Dr_Aust_PhD

Mandelson's greed really does seem to be a defining feature of his character.

Beware of hanging around with the super-rich. You begin to think "why shouldn't *I* have all this stuff too?"

Putting pictures of animals on our currency would be "deeply depressing," say the Conservatives.

Crikey. JoMo and bros have done something useful.

Stick a royal swan on the banknote. Problem solved.

Or perhaps they could photo-shop a Union Jack waistcoat onto a red squirrel?

[No grey squirrels, obviously that would be 'pro migration'.]

Some people clearly don't have enough real stuff to do.

There's no need for any further analysis on any topic because Robert Jenrick has found the thing that explains everything.

Fascinating thread - one thing that leapt out for me was a formerly dominant centre left party being squeezed by Greens in diverse graduate heavy cities and by the radical right in economically insecure manufacturing towns. Certain patterns keep repeating

Experts fear ‘unethical’ vaccine trial in Africa is ‘prototype’ for US studies under RFK Jr Danish researchers whose work on effects of vaccines has been called into question are at center of US vaccine policy

I didn't think much that RFK Jr does could shock me anymore, but it's difficult to overstate how unethical this is. This isn't a trial, it's a piece of antivaccine theatre that will cause severe harm, and everyone involved is contemptible.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Enjoying the replies from Americans not understanding that America is not the world.

Thread.🧵Fascinating read in the light of UK politics/polls, w many strong echoes. German Greens c 15-20 yrs ahead of UK ones, w the SDP's decline prefiguring UK's Labours dire polling, Also note how the AfD's vote correlates w lower educ'n levels, un-/semi-skilled work & fear of deindustrialization.

Sure... but Netanyahu, like Putin, has Agent Orange's number & plays him like a violin. Bibi is (or at least cosplays) what Donnie aspires to be - a don't-give-a-f**k authoritarian who sends in the bombers to look tough & improve his ratings. 'We're going. Are you in?' Of course Donnie follows.

FFS. Really. Well past time to sack Mahmood.

If Labour really wants to signal a change of course, that would be one way.

Though she should never have had the Home Office job in the first place. Just another example of StarmerCo blundering into allowing themselves to be framed as 'Tory Lite'.

Thread.🧵 ⬆️ and ↕️

Sadly, reckon this is spot-on re. the 'vibes' of the national conversation/ narrative/ mood. Grim, and StarmerCo's abysmal No.10 Comms Op has failed to shift it, albeit in the face of unrelenting UK media hostility. Sir K's woodenness & obvious discomfort in front of a camera doesn't help either.

Reminds me of flying into Luang Prabang.* As you’re flying over Laos you see the landscape is littered with perfectly circular craters from the B-52 bombing filled with the tropical rain. Locals call them 'American ponds'.

There are some despicable practices in UK HE institutions

Milli-Ed is an interesting example in modern British politics of a politician who's done his best work after being a party leader who failed to win a General Election and become PM. William Hague is a Tory example.

It’s ironic that, in this age of amazingly high-tech weaponry, the sea mine, a crude device invented by an American in 1776 during the War of Independence, and notoriously hard to defend against, should threaten global economies, and confound Trump’s meticulous war planning*

*this needs checking

I normally just put a big red arrow. For my next edit I shall adopt this approach.

So finally in the 21st century after a debate of more than 25 years we decided to abolish feudalism. Or at least the most visible part of it. 👇

In fairness every one of them deserves to wear shitty uncomfortable shoes

👀 A Jan. 6 defendant has spent a year arguing that his unrelated firearms conviction should be covered by Trump's Day One pardon.

Today, DOJ asked for an extension to respond to his request because of ... a crushing backlog of immigration cases. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Mind-boggling.

A bunch of incompetent sniggering Beavis 'n' Butthead style adolescents. With no plan. In charge of the world's largest military & most advanced weaponry. All whilst being manipulated by a veteran schemer (Netanyahu) & a trained KGB operative (Putin).

What could possibly go wrong?

Sure sounds like somebody at DOGE took the Social Security numbers and personal information of every American on record, and put it on a thumb drive to bring home to Elon Musk’s AI company.

I had this very recently via email

"I read your book. You did not thoroughly explore a niche matter that, despite being very vaguely linked to the subject you wrote about, is important to me specifically. I assume you're suitably embarrassed and will publish an amended version soon"

Yeah... no?

‘This guy is going to destroy civilization as we know it, and the earth, and all because of these people who don't have any idea why they're alive.’
- Michael Shannon in 2016 predicting the hell we’re in now
www.rogerebert.com/interviews/y...

Revealed: company behind vape shop fire had not paid business rates...or registered to sell vapes A Ferret investigation has found there was no registration to sell vapes at the Union Street premises in Glasgow where a major fire started - and we can reveal the name of the company behind the shop.

Hallelujah for local journalism, doing actual journalism whilst the boomer legacy papers do clickbait and pontificating
www.theferret.scot/revealed-com...

"the Russians said they have not been sharing....we can take them at their word"

Trumptastic.

It was a privilege to be in the chamber earlier to witness this incredibly powerful and effective speech from Charlotte Nichols.