Bernie Sanders speaks the truth. I checked in on Nitter, and of course most of the replies are slamming him for posting this.

Was the whole ‘Berlin: Since 1237’ thing invented by the Nazis? Kind of, yeah. They were the first to celebrate the city’s anniversary in 1937, what they said was ‘700 years of Berlin’. The 1987 ‘750th’ would be a competition between east and West. So, what’ll happen in 2037?!

Following today’s sentencing of Paul Doyle, several people have understandably queried why he was not banned from driving for life. It’s a good question, and one I attempted to grapple with in #NothingButTheTruth in the context of repeat driving offenders.

We are failing our kids

Before I lived in Germany, when I couldn't speak German, I said to myself I know I'm fluent when I can discuss the middle east peace process. Today I did just that! #AchievementUnlocked #FTW

Busy busy in Berlin today… my route to my first appointment took me through the cerntral government area, and I've never seen it so locked down. Lots of regular and military police, plus truck-proof bollards, and low flying helicopters.

Just finished this… I started it on Friday and didn't want to go to bed each evening because I was so engrossed and wanting to read just one more page! Then one page more! Easy to read, a powerful story, and free because I borrowed it from the library. 5* #libbyapp #booksky #bookerprize

7News Australia reports that the hero who jumped and disarmed one of the terrorist shooters His name is Ahmed el-Ahmed A 43 year old married father of two He owns a fruit shop in Sutherland No experience with guns He was walking past He has two bullets in his arm

Fact-check: true

Meta's auto translate is laughably bad. Remember Babelfish from Altavista? From the 1990s, it just dictionary translated each word and presented you with that as a a final text, and it rarely made enough sense to understand. Meta translate seems no better.

Meta tellling me "We'll start using your interactions with AIs to personalise your experiences and ads." This isn't as bad as it seems, since Meta AI is hopelessly bad. Anyone stupid enough to use it deserves to to be used for its own training!

Nearly every Take relating to this has been done except one, which is - why would the European leaders take advice from Starmer on how to beat the far right? Who among them envies his popularity or admires the sagacity of his advisors? www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...

Trump Appears To Doze During Stroke

USA is definitely off my travel list. The land of the free always had a shaky relationship with freedom of speech, but now it’s quite openly broken.

Hasta la vista, baby.

My brother used to work in a driving theory test centre. He has so many stories!

I think my cat deserves a peace prize. He's not bitten me in days. And he hardly ever uses his claws these days!

My friend just returned from the US with high fructose corn syrup-based snacks. He described these as like crack. He's not wrong!

I bought myself a new electric shaver, and because I'm 49 and no-one ever taught me, I decided to teach myself with YouTube (using incognito mode!). Literally every vid I clicked on was a barely disguised and over long advert for an expensive shaver. I clicked away, not sure I learned anything

US senator plans to ban dual citizenship. If passed, a US citizen who acquires foreign would have to relinquish their US. If they don't, they'll lose US after a year. They might change that, after realising all the people who'll no longer be filing their taxes from abroad.

The meat lobby is seeking to cause confusion, not resolve or, by insisting that non meat burgers can't be called burgers. Same as the milk or plant milk argument.

Episode one asks what they're for; parts two and three are more like “Is the Monarchy a Giant Ponzi Scheme?” and “Are the Monarchy Personally Repellent?” … "Next week we’ll learn just how staggeringly expensive the royals are, and for what? As demonstrated here: not much."

Tax reforms in Berlin means many businesses being forced to pay way more than they can afford… Berghain now has to pay €90,000, up from €20,000 – while at riverside spot YAAM, the tax has risen by an unbelievable 1300% to €213,000. via @20percentberlin.bsky.social

Oh joy! A letter from the local tax office (Finanzamt) asking me a question about my 2020 tax return 🤨 even my accountant (who’s amazingly responsive when there’s a short deadline) doesn’t understand why they’d send that to me now. She wondered if the letter is fake.

German customer service just wished me "noch einen schönen ersten Advent.🕯️🎄" – a wonderful first advent day. Which was nice of them. Honestly not sure I even knew. I'm sure no UK customer service would ever wish me that.

Just £2m (€2.3m) for this 2 bed, 70 sq m, 2-up 2-down house spitting distance from Covent Garden. Beautifully decorated, it would be considered any TV period drama producer's wet dream www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...

Inspired by Bake Off, @eliotlovell.bsky.social made vegan, gluten free chocolate tart with berry compote. Was sooo good! Delicious oaty tart case, a layer of mixed berry compote covered in a light and not too sweet chocolate cream filling made with chocolate and silken tofu.

Today I almost crashed into two schoolgirls who ran across the road without looking. Mum had just dropped them off (late) and they ran from the car straight in front of me. If it had been my mum, she'd have gone crazy yelling at me I shd have looked. This mum couldn't have been less bothered 🤨

BBC iPlayer has one episode of Fawlty Towers (the Orelly Men). I watched it yesterday – and it’s really not funny anymore. The casual racism, overacting and hamming it up for the camera seems so outdated now. I remember crying with laughter, but not these days. It’s not stood the test of time.

‼️‼️ Newly released emails show the FBI spent almost $1 million in overtime analyzing the Epstein files as part of an effort dubbed the “Special Redaction Project."

Snowy morning in Berlin so I'm getting the train to work. Unfortunately I chose the carriage where the heating doesn't work :(

Nyusha happily snoozing on my lap. She loves tummy strokes and moves her paws out of the way for better access! My feet are on the coffee table. Later, she yawned, stretched and fell off my lap to the floor with a surprised little miow 🥰 #NyushaTheCat #TurkishVan #Caturday #Cat #Cats #Katze

I just finished this astonishingly powerful book. Set in early 1940s Germany, in a small town near Munich. The main character is a young girl who's already experienced death and will come to see so much more. I read it in record speed, because I couldn't put it down! 5* #libby #booksky

Amazon man pressed my doorbell about 100 times. I was going to tell him off but he started explaining it's because often people are asleep or don’t hear the doorbell, and I felt a bit sorry for him. Plus he was really cute. I thought about one of those special movies you hear about ;)

@tubemapper.bsky.social one for your underground, overground collection. Always makes me smile :)

Yes he may have bungled his response to a lethal pandemic, but this book about Shakespeare that Boris wrote instead of attending those COBR meetings will clearly stand the test of time.

When the Tories were still in power and Boris on his way out, I asked my dad who he'd prefer to be PM. He still wanted Boris, "because he got us through Covid" 🤦🏼

I don't really understand how any qualified lawyer could think this is OK. How did they expect to get a conviction? Or did they think, just like in Germany in the 1930s, that paying lip service to procedure is enough?

With tuna vessels at sea for up to 4 years in one stretch, the industry's become a hub for forced labour and modern slavery.

ICE body cam footage records agent using ChatGPT to help him fill out a "use of force" report 🤯

Just realised that the buff Manny in Doctor Who (whose main task was to flex while holding props or bits of scenery) is the same actor as the buff Sullivan in Boots (whose main task was to be a buff mean Marine). Guns of more than one type were involved in both.

I want to be able to mute anyone whose posts don't allow me to reply. If you write something and restrict who can reply, that's anti-social media. I don't want you in my "discover" feed.

"The chemtrail theory is ultimately prideful. It’s a way for theorists to feel powerful + smart when they face things beyond their comprehension and control." People cling to ridiculous theories to meet their emotional needs - great explanation by @dratropos.bsky.social for @theconversation.com

I tried this with Vodafone in Germany and they offered to sign me up to a new 24 month contract, at 10€ more per month. She actually told me I was lucky I got her on the phone and she was doing me a special favour.

“Don’t want no Samsung”: London’s phone thieves get picky “I saw him stop, look at my phone, then throw it on the floor." there was “no damage”, other than the harm caused to Mark’s ego: “If anything I feel a bit rejected. My poor phone.”

On Thursday, a plane load of Palestinians landed in South Africa. None had their passports stamped and none had anywhere to go to. The flight was chartered by a former Israeli military man. This is yet another part of a long colonialist pattern of ethnic cleansing perpetuated by Zionist Israelis.

I baked a cake yesterday, because the weather was bad. It was so good! Flourless orange peel polenta cake, served with pistachio butter, pomegranate seeds, crushed pistachios and vegan yoghurt. Photo and cake dressing by @eliotlovell.bsky.social

How far will UK Labour go before they reach full fascist? Or are they basically there already?

Saw a pug yesterday greeting its humans. Pug had no tail to wag. Not even a little nub. How sad that the dog couldn't fully express its emotions, just because someone decided that its "breed standard" is to be missing a bit.

I would love the dark humour if I ended up buried under the patio! Tempted to write that in my will :)