Tech CFO and Rematcher. Dublin, London, San Francisco, London. In that order. Not to forget some happy times in Helsinki. Keen, bad pianist.
London
Joined March 2008
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Colman Stephenson retweeted
As a single man in my 50s with no children I cannot say this in public, but the best sound in the world is young children playing outside. The squeals of delight as they are totally lost in a moment with no other cares is just amazing & something you never get from an adult.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
A fantastic start to the Festival today and our gratitude to the Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD for attending and opening it.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
Benidorm the greatest example of immigrants refusing to learn the language, adopt the culture or integrate into society.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
Talk about no good deed going unpunished. I hold no torch for SF, but Republicans have been generous in their remembrance of the First World War dead not least because many of their own relatives died in it.
Your intemperate tweet also suggests that Unionists have some kind of monopoly on remembrance. You have no such thing.
The majority of Irish men who died in WW1 were from an Irish nationalist background, more than 33,000 from the South.
Stop with this tribal nonsense. You have no monopoly on remembrance.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
#OTD 1908 Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, Gretta Cousins et al founded the Irish Women's Franchise League, an independent, non-aligned, militant group. By 1912 the IWFL claimed membership of over 1,000, making it the largest suffrage group in Ireland. dib.ie/biography/skeffington… #DIBLives
Colman Stephenson retweeted
Imagine being as cool as these #frockingfabulous #Halloween gals. Impossible.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
Lots of over-the-top coverage right now about the £1m cap on inheritance tax agricultural property relief (APR).
Quick thread:
Colman Stephenson retweeted
Good news: JPL is in contact again with Voyager 1, but on a very slow and faint link. Thanks to the great efforts of the Deep Space Network, which was able to pick up an incredibly weak S-band transmission.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
The Queen of May, 1900, by Margaret Macdonald of the Glasgow School #WomensArt
Colman Stephenson retweeted
Sometimes when I go to events my wife comes with me. If the @MailOnline get hold of pictures they put it on their website and hundreds of comments tear my wife to pieces. She’s never thrust herself forward or courted attention in any way. I don’t know if the comments are real or written by the mail. Or by bots. But I do know it’s cyber bullying. And mysoginist. And I think it may be in some way the business model of the @MailOnline . Monetising unkindness.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
In the last few weeks there have been serious and concerning developments regarding my sons’ father, Imran Khan’s treatment in prison. The Pakistan authorities have stopped all visits to him by his family and his lawyers. They have also postponed all court hearings. In addition to cutting off in- person visits, and in defiance of a court order, his weekly calls to his sons, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan, who are British and who live in London, were stopped on 10th September. We have received reports that the authorities have now turned off the lights and electricity in his cell and he is no longer allowed to leave his cell at any time. The jail cook has been sent on leave. He is now completely isolated, in solitary confinement, literally in the dark, with no contact with the outside world. His lawyers are concerned about his safety and well-being.
These actions come in the context of ongoing targeting of Imran’s family, as well as his party (PTI) members and supporters in an attempt to silence them and all political opposition in Pakistan. Imran’s nephew, Hassan Niazi, a civilian, has been detained in military custody since August 2023. More recently, Imran Khan’s sisters, Uzma and Aleema Khan, who have continued to speak out on his behalf, have also been arrested as they made their way peacefully to a demonstration and they are currently being held in jail, despite there being no proper or lawful basis for their imprisonment.
In June this year the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Imran is unlawfully and arbitrarily detained and called for his immediate release.
As a matter of urgency , we are calling for Imran Khan’s release, and for the release of his sisters and nephew as well as for his sons’ contact with their father to be re-established, so that they may have assurance first-hand that he is well and not being mistreated.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
PHOTO OF THE DAY. A US soldier's Zippo lighter from the Vietnam War (1972). 📷google images
Colman Stephenson retweeted
Interesting how many, on the back of my PM poll, talk about politicians as crooks, or only it it for themselves
My own experience, having met, worked with, & spoken to scores of MPs from all parties, is the vast majority (though not all) are, in my view, doing it for the right reasons and because they care.
I may disagree with their methods or policies, but rarely think it is for any nefarious reason.
The system of collective responsibility doesn't help either, when privately you know ministers don't agree with the policies they're locked in to having to promote (and then getting verbally battered by the media, including me, for it).
The life of a good MP means working incredibly long hours, in the chamber, mastering countless different subjects, in committees, in constituencies, dealing with constituents problems, countless meetings, school openings, and having to represent, travelling to and from London & constituency home. Not something I'd ever want to take on.
And it's not just that it can be thankless - it can be met by aggression, derision and sneering. Yet the people who do it are often absolutely bought in to the idea that they are trying to make the country better (though what better looks like is where the disagreement comes in).
This isn't about what they earn. The disjoin between the people's view and their politicians is a real problem.
Colman Stephenson retweeted
„The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.“
Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind
* 14. Oktober 1906
Colman Stephenson retweeted
I can’t think of any other country in the world which is -even nominally - a democracy where a candidate refuses to acknowledge who won the last election.
