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TK

@tkbytesback

Political commentator, columnist, writer and public affairs expert in UK and Ireland. Visiting professor at Queen’s University and Policy Fellow at Labour Together. Avid Europhile. Loves GAA, frustrated by Spurs and proud winner of wooden spoon in golf

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16.09.2024
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Latest posts by TK @tkbytesback

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The Irish News on X: ""Transactional normally means both sides get some of what they want in exchange for giving away something. "In Trumpville, transactional means the surrender, embarrassment, and humiliation of one’s quarry until they give in." Read Tom Kelly: https://t.co/F5aLfD4IqQ https://t.co/oxB3FGH6b5" / X "Transactional normally means both sides get some of what they want in exchange for giving away something. "In Trumpville, transactional means the surrender, embarrassment, and humiliation of one’s quarry until they give in." Read Tom Kelly: https://t.co/F5aLfD4IqQ https://t.co/oxB3FGH6b5

x.com/irish_news/s...

09.03.2026 16:11 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: A plumber is exactly what parliament needs right now The Labour strategy for tackling the threat from Reform is frankly bonkers

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

02.03.2026 15:16 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Unrepentant Blair shows he has learned nothing and forgotten nothing Channel 4 documentary on former prime minister hears he still stands by decision on Iraq War

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

23.02.2026 13:57 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: ‘We’ll make a bonfire of our troubles and watch them blaze away’ Stormont simply does not work. The system of governance is not competent

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

13.01.2026 17:37 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Steve Bannon should butt out of Ireland with his toxic brand of politics The MAGA movement wants to extend its toxicity into Europe. It wants to destroy the EU and mould Europe in its image

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

05.01.2026 16:26 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Amid all the madness, Pope Leo can keep my glass half full for 2026 This American Augustinian Pope may be just the antidote to the populism of the valueless far right

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

29.12.2025 14:23 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Post image

Wishing the blessings of Christmas to all those of goodwill and peacemakers.

20.12.2025 08:39 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: I can’t stand Eurovision – but I applaud Ireland’s stand against Israel The Israeli government should not be allowed to sanitise its actions via the promo video which accompanies each participant

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

08.12.2025 10:01 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Defending the indefensible and failing with a capital F The Executive continues to fail and doesn’t govern for all. And yet, the public continues to reward its failures with votes

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

24.11.2025 16:29 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: It’s a case of much ado about nothing at Stormont’s Circus Maximum Paul Givan row shows it suits Sinn Féin, the DUP, UUP, and Alliance not to look too cosy in the Executive

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

17.11.2025 13:17 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Graph showing decline since 2005

Graph showing decline since 2005

There were 93 homicides in London last year: population 9 million

In New York - population 8.5 million - there were
391.

London's homicide figure is 6 times lower than LA, 9 times lower than Miami, 17 times lower than Chicago.

And it's falling year on year despite the population increasing

16.11.2025 17:28 👍 1828 🔁 615 💬 78 📌 31

He has neither shame nor irony

10.11.2025 18:01 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Eugene Reavey’s testimony lays bare Britain’s murderous role in Troubles Eugene Reavey is an incredible individual. As is his south Armagh neighbour, Alan Black, the sole survivor of the Kingsmills slaughter. Both men ooze honesty, integrity, and personal resolve

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

10.11.2025 10:19 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: The list of Stormont failures now reads like a litany of saints There’s hardly a single department functioning efficiently or with accountability

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

03.11.2025 11:37 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Cheers

01.11.2025 12:05 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Carmel and Eamon Hanna: There’s no strength without unity While party leader Claire may carry the Hanna name in the SDLP these days, her parents Carmel and Eamon were both key figures throughout its history. They spoke to former SDLP chairman Tom Kelly

www.irishnews.com/news/norther...

01.11.2025 09:20 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1
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Tom Kelly: A wake-up call for political leaders on both sides of Irish Sea What happens next will determine the fate of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaders, as well as the abysmal Kemi Badenoch and, crucially, Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

27.10.2025 09:57 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Only bums on seats will bring about a border poll As someone from a border community, I genuinely believe the sun has already started to set on the relationship between the rest of the UK and Northern Ireland

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

20.10.2025 13:14 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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The story of Tommy, Joe and a friendship forged on field and fire The story of civil rights veterans Tommy Keane and Joe McNulty is that of an entire generation who grew up in tumultuous times of change. They spoke to Tom Kelly about the fateful Newry march of 1969 ...

www.irishnews.com/news/norther...

18.10.2025 08:27 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: And so we have a two-horse race for the Áras (sort of) On paper, Jim Gavin had all the qualities required for the presidency, but he was clearly underprepared for the relentless media scrutiny

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

13.10.2025 13:40 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: The politics of retaliation is a zero sum game As John Hume, echoing Gandhi and Martin Luther King, put it: “In conflicts where you operate an eye for an eye, everyone becomes blind.”

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

06.10.2025 13:25 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: After all the talk, Sinn Fein play safe in presidential race All the delays and speculation were ultimately about finding a solution to save face in an election where a Sinn Féin party candidate was unlikely to win

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

22.09.2025 10:35 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Latest fiasco may spell beginning of end for Starmer This week will be a defining one for the prime minister as Trump, the disruptor, is arriving for an unprecedented second state visit

The risks were always too high . This disaster should and could have been anticipated. The PM needs to seriously address his poor judgement and that of those around him -starting at the top! www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

15.09.2025 09:03 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Rayner is now an ex-minister and Labour must avoid similar fate Labour strategists had 14 years to plan for government, and yet they are making a complete hash of it

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

08.09.2025 14:21 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Stormont has gone from cradle of hope to wreck of the Hesperus Tom Kelly on why Northern Ireland’s basket case politics keeps failing itself

www.irishnews.com/opinion/stor...

01.09.2025 07:14 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Let’s not foist the intolerance of the past on those in need today Tom Kelly on why lessons from the Irish experience in London should be revisited

www.irishnews.com/opinion/lets...

25.08.2025 10:27 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Standing up to the peddlers of bigotry and hate Despite the best efforts of the would-be disruptors on both sides of the divide, Northern Ireland is not going back to the old days

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

18.08.2025 15:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

m.facebook.com/story.php?st...

15.08.2025 09:58 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: The music may have stopped with the Miami Showband massacre, but it lives on There will be no reverse gear back to the evilness of a period when some fought their wars but not in our name

www.irishnews.com/opinion/tom-...

04.08.2025 07:10 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tom Kelly: Michael D Higgins will bow out with dignity — and leave a charisma vacuum behind Column from Tom Kelly on Michael D Higgins and the Irish presidential race

www.irishnews.com/opinion/mich...

28.07.2025 12:08 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0