Story of a Donegal Village, the History of Modern Ireland’: Review of The End of Outrage, The Irish Times, Culture, 25 November 2017

BBC Radio 4, The Food Programme: ‘Eating as a Family’

‘Between Here and There’: Review of Lovers & Strangers, Financial Times, Books, 9 September 2017

‘Imagination is needed to achieve a united Ireland’, The Irish Times, Opinion, 18 August 2017

‘There are none so blind as those who will not look at history’, The Guardian, ‘Reformation 2017’, 11 August 2017

‘Why the West got rich and the Middle East did not’: Review of Religion, Rulers, & Riches, The Guardian, Books, 4 August 2017

BBC Radio 3, The Essay: ‘A History of Fasting’

‘UK Politics has become a very British farce’, The Irish Times, Opinion, 21 June 2017

‘Why we need to start planning for a United Ireland’, The Irish Times, Opinion, 1 May 2017

‘Faith in Food’, BBC Arts short film, 30 April 2017

‘Islam’s engagement with modernity’: Review of The Islamic Enlightenment, The Irish Times, Books, 15 April 2017

‘St Patrick’s Vermin’: Review of Expelling the Poor, The Irish Times, Books, 8 April 2017

‘An open and creative Ireland could be a powerful example as others turn inward’, Financial Times, 24 January 2017

BBC Radio 3, Free Thinking: Books for Brexit, 13 December 2016

‘Never a hopeful or a pleasant task’: Review of Governing Hibernia, The Irish Times, Books, 12 Nov 2016

Irish Writers on Trump’s Election, The Irish Times, Culture, 10 Nov 2016

‘An Age of Contraditions’: Review of The Pursuit of Power, The Guardian, Books, 5 Nov 2016

‘Dancing at the Crossroads of History’: Review of Unapproved Routes, The Irish Times, Books, 22 Oct 2016

BBC Radio 3, The Essay:’Are We What We Eat?’

RTÉ Radio 1, Inside Culture: Culture Night Special on Identity

AHRC New Generation Thinker Interview

‘Should Ireland Welcome the Brexit Passport Rush?’, The Irish Times, Opinion, 28 July 2016

Review of Irish Nationalists in America, The Irish Times, Books, 18 June 2016

BBC Radio 3, Free Thinking: Brexit & Citizenship, 29 June 2016

BBC Radio 3, Free Thinking: History, Sausages, & Aubergines, 30 May 2016

Review of The EU: An Obituary, The Guardian, Books, 26 May 2016

Review of In Praise of Forgetting, The Irish Times, Books, 30 April 2016

‘Europe from Charlemagne to UKIP’: Review of The Holy Roman Empire, The Guardian, Books, 2 April 2016

‘Election ignoring Emigration’, The Irish Times, Opinion, 19 February 2016

‘Bringing Emigrants Home is about more than Hashtags & Tax-Breaks’, The Irish Times, Life & Culture, 12 December 2015

‘What might bring young emigrants home?’, The Irish Times, Opinion, 12 September 2015