Chronicle
Recent articles by David Marshall
Irish essayist and author.
Still In the making – Recent entries across my writing and wider practice. January 2026 onwards
Please note: The following are not recorded here: The entries in Field Notes (notes.marshall.re), Radar Signals (signals.marshall.ie) nor Brieifing Insights (insights.marshall.ie) as these are supporting notes and break-out boxes for the main columns.
Energy Briefing Series : Part 2
Storage : Saving Energy for Later
Marshall on Policy
Tue 11 Aug 2026
Drawing on experience of energy storage in rural France, this essay argues that one of the key challenges of a renewable electricity system is not generation but timing: how to preserve energy when it is abundant and use it when it is needed..
https://policy.marshall.ie/p/marshall-on-policy-energy-briefing
On Writing: The Espadrilles : Part II
An Essayist’s Notebook
Mon 10 Aug 2026
A reflection on how The Espadrilles evolved from a simple observation about contradiction into a meditation on values, consensus and the nature of the essay.
The Espadrilles
Essays
Mon 10 Aug 2026
A journey into the Basque hills in search of handcrafted espadrilles becomes an exploration of contradiction, craftsmanship, shared values and the limits of consensus.
Cadmium Brief 1
Marshall on Policy
Mon 10 Aug 2026
A short policy brief examining cadmium as an overlooked environmental and agricultural issue in Ireland, and asking whether current evidence, monitoring and policy frameworks are sufficient to understand its long-term implications.
The Score Is Not the Music
An Essayists Notebook
Fri 7 August 2026
Written after reading Trask on a flight, this note explores the tension between punctuation as codified rule and punctuation as part of the act of thinking, writing, and expression itself.
Before We Can Agree.
The Marshall Review
Thu 6 Aug 2026
An inquiry into the role of the essay in public life, arguing that genuine agreement begins with a shared understanding of the question itself.
Energy Briefing Series : Part 1
Flexible Demand: The Missing Half of the System
Marshall on Policy
Wed 05 Aug 2026
A policy briefing on the changing relationship between electricity supply and consumption, arguing that the success of Ireland’s renewable energy transition depends not only on generating clean electricity but on creating a more flexible and responsive pattern of demand.
https://policy.marshall.ie/p/marshall-on-policy-energy-briefing
Speak up man! And INQ
An Essayists Notebook
Wed 5 August 2026
A reflection on voice, attention, and the limits of categorisation that led to the creation of INQ, a space for the small observations and everyday encounters from which larger thoughts often emerge.
Voice
An Essayists Notebook
Wed 5 August 2026
A reflection on voice, attention, and the limits of categorisation that led to the creation of INQ, a space for the small observations and everyday encounters from which larger thoughts often emerge.
An Ambition
An Essayists Notebook
Wed 5 August 2026
A reflection on voice, attention, and the limits of categorisation that led to the creation of INQ, a space for the small observations and everyday encounters from which larger thoughts often emerge.
The Useful Tension.
The Marshall Review
Tue 4 Aug 2026
A reflection on the relationship between moral, democratic, and legal authority, exploring how constitutional tensions can strengthen rather than weaken democracy.
Tension as Structure
An Essayists Notebook
Mon 3 August 2026
Starting with a tension and staying with it long enough for something previously invisible to become visible.
Diagnosing Conditions
An Activist
Mon 3 August 2026
A reflection on power, participation, and social change, exploring how the first task of any practitioner is not intervention but understanding the conditions within which action becomes possible.
To Dig Where I Stand
Marshall on Policy
Sun 2 Aug 2026
A reflection on how we come to understand complex systems, exploring the importance of questioning assumptions, attending to sequence, and recognising the relationships from which meaning and outcomes emerge.
The Slow Arrival of a Difficult Truth
The Marshall Review
Sat 1 August 2026
An exploration of the often-unspoken social conditions that sustain reasoned disagreement, and the difficult recognition that argument cannot succeed where mutual regard and shared norms are absent.
The Geography Beneath the Transition
Marshall on Policy
Tue 28 July 2026
An exploration of the relationship between infrastructure, housing, and sustainability, arguing that the circular transition must address inherited inequalities if its benefits are to be widely shared.
https://policy.marshall.ie/p/the-geography-beneath-the-transition
The Circular Economy : The Quiet Test of Any Future Worth Having
The Marshall Review
Fri 24 July 2026
A reflection on how societies confront material limits, exploring the circular economy as the meeting point of climate ambition, economic resilience, and social responsibility.
https://rvw.ie/the-circular-economy-the-quiet-test-of-any-future-worth-having
Energy Briefing Series – Part 0
Introduction
Marshall on Policy
Wed 22 July 2026
A foundational briefing on Ireland’s renewable energy transition, examining how surplus wind generation reveals a deeper challenge: not how to produce clean electricity, but how to build the infrastructure, flexibility, and policy frameworks needed to use it effectively.
https://policy.marshall.ie/p/marshall-on-policy-energy-briefing
The Need For Vision
Marshall on Policy
Mon 20 July 2026
A reflection on public policy and collective purpose, exploring how understanding the relationships between housing, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and governance provides the foundation for informed choices about Ireland’s future.
Policy Briefings
Marshall on Policy
Sun 19
July 2026
An introduction to the Policy Briefings series, setting out a framework for examining public policy as interconnected systems rather than isolated issues, and explaining the purpose of the forthcoming energy briefings.
The Strategic Emergency Reserve Bill
Marshall on Policy
Sat 18 July 2026
Written after the Strategic Emergency Reserve Bill passed the Seanad, this piece examines the accelerating legislative process behind Ireland’s proposed gas reserve and argues that key analyses should precede, rather than follow, major infrastructure decisions.
Acting For or Acting With
An Activist
Tue 7 July 2026
Differing perceptions of representation.
Cadmium and the Questions Ireland Isn’t Asking
Marshall on Policy
Sat 4 July 2026
A record of France’s cadmium discovery and the uncomfortable truth it exposes for Ireland: we have never checked.
https://policy.marshall.ie/p/cadmium-and-the-questions-ireland
Is Ireland’s €900m LNG gamble being decided too quickly?
Marshall on Policy
Sun 28 June 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
This Isn’t a Housing Plan – It’s an Infrastructure Fix
Marshall on Policy
Thu 18 June 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
When Does This Mis-Spending End?
Marshall on Policy
Mon 15 June 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
What this is
Marshall on Policy
Mon 15 June 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
Sigi : From Mark to Myth
The Marshall Review
Wed 22 July 2026
A reflection on the evolution of a writer’s signature into a symbolic presence, exploring creativity, memory, and the overlooked spaces where ideas quietly take shape. [rvw.ie]
The Name on the Ship
The Marshall Review
Tue 21 July 2026
An exploration of how the naming of Ireland’s research vessel Tom Crean reveals a broader shift in the figures and values modern Ireland chooses to celebrate.
Why Policy Briefings Matter
The Marshall Review
Sun 19 July 2026
A statement of purpose for a new phase of Marshall on Policy, dedicated to explaining the structures and interconnections that underpin Ireland’s most important public policy challenges.
A Shorter Address: rvw.ie
The Marshall Review
Sat 18 July 2026
A short reflection on identity, continuity, and readership, marking a new address for The Marshall Review while affirming the purpose that remains unchanged.
When sequencing is substance.
The Marshall Review
Tue 7 July 2026
A reflection on the relationship between planning and governance, using examples from local development and national energy policy to show how the order of decisions can shape the success or failure of public action.
On the Work of a Style Sheet.
The Marshall Review
Wed 15 July 2026
A reflection on the relationship between language and thought, exploring how writers balance tradition, precision, and readability in service of the reader.
Revision as Epistemology.
The Marshall Review
Sat 11 July 2026
A reflection on writing, knowledge, and the digital age, exploring how successive revisions function as a dialectical process through which ideas are tested, refined, and understood.
On Writing: The Espadrilles : Part I
An Essayist’s Notebook
Thu 9 July 2026
An early reflection on the writing of The Espadrilles. Looking back, it captures the moment when an apparently simple contradiction opened onto a much larger landscape of questions.
Acting For, Acting With.
The Marshall Review
Tue 7 July 2026
A reflection on political culture and civic participation, examining how confidence, shared experience, and collective action enable people to move from representation towards agency.
East of Tardets.
The Marshall Review
Sat 4 July 2026
A reflection on craftsmanship and belonging, examining how places reveal themselves through skilled hands, shared practices, and the encounters that arise around them.
The Octave Asked the Question.
The Marshall Review
Fri 3 July 2026
A reflection on the foundations of music, examining how human cultures have built diverse musical worlds upon the shared physical realities of vibration, resonance, and the octave.
Marshall Review – Editorial Note.
The Marshall Review
Mon 29 June 2026
A reflection on writing, publication, and editorial purpose, exploring the relationship between exploratory notes, public commentary, and the craft of the finished essay.
Bring, Take, and the Slow Death of Spatial Awareness.
The Marshall Review
Wed 24 June 2026
A light-hearted defence of linguistic precision, arguing that the misuse of “bring” and “take” reflects a broader erosion of spatial awareness and attentiveness in everyday communication.
https://rvw.ie/bring-take-and-the-slow-death-of-spatial-awareness
The Beige Jumper Test.
The Marshall Review
Sun 21 June 2026
A reflection on craft, place, and personal identity, examining how the objects we choose can embody history, function, and a sense of belonging beyond mere utility.
The eskératz (entrance hall).
The Marshall Review
Sat 20 June 2026
A reflection on domestic space and cultural memory, examining how a room’s furnishings can preserve its identity as a place of work, encounter, and hospitality across generations.
The Uncomfortable Nature of Uncertainty.
The Marginalia of Sigi
Tue 7 July 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
How I Became Ambassador Extraordinary for Unfinished Questions.
The Marginalia of Sigi
Tue 7 July 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
An Account from the Margin of a Feasibility Study.
The Marginalia of Sigi
Tue 7 July 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
I Was Never on the Wireless Underground Railway.
The Marginalia of Sigi
Tue 7 July 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
The Transient Life of Library Tattle.
The Marginalia of Sigi
Tue 7 July 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
The Story of Music Summary – The Octave And The Fretboard.
My Guitar
Sat 4 July 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
The Story of Music Part 9 : The Seven Degrees- Colour, Gravity, and Motion.
My Guitar
Sat 25 April 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah
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Publication titile
Tue 7 July 2026
Brief descriptive paragrah