I would write this thread up for my substack tomorrow except that would lead to an immediate and significant loss of subscribers

This is great from @michaelshurkin.bsky.social but I am not totally convinced youtu.be/TB4nHaTM-Vg

Second highest ranking National Police officer in Spain resigns on being formally accused of raping a subordinate

Vox's bill to prohibit Islamic face coverings for women in public, enthusiastically supported by the PP, falls at the first hurdle in Congress.The PP is now an ideological appendage of Vox. Spain no longer has a centre-right opposition committed to the Constitution www.eldiario.es/politica/jun...

Starmer needs to commission an independent inquiry into Labour Together- or he too becomes implicated in an increasingly unsustainable cover-up New by me in @theguardian.com on why PM needs to act on Labour Together hiring a PR firm to smear journalists www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Cue outraged Brits being declined entry by the PN or GC

Banger of a column.

This Labour government gives me the same feeling as those annoying economists who keep 'discovering' things that have been discussed across the humanities & social sciences for decades because they can't be bothered to read the literature.

Over and over again, Ministers ignore evidence & expertise in favour of shovelling money into the pockets of tech-bros. It's maddening & incomprehensible. You have tonne of research on this, guys, so why invent an incredibly dystopian way to find out what we already know?!

Jake Richards, minister for youth justice, said: “I’m determined to harness the power of artificial intelligence & machine learning to gain better insights into the root causes of crime". Guess what Jake, all of those causes are already well known & documented. Start with poverty you complete tool.

"The Ministry of Justice will deploy machine learning to identify at-risk children for early intervention and to help prevent them falling into a life of crime" - there is no part of our lives that Labour is not determined to use AI on. No matter what. web.archive.org/web/20260215...

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Once more for the night shift

I was captivated by this film on the ballet of the Paris Opera Ballet despite having zero interest in ballet

And everyone I know in HE worked their holes off during the pandemic too. the sts who did this are all c**** and will inexorably rise to the top of business and finance

This is the guy Bari Weiss handpicked for CBS News and fought hard to keep after Epstein revelations. She won. Attia is staying as a CBS star.

Al Carns, Armed Forces Minister and Royal Marines Colonel (Res.), and possible next Labour Party and PM? Madder things have happened in UK politics in recent years. This out just a few hours ago. He walks, he talks, he climbs icy mountains! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNVf...

Israeli tourists expelled from the Reina Sofia for wearing Jewish symbols and carrying the Israeli flag. If the flag was on a pole, fair enough, but how did that get past security? No possible justification for expelling ppl wearing a Magen David necklace ffs cadenaser.com/cmadrid/2026...

It'll be funny, among other things, if after one Irishman having made Starmer PM another brings him down

am truly amazed to discover that not all Jews hold the same opinions, and that some are complete eejits who enjoy being told they are good and moral, not like the rest. next thing the New Statesman will be telling us Jews are just people

He's back after a month off sick, first in the ICU and then a month on intravenous antibiotics

👇👌

Chapeau. cc my theologian mutuals @catholickungfu.bsky.social and @peternimmo.bsky.social

A fella I know who works for KPMG in Spain told me a couple of months ago they've cut right back on entry level recruitment because of AI.

The key thing about this story isn’t actually what the PR firm did - awful as it is - it’s that the journalists they smeared *were investigating the undeclared funding that brought Starmer to power* That’s why Josh Simons commissioned them To stop reporting on Labour Together breaking election law

Somebody needs to grill Albares on why democracy and international law are not available to the Saharaui people and why Spain has sold them out, even more than previous governments had, to the paradise of human rights that is Morocco

"confirmation bias" " evidence" !!!!

Across from me two german women are discussing business. In German speckled with English management speak phrases "strategise", " win win" "next steps", etc. Am confidently expecting "low hanging fruit" any minute now

Two problems: 1. Tourists flummoxed by Barcelona metro's multilingual ticket machines. 2. Fellas hovering nearby and offering to 'help'. One offered me 'help' just now. Watch out

this is very important and deserves the splash. however I think it'll likely be forgotten when the mandelson files get released

recontra de acuerdo.

Forgive me for bringing news from the other place, but this is important. I don't believe any state has the right to exist but if I had to pick one to get rid of it would be Qatar

Milles Na gCopaleen's Catechism of Cliché in full flow. And what card should we show the errant sporting nation?

Peter trying to save the Brits from themselves, a hard job

I was otherwise engaged this afternoon,then had a restorative nap and have just seen this joyful news

Dice el cubano

Today was a good day. Had v. positive feedback from two successful Irish professionals with a fuck ton of experience working with the English and in England. The fact that it's a subtle and ambiguous issue doesn't mean it's not real

Not only the real but in the current dispensation the only. If in doubt don't bother with the Gospels, read Leon Trotsky on terrorism

Sitges. Now to face the struggle to get home

At Sants waiting for a local 🚆 Not chaos but not far off . God knows what it's like on s work day 😬

As a couple of ppl have just learned, sarcastic replies and thinking your Irish ancestors makes you an expert on being Irish in England wins you a block. And I don't owe anyone a debate here or on my substack

a really great love story, especially considering how many male geniuses have been complete shits in their personal lives

Stephen, like a lot of commentators, has studied the opinion polls and knows what the parties need to do to fix themselves. His tone suggests that he thinks their leaders are morons, unlike him, a man of depth and intelligence archive.ph/TPgmc

Roses are red Violets are blue Your AI love letter stinks And so do you

The rain has stopped but the wind is fucking howling again and the shutters are shaking and banging. In June I'll be 11 years in Barcelona and I've never experienced so much shit weather. Oh and I can hear emergency service sirens

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Bc it's the HO no doubt this is being implemented in the worst possible way but a shit ton of countries insist their citizens use their docs to enter/leave the country. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

another old man joins in, it's very depressing