Politics feels angrier and more tribal than it used to, but how much should we blame social media? I spoke to @rafaelbehr.bsky.social about how our group instincts collide with godlike technology to distort what we see & erode trust in our institutions. open.spotify.com/episode/5Gb2...

New Politics on the Couch! A conversation with the peerless @jayvanbavel.bsky.social about polarisation, digital divides and reweaving the fibres of social connection shows.acast.com/6462652801a2...

Note the dates.

On Putin, the strategy of exporting chaos, how it works, why it ultimately (hopefully) fails www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A mini-story to cheer you up this morning. The other day my teenage son returned to his locked bike to find the back wheel nicked. We went back yesterday to rescue it - and found this note taped to the frame. We have the wheel again. A very happy Xmas to Ollie and his note-writing other half.

On Putin, the strategy of exporting chaos, how it works, why it ultimately (hopefully) fails www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There is a point here which I do want people not to miss: it's not that he posted an otherwise perfectly reasonable video which happens to be by a very racist guy. The rant itself is dodgy as fuck

On Tory-Reform pact chat, US meddling in European democracy and the difference between opposition and resistance www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I can’t help thinking that when, in future, people ask what UK political leaders said as it became undeniable that US saw European liberal democracy as its no1 strategic foe, Starmer and others will regret that the answer is “not much, shuffled awkwardly, looked at their feet”.

In some ways this is a useful reminder that a lot of the talk of European security guarantees to Ukraine have the whole thing backwards. For more than three years Ukraine has been guaranteeing European security by fighting and degrading the Russian armed forces. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On Tory-Reform pact chat, US meddling in European democracy and the difference between opposition and resistance www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is a great example of the @gralefrit.bsky.social observation that the funniest joke is the one told between family members in the front row of a funeral.

I found this today (from Peter Kellner/YouGov) which answers part of your query.

Has anyone done a really big survey asking not how you would vote in rerun Brexit referendum but how you *did* vote and, as far as is possible, if it even is possible, mapped it onto actual result. I bet more people now think they voted remain in 2016 than voted remain.

Today's customs union vote is entirely symbolic, it's true. But what does it symbolise that no one is now arguing *for* Brexit? thecritic.co.uk/regr...

The @stephenkb.bsky.social observation about ‘cut-price luxury/exorbitant necessity’ here feels like a window into quite a profound dysfunction in world where we can’t afford analogue fun so much but have limitless digital distraction to stop us missing it giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

In-Fight Club – Your Party flames out. @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com, @rostaylor.bsky.social, @rafaelbehr.bsky.social & @nndroid.bsky.social discuss what went wrong at Your Party's first conference & more 👉 linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow... #yourparty #corbyn #sultana #polanski #greenparty #ukpolitics

ICYMI – Weekly wrap-up: @rafaelbehr.bsky.social joins @jacobjarvis.bsky.social to break down the stalled US–Russia peace talks, the fallout from the OBR’s budget leak and what it all means for Labour’s economic credibility & more 👉 linktr.ee/bunker_pod #news #weeklywrapup #trump #putin #weeklynews

But still doesn’t beat the fact that Cleopatra is closer to us in time than she was to the building of the Great Pyramid.

Wrapping up the stories of the week: @rafaelbehr.bsky.social joins @jacobjarvis.bsky.social to break down the stalled US–Russia peace talks, Putin’s strong-arming, & what Trump’s shaky negotiating team tells us about the state of American power 👉 linktr.ee/bunker_pod #news #weeklywrapup #trump

I suspect you have to be quite racist to stand out as "the racist guy" at a boys public school of the 1980s.

What went wrong with “Your Party”? @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com, @rostaylor.bsky.social, @rafaelbehr.bsky.social & @nndroid.bsky.social discuss Your Party's first conference collapse & more 👉 linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow... #yourparty #corbyn #sultana #polanski #greenparty #ukpolitics

Doesn't say anything for the political instincts of Number 10 that they were surprised by a positive response to a positive EU agenda. Doesn't say much for their diplomatic instincts that this came 12 months too late to make a difference to negotiations. www.politico.eu/article/brex...

Column. British politicians do a lot claiming to face the world as it is, while their actions speak of yearning for the world as it was. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Column. British politicians do a lot claiming to face the world as it is, while their actions speak of yearning for the world as it was. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There will come a point where Farage realises he needs non-dregs defectors to look vaguely respectable and Tory frontbenchers realise a pact is the only way they get to carry on being MPs. Then there will be deal.

With top analysis from @jessicaelgot.bsky.social: Keir Starmer has little choice but to bind himself closer to his chancellor www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

A quick reminder of who Nigel Farage was most concerned about when Putin's tanks first rolled into Ukraine

@dkthomp.bsky.social very much enjoyed pod on cultural stagnation. It occurs to me that the phenomenon of Switzerland - neutral in war, prosperous, reliably uncool - very much supports your closing thesis.

Continues to be wild to me how few Labour MPs have absorbed that the Starmer-Reeves strategy is, and always has been “Plan A: Somehow the Major economy returned Plan B: Die”.

🚨ICYMI🚨 Cory Doctorow on the curse of Enshittification and how to fix it. Cory joins @nndroid.bsky.social and @rafaelbehr.bsky.social to discuss the ways we can stop it ➡️ linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnowpod #tech #technology #enshittification #corydoctorow #OGWN #podcast #techpodcast #digitaldecay #ai

wish the BBC would lead on micro-economic aspects of budget rather than the politics and macro-economic sides. Overall tax takes are meaningless to most of us, and what's the point in asking Reform, Greens, Lib Dems, SNP and Conservatives unbiased opinion? I mean Kemi said it was worst one ever 🤨

Something that Trump’s hapless crew seem completely unable to understand.

The fundamental political-economy for the government is that is objectively implementing a soft left economic policy on speed whilst being hated by lots of left leaning people because of its other policies and rhetoric.

Rachel Reeves’ day so far

Was always VERY sceptical about this: dropping the idea of an income tax rise was a political, not an economic decision.

On budget, Brexit and UK politics paddling in the shallow end of a problem that goes way deeper than just tax rises. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 Why tech sucks. Cory Doctorow, who coined the term “Enshittification” joins @nndroid.bsky.social and @rafaelbehr.bsky.social to discuss how we can combat it ➡️ linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnowpod #tech #technology #enshittification #corydoctorow #OGWN #podcast #techpodcast

New: Three new ex-pupils come forward, on the record, to say Farage's racism as a teenager was targeted, persistent and nasty. Farage has denied targeting any individuals - but two of the men tell us they recall Farage abusing Peter Ettedgui. w/ Dan Boffey, @drblacklock.bsky.social

“Enshittification” is the word of the moment. It’s the reason Google is all ads and Amazon serves you crappy overpriced products. Cory Doctorow, who coined the term, joins @nndroid.bsky.social and @rafaelbehr.bsky.social to discuss how we can combat it ➡️ linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnowpod

At my funeral I want the priest to read out a long bit about how much I loved darts. I don’t love darts but my family and friends will be like “wow we never really knew him”.

Recorded v early this morning. I think you can probably hear the caffeine kick in ~10mins in.

It’s like Brewster’s Millions but for giving away votes

I have a limitless appetite for Beatles alt takes and outtakes anyway, but in era of AI-generated music I’m finding the new Anthology release especially poignant as reminder of how humans create things, collaboratively, iteratively, being silly, making mistakes …

Compilations of 15 second Sora videos posted on accounts like this are already doing big numbers, along with Sora generated rage bait. Legislation should require AI detection tools to be an integral part of the posting process, and tag likely AI generated posts and lower their algorithmic ranking.

“Did Nathan Gill ever say anything you disagree with in return for his bribes from a Kremlin stooge?” “Did you, in your roles as his boss, friend, mentor & party leader, ever question his full-throated support for an enemy of the UK and if not, why not?” You can have those for nothing, lads.

This (from: www.ft.com/content/75ce...) is something you can *feel* if you are in the UK, especially if you've experienced living abroad. But infuriatingly successive governments and our entire media are somehow absolutely committed to suggesting anyone who wants to change this is the devil...

Late equaliser for humanity in match against AI.

6 music playing Stone Roses first album in its entirety this morning is not exactly helping this middle aged Gen Xer resist the aching undertow of nostalgia for late 20th Century.

The Covid inquiry’s findings are shocking but unsurprising now, so the main thing it left me thinking is that without a vaccine we wd’ve been utterly screwed. & if you worked round the clock to make a thing that saved millions of lives globally, to see that legacy trashed by anti-vaxxers…