George Packer

Grand opening, grand closing.

X quietly disabled a new feature that showed which country an account was posting from when it revealed that lots of popular right wing MAGA accounts were being run from foreign countries like India and Nigeria.

I was honored to speak at a conference “Intent to Destroy: Confronting Russia’s Campaign to Erase Ukraine & Its People” at Georgetown. The mere suggestion of amnesty for Russia's war crimes and genocidal actions against Ukrainians, contained in Trump's 28-point plan, is an unconscionable obscenity.

How’s that going?

It is way past time for the UK government & the BBC to get off X & for Musk to be treated as a threat to national security.

The world's richest man is using his site to promote civil war, ethnic violence & the overthrow of an elected government.

You won't win him over with another conference on AI

Speaker Johnson must stop blocking the results of a free and fair election. We’re demanding he do his job and swear in Adelita Grijalva immediately.

This seems accurate to me

That's the wrong leg

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

The Tax Payer's Alliance criticism of Civil Service salaries is a perfect indication of their narrow minded idiocy and why they should be completely ignored

On the other hand…

I stand by the assertion that this is thought management. "You aren't clever enough to see the negative aspects of this argument so we won't let you hear it"

Actually I was referring to the "deplatforming" of speakers at events in the UK. There were a series of these in the last few years. The speakers booked held views that the left disliked and they thought this meant it ok to threaten violence if they spoke.

Maybe a fair point

Well we don't get those widely reported over here so I'm unsure how accurate your point is.
But, it's not going to be effective to moan about them without acknowledging the overreach on the left.
If Vance said something similar I guess it goes to show even a stopped clock is right twice a day

The problem is this ignores the point that the traction the right got on this point was in some way a reaction to left wing free speech overreach (thought management). That still needs addressing. It's not ok just because the other side are worse

Ed Davey, "Elon Musk has applied to sell energy in this country"

"When someone is calling for the overthrow of a democratically elected government, we should take that seriously"

"I don't think Elon Musk is a fit and proper person for us to do business with"

Farage says his partner bought the house with family money. The BBC can’t find that family money:

“Her parents, Bertrand and Chantal, live in a flat worth around 350,000 euros (£302,000) in a Strasbourg suburb. They, and their two daughters, co-own the flat.”

Ah, Jeremy Clarkson's favourite council. They are astounding morons

Had to do some driving in France. The autoroutes are perfectly smooth, no potholes, no rough spots, no congestion and a 130kmph (80mph) speed limit, all for the bargain price of about 10 euro cents per km. Privatise the highways!

An increasingly dictatorial president is deploying the military and police against their enemies, and is using ‘emergency’ powers across the board.

This is a common phenomenon, the world over.

If you think it is somehow different because it is the US, then you have fallen for exceptionalism.

Where Is the Political Leadership Against This Violent Far-Right Movement Terrorising Britain? The silence of senior mainstream politicians and media organisations against the rise of a new well-organised far-right movement on Britain's streets is a disgrace, argues Adam Bienkov

This is an urgent and important question from @adambienkov.bsky.social

Again this summer, British citizens are being terrorised by the organised far right and the silence of mainstream media and our political leaders is astounding and dangerous

bylinetimes.com/2025/08/20/w...

Quick reminder: if the EU wants to deter Putin and have a seat at the table on Ukraine, there's no need for joint EU debt issuance or lots of military spending. Just shut down Putin's shadow fleet in the Baltic (gray). That doesn't cost anything and can be done today. All that's needed is courage...

Ok. Next step add a zero to my bank account and go when they've next got good snow.
Obvs tricky whilst still working
Hoping there's a chance of a snowstorm for you

Yep. Only for the mega rich some time in the next 20 years. Sorry for your situation. Astonishing there's no booze to take the edge off!

I'm sad to say that since leaving Twitter/X my sales for live shows have dropped quite a lot - it turns out that even though it's a dreadful place it was still useful for getting the word out about events. So any shares / RTs of my posts about live shows are hugely appreciated!

Revealed: How foreign billionaires pump millions into British politics The Elon Musk-shaped hole in Starmer’s Election Bill

🔴 NEW: Foreign billionaires are using UK companies to pour millions into British politics — legally.

We found £6m+ in political donations from UK firms owned by foreign nationals — people who can’t vote in Britain.

New on Democracy for Sale (🧵)

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-h...

Keir Starmer's Government Still Hasn't Reviewed Use of Musk's X Despite Platform 'Amplifying Hate Speech and Misinformation' Downing Street continues to refuse to explore communicating through alternative platforms, like Bluesky, despite the role of X in last summer's violent disorder

Keir Starmer's Government is still refusing to explore whether it should stop using X, or use alternative platforms like Bluesky, despite Musk's site amplifying unfiltered hate and misinformation, and despite its in-house AI bot referring to itself as "Mecha-Hitler"
bylinetimes.com/2025/07/31/k...

Oh my days.
How do they not learn to stop wasting our money on these meaningless "investigations"?

No one disputes that the Executive has a duty to follow the law. But the Judiciary does not have unbridled authority to enforce this obligation

This quote from the US Supreme Court’s judgment (via @davidallengreen.bsky.social ‘s excellent substack) is quite extraordinary.

Britain in 2025: sick man of Europe battling untreated illness crisis As poverty deepens across Britain, the Guardian visited some of the hardest-hit places where leaders are aiming to shift healthcare from hospitals to communities

Fascinating piece on (another) unseen health timebomb, which also helps explain a lot about both pressures on A&E and arguably on sickness benefits www.theguardian.com/society/2025...