This afternoon.

Government Buildings, Dublin 2

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has ruled out an early general election before Christmas, saying it was not in the country’s interests with so much uncertainty around Brexit.

Speaking to the media after today’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Varadkar said it could be a crucial time in the Brexit process and the UK general election could see changes to the political landscape in Westminster.

He said it was possible that the Brexit Party could hold the balance of power or other parties may want to reopen UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement.

Mr Varadkar said: “We should not have a general election until we have some certainty around what is happening with Brexit and we don’t have that yet.”

Taoiseach rules out pre-Christmas general election (RTÉ)

Earlier: “This Is About A Very Small Number Of Fine Gael Ministers Wanting To Get Out Of Their Current Job”

Rollingnews

The new ‘re-imagined’ Nokia 2720 Flip

This afternoon.

The classic 90s flip phone is back.

Finally.

Tara Walsh writes:

HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, today announces that the Nokia 2720 Flip is now available to buy from Carphone Warehouse, Powercity and Harvey Norman from €109.

A classic flip reimagined for today’s connected user, the Nokia 2720 is compact and tactile but transformed in usability thanks to the integrated AI technology. The device features a familiar flip-phone design, combining simplicity and reliability in a durable device.

comes with WhatsApp and Facebook to make sure you’re connected to what matters, while having the Google Assistant1 just a button-push away meaning consumers can get more done with their voice.

Any excuse

Nokia Phones (HMD Global)

An impressive short by Newcastle-based writer/director Sean McKenna (narrated by The Boosh’s Julian Barratt) for Channel4’s Random Acts.

It starts with the end of humankind, but don’t miss the end.

shortoftheweek



This afternoon.

Henry Street, Dublin 1

Love Island’s Greg O Shea (centre) with Arnotts toy soliders Shauna Cleary (left)  and Craig Badger (right) dance on the famous Grand Piano at the opening of iconic toy retailer FAO Schwarz at Arnotts.

The Arnotts flagship is just one of two locations in Europe for the world famous toy store and follows the opening of FAO Schwarz at Selfridges, London last week.

Any excuse.

Photocall Ireland

Behold: the Cheshire Cat galaxy group in the constellation of Ursa Major – apparently grinning happily at us from 4.6 billion light years away. To wit:

Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, published over 100 years ago, predicted the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. And that’s what gives these distant galaxies such a whimsical appearance, seen through the looking glass of X-ray and optical image data from the Chandra and Hubble space telescopes. Nicknamed the Cheshire Cat galaxy group, the group’s two large elliptical galaxies are suggestively framed by arcs. The arcs are optical images of distant background galaxies lensed by the foreground group’s total distribution of gravitational mass. Of course, that gravitational mass is dominated by dark matter. The two large elliptical “eye” galaxies represent the brightest members of their own galaxy groups which are merging. Their relative collisional speed of nearly 1,350 kilometers/second heats gas to millions of degrees producing the X-ray glow shown in purple hues

apod

Come to Mother.

Via GCN:

Mother, the club night that this year hosted the biggest Pride party in Ireland and the hugely successful LGBT+ festival, Love Sensation, is moving its weekly club night residency to Dublin’s most eclectic new venue, Lost Lane [Adams Court, Off Grafton Street, Dublin 2]…..

Launching on Saturday, November 16, Mother will kick off its weekly residency at Lost Lane with Mother DJs & special guests.

Following a one-off Halloween club night on the October Bank Holiday (MOTHER presents: Lost Souls @ Lost Lane), Lost Lane is delighted to welcome Mother to the venue, joining current club night curators Nialler9, Hidden Agenda and Sally Cinnamon.

Mother moving club night residency to new Dublin venue, Lost Lane (GCN)

Thanks Sheena

This afternoon.

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

Activists from Extinction Rebellion protest outside the Burlington Clayton Hotel who are hosting The Atlantic Ireland conference and Exhibition by the Irish Shelf Petroleum Study Group (ISPSG).

15 litres of fake blood was used to’ represent the blood on the hands of the oil corporations’.

Extinction Rebellion stage protest outside Dublin’s Clayton Hotel (RTÉ)

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

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