This just in!!! In response to the so-called renaming of Lake Ontario by the Orange Shitweasel, Canada has renamed the Mariana Trench “The Melania Trench” because it’s cold, dark and swallowed a lot of seamen.
Chris Johns
@chrisbjohns.bsky.social
Economist, podcaster, journalist, curious.
Remembering Eleanor Maguire - thinking anew about memory open.substack.com/pub/brainpiz...
Remembering Eleanor Maguire
thinking anew about human memory
open.substack.com
Nowhere but nowhere do you see the question: where is HMRC in all this? How much has he not paid in gift taxes?
thattimwalker.bsky.social@thattimwalker.bsky.social · 2mo agoIt seems surprising up until now Farage has not been in receipt of what’s called an unexplained wealth order, which requires an individual or an organisation to explain how they obtained a property or other assets.
Latest podcast with the doyen of Brexit commentators, @chrisgrey.bsky.social As always, he is brilliant. We have a new term for what afflicts the U.K.: Brexitism. It’s a metastatic and mutating disease open.spotify.com/episode/5rtE...
Brexit has failed. Everything going wrong in the UK is now connected to that simple fact.
The Other Hand · Episode
open.spotify.com
This is the ‘most read’ thing I have ever written. Including all my years as a journalist. Something that surprised me. open.substack.com/pub/cjpecono...
Grief
This won’t be for everyone
open.substack.com
Jack Oliver recently signed a two-year senior deal with Glasgow This three years after the death of his father Greig, in South Africa watching his son with Ireland U20 After leaving Munster, Oliver has a new path in the country his dad played for Interview⬇️ www.irishtimes.com/sport/2026/0...
Jack Oliver reflects on his father’s death, resilience and finding his feet with Glasgow Warriors
The former Munster and Ireland U20 scrum-half speaks about grief, resilience and finding his feet with Glasgow Warriors
irishtimes.com
Ever since Andrew Goodman said he wanted Ireland to be better on transition, we’ve tracked progress Twickenham was Irelands best counter attack display of this cycle Where France go sans structure, Ireland turned transition into another set-piece Analysis ⬇️ www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...
Ruthless Ireland defying metrics that say they are the worst team in the Six Nations
How Ireland created a new set piece to solve their transition attack woes
irishtimes.com
Unfortunately this is blithering idiot territory. Of course, there are many very good reasons for not putting up trade barriers that would be quite possibly *very effective* if the UK was actually still in the EU.
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 6mo agoUK business secretary urges EU to stop ‘putting up barriers’ ft.trib.al/dN7kmY3
The other day Manchester United’s co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said the UK had been "colonised by immigrants"….today there’s this billboard outside of Old Trafford 🔥….way to go Manchester 💪!
Goodwin's decline from pretty mediocre academic to racist right wing incel isn't new or particularly original. It's also not the fault of women, migrants or anyone else. It is a tale as old as time, a sad, arrogant, loser trying to blame their deficiencies on everyone else. So perfect for Reform.
The Trump administration is literally going to kill its supporters, and still they cheer the circus.
It's almost like being fabulously rich doesn't make you happy or well adjusted. It's almost like it makes you sad and lonely. And leaves you forever casting about for scapegoats to offset your deep self-loathing. Thank you Jim Ratcliffe and Elon Musk for these important life lessons.
Left: Nigel Farage calls for an end to working from home Right: Nigel Farage's Reform UK advertising a job which is working form home
If asked to describe the major features of the Epstein archipelago looming out of its offshore dark money and billionaire kompromat - I’d say Putin, Trump, Musk, Bannon and Thiel And with that you have a map of our current political era
Trump's skin is thinner than a paper straw halfway through a McDonald's milkshake.
Lewis is right. And if that is the ultimate destination why must everything involve baby steps?
Lewis Goodall@lewisgoodall.com · 7mo agoGround rent cap is good news (though peppercorn would be better straight away). Also welcome is promised abolition of new leasehold properties. Better still would be the outright abolition of leasehold altogether, a feudal anachronism virtually unique to England and Wales.
It might be the only language they still understand.
Olga Nesterova@onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 8mo ago“Danish citizens are organising a huge boycott that includes cancelling planned holidays in the US, cancelling subscriptions to on-demand services based in the US & more generally, recommending the use of EU services instead of those provided by American platforms.” So, same as Canadians.
They know what they say is untrue, they do not care it is untrue. The media know that what they repeat is untrue, they do not care it is untrue. Their supporters know what they are told is untrue, they do not care it is untrue. Telling the truth is not enough, unless people care about the truth.
Alex Pretti was an ICU nurse serving veterans. He died trying to protect protestors being assaulted. A group of anonymous & masked men fired chemicals into his face, beat him, disarmed him, and shot him in broad daylight in front of witnesses. Then his government smeared him & defended his murder.
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
Brilliant piece
Lewis Goodall@lewisgoodall.com · 8mo agoTrump sincerely believes Norway stole “his” Nobel Peace Prize. That isn’t a joke. It’s the key to understanding his second presidency. We have to drop the self-delusion, over-intellectualisation and listen to him. America is no longer Europe’s ally. My latest 👇 open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
If you liked Mark Carney's speech, then have a listen to this podcast interview with the Canadian prime minister by @gideonrachman.bsky.social recorded just after that interview www.ft.com/content/19f1...
Mark Carney on a world in rupture — and what comes next
‘Globalisation is over, but like-minded countries can still work together’
ft.com
I think part of the reason everyone is so blown away by this Carney speech is it's so long since we heard an actual grown-up articulate serious thoughts about the world. Empty vessels have been making a lot of noise
Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 8mo agoMark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.
It's so exhausting to to be constantly told by American leaders that the defining policy of the 80 odd years during which the US became the most wealthy and powerful country in the history of the world was a grossly unfair failure for them.
Heather Stewart@guardianheather.bsky.social · 8mo agoUS trade secretary Howard Lutnick really not mincing his words here at Davos: "We are here to make a v clear point: globalisation has failed the West and the USA. It's a failed policy. It's what the WEF has stood for, which is, export, offshore, find the cheapest labour in the world."