Canada announced an additional $2.5 billion of economic assistance to Ukraine. This will help the defender nation unlock financing from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Prime Minister Carney and President Zelenskyy are meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A year ago, the @kyivindependent.com interviewed Somali and Sierra Leonean prisoners of war who fought for Russia in its war against Ukraine. The situation is still the same: 🇷🇺 is continuing to recruit foreign nationals for its war against 🇺🇦 systematically, acc to Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence.

Remember Starmer's "urgent" review into foreign interference after Nathan Gill? Well, there's already two ex-UK ambassadors working in Westminster on behalf of a pro-Russian foreign government whose de facto leader is under UK sanctions... New on D4S: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/ex-uk-amba...

A South African national told Reuters that his 20-year-old son was promised elite training as a VIP bodyguard in Russia, but instead he ended up in the trenches in Donetsk region. At least 16 other South Africans had the same experience. Full story: reuters.com/world/europe/s…

Trump on Christmas: “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria.”

Hundreds of thousands newly displaced as Islamic State insurgency expands in Mozambique

Merry Christmas, everyone!

How delicately a Romanesque angel uses the lightest touch of a finger to wake one of the magi, snuggled with the other 2 under their embroidered circular blanket at St Lazare, Autun, c1130 (& how beautifully the textures of pillow & blanket are represented). Season's greetings to you all!

a lot of people don't realize that Christmas carols and traditions are actually folk memories of suppressed pre-Christian events, namely the end of the Third Age and the Fall of Sauron.

Luke 2:1 "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." Morgan McSweeney: "Focus groups are going to fucking hate this"

We don’t spend enough time discussing how the entire MAGA movement is kept afloat by the constant threats of stochastic terrorism orchestrated by the president of the United States. Congress, the courts, much of the media … all kept in line by the mob boss and his army of anonymous goons.

Eyal Benvenisti: The recent UNSC resolution extending the MINURSO mandate for Western Sahara "similar to the one about Gaza, poses a foundational challenge to the current international legal order and to the Westphalian notion of sovereign equality."

My colleagues at the @dfrlab.bsky.social look at how inauthentic social media activity exploits political and security events to seed division between Poland and Ukraine:

BREAKING: by an apparent vote of 7–2, the Supreme Court has *denied* President Trump‘s plea to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago

These shopkeepers can all go to hell and wtf is the Graun doing writing about it?! Even the Somerset Bugle would have struggled to keep a straight face. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Win tickets to anywhere in Scotland for you and three others. ScotRail trains have better bike carriage space than many others so there's a chance to take bikes with you too.

Definition of underwhelming

Damnit.

I did not know that Bruce Grobbelaar lived in Corner Brook.

For those of you interested in the AFCON, it's on channel 4Seven in the UK. South Africa are about to play Angola. Egypt are playing Zimbabwe at 8. #lfc

I *keep* thinking he can’t do anything more to appall me.

I've made 3 batches so far this Christmas (2 regular and 1 gluten free). ❤️

It has been called Canada's Favourite Confection. This no-bake dessert grew in prominence following the Second World War and became famous nationwide thanks to Expo 86 and Nanaimo's mascot Nanaimo Barney. This is the story of Nanaimo Bars! 🧵 1/9

The UK is now facing an emigration crisis and a shrinking population. It must, must, must reverse engines on immigration immediately - throw the doors open and wave people in. Otherwise we are inviting disaster.

Britain’s population could start shrinking sooner than we think Successive changes to immigration rules are seeing visa applications plummet. Meanwhile, revisions to data - plus an expected student exodus next year - should send the official emigration figures higher 1/4

Their demands are reasonable, their treatment is disgraceful. The government's intransigence is killing the #PalestineAction hunger strikers. Just as its complicity has assisted the genocide in Gaza. It needs to wake up right now to the moral consequences. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Make no mistake, this is competitive authoritarianism. The regime is using the power of the state to coerce the press away from critical coverage. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...

14% of Trump voters say their decision to vote for him was a mistake and they should have voted for Kamala Harris

If you’ve never been to Edinburgh. Now you have

A History of Outsourced Violence: The Rise of the RSF, LNA, and Wagner Group My @smallarmssurvey.bsky.social Situation Update on historic mercenary economies in Sudan, Chad, Libya, and CAR, and how they've been connected for decades www.smallarmssurvey.org/resource/out...

Many are asking why the media and government do not care about the destruction of universities. Ultimately this is a function of the sector's reputation with the public. Uni management -- and UUK collectively -- has been in a position to manage that reputation. What did they do?

Right, Oxford. In the immortal words of Delia, "Where are you? Let's be 'aving you." Be there, in Bonn Square, from noon today, to meet the far right march. (They probably won't get there till 12.45 or so, so it doesn't matter what time you arrive).

Fascinated to learn that one of Britain's most notorious post-war criminals fought in the Mau Mau campaign and the Malaya Emergency and later claimed that this is where he learned to kill.

Glasgow University PhD student and family evacuated from Gaza to UK after Foreign Office U-turn. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Can't think of a stronger endorsement for Erasmus.

...cool.

Tomorrow's front page 📰 Fears grow for hunger strikers

Important thread:

Kingdom Come by Ballard finally getting it's flowers

'An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the Russell Group university “does not have appropriate arrangements in place” for managing workplace stress and was unable to demonstrate that it is managing the risks associated with excessive workloads.' 1/2

The guy pictured has at two branded vans they park as near to the shop as possible. They sit there all day. If he, and the other traders, were genuinely concerned that lack of parking was having a negative impact they would park further away and not take up 'precious' spaces.

First(ish) time on a (books, definitely) podcast! (I’m really shy and talking is hard). But Dan and Paul were really great to chat with and this is a subject I’m apparently really passionate about 😆

Britain could have joined Erasmus five years ago; an agreement on funding was completed between negotiators but vetoed “at the very last minute” by Boris Johnson. From Stefaan de Rynck’s book

Another excellent @jamellebouie.net column: We do not have a president, we have a junta (my word), unelected extremists empowered by the Supreme Court and the so-called unitary executive. Gift link. The Man Who Rules the Country Presides Over Nothing www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/o...

In Tanzania the bicycle was both a declaration and an instrument of independence. In “Nyerere’s Bicycle of Self-Reliance,” Frank Edward reveals a familiar pattern by which cycling began in Dar es Salaam as a ruling-class import and developed into a practical local tool. ...

The Raccoons remains a beloved Canadian television show 40 years after it debuted. But the story of The Evergreen Forest and its inhabitants all began with a Christmas Special that aired in 1980. This is the story of The Christmas Raccoons. 🧵 1/12

Great summary, also for naming more than the usual suspects (UAE...). Advice to democrats worldwide includes: "to reclaim the narrative. Pro-democracy actors need to make democratic values culturally relevant, meet citizens where they are, and show them how democracy improves everyday life."

Plaid lead among all age groups under 55. Reform lead among the over 55s, but 5% of 18-24

US showing little interest in fighting Russian misinfo in Nigeria despite the country's being a bulwark against the potential spread of terrorism and military rule in the Sahel. VoA's Hausa service has ended and US funding for Nigeria has declined sharply. - CNAS www.cnas.org/publications/com...