#124 | Quarantine Sessions 2: London Calling (with Ciara McShane)

In the past decade, certain subcultures have been identified in social media. Fiat 500 Twitter, FBPE and Scottish Twitter have all been documented to some degree as having their own implied sets of rules, values and norms which are distinct from whatever mainsteam or “normal” is. And then there’s Irish Twitter.

Whatever about Ireland itself and wherever you consider its borders to be, Irish Twitter is widely taken to be activist, feminist, outgoing, left-leaning, pop culture hyper-literate and saltily hilarious. And few individuals encapsulate these qualities as much as today’s guest.

Ciara McShane (@ciara87c)’s twitter feed is a wild diary of the experiences of an Irish woman in a Brexit era London which cannot figure out its nearest neighbour. Her observations on topics from Tinder to politics to Ulster Irish have won her over 29,000 followers. Recently she has talked movingly about homesickness during Covid19 and has been involved in raising money for community groups. She tells Darach and Éimear all about it in today’s episode, as well as her favourite Irish words and historical figures.

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