Frances Coppola @francescoppola.bsky.social Land is not permanent - but we think it is. Entire civilizations depend on something that is subject to change and over which humans have no control. coppolacomment.substack.com/p/land-is-no...

By 2030, power consumption from 'AI data centers' will TRIPLE, in their 'base' scenario A single server rack in a data centre -weighs the same as a truck -Uses as much energy as 65 households -wildly fluctuates in power consumption i-Evacuates as much heat into the atmosphere as 30 gas boilers

The vetting was not the only reason the appointment of Mandelson was wrong. It wasn't even the main reason.

[..the government eventually said the right things about the Tories/Reform proposals on ILR. And I suspect they will, eventually, do the same here. But it tells you something about the culture in *parts* of govt/Labour/Home Office that their knee-jerk reaction is this.]

Obviously Reform's proposals is simultaneously racist, economically and socially damaging and impractical. But, yet again, instead of saying so, Labour/the government's response is tin-eared me-tooism. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This went mega viral on TikTok about UBI What would you do if survival was guaranteed?

Narrator: in fact, he had quite a lot of cards.

NEW: Downing Street is attempting to demolish the argument from Olly Robbins’ allies that he was prevented by law from telling ministers that Mandelson had failed vetting, ahead of key Commons statement on Monday.

Jan & Feb: Non-stop rain. Mar & Apr: Very dry. Especially in London and the South East.

One day, the war crimes Israel has committed will be counted. History will judge them. The crimes still are being committed. Israel has slaughtered unknown thousands in Palestine and now Lebanon. The world should be acting to save innocent lives. The Hague should be judging them, now.

Fair but depressing conclusion from @economist.com - we could avoid some of the worst of the hunger, but we won’t economist.com/leaders/2026...

We expect our cities to last forever. Yet the land on which we build them is constantly changing. Our folly, perhaps, is to think that only we have the right to reshape land. My reflections on recent visits to Holy Island (Lindisfarne) and Turkey. coppolacomment.substack.com/p/land-is-no...

🚨 “Radicalization within American Christianity is occurring at emergency rates. The people at the dangerous end of this spectrum are not idle. They are in our state legislatures, our Congress, and throughout the second Trump administration.” - Matthew D. Taylor open.substack.com/pub/matthewd...

I've broken my glasses. Damn.

Can we make this a thing again: Scholars of financial capitalism publishing papers about Renaissance Florence, with killer abstracts, in the American Journal of Sociology. Please.

We expect our cities to last forever. Yet the land on which we build them is constantly changing. Our folly, perhaps, is to think that only we have the right to reshape land. My reflections on recent visits to Holy Island (Lindisfarne) and Turkey. coppolacomment.substack.com/p/land-is-no...

The floor plan for the planned ICE concentration camp in Social Circle, Georgia:

Made-up numbers with no credence. Reform claim: 6k deportations/week: over 300k per year. Trump (2025): about 230k, away from the border. Per capita, Reform are saying they would QUADRUPLE the pace of Trump's cruel + chaotic ICE deportations in UK deportationdata.org/analysis/imm...

Carillion’s ex-CEO drops challenge to his fine for misleading investors ft.trib.al/wQ6WAdI

Outstanding quote from Casement.

Happy SLAPPing? It looks like the government’s crackdown on using vexatious litigation to silence people is cracking up before it’s even begun: https://www.thetimes.com/article/72083754-3a92-427d-85bb-18c5b33def2e

It's the Winter Olympics, so here's a mosaic of a Roman who is *definitely* skiing. ⛷️👍 #MosaicMonday

Hilary Cass here arguing for children to be prevented from being known by a preferred name or getting a haircut in case it encourages them to continue later in life to transition. Hilary Cass acts like gender variant children should have the transness hazed out of them.

😂

really enjoy that the bloke who won two golds on the luge is someone who was a national level taekwondo fighter until he got injured and then a government figure stepped out the shadows and said "let me tell you about project going down a hill really fast"

Yes it's a great piece. Very instructive indeed.

COVID vaccine during pregnancy is not linked to children’s autism A recent study showed that there was no increased risk of autism in children of mothers who received the mRNA COVID vaccine. Health organizations continue recommend the COVID vaccine for pregnant women to protect against COVID for…

"when we see a small state (or a village) successfully fighting off a far better armed and equipped force, we should ask what its superpower is" @francescoppola.bsky.social on point here. (Not sure what the "ultra processed food" pic has to do with it).

1994 and 1995. Just saying.

Britain's most senior government official stands down reut.rs/4atB9h9

Feels like I am going to have to keep writing this piece every other fortnight, forever. @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/e624...

Sadly yes. And looks like it has not ended well.

A pretty bleak threat from the Reform party on Kent county council... Reform threatens to pull funding for Margate’s Turner Gallery as ‘naked retribution for local MP exposing Kent savings lies' - via Polly Billington MP

The last wild European bison was shot in 1927. At the time there were fewer than 60 such bison alive in zoos & private parks. Now, the great, shaggy beasts are once again roaming the Carpathian Mountains. And they're helping bring wild lands back to life. Good news story! No pay wall.

Elon’s emails to Epstein. Location: Starbase, Texas

It struck me, as I was re-reading this, how many similarities there are between Andrew Milne’s and Donald Trump’s behaviour.

Blaming his staff.

By @bronwenmaddox.bsky.social Note her comments on the monetisation of the presidency www.chathamhouse.org/2026/01/chat... Note it's not just about the military alliance. It's far, far deeper than that. @francescoppola.bsky.social @alexhh.bsky.social

The “plucky little village” myth distorts how we view conflicts and power dynamics. This piece argues that perceived underdogs like Ukraine or Israel in 1948 rarely triumph alone; their “superpower” is often the backing of empires. By @francescoppola.bsky.social buff.ly/yxLbayJ

Obviously this may never happen (still waiting for the Iran-related tariffs from last week) but targeting individual EU members, rather than the whole EU, would be a new departure. Indeed, as @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social keeps saying, the surprise is he hasn’t done it earlier.

Trump's threats make one thing perfectly clear: he will incessantly demand things. Change your healthcare system (pay more for drugs), hand over territory. And it will not stop with Greenland. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Latest NYT analysis of video footage from the Renee Good shooting capture Ross firing the 2nd and 3rd shots at her after his body is visibly clear of the path of her vehicle. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/v...

10-year yields highest level since Labor Day:

Yes. Any person who has designs on annexing Greenland should have a clue about how a mush team is lashed to the sled: • Never 3 abreast, 1 or 2 abreast only • Usually 7 or more dogs • Where is the effing musher? Just sleds & dogs, without a human? Where is this Greenland Man? Are there two men?

Can hardly believe I’m saying this, but each new piece of footage makes it harder to conclude anything else: “These guys are evil, they are doing this for sport at this point. They want to hunt humans.”

"For now it looks like Fed independence is safe. But sending the military to kidnap a foreign leader was unthinkable, & then it happened. Trump is increasingly erratic & dictatorial, & with economic sentiment softening, he’ll certainly keep grabbing for the interest rate lever" — @lizdye.bsky.social

US judge to rule quickly on Equinor challenge to Trump offshore wind pause reut.rs/4sDAG4o

Take a brief moment to fully absorb this: NATO member state militaries are being mobilised in case of attack....by the United States.

🚨Soros klaxon 🚨