Hooray!

It is!

It’s long-wave history time again as polling in #Wales - now a two horse-race between the civic/cultural nationalism of #Plaid and the toxic “Empire 2.0” fantasies of #Farage - looks extremely familiar…

Da die AfD nur in gewissen Staaten die Aufsicht hat, an die Macht zu kommen, ist est ganz einfach, was Sie in dem Fall tun - gerade das, was Millionen schon vor dem ersten Weltkrieg taten: Sie begehen Ostflucht.

What he said. As discussed by myself and @nickcohen.bsky.social on his podcast a couple of months ago.

Es ist mir völlig unbegreiflich, dass ich dieses kleine Meisterwerk erst jetzt richtig lese.

Important stuff here by @jeremycliffe.bsky.social on the regional elections in NRW, Germany. You’ll see a lot of stories about a “far right surge” (the FT has one this morning). But that happened a couple of years ago. These results record voter shifts that already happened. 1/

Excellent point. And in Germany’s multiparty system the vital point is this: over 70% of all voters still back parties which are absolutely explicit in their support for NATO and EU. @zeit.de @helenebismarck.bsky.social @annettedittert.bsky.social

Richtig! Und vor allem wichtig ist: über 70 % aller Stimmen sind für Parteien, die ausgesprochen für NATO und für die EU abgegeben worden.

Was aber vor allem in NRW wichtig ist: 70% aller Stimmen sind für Parteien abgegeben, die ausgesprochen pro-NATO und pro-EU sind.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... Including the first ever visit by a film crew to Dr Kafka’s asylum for mentally damaged folk-comrades, in Frankenstein. Really.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... #Kafka

France's arsonist-in-chief thinks there's something in it for her.

Attention #AcademicSky Everyone is talking about books, but thousands of academic journals were also pirated and are entitled to up to $3,000 *per pirated volume!!!* if editors submit titles to join the suit. Incredible opportunity for underfunded journals to get some $$! #SkyStorians #MedievalSky

Dear colleagues and friends, A quarter of a century after its last major refurbishment, the GHIL is embarking on a new project to renovate and modernise its building. In a few weeks the builders will move in to make the public facing rooms of the Institute ready for the coming decades. 🧱🔨

It isn’t war against anyone else he’s thinking of… monocle.com/affairs/plan...

Diese Vermögensspalte wurde 1948 sozusagen eingebaut:

„ …und seine Seele kostete Unzucht, und Raserei des Untergangs“ (Thomas Mann, Der Tod in Venedig, frei nach Gedächtnis)

Leider heißt Geschichte schreiben notwendigerweise auch pauschal sehen. Seit Kaisers Zeiten haben deutsche Wähler jenseits der Elbe/Saale immer wieder weit überproportional dazu tendiert, rechtspopulistiche, autoritäre Parteien zu wählen. Wer dies ändern will, muss es zuerst erkennen.

The Achilles heel (which of course, turned out to be his personal nemesis with Gulf 2) is the entirely pointless notion that Britain has to be “a nation of power and influence”. Why? How about just being an ordinary country trying to make an honest living in the world?

The report also glosses over - in a single paragraph! - how the GFA refers to the ECHR (not 'ECHR righs') as being a key 'safeguard' of the Agreement. That's the single most relevant clause in the whole text, and the report just wriggles away from it.

@bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social Trying to work out which old master this photograph of Djokovic yesterday reminds me of. I thought perhaps a minor figure in a crucifixion by Rubens, but I can’t find anything…

Having first cleared their invasion with the Russians, who joined in 15 days later.

Absolutely true, but “money is the sinews of war”. On top of this, the EU has to stop buying Russian gas. Stop as in stop.

The Ukrainian branch of Just Stop Oil continues its not-fucking-around campaign

Yet another Brexit-sceptical publication - I've seen it in the Guardian, the BBC and the New Yorker, this time it's the Economist - repeating the false notion that the EU didn't tie subsidies to nature-friendly farming. Truth is Britain, inside the EU, made it happen, decades ago

Fascinating interview with historian and author @jameshawes.bsky.social on @holyroodsources.bsky.social " #ScottishIndependence is inevitable." 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhIQ...

Beautifully put.

I am in that crazy moment when you’ve just handed in a book (“The Shortest History of Ireland”) after three solid years of work. I cling to this, from Amazon.de now, eight years after “Germany“ was published, as a sign that it really can be worth all that time and care to get it right…

@nickcohen.bsky.social talking to the brilliant @jameshawes.bsky.social

I made a pop-art crop of #Trump gripping Melanie’s claws.

Hängt davon ab, ob wir die deutsche Geschichte richtig verstehen. Das Zeitraum 1871-1945 gehört im staatspolitischen Sinne nicht zur deutschen, sondern zur preußischen Geschichte. Siehe:

There is literally nothing but Trump's desire to protect Putin which is keeping the USA from levelling harsh sanctions on Russia, providing Ukraine more weapons, and helping Ukraine win its war against a sub-par Russian military.

“Above all, Europe needs to overcome its learned helplessness and act like the great power it is — especially given America’s apparent determination to destroy the pillars of its own strength.” (Funnily I had debated whether I should write my next column about exactly this)

Oof

Politische Lösungen in Russlands Krieg gegen die #Ukraine haben militärische Voraussetzungen. Weil #Putin den Krieg will. Er will nicht verhandeln. Darum brauchen wir Druck auf Putin, und zwar mehr als in der Vergangenheit.

Going back to home fees (which aren’t exactly cheap already) for EU university students would really be a good idea. None of my students are considering studying in the UK anymore given the costs…

Your periodic remained that AI is not the problem. Technology is never the problem. It’s who controls the technology, now including AI, that is the problem.

"Thrilled to hold in my own arms the revised and enlarged second edition of my book" #HistoriansAtWork #skystorians #bookhistory

This brilliant article, which I sadly can’t share, should be read by everyone who is tempted to buy into the lie that populists are merely following “public opinion”. They aren’t. They are trying to entrench their own elite power against rivals

If there are really only two sides, why aren’t @teamlabouruk.bsky.social adopting a major policy change which would be backed by well over double the voters who now back Labour, and which would bring together a coalition of the willing (three out of those five parties) outgunning the Bad Guys?

So war’s auch mit der gottverdammten Brexit bei uns vor 2013. die Idee, die EU zu verlassen, war eine Besessenheit weniger, aber einflussreicher und entschlossener Leute - mit russische Hilfe, natürlich!

Richtig! Der Hass aller Diktatoren für die EU ist darin begründet, dass kein politisches Wesen in der Weltgeschichte so viel Einfluss geübt hat, ohne die geringste militärische Macht, seinen Willen durchzusetzen: die EU verkörpert „the rule of Law“ an sich. Deswegen muss sie für Putin und Trump weg.

"We'll just terraform Mars," they insist, unable to terraform Earth, a planet that is already perfect except it's like 2° too warm.

What a daft waste of money. An AI response is not a response, so just save the £40m and don’t respond to complaints at all.

Bribery in plain sight.

And special thanks to @philippullman.bsky.social whose kind words launched it!