Richard Orange

Zelenskyy speaks out after public spat with Trump, Vance, says dustup 'bad for both sides' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sits down for an exclusive interview on "Special Report" after his tense meeting with President Donald Trump.

Just extraordinary bravery from Zelensky to walk out of *that* and go straight onto Fox News and appeal directly to Trump supporters and, despite hostile interviewer, I think he aced it. www.foxnews.com/media/zelens...

No second state visit for Trump This is UNBELIEVABLE. Keir Starmer has just handed Donald Trump a letter from King Charles, inviting him for a second state visit to the UK. It’s totally unprecedented, and I was so outraged when I he...

Unbelievable. Donald Trump has been invited to a state visit to the UK. We should not be rolling out the red carpet to celebrate this man. Agree? Add your name to the petition today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no...

History will remember this day— when an American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for.

x.com/naomi2009

The Swedish sobriety secret: dry December – and off-licences shut on a Saturday night For decades, the authorities in Sweden have encouraged people to drink responsibly – and with a state alcohol monopoly, strict rules and growing abstinence, they seem to be succeeding

It really is secret! I've lived here 13 years and never in my life heard of Vit Jul!
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Glad Lucia! Malmös bäste Luciabulle på #brödochvänner

När kan man säga ”god helg”? Kort svar: Uttrycket ”god helg” är en hälsning som används främst i samband med högtider i december månad (jul och nyår).  Ordet ”helg” är en benämning på ”e…

Det äldsta belägget i SvD för frasen ”god helg” är februari 1886 då man under rubriken Julafton i Vatikanen skriver:

Man önskar hvarann en god helg, man träffas efter en längre frånvaro.

FACT CHECK: Did a Swedish company really tell staff not to say Merry Christmas? There was predictable outrage in Sweden after it was reported that the steel company SSAB had advised employees not to use the 'god jul' Christmas greeting to avoid excluding non-Christians. But did i...

My contribution to the genre of "pretend you're above everyone writing the clickbait news story while actually writing the clickbait news story".

No afterlife for me, but I suspect that if we properly understood time (and I don't) we might realise that what is past, including our finite lives, is never destroyed, never ceases to be.

Svenska storföretaget till sina anställda: Säg inte ”god jul” Undvik att säga ”god jul” till dina kolleger i jul. Det är det svenska storföretaget SSAB:s uppmaning till sina anställda i år. – Internationellt har det varit mestadels positiva reaktioner, men några...

Detta är enbart fånigt och onödigt, SSAB. Ni ger trollhögerns kulturkrigare onödigt vatten på sin kvarn. Självklart ska vi önska God jul/Merry Christmas. Tror ingen tar illa upp över det, tvärtom www.expressen.se/nyheter/sver...

Peter Carlsson om sitt största misstag: ”Väntade på att ketchupflaskan skulle släppa” | Affärsvärlden Grundaren Peter Carlsson lämnar som VD. Till Afv säger han att Northvolt har varit i ett ”production hell” som de nu är på väg ut ur. Han kommenterar nu miljonerna han tjänat, och uppger också att Skellefteå-fabrikens hastiga uppskalning var hans största misstag under tiden som VD. ”Den här gången satt vi lite för länge och väntade på att ketchupflaskan skulle släppa.”

I think Peter Carlsson has got off very lightly for this.

It seems so! Not sure what it's got to do with boosting the number of rejected asylum seekers who leave Sweden.

EXPLAINED: How Sweden wants to make it easier to find and deport paperless migrants Seizing phones of newly arrived asylum seekers, forcing six-year-olds to give fingerprints, making government agencies report paperless people: a new inquiry has proposed a string of measures to force...

Every foreigner who applies for a residency permit, whether for work or asylum, will have their fingerprints stored long-term in a database to which the Säpo secret police will have direct access (according to recommendations of this government inquiry). www.thelocal.se/20241129/exp...

That is probably it!

The number of rejected asylum seekers deported by force from Sweden has almost halved since Sweden's current government, which is supposed to be driving through "a paradigm shift" towards tighter migration policy came into force. Anyone know why? Would have thought it would go the other way.

True. This shift is very different though, even for non-norms. Google was just so much better than what went before everyone moved automatically and unthinkingly, same with Facebook. Shift to Bluesky has been an effort. Bluesky helped by making itself really good, but it's not a whole new thing.

These mean nothing to me. They look like PKXD for those over the age of 7.

The big shifts of the past happened almost unconsciously. I hardly noticed the shift to Google, the explosion of Facebook, or the emergence of Twitter or Instagram. They met needs we didn't know we had. What makes Bluesky different is that it's a self-conscious shift and it doesn't do anything new.

What drives me nuts on Facebook but others too is having stuff shovelled at me they algorithmically know I'll be compelled to watch leaving me with the indignity of spending half of my life watching footage of Jimmie Hendrix jamming with Buddy Guy or some such rubbish. Hope Bluesky never does that.

I'm still weeding them out mindless post by mindless post.

Sweden Democrats call for ban on new citizenships until tougher rules are in place The Sweden Democrats are calling for a complete moratorium on Swedish citizenship until the right-wing government it helps prop up has introduced new and tougher rules.

Sweden's far-right aren't contented with tightening citizenship rules, the want a moratorium on new citizenship awards while they get the laws in place.
www.thelocal.se/20241121/swe...

Think he's been getting a more appreciative send-off than he feared.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

I was pumping out features on development schemes for Dharavi as a young freelancer back in 2007 and it STILL hasn't happened. If anyone can do it, it would probably be Adani. I suspect it can't be done.

These Starter Packs are all very well but I foolishly pressed "Follow All" on what seems to be a list of 150 radical left US academics, and my God are they brain dead.

👋 A fast-growing list of The Local’s journalists & official newsroom accounts from nine European countries. Get all the latest must-know info, news & analysis for interested observers & clued-in foreigners in #Austria, #Denmark, #France, #Germany, #Italy, #Norway, #Spain, #Sweden & #Switzerland. ⬇️

It needs to be a non-profit foundation, I think, or maybe an intergovernmental organisation.

The Local now has a starter pack so you can follow the best European network of journalists out there. go.bsky.app/DKNKtm5

Someone needs to start a campaign to make Bluesky a non-profit.

I really hope they don't do this. That Sweden lets foreign citizens vote in local elections is one of the things I like best about how democracy works here.

bsky.app/profile/thel... The Local Denmark