just gonna leave this here 🧪

In the eighteenth century the rise of literacy precipitated the greatest transfer of knowledge into the hands of ordinary men and women in history and helped to destroy the old feudal order in Europe. As literacy recedes a neo-feudal future looms. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Today is Ukraine’s Independence Day. We celebrate a nation and its people who are bravely resisting Russia’s war of aggression. For their freedom. Their peaceful future. We stand by them for as long as it takes for a just and lasting peace. With Ukraine, unwaveringly.

This is what Farage represents. This ignorance. This racism. This hatred. This social media radicalisation. Shame on every single politician, newspaper, hack and pundit who has helped pave the way to this vicious, stupid, nationalistic version of England. (Times - a complicit disgrace of a paper)

Brexit was an attempted counter-revolution against many of the changes this country has gone through since 1945. It has turned out to be a failure with elements of farce. This has driven many people on the Right completely mad.

Sometimes a painting will do it.

Paul Dirac (1902, discovered the relativistic equation for fermion wave functions), Ernest Lawrence (1901, invented the cyclotron), and Roger Penrose (1931, developed global view of spacetime and much of what we know about spacetime singularities) were all born #OTD. Pretty good day for physics. 🧪 ⚛️

Occam’s Razor: Hear hooves, assume horses. Education: “It’s probably a zebra on stilts wearing a horse costume.” open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

Can't help but be reminded of how author Jonathan Miller schooled Enoch Powell on same.

In 1991, Belgian Mark Eyskens described Europe as an economic giant but a military worm. Europe is now finding out that being a "military worm" - decades of poor coordination. & underinvestment in defence - has grave economic and political consequences. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... (1/2)

Miliband gives ‘State of the Climate’ address to Commons. Net Zero sceptics challenged by ‘radical truth-telling’ as Miliband addresses the Met Office’s State of UK Climate Report.

youtube.com/watch?v=HNhS... Cheated of feature by dissembling nature.

youtu.be/QI2SufvuKw0 Very nice explanation.

🔥 DENIRO AT CANNES: “In my country we’re fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted… Art looks for truth, embraces diversity — that’s why we are a threat to autocrats and fascists.” 🇺🇸

Freedom of Movement was robbed from us by a successful Russian influence operation and the worst abuses of democracy in modern British history. Please repost if you want it restored.

Dutch, astronomer and physicist, Christiaan Huygens, was born 14 April 1629 #histsci thonyc.wordpress.com/2016/04/14/t...

What a day. What a country! 💪

La loi is mightier than Le Pen (for the moment, at least):

This is the "Flawed Solution Implementation" stage, for those keeping track.

Hi, Bluesky Peeps, I have my blog post ready. terikanefield.com/chapter-1/ Last month, I talked about a philosophical journey for perspective on today’s politics. Plato is always a good place to start. I’ll also talk about TV lawyers and the spirit of liberty because . . . it follows. 1/

Aerodynamics is a privilege. youtu.be/QKCK4lJLQHU?...

For a long time I used to go to bed early. What a journey from there to the immense edifice of memories.

Very positive. Now let's just Rejoin. BBC News - UK and Ireland have 'turned a page on the turbulent years' www.bbc.com/news/article...

Obviously no simple/single/right answer. But I'd say it's a combination of: a) Extreme (Ayn Rand) libertarianism [Musk] b) Looting the state/blatant corruption/rent extraction [Musk & Trump] c) "Know-Nothing" anti-immigration/anti-globalisation/protectionism [Trump & Vance] [1/2]

Trump never had a peace plan for Ukraine. He had a plan for Ukraine's surrender, with a colonial resource grab. As Zelenskyy rightly refused it, or to cooperate in Trump's TV spectacular, the US has now cut Ukraine off. That's what blackmail looks like. That's what the world is up against.

Apparently the United States has sunk to the bottom of the sea.

I think this is the closest many of us have ever got to seeing the real Trump. The only consistent thread in his entire unhinged rant was the love & praise for Vladimir Putin. Zelensky has more courage & dignity in his little finger than every member of Trump's regime & fan club combined.

Von der Leyen demands trigger of emergency clause to massively boost defense spending European Commission president announces plan at Munich Security Conference. www.politico.eu/article/von-...

Royal Society urged to expel Elon Musk as fellows sign open letter www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

I don't think JD judged the room quite right...

🚨🚨 Significant news on EU-UK #reset as Keir Starmer become first UK PM to join EU meeting since #Brexit. 🧵 www.bbc.com/news/article...

Charing Cross Road, pedestrianised today. Glorious. Because whenever you take cars away, cities get better.

Why is Sophocles storming the West End? Because in our extreme times, his plays say the unsayable | Charlotte Higgins

🚨🚨 I had really hoped this was going to blow over but this looks really, really bad. Massive pressure now on PM Frederiksen who now will need assurances from other European leaders. /1

“This is the moment for Starmer to re-engage with the EU. On Feb 3 the PM will attend his first informal summit with other 🇪🇺 leaders in Brussels…and yet his approach is marked by a plodding cautiousness” www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

www.theguardian.com/business/202... Dear @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu I believe the majority of the people in the country want to be as close as possible to the EU ( even those who were duped into voting Leave) but it’s the government that’s hesitant. They are terrified of the (toxic) RW press.

First Brexit, now Trump and Musk: ignorance is back with a vengeance www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Turing Machines samwho.dev/turing-machi... this is the kind of stuff that made me want to be a computer scientist, not just a programmer.

A new UK-EU Customs Union, would turbo-charge Britain’s economy. We can be far more positive and ambitious. That is how we can protect our economy, defend European security, and deal with President Trump from a position of strength, not weakness.

Al-Khazini on balance.

'I say, Jeeves, who was that beazel who courted opprobrium by having hot beverages with her other half? Tea every afternoon and suchlike - or was it baked beans?' 'I believe you are referring to "coffee wife", sir.' 'Not beans?' 'Only coffee beans on that occasion, sir.'

As for Canada, it really isn’t that far-fetched. This, from The Economist a few days ago:

Iceland will now have a referendum on accession talks with the EU. 🇮🇸 🇪🇺 Maybe time for Norway, UK, Greenland & Canada to move in the same direction to shore up our common European values. 🇮🇸 🇳🇴 🇬🇧 🇬🇱 🇨🇦 🇪🇺

🔥 “For the sake of Britain, Europe and humanity, it’s time for us to get back with the European team”

Do you lather at the mouth if you see a non-white person or hear the word migrant✅ Believe Farage, Tice & Anderson ‘Reel Engerleesh Paytriots’ ✅ Get aroused in the pant dept when you see pics of Farage✅ Love the way they👇🏼march ✅ You’re on the wrong platform go to X, your not wanted on #BlueSky❗️