FionaMullenCY

As seen in the Wild in Heffer’s, Cambridge!

Oxford World Classics are the best. The notes are easy to use; somehow the binding and the paper means the books fall open in your hand easily; and they disintegrate/discolour less quickly.

I love that my kids made me into a smash bros character.
I love the mad briefcase.
And I love the #volt coloured tie!

Something’s a-cooking on the Cyprus problem We may need a civic assembly sooner than you think

Something's a-cooking on the Cyprus problem. If things are going to be imposed, we really need to embed citizens: to give the process legitimacy but also to keep the prospects of reunification alive. open.substack.com/pub/sapienta...

brave choice for an email subject title

h/r @cmcalgary.bsky.social

and then we wonder how creep culture (alongside the political economy of it) keeps on reproducing itself

In a pretty stunning move, President Erdoğan has tonight appointed Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Akın Gürlek – the man who led many of the judicial cases against the opposition’s jailed presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu – as his new justice minister.

Cyprus Green Line trade and the VAT anomaly Is there a way out?

Cyprus Green Line trade and the VAT anomaly. Is there a way out? Latest from our Director, @FionaMullenCY open.substack.com/pub/sapienta...

Borissov backpedals, tells EPP Bulgaria will not ratify Trump’s Board of Peace charter Bulgarian GERB leader Boyko Borissov has told the European People’s Party (EPP) that the country ...

Borissov backpedals, tells EPP Bulgaria will not ratify Trump’s Board of Peace charter #EuropeanUnion

https://eualive.net/borissov-backpedals-tells-epp-bulgaria-will-not-ratify-trumps-board-of-peace-charter/

It’s like a much higher stakes (and higher body count) version of the dying days of the Boris ministry. “It’s probably wise to assume that this particular incident isn’t what does him in, but the unraveling is coming”

History of the past 10 years in a nutshell

Pinned lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Aug 19, 2021 Almost three years ago, my editor called me early one November morning. A wildfire had sparked near a town called Paradise, he said. Could I go? (1/13) 0:02 / 0:10 lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · 47m I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated. Quote lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Jan 25 Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp.

A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world

Do we think that a) Epstein is the only person Mandy was doing favours for? and b) Mandy is the only one doing favours for people?

Do we?

exactly. this is not difficult.

as.ft.com/r/58ed1b23-d...

So if ur in any way involved in trying to make yr country/community a better place (eg I am involved in efforts to solve the cyprob) you just can’t _not_ be on X + FB coz that’s where le peuple is. SOME of it is moving to LinkedIn, which is a lot of ai slop but at least not as nasty, but small %.

IMHO something difficult for big-country BSKYers to grasp is that, back on the evil tech-bro sites (yes they are evil), there are wee communities in wee countries being perfectly nice to each other 95% of the time + that is where they all flock when someone well loved dies. So long, Costa 🖤🖤🖤

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Costas Gavrielides, a tireless advocate for human rights and equality in Cyprus, and a former Board Member and Treasurer of ILGA-Europe. Costas devoted his life to advancing inclusion, justice and equality for LGBTI people.

Cyprus energy analysis, Jan 2026 Unrivalled, independent

Cyprus energy analysis. Things are suddenly moving on offshore natural gas, plus more on addressing rickety electricity infrastructure ahead of big tech coming, LNG imports and more. Sign up for unrivalled premium analysis. cyprusenergy.substack.com/p/cyprus-ene...

Google to pay $68 million over allegations its voice assistant eavesdropped on users Class-action lawsuit alleged that Google's voice assistant illegally recorded and shared private conversations with advertisers.

Do you remember when people were saying "I think my phone is listening to me, i'm getting ads for stuff I spoke about" and people said "They arent listening to you, they're just this good at predicting your interests"?

Well, it happens they were doing exactly that.
www.cbsnews.com/news/google-...

*cough*

After a period in hibernation (aka a book sabbatical), I'm delighted to be joining @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social full-time. Few think-tanks are better placed than CER to lead the debate on Europe’s future. I’ll be writing on trade policy, economic security, & UK-EU relations (plus the odd detour!).

ceos are so fucking delusional. People cannot be more clear: we fucking hate AI being shoved in every product. And yet they still think if they push hard enough it's going to magically turn into money for them.

“Hi Tony, project management office here. Just wondering if we could schedule a catch-up re progress on this one. Showing as overdue on our tracking systems.”

Hands up if you are old enough to know what the thing between the lettuce and the photo is alluding to. 🤚🏼

Breaking news: France has adopted a deficit-cutting budget for 2026, handing a victory to the minority centre right government of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. ft.trib.al/XO0iIuc

Disney said there would only be modest growth in its experiences business in the current quarter, as the US saw a 6% drop in foreign visitors last year. ft.trib.al/MTX48sA

From the non-stop Epstein tap on Xitter one can assume that Musk didn’t like Epstein. There’s an email where he replies to an invite saying I want to party hard not go to a quiet island. Maybe that was the start of it?

I know a colleague who circa 2001 was convinced by a friend to meet Epstein to get funding. After dinner at his house he said E was the most vile and awful person he ever met and wanted nothing to do with him. It's absolutely possible to say no to money from reprehensible sources

The comment is one of Xi Jinping's clearest remarks on his ambitions for China’s currency as Beijing seeks to play a greater role in the international monetary system: ft.trib.al/HGgdPcs

I’ve been thinking more about this nonsense and what it means. I don’t think it’s a flex — a performative expression of power and intimidation — like the advertisements for ICE positions. Too obscure and lacking in flair. Instead I think it likely reflects real internal problems.
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