I wonder if Parliament may regret the Tory's 'humble address', because what it might mean in future is less rather than more transparency. Officials may write down even less, and what they do will be written in anodyne language to cover one's backside rather than promote clear thinking in Gov't
3/3
p369 from Trusted Knowledge in a digital and fragmented world of work, bt Richard W Erskine
p370 from Trusted Knowledge in a digital and fragmented world of work, bt Richard W Erskine
p371 from Trusted Knowledge in a digital and fragmented world of work, bt Richard W Erskine
.. and in particular a quote from Professor Margaret MacMillan
wrt digital records “.. it’s partly through Wikileaks .. people are getting very cautious .. Government officials aren’t putting down .. what they really think. And that I think is going to be a real problem"
pages 369-371
2/
The release of the internal documents related to the hiring of Peter Mandelson as UK Ambassador to the US starts today. It brought to mind something I wrote about in a my book 'Trusted Knowledge in a digital and fragmented world of work' in the chapter Institutional Memory … 1/
See image from David Wootton's monumental book 'The Invention of Science' above 4/4
Flat earthers are really a very modern, ignorant, movement, like the ones who believe in the 'young' earth (where humans and dinosaurs co-existed), in contradiction to all geological evidence - mostly borne from evangelical Christians ignorant of both past and present science. 3/
This was not a contradiction to the Earthly sphere, simply a belief in a landmass that was perched on top of or within a sphere mostly made of ocean. 2/
What's interesting in the history of science is that the understanding that the Earth was a sphere is ancient and until quite recently, even amongst the less well educated, well understood. Even the medieval belief is of a human domain surrounded by a wide ocean. 1/
I’m guessing Edinburgh will be one big party tonight. 50-40 against France. What a game.
A retired General is aghast that the UK doesn’t have the “muscle” to bring force to bear in the Middle East.
Well hellooooo
Welcome to post Imperial Britain
(Talk about living in the past)
Oh, and I decarbonised my pension when I retired 10 years ago.
No meter, it was removed. So pleased we disconnected from the gas grid in November (when we got induction hob; having previously got a heat pump 4 years ago). All that is needed now is for the uk electricity market to decouple from gas prices and for even harder renewables push as if there’s a war 🤔
The fact that Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive officer of Anthropic, did not agree to demands from the Trump administration to allow their technology to be used to spy on Americans and for autonomous weapons is to be applauded.
Hello Claude, Goodbye ChatGPT
There's never a bad time.
In order to understand UK politics in 2026 you must realise that a plumber & plasterer doesn't represent the interests of the working class because she is left-wing but a wealthy broadcaster & former academic does represent the interests of the working class because he is right-wing. Hope this helps
BBC Radio 4 Today around 7.20am; Anna Foster’s interview of Pres. Herzog. She asked: when this ends? what Iran will look like? He said it’s not about regime change but neutralising military capacity
Israel/US has just decapitated the Iranian regime, the very definition of attempted regime change! 🤷♀️
remember folks: the energy transition is really not about the consumer price of energy commodities vs. energy technologies. it's really not.
The two are linked. If we fix inequality, we will help fix the climate
Shocked there is not an *energency* edition of @therestpolitics.bsky.social out yet following the Greens win last night! 😂
Well, Nick Robinson and BBC Today crew were obviously geared up to continue their ‘inevitable rise of Reform’ narrative. Oops! They seem thoroughly annoyed with the Greens for spoiling a carefully prepared show, but still pursuing Reform/Mail/Telegraph talking points.
Reform’s Matt Goodwin was only losing candidate who did not applaud the winner. Another example of their/his mean spirit.
@profmarkmaslin.bsky.social you were great on this In Our Time episode, under the new host Misha Glenny, discussing The Great Dying as a counter narrative to the benign sounding Colombian Exchange.
It’s great that the inexplicable silence regarding climate change for 25 yrs seems to have been lifted
Jonathan Dimbleby on @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social giving an apologia for the Royal Family's failure to bring Andrew to account (and possibly worse - to give him active cover) is cringeworthy
Richard Erskine, essaysconcerning.com
When Trump, Vance or any of his MAGA entourage make accusations of bad intentions or plans directed at their opponents, be wary!
The chances are that is exactly what they are doing or planning.
essaysconcerning.com/2026/02/15/m...
#MAGA #MirrorPolitics #Accusationsinamirror
Another example of the non apology apology …
Sir Jim Ratcliffe “sorry that my choice of language has offended some people"
Essential reading.
“I predicted .. in August that Morgan McSweeney would win his power struggle with Sue Gray. He has duly done so .. This is a disaster for Labour, but even more so for Britain .. Such creatures may be useful during election campaigns, but should not be allowed near government.”
Is this the same Kemi Badenoch giving lectures on good judgment www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
It’s good to see the GBR Curling team are doing well thanks to my insightful sofa-based coaching 😅
Guardian 31-1-26 - byline: Damian Carrington and Steven Morris
Thx Aaron. I feel a Parliamentary question coming on! “Does the discredited work of William Nordhaus and derivative work by economists, still inform the apparent lack of urgency in Government in addressing impacts of global warming that we see in the UK almost daily?” simonforstroud.bsky.social
Good question!
@katyrshields.bsky.social has a great four part essay about how deep the rot goes...
medium.com/@katyrshield...
How much of that originates from William Nordhaus’s optimistic modelling of the damage? The linearity in modelling beggars belief. If the Rhine dries up, industrial materials don’t move, factories stop even if the factory floor itself is air-conditioned. Oh but the Rhine is outside so no worries.
