Wester van Gaal

“a democracy dogged by fear of bond market vigilantes is unhealthy.”

“independence is what you make of it. And in the wake of the gilt market crisis of September 2022, relations between the Bank of England and the UK government need a reset.”
on.ft.com/3IRMPke

"Europeans, let's wake up!" — Defend Democracy “We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.” President Macron on the occasion of German Unity Day, 3 October 2025.

1/Striking speech by Macron: The future of European democracy depends on taking back its digital information space. A remarkable turn from Silicon Valley as source of enlightenment to being a purveyor of slop. And the stakes aren't just ad revenue but the nation.
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

"Europeans, let's wake up!" — Defend Democracy “We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.” President Macron on the occasion of German Unity Day, 3 October 2025.

7/End result: Macron calls for a new enlightenment -- the end of dependence on US social media. Not because of economic argument (level playing fields) but because dependence threatens national security. Hate to say I told you so but @himself.bsky.social and I did.
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

Dr. Agarwal is among more than 20 researchers who have left their work at Meta, OpenAI, Google DeepMind and other big A.I. projects in recent weeks to join a new Silicon Valley start-up, Periodic Labs. Many of them have given up tens of millions of dollars — if not hundreds of millions — to make the move. As the A.I. labs chase amorphous goals like superintelligence and a similar concept called artificial general intelligence, Periodic is focused on building A.I technology that can accelerate new scientific discoveries in areas like physics and chemistry. “The main objective of A.I. is not to automate white-collar work,” said Liam Fedus, one of the start-up’s founders. “The main objective is to accelerate science.” Mr. Fedus was among the small team of OpenAI researchers who created the online chatbot ChatGPT in 2022. He left OpenAI in March to found Periodic Labs with Ekin Dogus Cubuk, who previously worked at Google DeepMind, the tech giant’s primary A.I. lab.

1) This is some pretty remarkable shade thrown at the big AI companies by a startup that's hiring away their researchers

2) That those researchers are giving up millions to do this indicates a rising level of discomfort with OpenAI/Meta/Google/etc's moral standing

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/t...

Brussels seeks to convert Europe’s savers into investors Commission wants countries to offer tax incentives to EU households who put their cash into stocks

Kind of crazy the EU Commission actually beliefs such nonsense!

Creating tax incentives to push bank deposits into equities actually *reduces* the capital available to the economy as it shifts money from bank balance sheets (ie corporate lending) to pure speculation.

Oh man, wat is dit gênant.

Hulde voor dit commentaar en dit gebaar, broodnodig in deze duistere tijden.

Ze wil dus één front vormen tegen extremisme, samen met GL-PvdA, die ze herhaaldelijk heeft uitgemaakt voor extremisten? Ok.

AIVD over rechtsextremisten bij rellen: politiek moet in spiegel kijken Politie en veiligheidsdiensten maken zich grote zorgen over de groeperingen die achter het geweld bij de anti-asieldemonstratie zaten.

Pijnlijk hoor, zelfs de AIVD corrigeert de VVD nog even, er niet omheen draaien...
AIVD over rechtsextremisten bij rellen: politiek moet in spiegel kijken - nos.nl/l/2583908

China's new 2035 climate target at UN deemed 'very bad' Global leaders unveiled updated climate plans at the United Nations, with China’s president Xi Jinping pledging to cut net emissions by 10 percent from peak levels by 2035 — a undefined target critics have slammed as "very bad".

Global leaders unveiled updated climate plans at the United Nations, with China’s president Xi Jinping pledging to cut net emissions by 10 percent from peak levels by 2035 — a undefined target critics have slammed as "very bad".

Paying Nature’s price “What does it mean”, asks Thea Riofrancos in Extraction, “to defend people and the planet from extraction – when others frame this same extraction as

'Perverse as it may sound, the climate crisis has been a godsend for the mining industry. Long under fire for its ecological and social misdemeanours, it is now able to position itself as humanity’s saviour.'

VINDT

'Minister sloeg advies NCTV over rellen in de wind' Het kabinet had achteraf meteen moeten benoemen dat er mensen met rechts-extremistische motieven rondliepen, zei de NCTV.

Bij klimaatzaken vind de vvd dat de rechter niet op de stoel van de politiek moet gaan zitten.

benoemen dat met NSB-vlaggen zwaaiende racisten ‘extreemrechts‘ zijn laten ze graag aan de rechter over.

haha yeah I noticed that as well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Great piece, thanks. And you're right. ASML come to mind. It just feels Chinese manufacturing is on a different level. What also comes across in the piece is that some European systems don’t work like they used to + EU incumbents seem to spend an awful lot of time resisting change/newcomers

Daniel Totabo fishes for eel in the Halmahera rainforest

Nickel mines enroach on the rainforest in central Halmahera

New from @the-breakdown.bsky.social ISSUE 2

Photojournalist Garry Lotulung documents the exlosion of nickel mining, largely for batteries, in Halmahera, Indonesia—speaking with workers, locals & members of the island's Indigenous community

Photographed: Daniel Totabo

China Road Trip Exposes List of Uninvestable Assets in the West Venture capitalists in clean tech are starting to say out loud what they’ve suspected for a while: China’s dominance has left key sectors in the West uninvestable.

I liked Dan’s focus on 'process knowledge' to explain China’s scaling success. I feel EU plans miss this a bit. Draghi too is more focused on outcomes (EU champions) than on workforce and building skilled ecosystems in sectors we lack. (Or whatever it was that made these poor VCs brains explode).

Nergens in Den Haag was antifa te bekennen, wat een werkschuw tuig is het toch

In de nasleep van de moord op de Amerikaanse rechtsextremist Charlie Kirk, Trumps eigen Horst Wessel, bestempelt het Nederlandse parlement antifascisme nu als terrorisme. En daarmee fascisme dus als normaal: een naoorlogs dieptepunt. www.volkskrant.nl/columns-van-...

Prinsenvlag, VOC-logo's, nationalistische leuzen, hysterische opruiing, journalisten en politiemannen aangevallen, ruiten partijkantoor D66 ingegooid.
VVD-er Heinen: 'Laten we niet alles politiek maken.'
De VVD is een verachtelijke partij.

I interviewed Mathias Larsen on key takeaways of our Hopkins report @phenomenalworld.bsky.social

Why is this BRI 2.0 private-sector led? Does Beijing know the scale? What are motivations of firms going out? What are host countries agency & developmentalist plans
phenomenalworld.org/interviews/t...

Precies de verkeerde persoon, ja.

PVV-hooligans vallen letterlijk hoofdkantoor D66 aan, maar van deze onnozele boekhouder moet je dat niet politiek maken.

Rechtstreeks uit het January 6-playbook. Goed dat de NOS het checkt bij de politie maar het komt erg naïef over om op zo'n overduidelijke poging tot 'deflect and attack' überhaupt in te gaan. Want ondertussen is het, zoals Michel al zegt, wel even genoemd.

Geen verder commentaar. Ik kan ook alleen nog maar schelden als ik dit zie.

Lezersmars in Utrecht trekt meer dan duizend deelnemers Meer dan duizend mensen liepen vandaag mee met de Lezersmars door de Utrechtse binnenstad, volgens de organisatie International Literature Festival Utrecht (ILFU). Boeken werden omhooggehouden om aand...

ondertussen bij extreem-links... www.rtvutrecht.nl/nieuws/39444...

Anti-immigratie-demonstratie Den Haag escaleert, confrontatie met politie De actievoerders steken vuurwerk af en zwaaien met Nederlandse vlaggen maar ook met prinsenvlaggen.

Anti-immigration demonstration in the Netherlands escalates. This is exactly what happens when far-right ideas are tolerated and normalised over an extended period of time. The far right gains confidence and grows, both at the ballot box and in the streets.
nos.nl/artikel/2583...

Oh how they all admire Trump; the gaudy bling and his fascist troupe. Its always the most bland; the least charismatic, who fall for this shit.

A taxpayers’ group with close ties to the EPP teamed up with Austria’s far-right in a legal attack on green NGO ("the climate taliban") funding: “We are intellectual brothers…"

Good work by @desmog.com digging this up even though its painfully predictable.
www.desmog.com/2025/09/11/e...

Revealed: EPP-Linked Tax Group ‘Collaborated’ With Far-Right Party on Criminal Complaints A taxpayers group with close ties to the European People’s Party (EPP) coordinated with Austria’s far-right in the latest escalation of the NGO funding debate, DeSmog can reveal. The Taxpayers Associa...

A taxpayers’ group with close ties to the EPP teamed up with Austria’s far-right in a legal attack on green NGO ("the climate taliban") funding: “We are intellectual brothers…"

Good work by @desmog.com digging this up even though its painfully predictable.
www.desmog.com/2025/09/11/e...