Travesty-Account Holder 77

While Trump monetises war, Iran women’s team deliver great act of sporting heroism | Barney Ronay In refusing to sing the national anthem these athletes have placed themselves in grave danger while Gianni Infantio sides with the American war machine

While Trump monetises war, Iran women’s team deliver great act of sporting heroism | Barney Ronay

Just heard the first mention on NZ media of the possibility of "rationing" fuel.

A bird of prey perched on a gloved hand, held by a person wearing an outdoor jacket. The bird has dark feathers with lighter brown tones on the wings and legs. The scene takes place on a paved walkway with a wooden railing and soft-focus buildings in the background. Another person stands to the right, partially visible. Above the bird, bold curved text reads “BARNEY,” and a light radial pattern appears at the bottom of the image.

Meet Barney, our new Head of Pigeon Deterrence at Colchester Castle. He's a Harris's hawk with GB Hawking, and he'll be making regular visits to encourage our rather persistent flock of pigeons to find somewhere else to roost.

300 Years of B*llock Daggers YouTube video by Tod's Workshop

Do NOT watch this video, it's all about that naughty dagger I told you about before, really rude, full of improper language, think of your reputation!
What will the neighbours think!
youtu.be/ixIKaNRpEvY?...

Lol

Cancellation of Army exercise fuels speculation about Mideast troop deployments — The Washington Post The abrupt cancellation of a training event has put a spotlight on the 82nd Airborne Division, which specializes in ground combat and other fraught missions.

Here we go:

Outdoor fruit stand with huge pyramid of oranges and tall round banana display.

they’re just begging for a car chase

According to President Zelenskyy, more than 800 Patriot missiles had been used in the first 3 days = $1 billion-worth/day (though not all US).

Then there's everything not day-to-day, like the pair of THAADs destroyed, which are $1 billion each (and reportedly the USA had made less than dozen).

The Portico hiring poster

📚 We’re hiring

Passionate about connecting historic books and archives with communities, readers and researchers?...

I have good news and bad news about my friend Schrödinger's Cat...

Thanks. 🙂

More than enough people do, but a lot of effort goes into ensuring that that sort of insight doesn't become too widely known, understood and/or believed by everyone else.

There'd be more if there weren't people having to do more than one to afford minimally decent living-standards and/or employment in the USA came with proper levels of guaranteed paid leave (and other rights and protections normal in advanced economies). 🙄

"But what about businesses' profits!" 😱

Peter Mandelson released from bail conditions Officers have decided former minister is not a flight risk, but he remains under investigation

BREAKING: Police have released Peter Mandelson from bail conditions after deciding he wasn’t flight risk.

Met dropped conditions applied after arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office, though he remains under investigation @kiranstacey.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

To the Trump fanatics

a week on and it's still funny

Qatar warns war will force Gulf to stop energy exports ‘within days’ Gas producer says it will take ‘weeks to months’ to restore deliveries after Iranian drone strike

⚠️ Qatar’s energy minister has warned that war in the Middle East could “bring down the economies of the world,” predicting that all Gulf energy exporters would shut down production within weeks and drive oil to $150 a barrel.

Publisher demands $500 from impersonated author to retract paper Last year, we wrote about a Walsh Medical Media journal that refused to withdraw an author’s paper unless he paid a fee — even though he didn’t write or submit the article. For one reader, some det…

Well, this takes the biscuit.
I know of cases where people were named as authors without their permission, and where it's difficult to get anyone to do anything about it. But here we have a particularly brazen publisher who says they'll remove it if you pay $500!
retractionwatch.com/2026/03/05/p...

"He cannot." 🤣

That's how much they care or can be bothered.

George Monbiot on why Britain shouldn’t get dragged into Trump’s war on Iran is brilliantly done
www.thepoke.com/2026/03/06/george-monbiot-on-why-britain-shouldnt-get-dragged-into-trumps-war-on-iran-is-brilliantly-done-and-essential-viewing-for-anyone-who-might-think-otherwise/

Believe what they say

The US habit of going for chest-beating names for military operations/wars, that is now reaching even higher levels childishness (like everything Trumpish), looks rather silly over here.

Eg against Iraq in the 1990s

US 'Operation Desert Shield/Storm/Sabre/Fox'
UK 'Operation Granby' for all four

Facts? In a meme war?

I remember when ‘Brexit Means Brexit’ became a way for silly people to insist that they supported something they could neither justify nor explain. Obviously the context is very different, but something similar is already happening with the ‘war’ in Iran. And it’s mostly the same people doing it.

Defence secretary accuses Tory and Reform MPs of ‘unpatriotic’ behaviour John Healey lambasts opposition politicians for seeking to turn Donald Trump and the US against Keir Starmer

Defence secretary accuses Tory and Reform MPs of ‘unpatriotic’ behaviour

John Healey lambasts opposition politicians for seeking to turn Donald Trump and the US against Keir Starmer

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

No IHT at all up to £325,000 if you're single and renting, increased to £500k if you own... no upper limit if passed to spouse/CP... etc, etc, etc. But the R-W media have got some people with £10k to leave thinking it's unfair. 🙄

bsky.app/profile/mart...

Russia sending election operatives to Hungary to prop up Orban, media reports Sergei Kiriyenko, a powerful Kremlin aide, has reportedly been tasked with overseeing the Russian operation in Hungary, applying the same set of methods deployed during Moscow-backed meddling in Moldo...

Russia is sending election operatives to Hungary to prop up Orban. The dirty tricks to support Putin’s puppet in the EU will be off the chart.

Sounds like the sort of explanation they'd respond to any complaints with.

But it's comparable to asking 'please explain why we need doctors' to get at why having the NHS is a good idea IMHO 🤷

Fox News used footage of Ukraine’s STING interceptor drone while praising US AI “superweapons” allegedly used in Iran, prompting a response from the drone’s Ukrainian developers.

www.kyivpost.com/post/71361