@crispybart
Aspiring Renaissance dude, special interests include education, politics, history, heavy metal, tabletop roleplaying, being a massive nerd in general, and a bit of rugby here and there. Views entirely my own* (subject to conditions)
russia had a vibrant, active LGBTQ community 20 years ago, with publications, bars, neighborhoods. now it is silent and underground, all public expression deemed "pornographic" and "illegal", even a rainbow flag. that is what the richest and most powerful men in the world are bringing worldwide.
they worship Mammon and capital, nothing else
There is no war, but the war will end soon and is just beginning.
The Iran war should be a lesson for Keir Starmer's Government. If you take a clear line on an issue where the public agree with you then it's your opponents who end up having to back down, not you
The Great North Museum is a good way to spend a bit of time, and is a short walk from Grainger Market which is as well but in a very different way. I'm not the best person to recommend evening venues these days, but Pani's was always a good meal back when I lived there and again is fairly close by
As an IR professor, it's depressing that this is outperforming all others as the best theory of US foreign policy
they’re like everyone else, but with more anger and more smashing things up.
until we reckon with productivity and housing nothing will change.
To paraphrase Pratchett "I consulted the election guide about "What to do when there are been a 20% oil price shock during the parliament. It says "Edevour to be the oposition"."
I wrote a book called 'Butler to the World' about the UK's post-empire business model of selling kleptocratic services to baddies. I worry that butlerism has entered the soul of our political class, and they're geopolitically incapable of doing anything but donning white gloves and bringing drinks.
I would like to vote for a party that said: "we keep being buffeted by forces outside our control. This is because we've allowed our capabilities to degrade. We're going to build them up again so some moron can't just bankrupt us with a stupid idea. It will take a while but here's the plan".
Welcome to the Garyneum, the 13 day period between the birthdays of Gary Numan and Gary Oldman.
Instead of being amazed that Cheney endorsed Harris despite agreeing with Trump on 99% of his policies, people treated it as though her endorsement meant Harris now agreed with Cheney on 99% of policy. Dumbest electorate in the world.
I'm willing to bet that this person is perfectly happy with people writing about other cultures unless those people are white
Working class in the West Midlands, West Country and just south of the Scottish border
A lot of shit thrown at Eddie Jones about various decisions he made has aged terribly tbf
@iandunt.bsky.social just listened to your ABC show with David Marr where he said, when in Britain he might be a stranger, but he never feels like a foreigner.
In these times of a rising right, pulling up the drawbridge rather than building bridges, I thought that was rather beautiful.
I’ve just seen a political party stating that, and I quote, “Diplomacy means speaking truth to power even when it’s difficult.”
No. That’s journalism. Diplomacy is about advancing the interests of your state. This is why “diplomatic language” implies being able to be tactful or silent when needed.
"Please. My tax haven. She's very sick."
Erm... maybe the Greens want to look into *why* he left Corbyn's office before celebrating this too much.
"My mission to Dubai has been halted.
I am unable to leave this detention centre"
should become a meme template I reckon
I do in general try and engage in good faith with people who are not already in the same bracket as me, but describing the 11+ as "an objective test" is too stupid to be worth engaging with quite frankly. Best of luck to others who want to try and lead that horse to water
There's something really despicable about Trump calling for ordinary Iranians to take the risk of rising up against the regime. He's been so disdainful of the same sentiment in Ukraine. He's never taken a risk for anyone else's benefit. Man wouldn't stand up to serve himself at a buffet.
The post covers:
* Extent of UK risk - building on @davidallengreen.bsky.social's work on Palantir but also looking at e.g. cloud services and AI
* The EU's tech soverignty programme + how it's becoming more urgent in the Trump era.
* Why UK isn't going down this route and what govt should do.
New post just out:
"Sovereignty for sale"
The UK is uniquely exposed to the power of US tech monopolies - from Palantir to AI and cloud services.
Why is it so dangerous? What are other countries doing? And what should we do?
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/s...
Jansen Ganesh is on fire in this column on the UK’s role in the Iran conflict
www.ft.com/content/eaee...
For me a really crucial element is unpacking the roles of jargon as in-group signifier/specification tool. I think people tend to have a very Manichean view of what jargon is for and lose sight of what really distinguishes the use of it to exclude laypersons and the use of it to provide detail
Good article. This bit made me laugh:
“Visual aids were once produced by graphic designers and used on special occasions only; the invention of PowerPoint meant that highly paid and skilled professionals started wasting time making their own slides, badly.”
"We can report that the mood amongst our influencer community remains positive. They are giving 110% and feel hashtag blessed to wake up each day in beautiful Dubai"