This is correct. The only logic being a desire to acquire territory, nothing can be done to dissuade.

No notes

The UK establishment is determined to keep its USA alliance, and won't let CSAM get in the way

For any unfamiliar with the paintint, St Ambrose denied communion to a Roman Emperor when his soldiers murdered civilians. Vance is no Theodosius; it would take a tenth of that saint's courage for the US bishops, or Pope Leo, to take a public stand here.

Why is Starmer's Number 10 refusing to rule out British bases being used in a US attack on Greenland? What a disgrace

"Who's who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter". The Financial Times reports on career role models on and around the blurred boundaries of media, technology, sex and the enterprising transnational criminal networks of Musk & co www.ft.com/content/ad94...

Just shocked at this level of UK govt incompetence. Really shocked.

I learned today that only does the UK gov keep using X, it still prioritises X for govt comms, above other sites. Sharp point from Lord Pack. Total lack of leadership from the Labour party. U-turn will occur of course, after maximum damage has been done.

Reacting to events in Venezuela, Erdoğan's legal adviser Mehmet Uçum highlights two points: 1) the liberal international order has collapsed because of ‘imperialist crimes’, 2) the need to ‘limit power through power’. The 1st point is relatively insignificant: despite Erdoğan’s slogan of +

This is how you do it. No preamble to swear to God you don't like Maduro.

We used to be a proper country

Nonetheless, quite a step up compared to Canada's opposition leader's statement.

Kier Starmer sounding a lot like Mike Johnson, the US speaker, I mean, who knows what's going on mate, can't comment until I learn more www.bbc.com/news/article...

Definitely. The world needs to realign fast.

Trump loves sports. He loves seeing sports. He loves being seen at sporting events. He loves athletes. He loves when athletes see him. A boycott would get his attention.

Well,

It is to Canada's shame we have not spoken out or supported a Canadian judge being sanctioned by the US Her life is frozen. She cannot use credit cards, travel, move money, or access email. This is not sustainable www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

Whenever I look at this view of the abandoned railway, made at great cost through the Italian mountains, I think there must be an opposite to the sunk costs fallacy: where a huge capital investment is abandoned due to the operating costs being slightly too high one year.

The more you know…

I suggested banning electric rental bikes due to parking issues was an inappropriate overreaction, and got blocked as 'I was discriminatory to disabled people'

Woke up to no water in the house. Not the best start to 2026.

I feel answering 'why is Starmer so unpopular' has to start with 'why would he be'? In terms of qualities voters like in politicians (charisma, direction, relatability, not weak), few are found in him, and the ones he did once have (e.g., perceived competence) have been undermined in office.

"Sir, how was your 2025? Are you excited about 2026?"

Old/New Europe has elements of the very old - the German nightmare of being caught between Russia and the Anglo-Saxons - and the new, the Petrol-states vs the China led, non-fossil fuel countries.

Amazing the number of replies or quotes of this by people who don't get liberalism or democracy at all. Usually in versions of "bad is bad, who cares about process". Depressing.

This fly out on BA and back on Ryan Air will be an interesting head to head on service quality, with BA leaving it wide open this morning for a Ryan Air victory shall we say

Its part of the Christmas traditions: Turing up at the Oxford train station to find half the trains to Paddington are cancelled, the rest are delayed and packed so you can't even get on.

Read about the new scholarship on Spain, then contemplate the fact that Franco was venerated in the National Review from the start, and you hav a skeleton key, opening up the fact that "modern American conservatism" never maintained a meaningful distance from fascism. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

This is wild. Watching the tree and room change. /

I have not been shy on my coverage of transit issues in Toronto. With the disastrous opening of the Finch West LRT in early December, I have some thoughts from Hong Kong using my historical experiences with Toronto in this longform post.

Christmas Stress? Family driving you crazy? Take a deep breath and contemplate this gorgeousness: Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469), Madonna

Will Macron do anything though? Or just post a condemnation on X? Starmer has not done anything at all, but this is close to nothing. Let's hope for an action from Macron

Given its the UK, I think "months" may be optimistic for repairs www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Please sanction Ed Davey, Marco It will in no way backfire whatsoever

TBF I wouldn't rule out deliberate release by a sympathetic person either, but I wouldn't call it treachery. Brave do-gooder, might be the American English term. And its concerning the Imperial capital that wants to conquer Canada uses that word.

To summarize - - the existence of this note was already reported on - postmark is when it was processed in NOVA, which is a normal place for long distance NY mail to be processed. - Prison mail isn't collected on weekends and takes multiple days to leave prison anyways

Wow magic!

This seems a rare piece of good news. Not dumping people at 18 but continuing to support their transition to adulthood. Unlike most welfare spend, it probably pays for itself too.

"Get the principals on camera" is such a telling phrase here, because it tells us that for Weiss there's no world in which the victims of these horrific actions can actually be seen as the subjects of the story: They're background noise, and the people who matter are the ones sending them.

Wednesday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/peter-brooke...

started / going

So, a bridge falls down and the city rebuilds it in 2 years? Hard to relate. www.ft.com/content/0128...

Looks pretty devastating and tin eared. Have to see how Labour handle it. www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-fam...

Progress is not inevitable and societies can and do choose to move backwards; both at the elite and popular level. US had more in common with its Taliban enemy than at first appeared.

Have written for @financialtimes.com on the dangers of been see to pitch house building against nature. Britain desperately needs more homes, but if you force a nature/building binary, it is the latter that will lose in the court of public opinion. www.ft.com/content/f456...

Adding more cheese to my red wine and chocolate habits

Between 1981 and 2004, the global population of people making less than $1/day declined by over half a billion. China accounted for more than 100% of that decline. In other words, the number of people outside China living in extreme poverty actually *increased* in those two dozen years.

Extraordinary. They should oc do the exact opposite. Amazing how they look at the same facts as us and decide to do the reverse.

Ok time for Some Thoughts on that compact piece.