“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

How many women have died with “fucking bitch” ringing in their ears? Don’t let the misogyny get erased here

I don’t think people realise how awful it is in Ukraine right now. Yesterday my friend posted how it’s -9 and because of the power cuts - due to Russian attacks - she has no heating. This is in Kyiv. And this is the day after a mass missile & drone strike killed four people.

Discover more about the life and work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the work of the Vaughan Williams Foundation, via our website: vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/the-foundati...

We've analysed this video of the shooting of Renee Nicole Good yesterday in Minneapolis frame-by-frame to highlight the positioning of the gun and phone in the ICE agent's hands. Video: @minnesotareformer.com with annotations by Bellingcat

In general am loath to give this site any traction, but my friend Zoë Martlew has written a beautiful, perfect tribute to pianist/composer Jonathan Powell, whose death was announced yesterday. It reminded me that it was at one of these concerts that I first heard Jonathan play, and heard his music:

Two tenure-track Assistant Professor positions are now open in the Department of Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin, in Value Theory and in the Philosophy, History and Ethics of Science. Closing dates: 19 & 30 Jan 2026. Further details here ⬇️ tinyurl.com/2s3n2wnk

The detailed data is very interesting. Plaid is polling first among people under 55 but crucially its support is roughly the same (30%) throughout Wales regardless of region. But also: '24 Labour voters are more likely to vote Plaid (40%!!) than Labour.

When soldiers from one NATO country need to - mentally and tactically - prepare for an attack from another NATO country, something has already been irrevocably broken.

RIP Jonathan Powell - a great pianist, highly original composer and Russian music specialist. What a tragic loss. We came up together, and both from the West Midlands. I have a fond memory of a Black Country real ale pub crawl with him in c.1997. Here’s his ‘Saturnine’ for ensemble:

What is just crazy about this, aside from the need for this statement at all, is that Greenland already IS in the US sphere of influence. It's far cheaper for the US, in material, security, and reputational terms, to have Denmark continue administering Greenland and work within NATO on security.

NEW But what about international law? What happens to an international legal order when a superpower goes rogue Substack: emptycity.substack.com/p/but-what-a... Personal Blog: davidallengreen.com/2026/01/but-...

Joint statement on Greenland.

I would very much like my government to state unambiguously that annexing territory belonging to allied nation states - however complex their history - is not on. When did this become complicated? Have I missed something?

Miller: “The real question is: by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? “What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark? “The US is the power of NATO.”

On your Nobel Peace Prize application, under Weaknesses, you've put 'Refused to allow the previous winner to take power in Venezuela'?

Get involved! Listening to a composer's entire catalogue is hoenstly one of the msot fascinating endeavours

Much more honesty about what just happened from inside the U.S. than from outside. The world is full of dishonesty and cowardice.

All it takes for evil to thrive is for mediocre world leaders to say “I’d rather not say”

This is perhaps the most bonkers aspect of our truly bonkers constitutional moment.

The Frankfurt School be like . . .

If any country can just kidnap another country’s president in a fit of pique, this is the Duchy of Grand Fenwick’s moment to SHINE.

Reagan gave Thatcher a few hours before and she was famously furious about it. Also Grenada was in the commonwealth.

LOL

So, the President has gone to war with a foreign country and kidnapped its leader because… why?

I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war

It’s a dark night when you look at the news and are forced to admit that you no longer believe in the power of the FIFA peace prize

How 2026 was depicted in the sci-fi classic 'Metropolis' (1927)

NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir – a US spy-tech firm that has supported mass deportation in the US and enabled genocide in Gaza. Say No to Palantir in the NHS ⬇️ goodlaw.social/658abc

Blimey, I feel seen here. If he were alive now Pepys would be sifting his inbox, deleting the LinkedIn notifications....

“Caerphilly isn’t some post-industrial wasteland passively absorbing whatever political winds blow from across the border – it has its own political traditions and, like Wales more broadly, it has its own dynamics and can’t simply be read through the lens of what is happening in England.”

Fuck it I don’t care anymore

I keep saying this but no one is connecting the dots. The war is to satisfy legal preconditions for mass removal *domestically* of Latinos (i.e., suddenly a lot of people are going to be “Venezuelan” for purposes of removal). This is 100% Stephen Miller…oil claim is to make grandpa go along

It would genuinely be very funny if America's daft Supreme Court decided the Louisiana Purchase was unconstitutional, mainland United States was split in two, and France got back a territory stretching from New Orleans to Canada and from St Louis to Denver. Free trade in Kansas wheat across the EU!

This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)

I seem to have woken up in 1529…

It's interesting to see Truss return to her Marxist roots and commit to a dialectic so rigorous she is at war with the person she was yesterday, who is a clown and a coward.

The BBC has shockingly removed access to its archive - "inquiries from the general public are closed." It was formed through public money, and now we are thrown out. Join the campaign, please write to [email protected] and [email protected] observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

This is STELLAR. Share widely!

Watching it at my in-laws, I realised that BBC’s ‘The Repair Shop’ is as much part of a project to soften up the nation for fascism as ‘Downton Abbey’.

You've only got one week left to apply for our Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Composer Scheme which gives you the chance to write for the LSO!🎶✍️ Head to the link below or share with someone who needs to apply! 🔗: https://bit.ly/4p8KFMf

Dictator (‘Strongman’ by Ruth Ben-Ghiat)

schenker in 1900:

Am evangelical about the benefits of an appointed (or partially-appointed) revising chamber. Expertise in the world is really valuable, and acquiring it is pretty incompatible with contemporary party politics (it wasn’t always).

EN DIRECT, Brigitte Bardot est morte : les dernières réactions après la disparition de l’actrice

No.

I refer the New York Times to the ITV kids show Tiswas

Y Gwyliau • A Welsh Christmas🎄 This blogpost looks at the strange and fascinating traditions our Welsh ancestors practiced during the Christmas season🎄 hellohistoria.substack.com/p/y-gwyliau-... #Wales #History #Christmas