'literary analysis' and an electorate that cannot tell lie from fact, and where 'critical thinking' meant goggling yourself into far-right rabbit-holes. The source of the stupification is right in front of us.
Prof. UCL Econ. Computational Economist & ex-Theoretical Physicist, Alpine Glacier hiker, born: 30 Messidor CLXXIV.
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'literary analysis' and an electorate that cannot tell lie from fact, and where 'critical thinking' meant goggling yourself into far-right rabbit-holes. The source of the stupification is right in front of us.
used to be better"! It wasn't really any better, with some marginal exceptions. The expansion of education to 'the masses' was a good thing. It's just a pity for 5 decades policy-makers looking at it thought only one thing: we can do this cheaper. Now ... we are where we are. To much 'calculus' and
The piece also complains GCSE's do too much "literary analysis" ... Who are these idiots writing such tosh? High-brow words are associated with collections of gimmicky recipes that are easily assessed in industrial-sized mass-exams. The learning of which provides no useful skill. I am not saying "it
It's just so indicative of the utterly abysmal level of most debates on education at 13-16 and 16+. Checking out the GCSE subject catalogues is a whole other special level of Hell. The GCSE Maths subjects are just so incredibly boring, fractured, and have "committee-authored" all over them.
It's quite sad when an editorial on the importance of a reform GCSE's keeps insisting "calculus" isn't needed for many jobs ... remaining blissfully unaware there's no calulus on the GCSE menu 🤦 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Regrettably, the policy-response of states towards far-right violence has too frequently been: to appease. It was like this in the 1970s and 1980s and still is like this 5 decades later.
Aged 16, and considered an 'enemy alien'.
The UK leaving the ECHR would be yet another example of the country's struggle with basic treaty-reliability, a delight make any "Rejoin" debate entirely pointless. I feel I have to update my UK-rejoin prediction to: Belorus and Turkey will join the EU before the UK returns.
Voting for Brexit, stopping the small boats – none of it will ever appease those who wage war on immigration | Nesrine Malik
I think the legal and political consequences and the "corrosion of the international legal order" are precisely what the advocates of denouncing the ECHR and the Refugee Convention seek to achieve.
‘The legal position is therefore clear: yes there is provision for a state to leave the ECHR and the Refugee Convention. But doing so comes with both legal and political consequences.’ H/T @cbarnard.bsky.social ukandeu.ac.uk/leaving-the-...
I remember the days we used to call complaints such as Alex's bread-tastrophy "First-World Problems" ... I still think they are🤭
FIGHTING AN ACTIVE FIRE in Wash State ICE arrested 1 said 'You risk your life & This is how you treat us' 'it's racist garbage There's not some line, it's just your neighbors & communities But #DJT Vance & Step. Miller are going to burn this country down,'just so they can rule over the ashes' CHayes
constitutional house in order goes a long way to i) fighting the far-right & creating a better UK for UK citizens, and ii) creating the conditions for a sustainable Rejoin majority while being a more reliable partner to the EU memberstates. The path there's quite clear, but the UK just isn't on it.
I'd love the UK to rejoin, and I agree the main obstacle to rejoining, from an EU perspective, is that a rejoin request should be backed by a sustainable majority (over decades) and not by an electoral coaltion that collapses in 2 or 3 years, or one parliament. The UK bringing its own legislative &
Regrettably, the UK has a history of saying the EU needs to assist it on something while not doing anything, or doing quite opposite itself. Take migration. The UK can't be arsed to have a functioning civic registry or do exit-checks, but prefers to argue France & the EU need to fix the gaping hole.
But the UK doesn't need EU help to fight Reform. If anything the UK needs the UK to fight reform, starting with the UKG for example. Instead however the UK, Conservative & Lab included, are openly speculating how best to undermine the ECHR. We have enough Orbans & Ficos to deal with already.
If these two groups could meet half-way, that would go a long way 🤔
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a remnant of exceptionalist thinking. It's also not exclusive to the UK, you find it in other countries, including some memberstates, as well. The difference being: those are already members, and hence, it needs to be dealt with by other means.
No one's punching down on anyone🤷♀️ There's simply a persistent tendency in a lot of UK commentary that i) because the UK needs something the EU should hurry and ii) if the EU needs something that's leverage for the UK to get a little.more of what it wants. It's perfectly reasonable to view that as
needs to be sped up, I agree. But thinking that need can be deployed as leverage will trigger an adverse response. We can do the things fast that can be done fast and do slow what can be done slowly. Rejoining won't be fast.
UK which cannot decide what it wants, which is actually debating ditching the ECHR, where 30+ % of the electorate flirts with far-right authoritarianism. When in the water everyone needs to swim, not just the EU. Rushing through an SPS deal also won't stop a Russian advance towards Kiev. Cooperation
If the UK government wants to fight Reform they don't need the EU for that. They could start by actually opposing it rather than emulating its talking points. EU memberstates fighting their own versions of far-right and/or Trumpist nut jobs aren't going to have it any easier by hastily admitting a
Decent episode of @quietriotpod.bsky.social, but this sentence from Naomi Smith on the "reset" talks, Dio mio! "[Europe] needs to get on with it and expedite [the talks] more quickly..." Ma che palle! Let's contextualise this. A, 🧵
It's bewildering at times how deep pieces of the exceptionalist self-image of the UK have embedded themselves in people, often uncritically emulated by Anglophiles. Europe never left the UK, but the UK left Europe. Most of Europe likes the UK, but doesn't *need* it.
Het is triest. Want we demonstreren voor deze zaak al meer dan 40 jaar.
In de meeste reacties op mijn 2 posts komt dat naar voren. En dat is jammer, doet de zaak geen goed, en heeft de coalitie van demonstranten kleiner gehouden dan ze had kunnen zijn, en had moeten zijn. Maar ipv een beetje zelf-kritisch in de spiegel kijken prefereren te veel mensen complot theorieën.
En het zijn precies die overtrokken defensieve reacties die ik ook hier zie, dat idee dat niets aan de protesten gekritseerd kan worden, dat mensen die dat wel doen aan de "foute kant" staan een "genocide appeasers" zijn, die oogkleppen zijn een belangrijke oorzaak van dat gebrek aan impact.
Maar die demonstraties worden wel degelijk georganiseerd, deels door dezelfde groepen, en deels door dezelfde figuren, die ook van mijn leeftijd zijn. In mijn ogen hebben veel van die groepen en organisatoren steken laten vallen waardoor het protest minder effectief was dan het had moeten zijn.
Zoals gezegd, ook ik ben naar demonstraties gegaan, ook ik ben naar het plaatselijke campus-tentenkamp van mijn universiteit geweest en heb met studenten daar gepraat, en ik heb ook 30 jaar vóór 7 Oktober al tegen de bezetting van Palestijnse gebieden gedemonstreerd. Ik verwijt de demonstranten niks
And like a true GenX'er I don't care. I am not here to score appreciation points of folks I don't know and will likely never meet. I was just commenting on an issue that I think made the Gaza protests less effective than they could and should have been. The cause matters.
Frank is GenX as well
Ik heb daar niemand van beschuldigd🤷♀️ Maar het schijnt dat wanneer je als mede-demonstrant na 3 jaar concludeert dat ook de beweging grote steken heeft laten vallen ... mensen je dan liever overschreeuwen dan dat ze inhoudelijk reageren. Daarmee het punt bevestigend dat ik aanstipte.
I've been there in the streets, not just since the start of the Gaza war. I've been there in every decade since 1986.
I haven't been blaming the protestors for anything. But I do think the movement has made mistakes in the past 3 years that have made it less effective that it could have been & should have been. As a fellow protester, it should be possible to say something like that, right?
Except that I am not defending Israel & instead have always protested Israël's actions in Gaza, the occupation, the repression of Palestinians in the occupied territories, the illegal settlements, and am very much in favour of Nethanyahu & his ministers being handed over to the ICC asap.🤷♀️
I have no idea in which box you're putting me, but whichever it is, I don't think you've know me long enough to get it right. 🤷♀️
This is the kind of passion that always confirms to me we humans have a place on this Earth unlike any other species ... but in a good way 😍
Here he goes.
Sorry, I am not an American & not interested in conspiract theories. I have regularly protested against the occupation of West Bank & Gaza since the 1980s🤷♀️
I like concise expressions of an opinion without ad nominee attacks 🌷 Hence a like.
I'm not telling him what he should or shouldn't do. I am happy he speaks out against authoritarian interference in Science. I am also against that. Concerning Gaza, I've been part of protestest against the occupation of Palestine, probably for longer than many of the commentators in this thread .🤷♀️
You may not have guessed it, but I have been in favor a Palestinian state, and opposed to the occupation, since as long as I can remember, and even more so after multiple visits to the occupied territories in 1990-1995.
Imagine not getting the point of a post and quote-posting it to unintentionally confirming the point of the post. By the way, I attenderen several of those protestant as a participant ...
only speaking up now? Absolutely not. The failure of the pro-palestine movement in recent years is largely due to themselves, their uncanny ability to alienate potential allies 🤷♀️.
There are a lot of single issue folks who see and judge every other issue through the lens of their single issue, and then are surprised their coalition for their single issues rarely extends beyond their in-group. Could folks like Tao have spoken up earlier? Absolutely. Should we tell them off for
This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Is that shadow across the middle-section of the glacier below the Petite Verte (just below the traverseof the normal route) a huge open crevasse?😱 (perhaps I am too much of June/July visitor).
Argentière Glacier 2014 | 2025 Worst decade ever for Alpine glaciers! 🔥 2014 was the last year in which some positive mass balances were recorded in the Alps, as you can see from nice snowpack at the end of July! (Dates: 24th July vs 9th August) 🙏 @lomdumtblanc.bsky.social for 2025 pic
Het wordt nog beter als je je realiseert dat die bedrijven die belasting betalen van de winst die ze maken op de verkoop van diensten en goederen aan "ons", die "wij zelf" geproduceerd hebben. 🤭
A "little green US men" scenario comes to mind ... straight out of the Putin playbook. Greenland: Denmark summons top US diplomat over alleged influence operation - BBC News share.google/L5S12hSGtfaE...
🗓️ 25 Aug 1900: Dorothy Vaughan is born. Taught herself FORTRAN (a new programming language in the 1950s) without formal training so she could retrain her entire team of Black women mathematicians ensuring they remained essential as NASA transitioned from manual calculations to computers #WomenInSTEM
🐾Today we celebrate International Dog Day. Our colleagues shared photos of their companions who bring joy and laughter every day. Dogs are more than pets. Search and rescue dogs save lives with courage and dedication, reminding us of the unique bond between humans and dogs. 🐶
I guess we can be lucky AI hasn't turned out to be productivity-destroying. If we had introduced covid-vaccines in the callous way "leaders" pushed AI, based solely on sales-pitches without any trials believing the empty promises of those with a business interest,we'd all be dead now.
The war in Gaza grows more dangerous by the hour. EU priorities remain humanitarian support, including access for NGOs, with an immediate ceasefire and release of remaining hostages. If a military solution was possible, the war would already be over.
I am so happy we have an ocean between us, Mr. President 😬 It would even be better if folks stopped sharing & elevating his every brainfart.
There're plenty of non-Dutch in The Hague, and the local football club could use a few solid wingers 🤔 Are Starmer & Lammy any good with a ball? As politicians, they'd certainly be no worse than the locals🤭
Make Anglia Danish Again?🤔
Sunday protests seem to be < 500 nationwide, maybe < 300, across 4-6 locations Yet ITV news using language of "erupt nationwide" (!) Epping: 100-150 London: 20 Birmingham: 30 Stevenage: 30-50 Norwich: ? anything of any scale Manchester: ? anything of any scale Dudley: ? anything of any scale?
An increasingly dictatorial president is deploying the military and police against their enemies, and is using ‘emergency’ powers across the board. This is a common phenomenon, the world over. If you think it is somehow different because it is the US, then you have fallen for exceptionalism.
I am afraid countries that feel militarily unbeatable tend to wholly underestimate the risks of overreach and pay the price for that at some point.
Kharkiv right now ❤️🩹 I’m almost crying. We’re banned from organizing celebrations. Warned against crowds and gatherings due to constant russian bombings. But we’re alive, and we’ll keep living. That’s our collective "fuck you" to russia.
Nonsense. They wouldn't be able to control that.
Taken from the Meteovalledeaosta Account on insta (link above). 😭
The state of the #glaciers at 3400m Rosa Plateau between Cervinia and Zermatt is shocking😱😢 www.instagram.com/p/DNv3udp3EW...
It seems the Daily Mail misspelled "Führerous families" 😬
This is just getting ridiculous. Nothing that has happened (or is reported below the headline to have happened) this weekend remotely justifies talk of an explosion or mass protests. The media are confecting a crisis, and, in some sections of it, hoping to provoke one. 1/3
UK media really let folks just spread their lies pretty much unfiltered if the speaker comes from the right class, isn't it 🤦
And let's not forget WW1 didn't end in a negotiation but in a total collapse of the German lines and what was effectively a surrender. The closest thing we have to what the Trumpministration is doing is Munich '38, a negotiation of which one could argue it started a war, not ended one.
#KCL Hospital flying "England" flags is pathetic, and probably a stunt of some ethni-nationalist nerf-herder.
The centrist world view rests on the assumption that what humans always do is: reason their way through enlightened self-interest to even unreasonable views. The reality is: they don't always. But acknowledging that is too terrifying for most.
The liberal center *needs to believe* right-wing lies & the uncritical reception of them by dumb selfish people *has to have* some rational ground that can be reasoned with. Their whole world view rests on the assumption this is what humans always do: reason their way to even unreasonable views.
This is what 3 years of Russian captivity does to those who survive.👇
I must say, I find "North Korea tourism experience-reports" to be among the most disgusting flavours of journalism🤢. People who do this stuff & who write this guff will no doubt also be raving over the beaches of Gaza in 5 years, or the quietness-retreats the Taliban could consider offering.🤮
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Conspiracy theories must have been through the roof in 16th century Holland🤭
If a window of opportunity opens in his presence ... usually someone falls out.🤭
Imagine training a network with a gazillion nodes, on everything written since the days of clay tablets, for a bazillion dollars, using thousands of Bigawatts of electricity, frying half a generation of coders, all to get this gem of artificial stupidity.
I love #Airbus #A321 Neo's😍 ... looking forward to the ride home.
I've been thinking about Russia's demand for security guarantees 😬 But if it contributes to creating a just peace for Ukraine, I will happily promise not to follow my 3xgreat grandfather's example of invading Russia.
Today, I said final farewells to my brother-in-law, really my '3rd brother'. I can hardly believe I have known him since 1976. Even if I would reach the age of 98 (unlikely), I still would have known him for more than half of my life.
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My occasional reminder that Schiphol is quite a busy airport🤔
Criminally lazy headline writing: pretending what someone said is a fact on the basis of written evidence that someone said it🤦♂️ Newspapers in the 21st century should know better.🤬
In the UK, some of these these same groups exist, but added in the mix is a deep sense of insularity and a strong orientation towards the US, Canada, Australia, and NZ. This is also stronger in England than in Wales or Scotland. Brexit, however, was an unusual act of exceptionalist self-harm.
Nonsense. Many European countries have significant far-right and Eurosceptic parties. Political groups that do not entirely overlap, as there are also pro-EU far-right movements and Euro-sceptic leftist & liberal movements, as well as groups that support the EU but oppose specific aspects of it.
Conservative states sending militias to progressive cities. Sounds familiar.
If I see what is coming out of those A-levels and arrives in my year-1 lectures, I am not that confident outcomes have improved. I still notice a lot of recipe-memorisation, low retention of routine skills, and a deep resistance to learning stuff that isn't ending up 1-on-1 in exam problems.
22 August 1931 | Italian Jewish girl Lia Sadun was born in Siena. In 1944 she was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber.
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Congratulations 💐 🥳
President Zelenskyy: When Russia raises the issue of security guarantees,I honestly don't know who is threatening them yet.They attacked us, they’re on our land.I don't quite understand what guarantees the aggressor needs.Guarantees of what?
This👇
Fascists destroy lives ... always. Not just in the camps they build, sooner or later, but from day one. And every day, we do another litmus test to verify whether they really are rascist, and we find another excuse to proclaim they're voicing 'legitimate concerns', the casualty count increases.
This actually makes a lot of Trump's international politics clear😬: Putin (in Alaska): I expect there will be peace in the future. Trump: Russia committed to peace.
Trump: "They gave me $600 billion. And that’s a gift... That’s not a loan... There’s nothing to pay back. They gave us $600 billion that we can invest in anything we want.” European Union: Me: “He didn’t get a penny” White House spox: ”Pointless nitpicking” www.cnn.com/2025/08/22/p...
Ah, so it's about what is cheapest rather than what is easiest?