Was there ever a bigger mark than the Trump voter? Every campaign promise was a brazen lie.

So the gym will be intolerably crowded now for like two weeks, huh?

”Last night in Sweden,” in contrast to what you may have heard, rates of lethal violence were at record lows ⤵️

Vet ingenting om händelserna i Lund, men det är sånt här som gör filosofiämnet avskräckande för många och mindre intressant för alla: www.sydsvenskan.se/lund/fylla-g... Jag är tacksam till de som sagt ifrån, och hoppas universitetet agerar med kraft. (via @kallekn.mastodonsweden.se.ap.brid.gy)

”Givetvis kan inte gängbrottsligheten bekämpas genom att utvisa fast anställda undersköterskor i Norrlands inland, men ändå låter vi den skändliga politiken dirigeras av mobbare. Det är bisarrt och beklämmande att bevittna” www.dn.se/kultur/nikla...

Are we ”mission accomplished” in Venezuela or are we just moving on to the next country anyway?

”We’re closely monitoring the situation” is the geopolitical equivalent of ”thoughts and prayers.”

Great survey of world reaction. China, Brazil and South Africa are the most pointed and principled. Russia is firmer than the snippet I saw earlier suggested. France is unsurprisingly the strongest European reaction. Starmer and Von der Leyen competing for title of best-behaved lapdog.

The new Swedish–American Defense Cooperation Agreement gives Trump effectively unlimited use of Swedish military bases, which he can use to threaten Denmark and seize Greenland www.svt.se/nyheter/utri...

‘Scholars agree: Regime change doesn’t work. Neither does occupation… Trump has apparently decided, like so many presidents before him, that This Time Is Different.’ @profsaunders.bsky.social goodauthority.org/news/what-ha...

Pål Wrange darrar inte på någon manchett. www.svt.se/nyheter/utri...

So Russia is the only major power which has (correctly) denounced the US attack on Venezuela as a violation of international law? I wish the major Western powers were less hypocritical, but here we are. www.dn.se/varlden/kuba...

Idag vore en bra dag för Regeringen att tydligt stå upp för folkrätten, om den fortfarande är beredd att göra något sådant.

The Nobel Peace Prize Winner who encouraged the FIFA Peace Prize Winner to start a war of aggression must be pleased: www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...

"We're going to do big things in 2026. The tide is turning against the administration, but there is much more to be done." www.liberalcurrents.com/liberal-curr...

Being the father of tweens and a teenager turns out to be a lot less like being (co-)CEO of the family unit and a lot more like mid-level management.

Swedish 🇸🇪 WOTD: "Snösmocka" (n.) a snowy punch in the face ❄️

10yr-old insisted on dyeing her hair in accordance with the latest tiktok trend. Unhappy with the result, she now says she won’t leave her room for the next three months. Nobody could have predicted this.

"Jaka dziedzina nauki odpowie na pytanie, jak najlepiej usypiać dziecko: w łóżeczku, czy też na rękach? Szwedzki filozof i ekonomista Erik Angner twierdzi, że… ekonomia." kulturaliberalna.pl/2025/12/23/j...

Öland critters

”Sådär, nu går det bra att kila vidare!” – sköterska på närakuten till min mamma, 80+. Personalen är tydligen för ung för att veta vad ”kila vidare” betyder.

The most friendless place on earth www.economist.com/christmas-sp... From The Economist

På SVT:s Aktuellt om varför det är ett misstag att maximera lyckan, hur höga förväntningar och sociala jämförelser kan ställa till det, hur man får en glad jul och varför det är OK att vara sur ibland. En lagom god jul till alla 🎄 www.instagram.com/reel/DSpO1fC...

Behöver du en julklapp nu – liksom NU!? Det är inte försent! Att skänka ett digitalt gåvokort från Ge Effektivt kan vara det bästa du gjort: geeffektivt.se/gavokort Ge Effektivt stödjer organisationer som gör mest nytta – för att alla ska få en maximalt God Jul 🎄 Tack på förhand :)

Om jag förstår saken rätt så har det i svenska fängelser funnits max en transsexuell mördare i Sverige på en och samma gång. Detta låter som något man löser från fall till fall och inte något som kräver utredningar, reformer och debatter på ledarsidorna. www.dn.se/sverige/inte...

The 2025 Headline of the Year Nominees 🧵

Se hela inslaget här: www.svtplay.se/video/8qPyWN...

So I was on national television and the clip leading up to my segment was several minutes of Bhutanese 🍆 *You* try to keep a straight face during the interview 😳 #GNH #GrossNationalHappiness #Bhutan #happiness #eggplants

Ikväll kl 21 kommer jag prata lycka med Cecilia Gralde på Aktuellt 📺 www.svtplay.se/aktuellt Jag kan inte lova att man blir lyckligare av att titta, men försök ändå 🙂

The days are getting longer, and this morning everything was covered with confectioner's sugar. Maybe there's hope, after all.

On Teaching in the context of Misconduct; With some Ring of Gyges thrown in. open.substack.com/pub/digressi... Come for a picture by @erikangner.com stay for the ring of Gyges

Happy Winter Solstice to all who celebrate 🌞

If you're looking for a holiday gift 🎁 that's guaranteed (maybe?) to spark joy 😊 look no further 👀 And if you need a gift now – like, NOW – give them the gift of an audiobook 🎧 www.penguin.co.uk/books/321644...

"“The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.” ― Tom Waits on AI (probably) www.goodreads.com/quotes/39946...

Ha ha yes! They were supposed to put us all out of work.

It's fascinating how quickly every effort to "disrupt" the university sector collapses. Maybe the university – one of the oldest spontaneous orders anywhere, an institution much older than the corporation and the nation-state – has something going for it that outsiders don't appreciate?

JD Vance did the meme

Somebody insulted the architecture around here, so I went out and took some pictures of the @stockholm-uni.bsky.social University Library during my lunch break. I unironically love this building.

My most optimistic take is that, now that the entire internet is turning into a cesspool of AI slop, actual physical books written by real authors and published by reputable publishers will have a resurgence, because they are (or can be) the medium with the tightest quality control.

Wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian: "Since migration has become the cornerstone of the current authoritarian turn, it is precisely around migration that resistance needs to form." www.theguardian.com/world/commen...

Exam time! Technological innovation has destroyed the advances made by technological innovation, so students once again sit their exams using tools from the 18th century ('pencil') and the 2nd century ('paper') #analoglife

Scandinavians in December, waiting for the Sun to return

The VF piece illustrates both why artists are indispensable and why people in power hate them so much

This is true for trade books too, in my experience.

Former student reports that she went all the way to Australia on an exchange only to learn that they use my textbook 🙄

Doing great here, yes, thanks for asking: “Stockholm on track for darkest December since 1934” www.thelocal.se/20251216/sto...

A little on the nose, as far as metaphors go youtube.com/shorts/mjDYs...

Another way to restart the world’s idea machine is to restore funding and grants to universities, researchers, and artists.

Christmas Market in the Old Town ⭐