Lewis Baston
@lewisbaston.bsky.social
Author of ‘Borderlines’ (Hodder, 2024) and previously Reggie Maudling, John Major. Psephologist, cat ‘owner’, flâneur. Against cruelty, which used to be a consensus position. https://www.hodder.co.uk/titles/lewis-baston/borderlines/9781399723763/
Jonn and Hannah are both lovely people and hearing them talk so knowledgeably about borders is worth anyone’s time!
The Bunker podcast – News without the nonsense@bunkerpod.bsky.social · 8h ago🗺️ NEW EPISODE 🗺️ Europe is secretly at war… in 34 disputed territories where rival nations face off over the same land. 🗺️ Foreign corr and author @hannahluci.bsky.social talks dangerous border hotspots with king of the wild frontiers @jonnelledge.bsky.social 🗺️ Listen linktr.ee/bunker_pod
This is why I think Kemi is extremely high-risk. There is every chance she will step on a rake during the election and then spend two scarce campaigning days insisting that being hit in the face by a rake handle is great actually and part of the plan. And then find another rake.
Will Reid-Tong@willthong.com · 10h agoSomehow Kemi on R4 has just backed herself into the utterly farcical line "come on now it's not a *national* platform - he's only gonna be a Tory councillor, not a Tory MP!"
I’m probably going to regret this, and I’m basically pro-Stancil, but Pratchett didn’t get the ‘boots theory’ from nowhere. I was told it quite independently by a man, the legendary Bert Hazell, who was a farm labourer (and then union official and Labour MP). It reflected his life experience…
www.maptap.gg August 5 99🔥 100🎯 87🎓 85😁 100🎯 Final score: 928 trickier than yesterday!
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This is why I think Kemi is extremely high-risk. There is every chance she will step on a rake during the election and then spend two scarce campaigning days insisting that being hit in the face by a rake handle is great actually and part of the plan. And then find another rake.
Will Reid-Tong@willthong.com · 10h agoSomehow Kemi on R4 has just backed herself into the utterly farcical line "come on now it's not a *national* platform - he's only gonna be a Tory councillor, not a Tory MP!"
The borders of the U.K. have been in place since 1922.
Pascal Jacquemain@jacquep.bsky.social · 23h agoRosindell is mad as a box of frogfaces.
I’m a Popular Frontist in my vicarious US politics and increasingly in Europe and UK. Principled, institutionalist conservatives are welcome in the fight against fascism. Normal politics, where we oppose each other, can resume when the enemy is defeated.
MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com · yesterdayNEWS: Former Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has endorsed Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) for re-election Flake: “I’m still a conservative Republican. But character matters. And I want someone in that seat who takes the institution seriously and will protect the institution.”
If some rando put a similar poster up at a university, the DOJ would threaten to cut funding
Kyle Clark@kylec.bsky.social · yesterdayDepicting Jewish people with horns is a centuries-old, dehumanizing, antisemitic trope. Democratic Gov nominee Phil Weiser is outspoken about his mother’s birth in a Nazi concentration camp, his family members killed in the Holocaust, and the threat posed by antisemitism today.
There are such amazing cultural treasures in Ukraine, from so many different traditions. Where else, in a mostly Orthodox country, can one find a Catholic Church with a minaret? Their struggle is Europe’s.
Kate from Kharkiv@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · yesterdayIt had survived Soviet attempts to close and destroy it, and following the de-occupation of Beryslav, remained one of the city's few undamaged historic structures.
This quote/ trope is often misattributed either as a genuine classical quotation about Alexander of Macedon, or as from the script of Die Hard (1988). It’s actually originated by darts commentator Sid Waddell, about Eric Bristol, in 1984.
Lewis Baston@lewisbaston.bsky.social · yesterdayI weep, for there are no more worlds to conquer.
www.maptap.gg August 4 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 Final score: 1000 🥳
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Constance Markievicz was accompanied everywhere, including while fighting in the Easter Rising, by a black cocker spaniel called Poppet. I think this detail adds to one’s knowledge of her in a way that simply talking about her ideology and class background does not.
Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · 5d ago"Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience." New today in the Society's journal 'Transactions': Joe Moran 'On Detail in Historical Writing': bit.ly/44UMi8C Now available OA @joemoransblog.bsky.social @massobsarchive.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2
@lewisbaston.bsky.social we were in Hay on Wye last few days. In Wales but feels English. It made me pick up Borderlines again and reread my favourite chapters. Such an original work, beautifully crafted. Just love it.
Just can’t focus or stay calm and work. I know abstractly I can do this but I seem to freeze or shy away and scroll here. Bad.
‘They are such neat, busy little folk’: the unexpected superpowers of the common woodlouse
‘They are such neat, busy little folk’: the unexpected superpowers of the common woodlouse
This detritivore – known by a range of colourful names – tidies up our world and can withstand toxic pollution
theguardian.com
One of my days for recalling my grandmother’s wisdom - she would not have been a poster - ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say about them, don’t say anything at all.’
This is why blanket cynicism about politicians favours the worst among them. It’s the enemy of rational scepticism.
Dorian Lynskey@dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 2d agoAccording to Luke Tryl on Radio 4 disillusioned Reform voters think Farage is “just the same as the rest” on the corruption front. But he isn’t is he? He’s exponentially worse. And his grifter tendency has been obvious for a very long time.
+1 is good in this cynical age. But it does reflect the initial boost a major party leader gets from partisans of the other side saying ‘Don’t Know’. They will dislike him before long, but haven’t decided yet quite why they will dislike him.
Ipsos in the UK@ipsosintheuk.bsky.social · 2d agoJuly's leaderboard📊 Burnham tops the charts on favourability with a net score of +1. Count Binface features in the leaderboard for July, with 25% favourable towards the intergalactic space warrior. Farage also sits on 25% favourable, followed by Starmer on 22%.
I saw one of these over the weekend in Hampstead and I assumed it was a US import as it was so hypertrophic, ugly and dangerous-looking.
George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2d agoLand Rover also does a Discovery Metropolitan edition. The name suggests it's for use in cities. Because you never know how high the kerb / cyclist / pedestrian you need to mount might be. And because there must be no limit to the pointless environmental harm you inflict.
906 on the MapTap today (it glitches when I try to post it). Tough day, but also my performance seems to have fallen away since August began.
Liverpool John Moores University, where Jason Arday got his PhD, is currently offering £203 as a PhD examiner’s fee. Their PhD’s should have a maximum length of 80,000 words. That’s a novel of about 300 pages. Let’s assume it takes you 10 hours, between reading, checking citations and making notes.
ABBA Voyage by the way was… really good? It felt like a piece of the science fiction future we imagined in 1980: shiny, fun, weird and mind-expanding. So much of our tech seems to come from an evil dystopian timeline but this was creative and innocent…
Lewis Baston@lewisbaston.bsky.social · 5d agoYour political compass name is what you call the last course of an evening meal followed by your favourite political philosopher.
www.maptap.gg August 2 95🏆 100🎯 100🎯 95🏆 80✨ Final score: 920 ouch
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Fairly uniform once you’ve adjusted for people in Stockport who vote LD in local elections and Lab in mayoral (an established phenomenon) and presumed Green to Lab movement in Manchester and Trafford.
Owen Winter@owenwntr.bsky.social · 5d agoLabour's share: Manchester 54% (+23 vs local elections) Stockport 50% (+37) Trafford 50% (+27) Wigan 47% (+22) Bury 47% (+21) Salford 47% (+19) Tameside 42% (+18) Oldham 42% (+21) Rochdale 41% (+16) Bolton 40% (+21)
Your political compass name is what you call the last course of an evening meal followed by your favourite political philosopher.
