Siobhan Hoffmann Sønderborg

Fertiliser disruption from Iran conflict prompts global food shortage warnings Prices have jumped and exports been hit as war puts pressure on one of the world’s largest producers

‘Analysts say the disruption could prove even more damaging than the food shock triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when energy and fertiliser costs surged and global food prices hit record highs.’
www.ft.com/content/7efe...

A black & white line drawing/engraving of a pig headed trumpet raised above a spear carrying army.

For #FindsFriday this gorgeous depiction of the Deskford carnyx by Keith Henderson in Piggott’s Scotland Before History, 1958.
Found c.1816 Near Deskford, just south of the Moray coast, it dates to the later 1stC AD, deposited in a bog c.2/3rdC. Now in the National Museum of Scotland.
#CarnyxCrazy

kitten stood on a street lamp mounted on a pole. The cat pictured is Sasuke, Fukase's companion

Sasuke. Kyoto, Japan.
Masahisa Fukase, 1977

Oh, thank you Anna! X

I'm so close to being done. And so close to being done.

I have so much to do.

Major yn Englisshe:

• Focused readinge & writinge prepare you for anythinge
• Research, communicacioun, creativitye, and interpretacioun will be needed for careers not even inventid yet
• Meaningful engagement wyth big ideas and textes that will staye wyth you forevir
• It ys awesome
• Bookes!

Todd @ Why are we bothering with the Strait of Hormuz when we could simply do this? Explain it to me like I'm 5. Canal RIOS 508 MOUNTAIN HARD AND BIG, WATER NO UP. MANY MANY DIG DIG.

If there is evidence of irregularities at some polling stations at the Gorton and Denton byelection, then that evidence should be properly and promptly investigated in accordance with due process by the proper authorities. And that is what is being done. Any denunciations of the election result should thereby await the result of this process. The losing party spokesperson candidly admitted the day after the election that any irregularities were not enough to have affected the result, which was emphatic. But this did not prevent the losing party’s leader from loudly promoting grave allegations of sectarian voting, corruption and dishonesty. Yet if the irregularities are not upheld on investigation as invalidating the result, it is unlikely that those findings will be shouted about. And such a response is irresponsible. Parts of the United Kingdom have a history of sectarian violence. Parts of the United Kingdom have histories of racial tension. Responsible politicians should not exploit such allegations for partisan advantage. Making such allegations is to play with fire, literally. Responsible politicians should be careful to avoid subverting the very fundamentals on which a functioning democracy rests. Such “poisoning of the wells” is familiar to those following the politics of the United States, and it lay behind the lethal violence that took place in Washington DC on 6th January 2021.

New

The poisoning of the wells

Why discrediting election results without waiting for due process is unhealthy for a democracy

This week's Weekly Constitutional by me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

But what about international law – continued. 4th March 2026 * Hello and welcome to The Empty City blog, the new name of which is explained here. * From time-to-time this law and policy blog touches upon international law.  The last time a pos…

But what about international law – continued.

A new post at The Empty City on how Western one-sidedness in what they openly condemn as a breach of international law is neither coherent nor compelling

Personal blog: theemptycity.com/blog/2026/03...

Substack: emptycity.substack.com/p/but-what-a...

I Murder Hate Robert Burns I murder hate by flood or field, Tho’ glory’s name may screen us; In wars at home I’ll spend my blood— Life-giving wars of Venus. The deities that I adore Are social Peace and Plenty; I’m better pleas’d to make one more, Than be the death of twenty. I would not die like Socrates, For all the fuss of Plato; Nor would I with Leonidas, Nor yet would I with Cato: The zealots of the Church and State Shall ne’er my mortal foes be; But let me have bold Zimri’s fate, Within the arms of Cozbi!

In 1787, Robert Burns acquired a diamond-tipped pen which he used to inscribe poems on windows & chimney-pieces across Scotland. “I Murder Hate” is Burns’s version of “make love, not war” #graffiti, & was etched into a window at the Globe Tavern, Dumfries
#WyrdWednesday #C18 #poem #poetry

street level, print studio, sharmanka, project ability -- an incredible loss if these institutions aren't found appropriate new locations

Boak

I remember it well. Unfortunately.

And generously shared it with us, too. You are a treasure.

Private Eye

It's insane if you think about it.

Of course they do. Their feet can hardly touch the pedals

Cut them some bloody slack…

God, I want to repost this, and for everyone else to repost it until their eyes roll back in their heads. Seriously. We carry men. We physically and mentally and emotionally, and literally carry them.

This.

"Is a bodega some kind of portmanteau?"
What? Norwich people? What.

Efficiency,
Consistency,
Sufficiency.

If one is missing or replaced by 'economy' it is not sustainability.

Calling AI "slop" has been one of the most effective instances of the public rebranding a product and it pisses them off.

Yes.

This can't be serious.

Likewise 😆

😆

Except Minneapolis?

In Dubai you can leave a gold watch on the roof of your car and it won't get nicked, but...