This is a good thread, which I think is right. I am not sure what we do about this.

"GET OFF MY...thingummy wotsit? You know, metal tube, wings? Um. Any idea?"

This is obviously correct. Not only would it save lots of lives, but it would also have the happy side effect of sending my neighbourhood Facebook group (a wretched hive of scum and villainy if ever there was one) into apopletic meltdown.

Plumbert is saddened by your response. Plumbert hungers for a chance to make amends. Plumbert hungers.

On the "don't know how anything works" scale, believing that U.S. bases in Germany are more of a favor to the Germans than a method of American power projection isn't at the very top, but it's up there.

Trump is surrounded by petroleum lobbyists - not automotive lobbyists - and he has decided to declare all-out war on electric vehicles. The Big 3 collectively spent well over $100 billion on EV development that they're now having to write down because of Trump. You think they wanted to do that? 8/x

Happy 13th anniversary to that terrible misunderstanding at a WI meeting.

Every time I go to the really good neighbourhood butcher in my bit of Brussels to buy some meat for one (1) family meal, there are always at least four old ladies ahead of me in the queue buying small quantities of, on average, around 17 different meat products.

There was a low level GOP official ousted from his position earlier this year (Brian Ference) and I’ve been slowly watching as he rebranded his socials into a buff AI podcaster with American flags tattooed all over his chest and arms and gaining tens of thousands of new followers as a result.

Some useful public speaking tips from Freud here.

If I wanted to not be thought of as a crank, I would simply not make an issue out of the police duffing up a knife murderer.

All the losers replying to this talking about what they're doing in Anglo-Saxon England whilst I'm off having a whale of a time in the Varangian Guard.

Policymakers and the UK public need to be clear that this is a sustained campaign that's being going on for years now; that it's part of a much wider campaign against European societies, using the same methods and with the same objectives; and that it's not going to go away.

That time they built a backup Paris in the French countryside for the filming of 'Les Amants du Pont-Neuf' in 1991. stephanepachot.com/les-amants-d...

'To go with the Waitrose prose, Tom Leonard's 'Jist ti Let Yi No' ahv drank thi speshlz that wurrin thi frij n thit yiwurr probbli hodn back furthi pahrti awright they wur great thaht stroang thaht cawld

UK tax is going to be the highest since 1945. But public spending won't increase; in fact most of us will experience a decline in public services. Here's why - in a thread that I'd love to be completely wrong.

Watching Band of Brothers with Son #1, haven't seen it for yonks. Not exactly a hot take, but they really did catch lightning in a bottle with that one, didn't they? Script holds up really well (for the most part), outstanding production values, great cast.

This is fun (though I'm sure Crusader Kings players are fully conversant with both agnatic and cognatic primogeniture).

Apparently I should clarify: this is not a joke. It literally was Bear Grylls. www.dailymail.com/news/article...

I hadn't realised the ballroom was going to be knitted. 100% behind it now.

‘Disappointed,’ ‘Surprised,’ ‘Betrayed’: 12 Trump Voters on What Has Gone Wrong www.nytimes.com/interactive/... I found this oddly encouraging: asked why/when they felt regret, the Zelensky moment in the White House really cut through. I did not picture Americans as that switched on to Ukraine.

I would simply throw a silver-threaded blanket over the haunted mirror that Tony Blair comes from and ring it with salt so that he can no longer communicate with our realm

Given what's coming down the line towards us and how little we can do about it, European leaders need to be this frank about the situation a lot more often.

Today I learned that sea otters will sometimes murder river otters and then have sex with their corpses.

This looks great, fellow Belgium-dwellers.

Churchill would have insisted on doing his own posting himself, and his output would have been part carefully crafted posts displaying wit and erudition, but mostly fat-thumbed pissed screeds moaning about how he was surrounded by pygmies who couldn't see the importance of Norway and Sumatra.

you couldn’t really find a more apt metaphor for elite politics in Trump II. Something absolutely crazy occurs, there is a momentary burst of panic, and then the people present at the gala go back and pretend like nothing happens. the gala itself is an attempt to paper over crazy

"Michael Jackson is pop king of sick f**king country" youtu.be/9zoZURk5mmY?...

Very much with Marie on this one. There are very obviously loads more tourists in a lot of places than there were a decade or two ago. Lots of people are annoying in themselves, and a lot of these tourists are the annoying kind. This sucks.

Just remembered that Mel Gibson made Apocalypto, which was both suitably unhinged but also very compelling. Seems to have disappeared from cultural memory.

It's not just the act, or the process, or its consequences that truly scramble my brain here. It's that one of the most consequential policy decisions ever (in terms of lives cost), taken gratuitously, has literally ZERO salience outside news freaks. No one knows this happened, no one cares.

Two propositions. One, that it is inherently good to live in a high-trust society. Two, because we are lucky enough for this to currently be the case, that people who do this kind of thing are regarded by most of the public as twats. So it's antisocial *and* politically counter-productive.

I am absolutely shite at recognising when someone is flirting with me. Like, comically bad at it. My mates would mock me about it. But something happened today that made me so happy. 1/?

I spent three happy carefree days* mostly off social media, so I'd forgotten how stupid everything is *thinking about the kit we might need to deal with war / mass casualty events in the near future so not *that* carefree tbh

Oh look, there is loads of hassle and the cabin crew are getting really stressed and passengers are unhappy because the airline allows (indeed, incentivizes) people to bring large carry-on cases on board, so lots of people do, so there is not enough locker space left. Well done, everyone.

Not a single punch is pulled here

Priceless post from the official White House social media

I've got friends arguing that this whole thing is overblown (and also very dull) and I can see where they're coming from, but it also feels like every single intervention reveals new levels of stupidity and rot.

Since I am currently on my way to one, my contribution to the Airport Discourse is that checking in bags is Good, Actually and manically packing the largest bag the airline will let you carry on with the bare minimum amount of stuff you'll need is a modern sickness of which I want no part.

Funny to recall that this government, mired in scandal, policy u-turns and infighting, won a huge majority a little less than two years ago. And while the fiscal inheritance was bad, the bar for improvement was also set incredibly low. It was just so hard to see how you could end up here so quickly.

I mean, yes, you could go to Vietnam or the Philippines and wave some dollars around in an attempt to have a successful date. Or you could - and hear me out on this one - just try not being an arsehole.

Master and Commander, Princess Bride, Big Lebowski, Black Cat White Cat, Zulu, Miller's Crossing, Blues Brothers

These people have not seen how deeply uncool and tedious our laughable attempts at propaganda are.

Tl;dr he's a hopelessly incompetent drunk who only has the job because Trump wants him to persecute political opponents. And that he was supremely unfit for the role was obvious to any sentient being; his confirmation by the Senate another damning entry on the charge sheet of US institutions.

Knocking off for the weekend time, and it's sunny in Brussels. Vibe: youtu.be/EZC6Ot1MLP0?...

Post a picture of someone who is definitely not going to fail their security vetting process.

I admit I am an ignoramus in these matters, but the way it is being reported makes it sound like Mythos and its ilk might make digital infrastructure functionally unusable in the near future. Which would be, um, fairly significant, one imagines.

FWIW, my take on all of this is that it was a fait accompli before the vetting was done, and that Robbins decided that he had no choice but to go along with the PM's decision. I strongly suspect that Robbins did tell no 10 that Mandy failed the DV, but did so verbally rather than in writing.

French firm Fabentech has received authorisation from the French government to sell their ricin antidote ‘Ricimed’ on the French market. The news marks a watershed moment in the treatment of ricin poisoning. @dankaszeta.bsky.social writes. warsight.com/2026/04/16/f...

"As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, 'Say "what" again! Say "what" again, I dare you, I double dare you, motherfucker, say "what" one more goddamn time!'"