Men aren’t born with a propensity to commit acts of sexual violence. It is socialized behavior, often learned through abuse itself. Take fraternities and hazing as one example. The slightly older students beat the younger ones and the cycle continues year after year. Sports teams, armies, the same.

One aspect of this Alagna Turandot story which keeps cropping up is the surprise, among the general public and opera insiders alike, that his understudy wasn’t available. The fact is that, given the way many major opera houses currently operate, there very probably wasn’t one.

Got to say the conspiracies around ‘15 minute cities’ is one of the most bizarre out there It’s beyond comprehension

You can test new tech ideas using the Seinfeld Test Would the product eliminate the plot of an episode? (Google maps, cell phones, paypal, battery packs) Good tech. Would the product inspire new Seinfeld plots? (NFTs, AI chatbots, crypto currency, blindboxes, metaverse land sales) Bad tech.

Important scientific research at which UK excels sacrificed on the altar of the vain search for growth bit.ly/4a4Y9Dg these myopic cuts will cost jobs and growth and of course damage two vital sciences

Do you want to #FixStreaming and help musicians keep making the music you love? Sign our petition to show your support! 🔗 bit.ly/FixStreaming The headline figures look great, but musicians need to make a living from recorded music use as well as live

The funny thing about this is that Brits, especially conservative ones, absolutely gorge on TV series set in the past or a kind of imagined present (like Doc Martin etc) where everything is within 15 minutes. You dont see Miss Marple drive to an out of town supermarket to get her fish paste & bread.

Bullshit machine cites bullshit machine

“We’ve invented a magic computer. It uses all of the earth’s resources, we’ve spent trillions on it and it’s the sole growth area of the US economy.” “What does it do?” “We were hoping you could tell us.”

Boulangerie croissant on the way to the Eurostar this morning; I was congratulating myself on how authentically French I have become, before cheerily informing the border guard that I’m an Irishwoman. #Paris #workinprogress 🇫🇷 🥐

always a lot of panic about right wing young men, the second most progressive demographic in britain

People who don’t know how to make a PDF: “AI is inevitable.”

New next door neighbour today. (She’s not in, I checked.) #Paris #opera

For the Nth time, the people selling you generative AI are completely incapable of providing compelling use cases. This is supposed to be why they need a trillion dollars? The tyre thing?

“Le Voyageur” chevauche une fois de plus ce soir. #Paris #Wagner #Siegfried #Wanderer #RingCycle

More fun on stage in #Paris last night as “Le Voyageur” at the pré-générale of #Siegfried #Wagner #Wanderer #Wotan #RingCycle

Except there isn't a worklessness crisis....

Le dieu fou d'aujourd'hui. Last sessions of stage rehearsals for me here in Paris. An absolute joy to have been embraced into this incredible team and sing into in this crystal-clean, egalitarian auditorium. 🇫🇷🎶❤️

Views of Twitter/X in Britain Favourable 14% (3% very favourable) Unfavourable 65% (37% very unfavourable) By gender Men 16-65 (-49) Women 10-64 (-54) By 2024 vote Reform 23-46 (-23) Cons 17-57 (-40) Labour 10-76 (-66) LibDem 6-79 (-73) Green 5-89 (-84) YouGov: V similar Jan 2025/Jan 2026

Happy that @freelancersmake.bsky.social have ceased activity on X with immediate effect - a long overdue call, but ultimately a unanimous decision, and the right one. Thanks to all who contributed to the discussion.

Urge any arts social media managers to pull their organisations from X/Twitter as soon as possible, particularly if your organisation works with children in any capacity. Grok AI is even more cooked than other AIs. www.bbc.com/news/article...

This has felt like the only proper Test match of the #Ashes - all four results still plausible going into the final day. #AUSENG

Global campaign to install roof-to-basement escalators in all opera houses. #Paris 🇫🇷 🎶 ❤️

The idea that London has become less safe in recent years is quite strange - just look at how once "dangerous" areas have been transformed in recent years. Gentrification comes with its own issues but streets are packed with visitors and city far more welcoming than when I moved here a decade ago.

Siegfried Act 1 is hugely underrated - it’s a great example of a composer reaching the epitome of an early style, the perfection of which demands a left turn to follow. See also Le Nozze Di Figaro, Beethoven’s 3rd, OK Computer.

A great man once said (in a meeting I was in yesterday)… ‘Make your bed in the morning as a reward for your future self.’

I mapped 80k london airbnbs putting pressure on London housing. The result is annoying if you want a simple villain because airbnb is not to blame for this pressure. Anyway I also found 1,500 listings where you can book guilt-free: open.substack.com/pub/laurenle... Map: laurenleek.eu/airbnb_map

Rehearsing with Calixto Bieito - before and after:

Wall Street’s biggest banks made more money financing green projects than they did from working with fossil fuel companies for a fourth straight year, even as they faced ongoing pressure to pull back from the business

Dydd byr yw pob diwedd byd - anadliad Yw cenhedlaeth hefyd, Nid yw hanes ond ennyd, A fu ddoe a fydd o hyd - Gerallt

King, beggar and fool, I have been all by turns, Knowing the body's sweetness, the mind's treason; Taliesin still, I show you a new world, risen, Stubborn with beauty, out of the heart's need. - Taliesin, by RS Thomas

The final Calvin and Hobbes, which appeared in papers 30 years ago today.

The phrase, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" needs to be retired. Many illnesses leave you alive but weaker.

My beautiful friend, a nurse, died at 31 last night. Her cancer treatment was delayed because a visitor did not wear a mask and she became terribly ill for weeks with the flu or COVID and following infections. If you're wearing a mask, thank you.

One of the nicest things about any opera house anywhere in the world is that when you get lost backstage - as you inevitably will on a frequent basis - you only have to wander around looking lost for a minute or two before someone will take pity on you and help you find where you’re going. 🎭 🎶❤️

Every time I hear Brünnhilde sing this note, I instinctively go to put my coat back on for the curtain call. Like some sort of Pavlov’s god.

Incredible that we can go through everything we’ve been through and learn absolutely nothing.

Politicians are terrified of an electorate they think is far more authoritarian and angry and right wing than it actually is, because they are out of touch because the literal media - the thing that mediates between public and polity - is corrupted

I've been doing this as a comedy bit for years, but I do believe it; before I die, I will see the establishment of a Royal Commission on Britain's failure to attract sufficient immigration, and many of today's broadsheet ethnonationalists will be on it

God honestly. Doesn’t this just sum up Reform. And their plastic patriotism. Can’t even give a straight answer or follow the rules on their unbelievably naff merch. So on brand. Oh well. You sell or wear one of these, you’ve told us all we need to know about you. (iPaper)

So Boris Johnson, Prince Phillip, Andrew Bonar Law, Freddie Mercury, George I, George II, Richard E Grant, Douglas Carswell, Rudyard Kipling, Cliff Richard, Joanna Lumley and Spike Milligan weren't British? Interesting www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

"do your own research" should be viewed in the same way as "do your own gas plumbing" or "do your own defence lawyering".

Carriage steward on the train this morning spots my score, is a huge Wagner fan. He just gave me an extra pain au raisin. I feel like a proper rock star.

heads up that bluesky doesnt show posts from other languages by default on your timeline, and its cutting you off from a lot of the community go to bsky.app/settings/lan... and deselect any language from this setting, or else you might not see any of the new japanese users at all!

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

Still time to order for pre-Christmas delivery, and help knock Russell Watson's autobiography off the top of the opera book sales charts. amzn.eu/d/dgiy3nq

Still time to order for pre-Christmas delivery, and help knock Russell Watson's autobiography off the top of the opera book sales charts. amzn.eu/d/dgiy3nq