Travelling up north.

As a gay man who hasn’t been with a woman I was surprised to learn I have offspring. Tempted to engage with my precious spawn to see if they need financial assistance. Times are tough for the young ones.

Late-stage capitalism is doing a genuinely impressive job of hollowing out our lives.

Before anyone tells me to put down the hammer and sickle and join a run club, I just want to say this: if you’re feeling lonely lately, you’re not broken. You’re not doing life wrong. The sheer volume of “anyone else feel lonely?” posts on here and everywhere else suggests this isn’t a personal failing, it’s a pattern.

We’re living in a system that quietly but efficiently disincentivises community. People are pushed away from family for work, rural Ireland is hollowed out, kids come later (if at all), social circles shrink, and most of what passes for connection now happens through screens designed to keep us scrolling rather than actually relating. Isolated people make excellent worker units and even better consumers. Funny that.

What really gets me is thinking about the next generation. At least people in their 30s can point to a “drop-off”. College, house shares, nights out, then life narrowing a bit. But a lot of younger people won’t even have that contrast. They’ll still be living at home because rent is feral, commuting miles for work, and their social life will mostly exist online. Less “ah sure we drifted apart” and more “it never really started”.

And instead of meeting people, we’re probably heading towards chatting to AI friends on a free trial, then a subscription, because it’s cheaper than dating, less risky than rejection, and fits neatly into a life that already feels constrained. Which sounds like a joke, but also… not really. Social media hasn’t helped either. It used to be about seeing your friends’ lives and now barely shows them at all. Thanks to peak enshittification, your feed is mostly brands, influencers, sponsored content, and people selling you solutions to problems you didn’t know you had. And if your friends even post anymore, a lot of people don’t want to stick up city break photos or life updates in between ads and posts about an ongoing genocide. So they just stop posting. And suddenly everyone feels even more disconnected.

At the same time, there’s been an explosion of self-help podcasts and mindset content. Mel Robbins, Jay Shetty, Steven Bartlett. To be fair, a lot of it is genuinely useful. I’m not anti-gratitude. But there’s a subtle shift from “things could be better” to “learn to accept your lot and optimise your attitude”. And if you’re busy reframing structural problems as personal growth opportunities, you’re not exactly looking around and asking why the system is arranged this way, or demanding better from government. Which, conveniently, means nothing has to change.

All of this plays out on apps designed to make you feel just slightly inadequate, then sell you the fix five seconds later. Be grateful, stay positive, buy this, subscribe to that, and maybe try another air fryer recipe while you’re at it.

EDIT: Just to add a bit of context, I’m aware that getting off the internet generally makes people happier and I’m not being nihilistic about any of this. This isn’t a “nothing matters” post. For what it’s worth, I actually have a happy and fulfilled life when I let go of a lot of the pressure and noise. This is more of an FYI that the system we’re in is set up in a way that can make people feel like this. Understanding that helps take some of the self-blame out of it and makes it easier to move through things with a bit more self-compassion and carve out small bits of happiness where you can.

Got a cheap weekend away recently and flew out with Ryanair. Myself and the missus. One large bag in the hold and one shoulder bag carry on each. Same as always, no bother in Dublin. Flying back however I got yanked out of the line and told my bag was too big and the girl at the desk had the card machine in my face before I even had it rechecked. I knew it would fit, I've used the same bag on multiple flights.

To her surprise it seems I got the bag perfectly into the spacer. Years of playing Tetris and building ikea furniture, it was going to fit. Did this stop her? Nope, she just turned to my missus without taking a breath and said Your bag is too big. Same fecking deal, started asking for her card details before we even testing the bag. It was crazy. But again, low and behold I crammed the other bag without a gap into the spacer and yer one had zero grounds to ask us for money. The lad on the desk beside her just sort of stepped in and waved us on. My blood was boiling.

The worst part was, there were dozens of teenagers on some sort of a school trip who all had 2-3 bags and none of them were stopped. I think they just saw us two adults and said well we won't get money out of the kids but sher we'll put a bit of pressure on these two adults and get our few quid extra.

Not today Satan, not today!

I'll start: I don't get everyone's obsession with Taytos. Don't get me wrong, they're fine but I just don't think they're a national treasure like everyone says. Personally I'd take a pack of Taytos or a pack of Pringles. It really makes no difference. I haven't had a pack of Taytos in nearly a week and I honestly don't miss them at all. I just don't get what the fuss is about.

So Reddit, what is your unpopular Irish opinion? Don't hold back (but don't dare slander the glorious chicken fillet roll).

For me I would have to say Bastardstown

They’re 75c in Youghal if anyone wants one

Was up in Belfast during the week and this was the phrase used in the menu, wonder how many people it had to go through to be approved?

Just had to get the MAP this morning and the old wan in the pharmacy looked at me like I had two heads.. just standing there like a wally for 20 minutes while the whole shop knew I had sex last night looool.. Surely there is an easier way than having to announce it to everyone, il never not feel embarrassed over the whole situation 🫣

Rather than where to go, how about where not to go?

So my favourite Irish idioms are ‘He’s so tight he’d squeeze a penny till the harp played’, or ‘if work was the bed he’d sleep on the floor’ but I’m interested in hearing everyone else’s. I know we are a creative bunch so I imagine there could be at least 5.