Maybe Greenland could invade us instead?

To mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of his world-changing pamphlet ‘Common Sense’, here’s a biography of its author, the quixotic Thomas Paine: www.military-history.org/feature/thin...

Vaccines do not cause autism - in fact, there’s a greater correlation between autism and people who haven’t been vaccinated : www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...

If he’s found Not Guilty, will they let him go?

Excellent article : Singapore (perhaps the UK’s greatest defeat in WWII) offers important lessons for today: engelsbergideas.com/notebook/nat...

Chris Rea is stuck in traffic, apparently

Brilliant analysis by Peter Kellner, which explains the long term decline in productivity (in the UK and elsewhere ) and says where to point the finger (not where you think - read to the end): kellnerp.substack.com/p/rachel-ree...

Sobering talk on how the human rights movement can be corrupted, but also on how it can be saved. By the ever-excellent Gerald Knaus youtu.be/nSxXjp6_54g

Great article: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

So the line is that he wasn't getting paid for any of this

A doomed attempt to establish peace in Europe, initiated by a once-defeated superpower keen to restore its credentials, and sponsored by the aloof world hyperpower, focussed on its own economy. 100 years since the Locarno Treaty. Prescient. engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-l...

Grok labels GB News impartial and suggests the BBC is propaganda:

There’s a solution to this. It’s called fiction.

Hundreds of thousands of people, dead because of a decision made by the world's richest man

Detailed expose into how X secretly promotes pro far-right bias in the UK: news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

This shocking image shows a settlement in Sudan where widespread killing of unarmed civilians is believed to have taken place this week. The brown-red is blood. (Full story by Kaamil Ahmed in The Guardian)

Is it just me, or has Threads going the way of Xitter? Many more bots spouting thoughtless material, political ragebait, and less humanity?

Excellent journalism from Carole Cadwalladr - well worth a read www.thenerve.news/p/nathan-gil...

Paul McCartney is probably the greatest composer of the 20th century. (If he isn’t, who is?)

Is there any way to assess - ideally, to get rigorous data on - the algorithm on X? (I’m sure it’s changed again, with politically-dubious posts promoted even more than before).

If large, official accounts have opened on Bluesky, then X may collapse sooner.

Lowest ever murder rate in London:

I’ve not watched BBC news for a week. It’s far too obsessed with immigration. I haven’t missed it.

Quoted from my 2006 book on Kosovo, but named as 'Liane King' www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

Excellent article on how smart phones are creating a post-literate society, with all the grim consequences that entails (by James Marriot): substack.com/@nickcohen/n...

The most senior British politician guilty of illegally aiding a hostile foreign power since… WW1? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There is “absolutely no evidence” that Russia’s Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine, Sir Richard Moore, the outgoing chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, said Friday in a speech.

Excellent rebuke of Russia by the Polish foreign minister, Radek Sikorsky: www.linkedin.com/posts/jaanik...

Privately educated people are already over-representated in senior positions; the shock is that the numbers are getting worse, and Britain becoming less meritocratic: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Excellent work by Canada to counter bad activities which seek to rile, fragment and implode our democracies and open societies: www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/...

It’s possible to be fully in favour of free speech and also concerned about the unfair distribution of opportunities to make use of that right.

This is exactly what AI is for

Is this genuine? It appears that a holocaust museum was forced to apologise for asserting that no group should be targeted for genocide. Surely this can’t be real… anyone?

If a UK political party bans serious journalists from its annual conference (which seems to have happened this weekend), shouldn’t other serious journalists stay away in protest?

Vladimir Putin, organ harvester: observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Ukrainian leaders face assassination - absolutely terrible: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Kharkiv tonight. People chanting “Putin Khuylo”, which essentially means Putin go f yourself

This post is bizarre in lots of ways. But one observation: the only people I’ve ever seen put on PIPs are those with poor managers.

Happy Independence Day Ukraine!

86 years - and more important than ever: www.csis.org/analysis/pas...

63% of people think net migration rose in the last 12 months 8% of people think it fell Yet it fell by 400,000 in 2024 vs 2023 [It is falling further in 2025] Public service broadcasters are doing a core part of their job on this topic badly if that 8% is not closer to 30% at least

I feel sorry for asylum seekers. Most have had a very rough time and deserve sympathy. I wish more people felt the same.

Climate models since the 1970s nailed it—most predicted global warming almost exactly as it happened.

If you could paint anything - funny, meaningful, curious - on a flat 10m x 10m roof that would be seen only by satellites, what would you paint?

A compelling article explaining how freedom, society, and even humanity are threatened much more than many presume by AI: engelsbergideas.com/essays/a-war...