Good. Europe needs to decouple more, for its own good.

What distinguished and delightful company to be in accepting novelettes without fees!

Good news! I have secured a cover image for my next flash fiction collection (which will hopefully appear this autumn). Since I point blank refuse to even appear to support the use of genAI, it's a photograph first published in 2021, and licensed from the photographer. 🙂

Ruzzians have started making props for the next Mad Max sequel, apparently! 🤣🤣🤣

I disagree with Chega's policies and views, but credit is due to Ventura for this comment in response to efforts to explain his defeat away: “These are the results and I take full responsibility for them, and this country needs politicians who take responsibility.”

Probably the most concise description of current issues in the Middle East that you will come across.

Remembir everye daye ys a goode daye to reach out to a friende and tell them how much you love them. Maybe buy them a booke. Bringe up an olde inside joke. All the sillye thinges and the serious thinges about friendeshippe, thei are all infinitelye valuable. Tyme spent thus wil nevir be regrettid.

Pantea Arteshbod (559-529 BCE; fl. 539 BCE), was a Persian military commander during the reign of Cyrus The Great. She was one of several women to hold high ranking positions in the Persian army. #CelebratingWomen

Greetings from 🇨🇿. Babiš is, above all, an opportunistic populist. He sees a way of solidifying his core voters - older, disaffected, less well educated folk who resent the success of others and don't understand modern technology. I don't recall him ever indicating that he cares about kids before.

Write. Create. Be inspired. The #2WordPrompt for 08-FEB-26 is: Slender & Ten #Prompt

Lovely piece.

Some interesting ruminations on Vance getting booed, and what it means for how people regard news media in future.

Russia’s full-scale invasion began 4 years ago. It began in winter, and so this winter is the 5th. And, for civilians, the worst. Russia launches missiles and drones at energy infrastructure to force Ukrainians to endure the freezing cold. Here's how you can help snyder.substack.com/p/the-long-u...

For anyone who needs cheering up... here's Britain's smallest bird having a bath today in a woodland puddle. 😁😍🐦❤️ #birds 🪶

They should just introduce Soviet-style political commissars and be done with it.

Kyiv. We had one hour of electricity and were told we’ll get about 1.5-2 hours a day (yes, out of 24 hours). The boiler heated water, I washed my hair, charged the EcoFlow (not fully). That’s all. These are the consequences of russian attacks.

The red-figure psykter by Douris in the British Museum made quite the impression on me when I was a naive undergraduate studying at the Institute of Archaeology nearby... definitely NSFW. www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

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Rampallion [ram-PAL-ee-un] (n.) - A rascally, disorderly, or despicable person; a scoundrel; villain.

The US is being fed propaganda. This a particularly egregious example of 'voluntary' censorship, and is ultimately pointless - the uncensored content is circulating widely online.

Russia killed more civilians in 2025 than any year since the full-scale invasion — all under Trump's "peace process." Deaths up 31% from 2024. 147 drones per night. Both rounds of Abu Dhabi talks accompanied by massive strikes on civilian infrastructure.

Astonishingly, this article manages to completely avoid using the word 'narcissist' - even though it's been used to describe Trump since Vincent Fitzgerald's diagnosis in the Huffington Post in December 2016.

I didn't believe the reports that DJT had posted a video including the Obamas as apes. It's the sort of thing someone would make up, right? Wrong. I hopped over to TruthSocial to find out. He really did it. Disgusting. Abhorrent.

The US regime is making no secret of its intention to brazenly throw money at subverting European values while meddling in the continent's internal affairs. Imagine the reaction if, for example, China openly stated that it would do the same in the US.

Can you think of a word in your native language that is missing in English? Tell us in the comments which word we should cover next!

I thought this was interesting, so I'm sharing it for no other reason than that 🙂

Correction: It would lead to impeachment in a democracy, or in any country with a socially-sophisticated population. America has neither.

Of course Ukraine-Russia talks ended with "little progress and hints of an impasse." Russia is still after conquest, Ukraine still won't bow down, Russia can't make them. Trump can't get Ukraine to forfeit its freedom and won't put real pressure on Russia. So the farce of "peace talks" continues.

Love this.

Why is this Kremlin psyop allowed in Europe? Every Russian govnt sponsored organization should be closed, it‘s only culture is sabotage.

This is an excellent look at Turkey's drone industry, and where it has made inroads around the world. Well worth a read.

Remember - Musk could have done this before. The blood of Ukrainian soldiers is on his hands, even if he has belatedly done the right thing.

🥴🤡In Russia, a new condition for peace: they now demand not only the surrender of Donbas, but also its recognition as Russian territory by all countries participating in the negotiations – Russian media report.

68 years ago, on the 5th of February 1958, the US Air Force lost a hydrogen bomb of the coast of Georgia. The bomb was ejected into the water from a B-47 bomber after it had collided with a F-86 fighter plane. The bomb has never been recovered. #otd #history 🗃️

Gotta love the Eye.

The south transept doorway of St. Magnus Cathedral at Kirkwall in Orkney, with its alternating sandstone stonework. 📸 My own. #AdoorableThursday #Kirkwall #Orkney

Here we go. Confirmation of a long-standing business partnership between convicted sex trafficker Epstein and billionaire South African tech bro Peter Thiel - who has been instrumental in the rise of J D Vance to the US vice-presidency.

Washington Post is shuttering its book section, part of the ongoing war against literacy & knowledge. We at Current Affairs want to pick up the slack by expanding book reviews. Writers: pitch us anytime! And if you subscribe/donate we'll use the funding to commission book coverage.

Quibble [KWIB-uhl] (n.) - A play on words, a pun. - An equivocation, evasion, or frivolous objection. Used in a sentence: “Q’s for the quibble the vicar had said, Just moments before the Lord struck him dead.”

This is excellent news. I've indicated my agreement to D2D, so my collection 'Mars & More' (books2read.com/MarsMore) should be available there in due course 😁

Something that I was never previously aware of. So sharing it.

Today is going to be one of those days where I will definitely need to be well caffeinated.

You're only paranoid if they are not, in fact, out to get you (or your data...)

🌟 Word of the day: hornswoggle 📚 Part of Speech: verb 🔊 Pronunciation: ˈhȯrn-ˌswä-gəl 📖 Definition: to trick or deceive (someone) bamboozle, hoax

This is hilarious.

Heh

I think I probably have time to nip out and get some popcorn in preparation for the response... It's a safe bet, though, that Musk and Yaccarino will not honour the request to pop in for voluntary questioning. The many (many!) alleged offences being investigated are listed in the article.

Outrageous behaviour by yet another entitled rich man. But an outstanding job by the club staff.

Look at these numbers. All directed against non-military targets. No other country in Europe would be capable of defending against such an onslaught so effectively.