Great piece from @dsquareddigest.bsky.social, which touches on one of the big theories for why English-speaking countries do especially badly at housebuilding: Adversarial and litigious common law systems (Anglo) vs judge-led civil law systems elsewhere. samf.substack.com/p/build-the-...

We tend to think of batteries as the ones in our phones. But the real shift is happening at grid scale. Utility-scale “mega batteries” now have hundreds of millions of times the capacity of a smartphone battery. Costs are down ~40% since 2024, and capacity in 2024 was 12x higher than in 2020.

🧵 It's street #carnival in Germany. The 3 largest parades in Cologne, Dusseldorf, & Mainz are live on TV (12pm). Their floats are known for their political commentary. They're #cartoons on wheels. I shall watch all 3 programmes & take screenshots of the funniest or most hard-hitting ones for you. ⏬️

Europe Is Now in Position to Replace U.S. Intelligence Support open.substack.com/pub/shankarn...

We are at an airport restaurant. A robot just drove up to us with our food, said, "Hi! Here I am!" and then drove away with our food.

Seven highlights from FOG Design + Art and SF Art Week 2026: www.dezeen.com/2026/02/01/highlights-fog-design-art-2026-san-francisco/

The extractive caste.

Classic Zelenskyy: "We can also give ceasefire for Russians if they will do elections in Russia."😏🤌

My brother Garry has dementia and is currently lost somewhere in the Chester area. If anyone should spot him please call the police on 999. We'd appreciate reposts. @shitchester.bsky.social

This man made a mini city for his pets. It's fascinating. Also, it is not AI. Here's his channel on YT: www.youtube.com/@xingzhilei

AI agents is the real world.

Taller General creates house that "emerges among volcanoes" in Ecuador: www.dezeen.com/2026/02/13/taller-general-ecuador-la-miradora/

Tired of doomscrolling? Why not take a five-minute break to browse through this roundup of strangely pleasing architecture. https://www.dezeen.com/2026/02/14/oddly-satisfying-architecture-roundups/

Happy 70th birthday to Peter Hook. Photo taken when New Order played Birmingham's Imperial Cinema in January 1982

Gender affirming treatment has an astonishingly high rate of satisfaction. You probably already know this, but I feel like we need to repeat it over and over.

Get it? See, it's funny 'cuz our President is a pathological liar who rarely, if ever, tells the truth.

This morning I posted our petition to get Palantir out of our NHS and our public services. Over 40,000 people have now signed it - thank you. Please do keep sharing! you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...

This is a story that has really cut through in Australia - seen as UK adopting hostile attitude to their citizens. Raised spontaneously in conversation.. In papers. Affects those who have been Irish citizens too ..

This is a 100% elite manufactured craze.

The Hypocrites https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/483043

Bill Hader doing an impression of Oliver Reed explaining the difference between acting on stage & acting on film. Love how he cracks Paul Giamatti up.

"WE'VE ARRESTED TWO THOUSAND PEOPLE BY MISTAKE"

Wow! Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report. This is a *big* legal win. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Tesla Down Dramatically in UK, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland In the UK, which was Tesla’s largest market in January 2025, the company’s vehicle deliveries dropped 51% year over year, from 1,450 last year to 714 this year. Similarly, the company’s EV market share dropped from 5% to 2.5%. /1

It's Day 1451 of the attempt to wipe Ukraine off the map/ Russian athletes compete at the #WinterOlympics while a Ukrainian athlete is in court right now trying to overturn his ban. This is THE daily thread. Facts not fabrication. Proof not propaganda. Every single day.

Is this the first time Labour has demonstrated any understanding of why our country is so sick?

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

Just going to leave this here

Very good from @verybrexitproblems.bsky.social

“In an age of performative politicians, political reporting itself has become performative”

Oh wow our @38degrees.bsky.social petition to cap political donations in the UK has over 94k signatures!! 💥 There's still lots of time for amendments to Elections Bill. Would be so powerful to get it over 100k Can you help? Please sign and share! Thanks! 😀 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ta...

47% of Europeans want X banned across the EU, so the flipping Scandiwegians are doing something about it, with proper Viking energy. W is now accepting registration ahead of it's launch. wsocial.eu

Ban Donors and reform the energy market, those are my two suggestions - the first will clean up politics actually and visibly - while the second will halve our energy bills. Bold and effective. www.express.co.uk/news/politic...

"In place of real politics, it has office politics." Really good piece by Aditya Chakrabortty (Includes link to Democracy for Sale's piece about Alan Milburn's massive private earnings and a name check for my @lrb.co.uk scribbling on Labour and the lobbyists.) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

CNBC: What about the horrific conditions in DHS detention centers? Do they need to be looked at? REP. JASON SMITH: I'm sure those conditions never existed under Biden or Obama CNBC: I'm sorry, sir. I'm not asking about Biden. I'm asking about conditions right now. I think it's a natl embarrassment

Low-engagement voters exist, & what little they did hear in 2024 was <totally detached> from the actual realities of the 2 parties & the stakes of 🇺🇸 politics. But you don’t have to follow politics closely in 2026 to have heard that awful crazy stuff is happening every day: bsky.app/profile/mcop...

He sounds exactly like a Smiths song.

that’s it, i’ve finally taken my best photo of all time 😅 (this chubster is an unapologetic beggar so don’t feel bad for him) 🧪🌍 #bird #birb

Sam Altman was right - this unironically is PhD-level intelligence

BREAKING: UK heat pump sales hit a record in 2025: 125,037 units sold (+27% vs 2024). Growth across all segments: • Air-to-water +26% • Ground/water source +32% • DHW +36% • UK-made units +38%

NEW ANALYSIS: China's CO2 has now been 'flat or falling' for 21 months * Down in 2025 * Still below Mar 2024 * Clean energy wave a key factor If this is China's peak (TBC) it's the climate story of the century so far… www.carbonbrief.org/...

UK to ban political party donations from foreign-owned companies ft.trib.al/9IPn1l3

Says the gazillionaire who loves Britain so much he became tax resident in Monaco so he didn't have to contribute to Britain's resources. Physician, heal thyself.

We had to have a little chat about THAT Times Magazine piece with Mandelson…

Trump stopped aiding Ukraine to Russia's military benefit.

🔴 Exclusive: Corporate donations British parties tripled over last three elections But here's key thing: almost none is from FTSE500/listed companies It's almost all companies controlled by super-wealthy individuals, or small, opaque firms New on D4S: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-c...

I regret the need to use such strong language but every individual who goes to that 'swish party' will know exactly what Palantir does. And they should not be accepting its hospitality - not without being called out.

Giving Redwood - and all those lying brexity others - peerages is such a betrayal of democracy and our country. Their legacy is disgraceful. And they won’t be held to account for that. It’s a form of political cover-up and denialism that traps us all in their relentless failure.

One of the maddest elements of Brexit - and there are *many* - is the rewards that continue to be lavished on the blithering idiots who sold it & continue to be proved wrong about everything every day…