Latest government cruelties are simply performative, as countless studies have shown these rules won’t work as a deterrence

Yep. As a teenager in the post-punk 80s, I think the received wisdom at the time was that Fleetwood Mac was 'a bit naff', along with Abba and Paul McCartney.

Beth is my coffee shop alias; for anyone else I am Bethan. Also not Bethany, but that's a different complaint.

Wherever we looked for the prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler. manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...

I sometimes wonder how the parallel universe is getting on, where this plane crash had a different outcome. Would the word Brexit even have been invented? www.theguardian.com/politics/201...

First step on the road to make membership compulsory, along the lines of the Hitlerjugend or Young Pioneers?

Brilliant detail in BBC story about the bikers involved in US aid in Gaza: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Slightly diminish a book: War and Temporary Ceasefire

Earlier today, I read this by @jamesrball.com and I was nodding along thinking yes, yes, all I get on Facebook/instagram is ads for pure crap unrelated to my interests, no matter how much data they hold on me. But... www.jamesrball.com/p/what-if-bi...

No subs on duty at the BBC website on Sundays?

Belatedly watching this for the first time. Seems somehow relevant for our times.

Ten writers by whom I have read more than five books: Jane Gardam Penelope Lively Richard Powers Yasunari Kawabata Barbara Kingsolver Anthony Trollope Virginia Woolf Douglas Adams Haruki Murakami Dorothy L Sayers

@blogmywiki.bsky.social I see your attic clearance and raise you parental house clearance plus my late husband's youth in boxes from my in-law's attic. Today's possible treasure: ZX Spectrum pamphlet apparently signed by the man himself

Three men sit in a cell in El Salvador. The first asks the second why he has been imprisoned. He replies, "Because I criticized Elon Musk." The first man responds, "But I am here for praising Musk!" They ask the third man who has been sitting quietly in the back. He answers, "I AM Elon Musk".

once again I must tap my own sign

What are the odds on this one turning up in an Omaze draw next year?

A big loss. She was a favourite author of mine from childhood (Bilgewater) all the way up to her novels of older age (the Old Filth trilogy), and everything in between.

He's just following the official style manual: www.amazon.co.uk/Dictator-Sty...

First rule of house moves: get bookshelves built in before you start unpacking your books. Speaking of which, can anyone recommend a good carpenter in SE London? Two months in, and my books are all still with Pickfords.

🚨 Outrage as 20 police officers break into Westminster Quaker Meeting House and arrest six. 🚨 This shocking violation of a place of worship is a direct result of crackdowns on protest and dissent - freedom of speech, assembly and democracy are at risk.🕊️ 👉 www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

The public think that the second thing government spends money on is migrants and asylum seekers, and the fourth is MPs expenses. Try doing politics in that atmosphere. taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/10/26/t...

At Heathrow, five years ago today. Few people, even fewer planes landing, no health checks, just a banner advising people to self-isolate if they had symptoms. The opposite pole of abnormal circumstances from today's chaos at Heathrow.

@blogmywiki.bsky.social Edited version

@blogmywiki.bsky.social Do you remember the brief craze for bookspine poetry?

To mark the 80th anniversary of the March 10, 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, a thread introducing one of the most remarkable primary sources I've come across in the archive: Gen. Thomas Power's eye-witness report, recorded while circling over the firestorm for nearly two hours. 1/

This is interesting. I saw The Years last week, and yes, the production paused during the abortion scene while theatre staff 'attended to a member of the audience'. But the goriness of the scene (not even peaked at that point) was minor compared to many films. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This little plum blossom hates Donald Trump and Elon Musk with every inch of her being and wants all the shit in the world to be dumped directly upon their heads. Isn’t she adorable.

Favorite sign so far

What’s happening in the US is starting to feel more like a hacking than an election, with Trump basically cast as the idiot who clicked on the phishing email that let the ransomware guys in. Struck by how crucial tech not politics reporters are to us understanding it

I feel like it’s worth remembering this >> TikTok admits tracking FT journalist in leaks investigation on.ft.com/3WGFJQX

Essential reading any day, but especially today: Zuckerberg (yes, his sibling, a classicist) on the manosphere, men's rights, and nostalgia for patriarchy Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age – Bryn Mawr Classical Review search.app/yjH1X9adNQxu...

Looks to me like she has all the qualifications for a job in the Trump administration. But maybe she can't tick the "sexual assault perpetrators preferred" box.

Remember to take your Christmas decorations down by the end of Twelfth Night. Here is a post about why - and about other things too.

Classic country house bedside reading collection where I am staying

Well, I didn't expect to have an angle on this one, but... Sure, why not, let's discuss the key things that the UHC CEO's accused assassin gets wrong about Japanese urbanism. 🧵

This anecdote in this very good piece I think tells you everything you need to know about Wallace

Hmm. I might just re-think those plans for a nice hill walk in Wales this weekend.

From Hags, on the privileged middle-aged woman who's meant to shut up but, unbelievably, doesn't

And because the men don't call it out? I'm trying really hard not to follow this, despite the best efforts of the news media to tell me its the most important thing happening in the world today. But where is his male co-star in all this?

You'd think that if you were going to spend £132m on refurbishing a concert hall, you might think about sound insulation from external noise. Yes, that's you, @bristolbeacon.bsky.social. A steady, thumping bass beat was audible right through the quieter passages of Erland Cooper's show last night.

So... some years ago I made up a horse for a joke. And AI took me seriously.

Thoughtful and thought-provoking thread, wherever you stand on this issue.

Excellent long read on the counter-intuitive ecology of land abandonment. "the old idea of humans as antithetical to nature is also wrong-headed, and that rosy visions of thriving, human-free environments are more imaginary than real." Humans are not the virus. www.theguardian.com/news/2024/no...

Hadn't realized the Godzilla on Iwayagawauchi Dam was the work of a team from Kärcher of Germany, using their high pressure cleaners. The firm has released some photographs. prtimes.jp/main/html/rd...

@martinlewismse.bsky.social I presume this is one of many. I have reported.

You can tell this site is taking off as the fake Martin Lewis accounts peddling crypto are here. Oh well, I suppose it was inevitable.