North West Mayo, 25 degrees, @geesalafestival’s main event on Doolough beach. Racing, boxty, arm-wrestling, pints, best-dressed competitions. Hard to beat.

Water is unbelievably clear — when the Atlantic settles on a warm summer/Autumn day in west of Ireland, it’s incredible. This is an empty beach on the mainland (Mullet peninsula), close to the islands, this morning

An abandoned island off the coast of North Mayo = good place for the fine weather. (Inishkea South, 40-min boat trip from Blacksod)

Finally.

Good move — Mediahuis Ireland buys stake in Clubber

Once again, an extra centre back is WAY more important than an Isak.

Hough’s pub in Banagher = excellent

Banagher, Co Offaly

RT @Independent_ie: Ryan Tubridy repays €150,000 at centre of RTÉ payments scandal

One of the charging stops on my trip (14-min wait). This is normal. Public EV infrastructure is inadequate. Maybe it’s not anti-EV sentiment that stymies rollout, but naive EV pundits declaring it to be fine. ie that queuing, range anxiety etc are an illusion. Such an own goal

All that personal humiliation and toe-curling prostration over two years to advance a career that gets… this job?.

One of the longest drives in Ireland to/from Dublin (very few points >400km from capital). (Kilcatherine/Beara —> Dublin)

Not sure if the ‘bubble’ narrative is completely right — arms race, yes, but has real €€ effect; Nvidia and Microsoft are now €1tn more valuable than Apple because of AI. $1bn from Meta is a jaw-dropping sum, but it was mad money (at the time) to buy Instagram, too.

Story:

Mind-boggling AI economy — an Australian computer scientist, Andrew Tulloch, just turned down a $1bn (over 4 years) job offer from Meta to work in AI

Tarmon (between Aghleam and Blacksod, Mullet Peninsula, Mayo)

Also sent a message to Arsenal: ‘no way in any universe you’re bigger than us’. Would be ballsy for Newcastle to do the same here.

BUT… When Suarez said he wanted to leave for Arsenal (then more successful), LFC were right to say ‘screw you, we’re keeping him’. And it worked out, he had a monster season.

Battle of principles. (i) Drain morale among your own NUFC players and fans by keeping Isak who keeps saying he doesn’t want to be there?.<vs>.(ii) Publicly showing you can be pushed around by a ‘bigger club’ despite enforceable contract with player?. Common sense = sell.