Google “what is the evidence for Russia intending to attack the UK?” and you won’t get a single independent (ie non govt./corporate sponsored or supporting) result that provides a genuinely trustworthy, and sufficiently comprehensive, answer.

So, BBC Radio 3 has three dedicated jazz programmes (which it doesn’t really highlight), and between the three, two played one Sonny Rollins track - the same one, his most famous, St Thomas. Rollins was a giant in jazz. Pathetic.

It appears to me (albeit with limited research into this) that the campaigns for, and organisations involved in, open access to academic journals are restricted to scientific fields. What is happening with open access to journals in the arts, humanities and social sciences?

Israel has become an evil of world-historical proportions. Language fails in the face of so much wickedness.

On critics: That mainstream political discourse is highly circumscribed is well recognised. But just as invidious is the way that much criticism of the effects of capitalism and imperialism is also cirmumscribed, so that their deeper realities are left unstated. 1/2

If the political categories of “left” and “right” are to have any useful value, then they are best viewed as, fundamentally, representing, respectively: “the left”, a disposition for, and consistent practice of, caring for others, and understanding all that this entails 🧵 1/2

Classic!

Some thoughts:

I am pro Iranian people. I stand with them against their own government’s repression AND against the imperial violence in the form of bombs dropped from the sky from Israel & the US who have already killed hundreds. I support neither imperialism or dictatorship. Sahar Delijani said it best:

The intelligence of Natalia Ginzburg. In these two essays, newly translated for Equator, the Italian writer articulates a powerful moral vision of what it means to belong, and to whom we owe our compassion

You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.

An example re Bluesky, it doesn’t give links as well as X does, eg The Guardian.

It’s odd that Francis doesn’t mention bluesky, which was meant to be an alternative less toxic site. This has only marginally proved to the case. It needs better resources/promotion Given the toxicity of social media, a moral question now faces all of us: is it still ethical to use it? Frances Ryan

A great article by @jasonhickel.bsky.social and @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social. But I do wish we could all stop using the wolf as a metaphor for the worst kinds of human behaviour. Wolves are wonderful creatures, endlessly maligned - and also victims of capitalism. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I’m sure that much more than the 3 basic proposals is neeed, but the diagnosis is surely right. Behold the incredible shrinking Starmer: the PM who promises more while giving less | Aditya Chakrabortty

Pretty well sums it up.

A very good summing up of Starmerism. Behold the incredible shrinking Starmer: the PM who promises more while giving less | Aditya Chakrabortty

Plus many additions in the responses to this thread.

While mainstream media downplays Epstein’s numerous links to the Israeli government, more tenuous links to Russia are becoming increasingly conspicuous. @meenakshirv.bsky.social and Drop Site News’s Murtaza Hussain take us through the story.

Hitler too turned against the churches once they turned against him.

Is there anything left in life that doesn’t involve someone or some company trying to make money out of one? Maybe you have to reach 70 before this becomes really noticeable.

What a disgusting world we live in. These are our rulers. And this is probably just the tip of the iceberg. Sex and snacks, but no seat at the table: the role of women in Epstein’s sordid men’s club

Some, very condensed, thoughts on left unity:

We all have an "antilibrary." You know, the stack of yet-unread books we might never read. Here is Umberto Eco's wonderful and counterintuitive take on why that unread stack might be as essential for our inner lives as the read www.themarginalian.org/2015/03/24/u...

Yep.

Brilliant. If it was my old school I doubt if he would have walked away in one piece.

Good to see Channel Four News exposing the bastards that hunt foxes.

Given the criticism of Polanski re NATO, I thought I would jot down a few thoughts:

However much I think that this Labour govt. needs to be thrown out of office, the thought of a Reform majority at the next GE is too disastrous to contemplate. Reform are likely to increasingly push the fascist ideology of ‘homeland’ (Die Heimat, Vaterland). 1/2

"Immigration policy" is rules governing movement of people across border, how people can change status. Reasonable people can disagree on this. Targeting & terrorizing, abducting & disappearing, murdering & beating people are crimes against humanity. "Immigration policy/enforcement" it ain't.

In order of the most common, X functions as: 1 antagonistic 2 propagandistic 3 informative 4 suggestive 5 dialogical. We need a platform that disallows nos.1&2, which vastly outstrip no.5. Bluesky reduces these, but, sharing a similar format to X, is not really designed for 5, serious dialogue.

The silence of Corbyn, Sultana and whoever is currently running Your Party, in relation to the current situation in Iran doesn’t bode well. Does it follow the position of Progressive International in its support of the current Iranian regime?

I haven’t seen any improvement in the layout and other features of Bluesky since it started. It is still difficult to read.

I agree with what is said in this Guardian piece. The Qu is: What outcome to the protests would provide the best conditions for fighting for genuine democracy and universal values? Iran’s protesters need our support – not another western-intervention disaster | Owen Jones

The hope that people might begin to critically assess arguments, has to reckon with the fact that for very many there is no interest in the strength of arguments. I’m watching myself on YouTube saying things I would never say. This is the deepfake menace we must confront | Yanis Varoufakis

I think that the reporting of the US actions in Venezuela on BBC 6 Music News was written by someone from the US Embassy.

An impressive speech. May the force be with him.

Fine as far as it goes. But reason isn’t a dominant force, even without AI. And the reason for this goes beyond either “laziness and cowardice,” or “the reassuring certainty of subordination”. We need a deeper concept of reason and why it fails to take hold, or AI is likely to win out.

If you’re lonely today and want someone to talk to in the U.K.: • Call Samaritans 116 123 – 24/7 • Text SHOUT to 85258 – free, 24/7 text support • 55+: The Silver Line 0800 470 8090 – friendship and listening, 24/7 • Under 19: Childline 0800 1111 or chat online We are here on bluesky too🩷

Just a reminder: you are NOT unusual, weird, or unlovable if you have: - no one to see on Christmas Day, - no presents, or - no contactable relatives. Very few people live the idealised version on TV. Those of us who live differently—whether by choice or trauma—matter as much.

It seems to me that the tradition or culture of black activism in the US is, and perhaps has been for a long time, well ahead, in both what it has to say and how it expresses that, of anything similar in the UK. As evidenced in the whole of this discussion. youtube.com/watch?v=Uwwn...

Shabana Mahmood is an avatar of open Britain – that’s what makes her fable about immigration so seductive | Nesrine Malik

The letter needs to be addressed not just to Zultana, but to many others on ‘the left’ (such as Stop the War) who have an incoherent position re Russia (and China).

A real rarity: an ambitious and progressive plan that might become a reality. Will this Labour govt. fully support it? How ambitious ‘forest city’ plan for England could become a reality

We're facing a political emergency: a high likelihood of an shamelessly authoritarian government in 2029. So we urgently need this basic safeguard: a codified constitution. This week's column explains what we're missing and why it's so important. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The language of politics is made up of absurd, obfuscating, abstractions. “Integration” is one of them. What on earth is that meant to mean? Has it ever existed? A-level English, voluntary work, delayed citizenship: it’s Labour’s Orwellian Two Minutes Hate for immigrants | Nesrine Malik

A long but worthwhile read, making a very important argument. open.substack.com/pub/jmarriot...

Yes. But I still think that a majority of the population (maybe only a small one) reject this normalisation of a, very, reactionary mindset. The problem is that most of these remain passive, confused, onlookers.