After 8 years writing the tech column @washingtonpost.com, I am among folks who were laid off today. I’m grateful for the stories I got to tell and the impact we made on privacy, sustainability & AI. You can keep following my work on my new (free) Substack geoffreyafowler.substack.com

But Bezos had $75 million to spend on Melania’s vanity project.

Former president of Ireland and member of the Elders - a group of global leaders working for human rights - Mary Robinson has said that the US' proposed Board of Peace is not a board of peace, it is "the board of the power of one person"

I occasionally think of the completely unhinged response to David Cameron's comments during the EU referendum about how the prevailing European security architecture shouldn't be taken for granted.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR #BISA2026!! Take a look at the conference programme and register now via the conference website: conference.bisa.ac.uk Participant registration deadline: 2 March See you in Brighton 🌊🏖️ @simonrushton.bsky.social @julietdryden.bsky.social @visitbrighton.bsky.social

Please share original post @juanitamarieelias.bsky.social @victoriambasham.bsky.social @profjackholland.bsky.social @edmundsprof.bsky.social @drnickwright.bsky.social @nickcaddick.bsky.social @risjnl.bsky.social @ejisbisa.bsky.social @therealisthom.bsky.social @sebkaempf.bsky.social

Spoke to CNN about our national flags & why ethnic minorities can certainly identify with them too edition.cnn.com/2025/08/29/u...

“The ECHR isn’t Brussels meddling. It’s the foundation that protects you from your own government.” – The Bear on why leaving the ECHR would be a really Bad Idea.

Analysis - the moral and economic costs of Farage’s plan to deport up to 600,000 asylum seekers (Currently most read on the Guardian website, beating Taylor and Travis) www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

People can feel sympathy for Lucy Connolly over the scale of sentence she got after pleading guilty. But the appeal found her evidence demonstrably not credible on what she knew/did not know about the sentence before her guilty plea. Her media interviews repeat those false claims

"although the summit may not have been a meaningful step towards peace, it was significant for what it tells us about the conduct and direction of US foreign policy" Fascinating piece by @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social on the recent summits. ukandeu.ac.uk/what-the-tru...

This felt inevitable: an interview with Allison Pearson given top billing in the Telegraph. Connolly suggests Starmer should relearn what freedom of speech means and "what the laws are in this country". I think he knows but Connolly/Pearson clearly don't. No lessons have been learned in prison.

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63% of people think net migration rose in the last 12 months 8% of people think it fell Yet it fell by 400,000 in 2024 vs 2023 [It is falling further in 2025] Public service broadcasters are doing a core part of their job on this topic badly if that 8% is not closer to 30% at least

Learn a German word today: Bügelbierflaschenzudrücker (swing top beer bottle shutter).

In a new post for @flint-global.com, we take a look at the possible impact of US pharmaceutical tariffs, and why a “deal” might not be as beneficial as it first appears. Featuring @georgeriddell.bsky.social flint-global.com/blog/trumps-...

New BISA at 50 article! 🌟 'Supporting varied pathways' with @drnickwright.bsky.social - a BISA trustee 📚 'Long may this continue – and I’m already looking forward to the discussions in Brighton next year.' 🎉 Read now 👉 buff.ly/aYWwiNz @julietdryden.bsky.social @juanitamarieelias.bsky.social

NEW BLOG: 10 reasons why the hereditary peers bill should be amended to constrain Prime Ministerial patronage and the size of the House of Lords Ahead of the hereditary peers bill's report stage starting in the Lords tomorrow, our Director, Meg Russell, sets out why peers should amend the bill.

Every single picture of Peter Thiel makes him look like the guy in a zombie film who's hiding that he was bitten.

Harmful messages sink in, not only for the athletes they’re directed at, but for every woman and girl who hears them. Our research shows it too. 45% of teenage girls feel they don’t have the right body shape for sport, increasing to 52% of girls who used to be sporty but dropped out in their teens.

Study on London 20 mph limits shows: - collisions ⬇️ 35% - casualties ⬇️ 36% - fatal/serious injuries ⬇️ 34% - child casualties ⬇️ 46% - child deaths ⬇️ 75% - walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists killed/seriously injured ⬇️ 28% etsc.eu/20mph-limits...

A must read

Robert De Niro is expressing his love and support for his daughter Airyn De Niro, after she recently shared publicly for the first time that she is transgender. cnn.it/3EY1msu

“Miss Iris Davis… spends a great deal of time recovering cats with the aid of a 'lassoo' from the debris of bombed house. So far she has rescued six hundred of these feline strays, 8 November 1940.“ www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

Dear god let this man cook.

Previous to the FDA, folks would put chalk and plaster of Paris in milk to make it appear white. They could also add formaldehyde to cover the smell and taste of spoiled milk.

You don't pick Secretaries of Defense based on how good they are on TV for the same reason being a pilot has requirements other than a sexy voice for the pre-flight announcements.

Almost every line of this story would have been simply unbelievable a few months ago: —Pioneering cancer researcher; —*Arrested* at airport in Boston; —Now indefinite ICE detention in Louisiana; —"Crime": not declaring some frog-embryo samples for research. Read it. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

I won’t share RFK Jr.’s lies about autism. It’s disgusting and dangerous. If he had a shred of decency, he would apologize and resign. Autistic people contribute every day to our nation’s greatness. To every kid with autism, I’m in this fight all the way for you.

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🇩🇪🤝🇬🇧 The UK and Germany have renewed their commitment to the military bridging projects 'Wide Wet Gap Crossing' and 'General Support Bridge'. Further deepening of 🇩🇪-🇬🇧 cooperation on armament projects will help strengthen the defence of NATO member states.

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I've been in touch with a US colleague who is an international superstar running an extremely successful research programme in health sciences. They said things feel terrible out there, with several of their colleagues having left and more planning to - many leaving the US. It's very sad

NEW 'Take Five' from Director/CEO @JulietDryden & Comms Intern Eve Harrison-Taylor Our top 5 readings/podcasts on #internationalstudies! inc: @katiestallard.bsky.social @newyorker.com @newstatesman.com and more: www.bisa.ac.uk/articles/tak...

Jürgen's Easter Braid, a German Easter staple that's easy to bake and delicious smothered with butter and jam. 😍 Full video and recipe: instagram.com/p/DITkrFfsIjQ/

Crucial intervention from Meg Russell of the @conunitucl.bsky.social this week: the chance for meaningful Lords reform is crumbling before our eyes. There's still a chance to save it, but it needs to happen immediately with amendments at report stage. inews.co.uk/opinion/labo...

As a clinical psychologist, I’ve worked in a hospital setting for over a decade helping people who experience severe depression. They didn’t choose it. Anti-psychiatry propaganda reflects poor science and mental health literacy. This is what it sounds like:

Always the last century’s greatest sentence. And still perfect.

"You boy! What tariff is it today?"

Constant purging. “President Xi Jinping has purged the number-two general in the People’s Liberation Army, in the most dramatic act of his military anti-corruption campaign and first firing of a general in that role in six decades.” www.ft.com/content/8226...

Two superb blog posts from @histparl.bsky.social: Robin Eagles on toilet provision in the old (pre-1834) Houses of Parliament at historyofparliament.com/2022/12/01/s..., and @chloechallender.bsky.social on women's toilet provision in the 19thC parliament historyofparliament.com/2024/01/16/t...

Most billionaires get rich by accident or by birth. However, they tell themselves (and each other) that it is because of their hard work and wit. Surrounded by yes men, they come to think they are geniuses… and then you get this. 🤷‍♂️

Gen Z and Millennials: In ten years when we’re still without a cure and you’re caring for your parents, remember what he did.

Put up by Katy Brand today - this is the story over and over again

Today’s @MattCartoonist

Trump is learning what Truss learned before him: that the market is the last bastion of commonly-accepted truth, which all sides accept as empirically real open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...