My proof copy arrived!!! Now for the final pass...

As I reflect on the latest release of Epstein-related evidence, the more I come to appreciate two distinct but related implausibilities: 1) Putin was not deeply involved 2) Putin's involvement would not have been at the 'command and control' aspect His sadism runs through it all like a watermark

@mrjamesob.bsky.social One way to understand the recurring pattern here — without asserting guilt or treating any file as dispositive — is in evolutionary and ethological terms The common thread is explicable in evolutionary terms (Remember: moral value is nonnatural)

@mrjamesob.bsky.social Exoneration isn’t a speech act It's a democratic concept It’s a conclusion others must be able to reach independently If the evidence is “worthless”, it can’t exonerate; if it can exonerate, it’s open to adverse scrutiny

@mrjamesob.bsky.social "The Epstein files exonerate me" is an admission of their evidentiary value Trump is banking on nobody noticing that he is not an independently qualified judge of their evidentiary value

Tirlun #TomTomos #LlunYDydd

'The PM is right: Andrew must face the music. The former prince’s silence over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein make every new revelation a further embarrassment' | ✍️ The Times View

Two years ago. Poor Jonnie Irwin. Thinking of his family today. I wonder if he did manage to sort out a Place in the Sun for Mum. tinyurl.com/5bhwbaa3

In light of his latest resignation, there follows an honest appraisal of Peter Mandelson's character: While there is no finding that Mandelson personally enriched himself illegally or traded policy for cash, he is reliably careless with democratically warranted, established boundaries

A mother’s confession on SNL😂👇

European Movement UK now has over 27,000 members. 🚀 It was 26,000 last month. We need to build fast, because this will become the national campaign to rejoin the EU. Join us! 👉👉 www.europeanmovement.co.uk/membership-ab

Damn! It was supposed to arrive yesterday (it cleared UK customs last Thursday) and I'd set aside this entire week to proofread before publication. I know, I know.. first world problems, but GAH!

@mrjamesob.bsky.social in a sexually dimorphic species, extreme male power plus secrecy and weak constraint reliably generate sexual exploitation unless actively countered That explains why allegations of impunity are not intrinsically surprising (I flatter myself this may be importantly relevant)

Viewed sub specie aeternitatis, what gives the Epstein constellation its disturbing plausibility is not this or that allegation, but the fit between the pattern and what we already know about power, sex and hierarchy in a sexually dimorphic species like homo sapiens

"All that's left is 3 million horrible photographs of Epstein and his mates doing terrible things, which isn't enough for us to prosecute anybody, so the case is closed." Literally. That's his argument. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Last month it was the most beautiful venue in the world, and nobody had ever seen a venue so beautiful, and they said to him "Mr President, we didn't think you could make it better, but I did, in just 24 hours, and I ended 8, 23, 295 wars." Today he shut it. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Just rewatched Dog Day Afternoon What struck me wasn’t so much the plot or the performances, but the distance Not historical distance — normative distance It depicts a moral grammar that no longer exists

Tir a Môr #TomTomos #LlunYDydd

'Tot und Verklarung' ('The Meadows', Edinburgh, just now...)

This is part of the city defences, thrown up after the Battle of Flodden (1513) when Scotland realised it might need to keep out unwelcome guests It’s an astonishing relic: you can walk past it a hundred times and still not quite clock that you’re brushing up against the city’s medieval skin

My view, from 'The Pleasance', Edinburgh, right now...

My malted sandwich with grated carrot dressed in garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and wholegrain mustard was already the dog's bollox Then a colleague gifted me this for Christmas Now, it's just perfect...

I bet he’s sweating now.

Some melancholic Rachmaninoff...

More Bach, gratuitously foisted upon my dear 'followers'...

“It takes a long time to sound like yourself.” — Miles Davis

A sworn affidavit alleging crimes against minors, credible threats of murder to enforce silence, involving a now-convicted trafficker, naming specific individuals, signed despite acknowledged fear, meets every orthodox threshold for escalation in a functioning justice system

The reason my trolls are saying I'm not in the Epstein files is cos I'm mentioned over 1000 times in the international child sex trafficking ring we were exploiting for blackmail. Christian values.

Trump's two claims Earlier claim: “The Epstein files prove nothing” (rationale: they’re unverified, redacted, full of tips, rumours and raw intake material) Current claim: “The Epstein files exonerate me” (rationale: their release shows there’s nothing there) Those two claims can't both be true

So far as I can tell, and despite the sheer glut of horror contained in the latest release of redacted files, the worst aspect is the lack of serious investigatory and prosecutorial determination

sockeye salmon! #art #traditionalart

From The Economist...

This is superb... www.facebook.com/share/v/14Rq...

The rest of the Epstein files that have been released, and not deleted, can be found HERE on the DOJ’s website. . www.justice.gov/epstein

These emails alone justify: immediate journalistic investigation, formal parliamentary or congressional questions and renewed prosecutorial review They do not prove guilt But they obliterate any excuse of ignorance

It's funny how angry Chinese shills get once the conversation turns to democracy and truth

Chinese shill speaks with forked tongue

Tirlun #TomTomos #LlunYDydd

“Aphorists are far from harmless. They are troublemakers and iconoclasts, dogmatists whose majestic authority commands consent. They are, by definition, revolutionaries who hold their truths to be self-evident.” — @gearyjames.bsky.social #booksky

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... David Hume spent a lifetime dismantling superstition with a scalpel, and centuries later he’s rewarded by having 'pentagrams' daubed on his tomb, as well as having his statue used as a municipal wishing well Oh the irony!

@matthew-wright.bsky.social hosting another superb show on LBC this morning I thank goodness for his insightful and balanced discussions Philosophically, there is a pragmatic defence of limited engagement with autocracies that does not dilute democracy But it is narrow, conditional, and fragile..

Donald Trump’s regime doesn’t call peaceful protesters wrong, mistaken or even disruptive It calls them “agitators” That term isn’t descriptive; it’s prepunitive

The arrest of Don Lemon is textbook fascism—a brazen attempt to silence reporting on a criminal regime. Stand up for Don, because our rights stand and fall with those of courageous journalists throughout this country.

I'm tempted to say simply "phew wot a looney!" But I should probably qualify my judgement: when a president declares art to be history and obedience to be education, the issue is no longer ideology but epistemic breakdown: power has stopped recognising the difference between assertion and truth

@mrjamesob.bsky.social truth matters because it is literally the only (logical) property that enables people to learn from other people (specifically from their verbal behaviour)

@mrjamesob.bsky.social excellent pressure point with the current caller: Say something true and negatively evaluative about a member of the ruling caste (Crickets and tumbleweed)

@mrjamesob.bsky.social It does not even matter if everyone prefers a quiet life under antidemocratic suppression A polity that inhibits the communication of truth disables its own error-correction mechanisms and is therefore logically doomed to failure

@mrjamesob.bsky.social An inability to grow the UK economy democratically is not an argument for antidemocratic methods and liaisons It is an indictment of the policymakers, not a licence to suspend principle