Ian Fraser

The rise and fall of Twitter | The Observer The social network founded 20 years ago brought us community, the ‘Twitter revolution’ and #MeToo. But it is now defined by bots, algorithms and Elon Musk’s disastrous takeover

Twitter didn’t just contribute to the news cycle; it dictated it. News broke there, scandals unfolded there. Then Elon Musk killed it. @roisinlanigan.bsky.social

Oil Prices Tumble After Trump Says Iran War ‘Very Complete’ Oil futures, which surged as much as 31% Sunday night to more than $100 a barrel, have tumbled back down, a stunning reversal that gained momentum after President Trump told CBS that the war he launch...

Oil prices tumble back down towards $85 a barrel after Trump says the Iran War is “very complete”.

Glasgow's Union Corner building in 1983 - source Glasgow Herald. The building was famous for its Bell's Scotch whisky and Barr's Irn Bru illuminated signs. The building originally publishers and stationers Francis Orr & Sons was destroyed by fire on 8-9 March 2026.

racist image on the Barr's Irn-Bru ad? Two years later, Barr's had changed it to this.

Glasgow's Union Corner in 1981 with Renault Fuego in foreground.

The building destroyed by fire in Glasgow is Union Corner. Designed by architect James Brown, it was built in 1851 for stationers Francis Orr & Sons. For years there was a Barr’s Irn Bru illuminated ad over the roofline and a neon Bell’s Scotch whisky sign on the dome. This view was taken in 1981.

Major fire collapses building in Glasgow's Union Street as crews tackle blaze A huge fire broke out in Forsyth House on Union Street in Glasgow city centre this afternoon.

Huge fire in Glasgow's Union Street causes building to collapse and indefinitely closes Central Station, Scotland's busiest railway station.

This is *nothing* dignified about wearing a cheap baseball cap that promotes yourself to the otherwise solemn ceremony to receive the bodies of the troops you had killed to distract from your bad economy and rampant pedophilia.

The invisible man whose millions are transforming British... Nigel Farage aims to win big in May’s elections, helped by a record-breaking £12m donation from a secretive billionaire. Christopher Harborne lives in Thailand, made a fortune in cryptocurrency and ba...

Coincidence or what? Around the time Thai resident Christopher Harborne, aka ‘Chakrit Sakunkrit’, made his first £9 million donation to Reform UK, Nigel Farage started repositioning the party as the most crypto-friendly British party. Harborne’s 12% stake in Tether is worth around $65 billion.

Oil market prepares for $100 a barrel as Middle East producers cut output Further attacks on energy infrastructure over weekend also pose new threat

Energy markets brace for $100-a-barrel oil as Middle East producers cut output. Goldman Sachs warns that crude and refined products such as petroleum and diesel could hit all-time highs “if Strait of Hormuz flows remain depressed throughout March”.

depressing

‘A very dangerous person’: alarm as Pete Hegseth revels in carnage of Iran war Critics say brash, bombastic Fox News host out of his depth to guide US military through murky new Middle East conflict

“This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it isn’t a fair fight. We’re punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be,” says secretary of war Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth has “Deus Vult” tattooed on his arm, words associated with white supremacists who romanticize the Crusades

YouTube video by Democracy Now! Spanish Police Injure 800 in Crackdown on Catalonia Independence Referendum as Crisis Escalates

Not sure about the “always” there. I find it hard to forget Madrid’s response to the Catalan independence movement in 2017. Then there are things like General Franco’s regime, the Spanish Inquisition and the conquest and colonisation of Latin America.

Meanwhile, Spain's massive investment in renewables is paying dividends now: with prices for Spanish industry and consumers low and stable compared with other European economies.

www.ft.com/content/ac77...

Gift link here.

There’s actually three Selwyn Gummer brothers: John, Peter, and Mark.

House of Lords standards commissioner finds Peter Selwyn Gummer, aka Lord Chadlington, committed three breaches of a Lords rule banning peers from providing “parliamentary services in return for payment or other incentive or reward”.

Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi | The dry and the wet burn together The war launched against Iran by the United States and Israel is a war of choice and of hubris. There is scarcely even...

“The certainties of the US’s stewardship of the ‘international rules-based order’ have been deformed beyond recognition by the Gaza genocide but no alternative architecture has taken their place. Instead, there’s a politics of gangster imperialism that has neither international nor domestic consent”

The Scottish avalanche forecasters – photo essay Photographer Murdo MacLeod patrols the snow with members of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, which has for several decades published a vital daily avalanche forecast for mountain areas

Photographer Murdo MacLeod patrols Scotland's hills with members of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, which has since 1988 published daily forecasts of the avalanche risk in six mountain areas.

h/t @severincarrell.bsky.social @theguardian.com

There has been some coverage, with ten articles published on the Minab atrocity in the last couple of hours.

The Most Chilling Detail in the U.S. Attack on an Iranian Naval Ship The Iranian warship was taking part in an international exercise with many other countries—including the United States.

A chilling crime by Pete Hegseth and the US Navy. Iranian warship IRIS Dena was unarmed and taking part in an int’l exercise with countries including the United States when she was sunk off Sri Lanka by a torpedo fired by a US nuclear submarine, killing at least 87 Iranian sailors.

Axel Springer to buy Telegraph for £575m, elbowing aside Daily Mail owner German owner of Bild and Die Welt is understood to have agreed all-cash deal for one of UK’s oldest newspapers

Bild and Die Welt owner Axel Springer buys the Daily and Sunday Telegraph for £575 million after trumping a £500 million offer from the Daily Mail and General Trust.

This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet? | Aditya Chakrabortty The news that healthy life expectancy is in decline in Britain exposes a serious truth about the state we’re in, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

News that healthy life expectancy is in decline in Britain exposes serious truths about the state we’re in.

By @theguardian.com columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

General Sir Richard Shirreff says Starmer’s right to stay largely out of America and Israel’s war on Iran. “We shouldn’t in any shape or form be involved with the Americans closely because they‘re being led by a couple of gung-ho nutters [into] a war of hubris without any clear idea of how it ends”

I appreciate that.

Gaby alludes to this in her piece saying:“Many rungs down the financial ladder came an army of temporary workers to clean their pools and nanny for their kids and teach them pilates, many of whom have families back home now worried sick.” She ignores plight of migrant construction workers etc though

Influencers sold the world a fantasy Dubai – and now it’s gone in a puff of missile smoke | Gaby Hinsliff The city was portrayed as an aspirational place to live, but now those who moved there are realising the precarity that comes with being an economic migrant, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

“The deal Dubai offered economic migrants was a kind of real life Truman Show: a sunny, shiny, sterilised, low-crime haven for anyone itching to get rich, or stay that way, sustained by stiff penalties for anyone publicly shattering its illusions.” @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social

Dubai influencers share near-identical videos with footage of Dubai crown prince | LBC Videos featuring the caption ‘I know who protects us’ have been circulating on social media

As Iranian missiles streak across the UAE skies, “influencers” paid for by the regime have been posting near identical messages—they feel totally safe and have absolute confidence in Dubai’s future.

Also: any influencer who criticises Dubai's government risks large fines, jail or visa revocation

Joani Reid resigns Labour whip following husband's arrest on spying charges Joani Reid has resigned the Labour whip after her husband was arrested and later bailed on suspicion of spying for China

Joani Reid resigns the Labour whip after her husband David Taylor is arrested and bailed on suspicion of spying for China.

“Following discussions with the chief whip, I am voluntarily suspending myself from the whip,” said Reid, who will now sit as ndependent MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven.

I guess it has something to do with BBC policy and the fact Ros has 353,000 followers on X vs. 14.600 on Bluesky.

Yes, that is disappointing, especially when you consider that @rosatkins.bsky.social continues to post on Elon Musk's X!

YouTube video by BBC News How Trump's narrative on the US-Israel war with Iran has changed | BBC News

Why did Donald Trump go to war with Iran? The BBC's @rosatkins.bsky.social exposes the ever-changing tapestry of reasons given by Trump, defence secretary Pete Hegseth and secretary of state Marco Rubio.