Oliver Lough

this is a pet peeve of mine. "war crime" is not something that means "bad thing I think is wrong". it is not a war crime to murder thousands of retreating enemy soldiers. it is a war crime to paint a Red Cross on a truck. if you think something is morally wrong just fucking say that.

What they're essentially saying is, given that elements of the social safety net are (rightly!) baked into how normal people move through life in the UK in a way that's pretty hard to avoid, "you must never integrate"

It's a very, very large number of people who've just been told to "go home" by HM's opposition. Add their friends, relatives and supporters and you have an enormous chunk of the voting population. Without those people's votes, the Labour Party is finished. It needs to be made to understand that.

No. This is somewhere to be. This is all you have, but it's still something. Streets and sodium lights. The sky, the world. You're still alive.

Love the contrast between the complex, elegant long cons of Lupin with "masks, chainsaws and the back entrance, job's a good 'un"

This is such an important point and a clear way to frame it. Also in humanitarian action, neutrality is a professional, not a personal expectation

Holy shit he's not lying.

This judgement is WILD. And it's not even the full ruling yet!

this tipped me off to londoncentric.media and, boy, their stuff is really good even if you don't particularly care for London. Why? Because it's laser-focused on *the money* - who is getting paid and how for various aspects, especially the shady ones, of urban life.

Eagerly anticipating the first deployment of the "Nobody's Perfect" defence

❓ Why are women-led organisations still being routinely overlooked within the humanitarian system? And what can (and should) we do about it? Our latest paper from researchers @megandaigle.bsky.social, @this-is-cate.bsky.social & Manny Maung explores → buff.ly/ILQa6DQ

Nah, been back with REACH in Kyiv since the start of last year. Hope all's well with you.

a) great paper, always liked this one; b) ANOTHER rebrand?

Is this still connected to the Freud's in Covent Garden and if so is he potentially just a minor scion of the Duchy of Bedfordshire?

I want to see the Hainish Cycle get the Star Trek episodic treatment

I just got indefinite leave to remain 2 years ago, so I'm reading this like, I don't even know what the fuck this means. We pay taxes, we pay TWICE for the NHS, we pay an exorbitant fee for visas to reach ILR, our income is constantly scrutinised. How the fuck more are people supposed to contribute?

Yeah the Assad apologism combined with the sneering superiority was super endearing

The Intellectual Yet Idiot (Chapter in Skin in the game )

Yeah the "I'm smarter than everyone else and here's an entire book about why" guy medium.com/incerto/the-...

This is just reheated "skin in the game" era Talib shit, isn't it?

CLR James' Black Jacobins, in that I used to be interested in normal things like sports, and now I corner unsuspecting strangers at parties in order to explain how batshit insane a story the Haitian revolution is.

The one thing that gives me hope (about humanity in general, really) is the violently negative reactions past iterations of these things have provoked. Wasn't "being punched in the face by a complete stranger" an occupational hazard of wearing them?

London Library is my mental model for the library at the Unseen University: dark stacks with grilled floors extending up and down into dimensions unknown. Surprised they don't have an Orang-Utan ape-ing the front desk

this place looks like a hangover feels.

It's that time of year again, annual elections for election to Council of the National Trust. Lots of candidates to choose from.

Read carefully and vote wisely if you don't want the direction of travel to be backward.

The Universal is a weird superposition of being both subject and object of saccharine uplifting TV commercial songs, if that makes sense. I think it's genius.

He Thought of Cars is a wonderfully bleak, woozy song where the darker shades of this album come to the surface. There's some really good stuff on here even while the "ooh la la" reaches its absolute nadir.

Hated that it made me like Alcibiades though. Sucker for an amoral wag, I guess.

The Conservative MP for Huntingdon is vocal against racism.

I continue to anticipate a member of the Labour government will challenge overt racism sometime soon after a month of inexplicable silence

For friends in Beijing who are interested in the music scene, beginning today we are starting a new weekly series at My Dramamine, featuring many of the best composers and experimental musicians in Beijing and China. The series kicks off with performances by Zhang Shouwang and Wang Xu.

Also yes, although could never decide whether they were fun and interesting, or absolutely insufferable, or both. See also: Lonely China Day, Hang on the Box.

Humanitarian evacuations: practice, guidance, research gaps and lessons This briefing note explores recent practice on humanitarian evacuations and learnings from such practice, and examines current guidance and gaps in evidence. It is based on a light-touch review of…

📣 OUT NOW: Our new briefing explores the practice of humanitarian evacuation in conflict settings, which is often seen as a last resort due to ethical dilemmas and risks involved. HPG researcher @verobarbelet.bsky.social unpacks in detail, with examples from Ukraine and Syria ⤵️