Well, well, well. Who would have believed it! After all, no other than Boris Johnson, when he was foreign secretary, said "Nyet" when asked if there was evidence of Russian interference.
I know it's always safe to assume incompetence on the part of BJ, but it is quite possible he was lying, and I think we deserve to know if he was. An inquiry would be nice.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/burnham-brexit-russia-eu-b3064772.html
Apparently children have to be protected from picture books that show same-sex parents, but it's okay for them to see a man being executed. To the fascist, these things both make sense.
Children have to be forced to recognize the fascist view of the "natural order" of things, which includes heterosexual families only.
And everyone, children included, has to be trained to see that the government inflicting pain and suffering against designated enemies is right and good.
Now we get to watch and see whether the tech bro billionaires race each other to lick Trump's behind...
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 8. Tell us about someone who supports you on the sidelines.
I'm supported by too many people to mention them individually. Hundreds of people contribute every month to financially support me so that I can explore and write about meditation and Buddhist practice. I feel very privileged to be able to do what I do.
This morning we had our first frost of the autumn.
The house almost got cold enough that the central heating (set to 16C/61°F) came on.
I love these marks of the seasons changing.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/117396098979159597
It looks like Putin is attacking cargo ships in NATO members' territorial waters. I'm curious what his plan is.
Create a supply-chain crisis by making ships stay in port?
Try to convince Nato countries that it will be damaging for them if they continue to support Ukraine?
Create tensions in Nato as they argue about how/whether to respond?
Provoke a military response so that the Russian people rally round?
Go out in a blaze of glory?
All of the above?
You know things are getting really bad when you find yourself agreeing with Ted Cruz.
""Yes, Tucker, the UK is better off for winning WWII,. America is better off for winning World War II. And the world would be much worse off if the Nazis had won WWII. This is not complicated."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/poland-demands-tucker-carlson-apologize-104332792.html
Climate activists in prison in the UK on "terrorism" charges are political prisoners: "individuals [who] have been sanctioned by legal systems and imprisoned by political regimes not for their violation of codified laws but for their thoughts and ideas that have fundamentally challenged existing power relations."
We should refer to them as such LOUDLY, in order to put pressure on the UK government, to change legal policies and to get them to vigorously tackle the climate emergemcy.
I saw this at my daughter’s college yesterday.
RE: https://mastodon.me.uk/@ChrisMayLA6/117349846101298234
This article is horrifying in many ways. One thing that’s chilling is that the US is developing a national police service, with local police directly under Trump’s control. But the most horrifying thing for me is the kangaroo court system, where it’s proclaimed that a mass of individuals must show up to court within minutes, and when they fail to show — well, how could they? — this becomes grounds for deportation. When we take this country back a lot of judges are going to have to be impeached.
RE: https://mastodon.scot/@thisismyglasgow/117330560847724398
I love stories of people-power and popular rebellion against the rich. Especially when they take place in Scotland.
The whole point of the "AI will wipe out humanity in 10 years" thing is that it gets us talking about how to regulate AI rather than how to get rid of it.
From Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter. I had not heard that articles of impeachment had been raised against Hegseth. By a Republican!
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-16-2026
I read this article today, @WeegieFifer and @fiona_mcg, and thought there were some great lessons there for promoting the cause of #ScottishIndependence. It's inspiring and definitely worth a read.
It seems like a tipping point when five out of six of the stories on the BBC Europe news page are about Russia waging asymmetrical warfare on Europe.
I can only hope that Europe is retaliating in some way.
RE: https://mastodon.ie/@EugeneMcParland/117270137579125979
“This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story.”
The biggest lie in Trump's 9/11 fabrication is that two firemen carried him from the rubble.
Just two? Really? Were their names "Bobcat" and "John Deere"?
This is the first time I've ever been the first to "like" a YouTube video, which is a bit wild since it's one that's been out for 11 months, and it's a brilliant piece of music — a wind sextet by Eric Dolphy that was only discovered in 2025.
I think I was born to be a proofreader.*
I can't remember the last time I read a book that didn't have a typo. I was hopeful with Janelle Brown's "What Kind of Paradise." I saw two possibles, but they could be explained as quirks of the characters who were speaking, including the first-person narrator. But then I found "sixteeen" with three E's.
In the first volume of the Slow Horses books, which I just read, Catherine Standish briefly becomes Christine.
*But not of my own writing
RE: https://journa.host/@videnskabdk/117246792751092114
Danes are more active than Britons. They're more likely to cycle to work, for example. and have more time and energy for recreation, because Britons work, on average, the equivalent of three weeks longer each year, and their work hours are more unpredictable. DK has a comprehensive system of childcare.
So Danes live longer, survive more cancerous diseases, and experience higher well-being.
A country's primary aim should be its inhabitants' wellbeing, not its business owners' enrichment.