Joe Hodson

Grand UCL buildings lit up with bonfire-like yellow lighting on a foggy evening, juxtaposed with modern hospital tower with windows lit blue looming behind.

These UCL campus and hospital buildings had something of a Minas Morgul vibe in the fog as I was on my way home from Kairos last night.

London is such a feast for the eyes!

It occurs to me that if the government did force UK writers to hand over their work to the big AI companies, that would now among other things mean contributing to the development of US advanced weapon systems.

This is the way.

And I hope more EU leaders follow suit. It would be particuarly good for Merz to have a call with Sanchez today and affirm full German solidarity with Spain.

Announce

Actual generous people accept a certain level of risk that their generosity will be exploited (not saying that's the case here).

They consider the risk of not helping someone who actually needs it to be greater.

The Home Secretary's approach is irresponsible.

As glaciers retreat from the Arctic to the Andes, Reykjavík is stepping up!

The world’s northernmost capital has endorsed the call for a #FossilFuelTreaty, joining nearly 150 cities worldwide and adding momentum to a proposal already backed by 18 countries.

The comparison of women to sheep is a bit "yikes" though.

But it's pretty badass nonetheless.

I suppose what makes the Nathan story unbelievable is that a politician immediately admits the error of their ways upon confrontation - in real life they'd surely have massive cognitive dissonance, dig their heels in and either deflect or pretend to ignore.

Ukraine Launches Landmark Legal Action to Hold Russia Accountable for ‘Ecocide’ With environmental damages now estimated at £108 billion, Ukraine is hoping to pioneer the global prosecution of ecocide as a weapon of war

🔴Ukraine Launches Landmark Legal Action to Hold Russia Accountable for ‘Ecocide’

With environmental damages now estimated at £108 billion, Ukraine is hoping to pioneer the global prosecution of ecocide as a weapon of war

bylinetimes.com/2026/03/03/u...

Dear Prime Minister, In recent days we have seen a deeply concerning escalation in conflict in the Middle East following a series of illegal and dangerously irresponsible airstrikes on Iran by the United States and Israel. You have now confirmed that UK bases will be used by the US for their operations in the area. This is a significant concession to President Donald Trump and one which risks drawing the UK into a dangerous conflict. During your campaign to be elected leader of the Labour Party, you spoke compellingly about learning the lessons of the Iraq war. In particular, you set out legislation you would pass as Prime Minister, ensuring that military action is only taken if: • The lawful case for it is made • There is a viable objective • Consent is given by the House of Commons. We agree that such legislation is needed to prevent the UK from being dragged into destructive, illegal and dangerous wars abroad, and so we have today tabled the Armed Conflict (Requirements) Bill. The Bill requires that 1. Before armed forces may be deployed for armed conflict, a Minister of the Crown must publish a statement setting out the reasons for the deployment, an assessment of its compliance with international law, the objective of the deployment and an assessment of the viability of that objective, and 2. Any such deployment must be approved in advance by a resolution of the House of Commons

I invite your support to pass this bill. In an increasingly unstable world, it is more important than ever that decisions about the UK’s involvement in military action abroad are taken carefully, soberly, and with the best interests of the British people at heart. We believe this piece of legislation would ensure that. Yours sincerely, Dr Ellie Chowns MP

Today I tabled a bill which would require any UK military intervention to have a lawful basis, viable objective, and approval by MPs - legislation the PM once said he himself would pass when he was running for Labour leader.

He supported it then, and he should support it now.

Recall it wasn't Nicaea where the canon was decided on - and of course there have been multiple canon decisions with various schisms of the church.

There have been folks convinced that it’s Finally the End Times every generation for 2000 years. It never is, because Revelation is first century revenge porn about the Roman Empire, intended for a first century audience. That’s all it is. It’s not about now. It’s not about the future.

Numerous studies link fracking with water contamination - from arsenic in groundwater to cancer-causing benzene in waterways. A review of peer-reviewed research by doctors in the US raises huge concerns about the damage fracking does to water security. (From p86):

psr.org/wp-content/u...

I wonder if we'll suddenly see Labour getting around to looking at proportional representation now.

@sophieduroy.bsky.social and I have a new piece out in @verfassungsblog.de reflecting on the moribund state of the international norm against assassination. Decades of routisination and legitimation have made assassination an available tool of foreign policy, even against heads of state.

Nathan's parable of the sheep comes to mind...

Man of people talks down to voters

Yeah I got that, was elaborating on the point you were making.

Civilians should simply not be bombed (anywhere).

It bothers me how little firmness of principle we must have if we are a) so easily tempted to condition this right on some level of virtue, and b) so lazily assuming the capital heinousness of swathes of people on the basis of their location.

No, Shabana Mahmood, people seeing failing state support and crumbing infrastructure don't have either legitimate concerns or a legitimate grievance against immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers.

They have a legitimate grievance against governments.

Ditto for the inability of UK Labour to ever feel like they have compromised enough with racism and stop pressuring themselves to be crueller:

bsky.app/profile/dani...

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez: “Today more than ever, it is essential to remember that one can be against a hateful regime as is the case with the Iranian regime…and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law.”

Tu quoque should never be a basis for letting war crimes off the hook, but the spinelessness here is of course galling.

Stop the Tories and Reform Stop Reform and the Tories in the UK Parliament, Local Elections, the Senedd, and the Scottish Parliament.

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Very much the reaction of a man whose confidence in his ability to win voters over on his merits has just taken a nice big dent.

This is an illegal, unprovoked and brutal attack that shows once again that the USA and Israel are rogue states.

The UK must end our cosy relationship with the USA and our ongoing support for Israel.

“Rules based order” is like “net zero”. It’s terminology engineered to obfuscate and undermine the ostensible policy intent. Train yourselves to say “international law” and “zero fossil carbon burning” instead. Always remember the language is the first castle.

Someone remind them: their "End Times" were supposed to happen within the generation in which they were predicted!

Or look at Trump and his enablers. They are just endlessly insatiable. No matter what they do to people, it never "gets it out of their system".