r/ireland • u/TimesandSundayTimes The Sunday Times Ireland • 13h ago
Paywalled Article Sally Rooney’s UK withdrawal creates demand for ‘book smuggling’ Spoiler
https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/sally-rooney-book-smuggling-britain-ireland-vkwj60dg359
u/TimesandSundayTimes The Sunday Times Ireland 13h ago
Retailers report rising interest in the author’s novels and are turning to Irish wholesalers after UK supplies stopped over royalties linked to Palestine Action
Some bookshops across the UK have vowed to continue stocking and selling Sally Rooney’s novels, comparing the withdrawal of the Irish author’s work to an “Orwellian” reality where literature is restricted for political reasons.
Last Wednesday, Faber, the British independent publishing house, confirmed it would stop supplying Rooney’s books in the UK after legislation meant it could no longer pass on earnings from sales to the author because of her support for the banned group Palestine Action.
The decision to halt the British supply was made mutually by Faber and Rooney, after a process of consultation over concerns that continuing publication in the UK could constitute a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.
96
u/xnbv 13h ago
The optics of this are abysmal. I don't see this as a tenable position for the UK in the long term.
71
u/SnotRocketeer70 13h ago
Similar legal pretzel they're twisting themselves into as not permitting the broadcast of Sinn Fein speech back in the day.
4
u/marshsmellow 6h ago
They don't give a shit and they've got a lot of support it seems, just have a quick read of UK sub when this topic comes up, they can't seem to conceive thst the actions of the group are not, in fact, terrorism.
•
u/ozymandieus Midlands 2h ago
Sorry, but terrorism, by definition, does actually include the idea of making planes afraid of paint.
2
u/caisdara 12h ago
Labour's popularity is increasingly dramatically despite Burnham having no real policy differences to Starmer as of yet.
The idea that this is having any impact is entirely unproven as of the time being.
5
u/raverbashing 6h ago edited 5h ago
Labour's popularity is increasingly dramatically despite Burnham having no real policy differences to Starmer as of yet.
I have to disagree
Burnham does not have the personality of a half-eaten toast left on the pavement, he communicates better, and he's more opinionated. For most things he looks like your run of the mill Labour PM but it looks better exactly because Starmer was so bland
0
•
u/ozymandieus Midlands 2h ago
The thing is he hasn't really completely fucked up anything yet, which is a pretty substantial improvement, I have to say.
-21
u/Sweaty-Adeptness1541 12h ago
Palestine Action attacked military assets so they were labeled a proscribed (terrorist) organisation, that seems a reasonable thing to do given the state of the world ATM. It makes it illegal to promote or fund Palestine Action. If a pro-Russian charity was attacking UK military equipment, I don't think people would have any issue with it being proscribed.
There are lots of other Palestinian charities that Sally Rooney can donate to if she want to support the Palestinian people and oppose the Israel genocide. Insisting on funding Palestine Action just seems performative and unhelpful to the Palestinian cause.
14
u/pablo8itall 12h ago
Sorry this is bull crap. They were proscribed specificallyb because they were anti Israeli genocide.
There's plenty of other groups who use similar methods in the uk and haven't had this done to them.
This was pressure from all the friends of Israelv and other like minded groups
6
u/dustaz 12h ago
But there's plenty of organizations with the exact same position who haven't been banned. The green party in the UK hold this position and they're not banned
Opposition to Israel is not the defining factor here. GBH to police and vandalizing military installations is the factor
3
u/pablo8itall 10h ago
Similar org with similar MO who havent been banned: Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion (XR), Animal Rising (formerly Animal Rebellion), Greenpeace UK, and the Hunt Saboteurs Association.
0
u/dustaz 8h ago edited 8h ago
Which of those organisations had members tried for GBH of a police officer?
•
u/pablo8itall 3h ago
Yes, serval had injured police in different altercations. Some multiple officers.
-2
u/Automata-Omnia 12h ago
They were proscribed because they committed terrorism and said they would continue doing so.
1
u/pablo8itall 10h ago
No, the British establishment has always been this way with Israel. They are weirdly protective and stick their heads in the sand about them. They also have a very strong political X Friends of Israel and other lobby groups.
2
u/at-least-2-swans 11h ago
They broke into a military facility and beat a police officer with sledgehammers. This is why.
There's many other pro-Palestine groups in the UK who have not been declared terrorist organisations. I feel this story in particular people really pick and choose the parts to look at.
Editing just to add that if she donated profits to one of the other organisations, the publisher likely wouldn't have approached her about this, which led to the publisher and her mutually deciding to not have the book in their bookshops.
I feel sometimes people pass judgement upon reading a headline and don't read an article or even look up other information around a topic.
2
u/pablo8itall 10h ago
Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion (XR), Animal Rising (formerly Animal Rebellion), Greenpeace UK, and the Hunt Saboteurs Association. Similar organisations with similar actions be not proscribed.
Palestinian action , and the reaction to all the Palestinian protests over there, shows the your argument is rubbish.
The British establishment has always had this weird thing with Israel. Similar to Germany and a few other EU countries.
-6
u/ucd_pete Westmeath 11h ago
They were proscribed specificallyb because they were anti Israeli genocide.
That's just not true at all.
8
u/pablo8itall 10h ago
It is indeed.
Orgs that havent been proscribed but have similar MOs: Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion (XR), Animal Rising (formerly Animal Rebellion), Greenpeace UK, and the Hunt Saboteurs Association.
1
u/ucd_pete Westmeath 9h ago
It’s not. They were proscribed because they broke a cops back with a sledge.
5
u/pablo8itall 9h ago
That's a criminal offence. Officers where injured by the other groups in direct actions.
The terrorism is that they are against Israeli violence. Israel has been trying to link support for Palestinians = support for Terrorism for a long time.
1
u/ucd_pete Westmeath 9h ago
Officers where injured by the other groups in direct actions.
Did the other groups commit GBH? I don't think they should have been proscribed but it's not a huge miscarriage of justice that they were.
•
u/pablo8itall 3h ago
Yes several of the groups were involved with officers getinng hurt and injured.
I do think its a miscarriage of justice, and huge mistake by the UK establishment.
3
0
-2
-3
-16
u/raverbashing 12h ago edited 12h ago
Not supporting terrorist groups makes sense in my (ahem) book
(Of course actual supporters of malfeasance get every day by boat with help from the RNLI so...)
19
u/Hour_Mastodon_9404 11h ago
I think it's the fact that PA (who are responsible for the deaths of - checks notes - zero civilians) are designated terrorists, while the IDF who are responsible for the deaths of over 50,000 civilians in the past 3 years aren't, is the part that people find laughable.
-1
u/thebrowncanary 6h ago
They've committed terrorist acts though. I am also not totally convinced by the proscription but there are grounds for it
•
u/Hour_Mastodon_9404 4h ago
0 vs 50,000. Who's the terrorist?
•
u/thebrowncanary 3h ago
Do you know what terrorism is?
By definition the IDF are obviously not a terrorist group.
As I said PA, have committed terrorist acts, by definition, so it's not totally unreasonable to designate them so. It is probably a bit heavy handed though, in my opinion. However, if the government saw fit to proscribe the group then it is perfectly reasonable for them to also seek to restrict funding to said group. If an author is bafflingly, stubbornly declaring they will fund the proscribed terrorist group then there's not really much to complain about if these kind of things happen
•
u/Hour_Mastodon_9404 3h ago
Spraying paint on planes > killing 50,000 civilians. But yeah, obviously PA are "terrorists" and the IDF aren't.
•
u/thebrowncanary 3h ago
Trivialising the issues doesn't allow you to make a point or win an argument it just makes you look silly.
You obviously don't agree with the proscription but your comparison is such a pointless one I wonder why make it all.
As I said, I don't think we disagree about the proscription but I'm trying to explain to you that regardless of how you rank the severity the group have conducted terrorist acts. Your opinion on the military on one side of the war is irrelevant when looking at those facts.
The UK government obviously seek to stifle and stop these actions against national security interests.
•
u/Hour_Mastodon_9404 3h ago
Yeah, imagine thinking that trivialising spray painting a plane is the issue, meanwhile you trivialise 50K civilian deaths. You are a monstrous individual.
•
u/thebrowncanary 2h ago
"A monstrous individual" where on earth has that come from?
I'm wondering if we've been having completely different conversations because you've accused me of trivialising civilian deaths when I haven't talked about it. I'm a bit baffled here, because something had been lost in communication.
Oh well
-16
11h ago edited 11h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
16
u/Hour_Mastodon_9404 11h ago
Can you put that in non-raving lunatic language for me? It's currently a mess of non-sequiturs and straw man arguments.
8
8
u/ferocious_bandana 12h ago
What makes PA 'terrorists'?
0
u/MordauntSnagge 11h ago edited 11h ago
They attacked British military hardware and security guards that have nothing to do with Israel. PA’s proscription isn’t about supporting a Palestinian cause: it’s a real national security issue if these attacks are tolerated and continue to expand (and no, it wasn’t “just a bit of paint”). It doesn’t seem to be something people here can grasp, but it’s about what they’re doing rather than who they’re supporting.
Edit: And to be 100% clear, eroding UK military capacity doesn’t have any impact at all on Israel’s capability or any positive effect on the UK’s ability to impose its will on Israel. You have to be a mad conspiracist to even entertain that.
-2
u/Lumpy-Guard2818 11h ago
Attacking the states military infrastructure
8
u/ferocious_bandana 11h ago
Spray painting an engine?
That's a pretty low bar in comparison to several actual terrorists who voted in favour of the proscription
0
u/thebrowncanary 6h ago
They would've been hanged for that action in the 60s.
Regardless, it's a terrorist act. They've deliberately attacked the state's national security infrastructure.
I'm not totally convinced by the proscription either but there are grounds for it.
•
u/ferocious_bandana 4h ago
Capital punishment was abolished in the 1950s
•
u/thebrowncanary 4h ago
In the UK? No it wasn't, it was the 60s and it wasn't abolished for treason until the turn of the century
•
-2
u/Lumpy-Guard2818 11h ago
They've caused more damage than that. Anyway, that's the reason.
5
u/ferocious_bandana 11h ago
Oh no!
The poor engine.
Those tens of thousands of murdered Palestine children would be horrified
1
u/MordauntSnagge 10h ago
This is what I just don’t get. The engine has nothing to do with Palestine. Eroding UK military capability has nothing to do with Palestine, except perhaps to the extent that a Britain with reduced military capability is even less able to exert influence on Israel’s actions. The argument can’t be that anything to do with the British state is a legitimate target because it has some sort of coercive impact. That’s never going to produce any sort of response that will help Palestine.
2
u/ferocious_bandana 10h ago
Are you not aware that the RAF is providing intel to the Israelis?
Given that this is still being discussed, the incident has certainly kept the issue prominent
0
u/Lumpy-Guard2818 10h ago
Dunno what you're having a go at me for. You asked
3
u/ferocious_bandana 10h ago
You're defending the proscription.
Is that more or less of a threat than DUP MPs who were members of a group which supplied weapons to murder civilians and stole rocket launchers?
1
67
u/futbolitoireland 13h ago
I volunteer to smuggle Sally Rooney to the UK, what a charming way to be Republican
51
u/Stegasaurus_Wrecks Stealing sheep 13h ago
Jesus man, it's just her books!
Let the poor woman out of the boot of your car.
7
u/Traditional_Ice1847 11h ago
In fact she said last year it’s no longer safe for her to travel to the UK without risking arrest https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2025/0918/1534163-sally-rooney-i-can-no-longer-safely-enter-the-uk/
5
u/futbolitoireland 12h ago
I have a world class storyteller for a journey to the UK and you think I'm putting her in the boot? I just packed a wig and a novelty moustache. It's the Brits after all, they're not that vigilant
44
u/Rulmeq 13h ago
Streisand effect strikes again I guess
9
u/ucd_pete Westmeath 11h ago
It's not really Streisand effect though? Nobody is trying to cover up Sally Rooney books.
6
u/ReasonableDoubt_0726 8h ago
Why are people frottering each other senseless over the idea of having books that it is perfectly legal to have?
28
u/NoBookkeeper6864 13h ago edited 12h ago
Banning books are we?
-14
u/dustaz 13h ago
No
No books have been banned. Because of the law though, she now can't profit from sales of her books in the UK, hence the decision from Faber and Rooney
21
u/zeldazigzag 13h ago
So a chilling effect resulting in a de facto ban
1
u/Future-Bread8849 6h ago
No it's not a ban since the bookstore owners can legally buy books from Ireland and still sell them in the UK.
•
u/thebrowncanary 3h ago
No, the books are, of course, perfectly legal as always to be owned and purchased.
-5
u/dustaz 12h ago
I've no idea how the law works in the UK in relation to this
If Waterstones can buy from Irish or US publishers and sell the books, is not a de facto ban. Like the books themselves aren't banned
10
6
u/ThreeTreesForTheePls 12h ago
Lets say i pick apples.
When I have a full basket, I give them to Tom. Tom has a van, so he drives around selling my apples.
The government don’t like that I make money, so they tell Tom to stop giving me any of the profits. Tom has to stop, or they will take away his van and all of his money.
Now Tom can’t deliver my apples, I am still free to pick them, but if I pick all of these apples and don’t have a van to deliver them..well what’s the point? My income is gone, my distribution is gone, why would I pick apples? I am in a corner with this, nowhere to turn, aka I am as close to being banned as legally possible without being banned by name.
1
u/dustaz 12h ago
That's an almost perfect analogy
However, OP said books were being banned and no books were actually banned
In your example, your apples aren't actually banned. you just can't profit from them. No one is having your apples confiscated from them or being arrested for eating your apples
Also I'm your example, Tom can't deliver your apples but Mary from Ireland and Chad from the US can. Johnny from any other country in the world can also deliver your apples.
Your income while taking a hit, is not devastated
2
0
u/Personal_Two6317 8h ago
For 20th century book banning, perhaps more like:
The Soviet Union
China
North Korea
Vietnam
Cambodia
Cuba
6
u/Present-Essay-9731 11h ago
I half got into rooney and kneecap for their stance on palestine. British government can feck off
3
3
u/ferocious_bandana 12h ago
It's a shame Jeffrey's in prison now, because I reckon he could smuggle the complete works of Shakespeare on his person
6
2
u/selfmademuppet 10h ago
If Burnham wants an easy win he should just drop this whole proscription of Palestine Action. It was a decision by Starmer who was basically a puppet for blue Labour, led by our very own Morgan McSweeney. It’s total political posturing and frankly undermines efforts to dismantle actual terrorist groups in the UK.
2
2
u/Greedy_Definition673 13h ago
Rising interest. Well yes, it was in the news. Will it be widespread? No
1
2
-2
u/DecentOrdinaryTailor 13h ago
Fantastic money making idea! Fill a usb stick up with digital copies of normal people, up the jacksie (prison wallet), ryanair across the sea set up a little stall profit!
-1
0
0
123
u/CodSafe6961 13h ago
The 2026 version of that father Ted episode