Hello! I hope your Saturday is going well. Here is a talk I gave in November, at the Psychological Society of Ireland’s annual conference. The transcript appears below. Enjoy! * * * * * * Transcript: Psychology, religion, and public policy Now, this particular topic is very wide-ranging. I wouldn’t […]
Ireland
Who’s more deluded, the conspiracy nuts or the journalists who dismiss them?
Ireland often likes to see itself as a cosmopolitan kind of place, where the world’s tourists, investors, and bohemian artistes are promised the traditional hundred thousand welcomes. As the most recent example of our keenness to globalise, witness our incorporation of the latest intellectual trend: delusional-right-wing-conspiracy-theory-based anarchy! Last weekend’s violence […]
The Report into Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes: Bad history
Yesterday the Irish government published the Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. It begins with the following statement: The story of mother and baby homes in Ireland is complex and its nuances cannot easily be captured in a summary. Well […]
COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: Media round-up
The Psychological Society of Ireland have issued a report on vaccine hesitancy, Maximising the Benefit of a COVID-19 Vaccine: Getting the Psychology Right. I was part of the group that produced the report, which seeks to explain how psychological barriers to vaccine uptake can best be overcome. The report was […]
The other pandemic
There has been another racist attack on property in Galway, where I live: Arsonists have burned down a house that the local council was preparing for new residents. A family from the Traveller Community were about to move in. Late on Sunday night, just before 5 am, attackers set the […]
Please don’t vote for racists. Vote AGAINST them
So Ireland is having yet another vote, this time — of all things — to elect its government. As international readers might be aware, for this type of election, Ireland uses a voting system called proportional representation with a single transferable vote (PR-STV). It’s fun! Your job as a voter […]