Nico Macdonald

To those going on or supporting the #March4Palestine in London today:

“End the Genocide” they shout, again, and again, and again.

Yet they never define “genocide”, let alone explain how a genocide has taken place, or is taking place…

Read on @X:
x.com/Nico_Macdona...

Two minutes’ silence for the sailors, soldiers and airmen who fought for Victory in Europe, at our local war memorial in Margate.

Also for those who were injured or died in air-raids, and munitions factory disasters.

And those who helped the Dunkirk evacuation.

#VEDay80 #VEDay

Correction: when the _batterers_

But way past time to stop battering people with The Science – not least when the batters can't even cite a key paper – in order to intimidate them into not discussing politics, class and power.

On the Nova Music Festival #HamasMassacre you’ve never shown solidarity with the kind of young people you laud for “seeing through the lies” who were raped, butchered, murdered and taken hostage by terrorists about who you seem equivocal.

Say a word for those young people when you play Glastonbury?

Yes, you are the story.

It is only Israel you accuse in the NME of creating “genocide happening in real time”.

With 50K casualties in 18 months, many of who were Hamas fighters, not civilians.

You think only Jews are bad enough to commit genocide. You are Israelophobic, and you are antisemitic.

Heavenly Recordings (@heavenlyrecordings.bsky.social) Independent record label est.1990. Believe In Magic. Follow us on Bandcamp for up to the minute news of new releases, restocks and limited editions. 👉 https://heavenlyrecordings.bandcamp.com/. 📧 S...

Note that @heavenlyrecordings.bsky.social owns @thesociallondon.bsky.social venue in central London, which I’ve been to many times.

Not sure I want to go back when it is run by fellow travellers of pro-Hamas champions of violence against our elected representatives.

“It is the duty of key leadership figures in the music industry to actively defend artistic freedom of expression” claim musos and artists who consider death threats to be ‘political views’, but never ‘actively defended’ one of theirs whose actual political views offend them.

‘We know most of you are patriots. You want what’s best for your economy’ write Kate Martin @financialtimes.com on how Americans can learn from Brexit about #TrumpTariffs ‘humiliation’.

Except many Rejoiners actively wanted their economy punished for Brexit, and blamed all ills on Leave voters.

Advice to shell-shocked Americans from Brexit Britain Britons are skilled at navigating the humiliation unleashed by political and market chaos — allow us to give you some tips

The @FT can’t get over Brexit (on.ft.com/4jfFpUS)

On #TrumpTariffs, Kate Martin’s ‘advice to shell-shocked Americans from Britons skilled at navigating humiliation’ makes clear the humiliation was the polis doing two fingers to right-thinking middle-class London journos.

Kara:.You are an esteemed journalist. I don’t think calling members of your government’s executive “morons” is beneath you.

Follow #BennettInstitute for Public Policy (@bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk) Annual Conference @churchillcol.bsky.social Cambridge, with sessions on Wicked Problems; Investment imperative; Rethinking work; Political disenchantment; and Misinformation. Keynote lecture by (@profsanderlinden.bsky.social)

The Silence of the Girls (Women of Troy, #1) The ancient city of Troy has withstood a decade under s…

… and in The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (www.goodreads.com/book/show/37...) (based on ‘The Iliad’) – so much so that it has become almost a genre.

James A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Fi…

Aldmernan notes Rhys’ approach of changing perspective to a minor character (Mrs Rochester in ‘Jane Eyre’) was followed in James by Percival Everett (www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...) (based on ‘Huckleberry Finn’), in Julia by Sandra Newman (www.goodreads.com/book/show/86...) (based on ‘1984’)…

Human Intelligence - Travellers: Jean Rhys - BBC Sounds A novelist whose sequel to Jane Eyre turned storytelling on its head

Interesting episode of @Naom Alderman’s (@naomialderman.bsky.social) Human Intelligence show @BBCRadio4 on Travellers: Jean Rhys (www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...), hung on her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (www.goodreads.com/book/show/25...

@mariannaspringbbc.bsky.social What’s the #BBCVerify analysis of the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...)?

Verify’s analysis isn’t noted in the 27 February @BBCMediaCentre press release on the documentary (www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...) bsky.app/profile/laur...

Between you and our local councils, you are close to making London unusable for working-class people.

It will end up being populated by middle-class #WFH types, tourists and the homeless. And delivery drivers desperately trying skirt #LTNs to get to the former.

Well done. You are a true zealot.

It’s much worse. David Collier exposed the compromised documentary by showing a number of interviees had Hamas connections, or were supporters, the co-producer was a Palestinian activist; and one of the cameramen the BBC hired in Gaza had saluted Oct 7th.

Hamas effectively approved this doco.

Nico Macdonald on X: "‘I suspect it was a very uncomfortable decision for them to take but most of us who use Twitter and social platforms did recognise that the way [DJT] conducted himself wasn’t consistent with decent conversation and did err on the side of being dangerous‘ – Bruce Daisley #r4today" / X ‘I suspect it was a very uncomfortable decision for them to take but most of us who use Twitter and social platforms did recognise that the way [DJT] conducted himself wasn’t consistent with decent conversation and did err on the side of being dangerous‘ – Bruce Daisley #r4today

Daisley’s oddly sympathetic to said POTUS, Donald J. Trump, given that in 2021 he defended the #Deplatforming of Trump by his former employer – and blocked me for having the chutzpah to question his defence (twitter.com/nico_macdona...)

He seems to have deleted most of his Tweets criticising Trump.

On UK Govt demanding access to Apple encrypted user data, on #BBCWatO former Twitter exec @brucedaisley.com argues:

‘The second-order effects of this… could be that, now we have entered a new presidential government in the US, we find that the US are quite sympathetic, “I want the same access”.’

Mr Mayor: There’s no such thing as the ‘LGBTQI+’ community.

What do people who are same-sex attracted have in common with those who want to be another gender?

In the old days the socially backward thought what they had in common was all being ‘weird’, if not ‘pervy’.

We saw through that. Not you?

‘Legacy media is in some trouble because people don’t trust us. For such a prominent media organisation… to have indulged in this kind of behaviour… is really damaging to the cause of journalism’ – Alan Rusbridger (https://buff.ly/40uzFhE) on #BBCPM on the Sun’s settlement with Prince Harry

The inauguration of Donald Trump as US president represents the electoral failure of modern Left-liberalism and Democratic politics.

It failed to honestly defend its positions to its critics, or advance its arguments in good faith in #Elections2024

We need a better opposition to Trump-Vance.

OurFightUk on X: "Today we were outside @FCDOGovUK to raise awareness with the cabinet of British citizen Emily Damari, who is still a hostage in Gaza. Thanks to @lisanandy for agreeing to talk with @DavidLammy about Emily's plight. She also suggests that the media could be doing more. https://t.co/7N4KkgKD6W" / X Today we were outside @FCDOGovUK to raise awareness with the cabinet of British citizen Emily Damari, who is still a hostage in Gaza. Thanks to @lisanandy for agreeing to talk with @DavidLammy about Emily's plight. She also suggests that the media could be doing more. https://t.co/7N4KkgKD6W

My comrades in Our Fight UK – “challenging British antisemitism, by standing with Israel” – highlighted her plight and questioned Culture Secy @lisanandymp.bsky.social on whether her government has advocated for her, and why MSM was so silent about this British hostage. twitter.com/ourfightuk/s...

Great news that the Israeli Briton Emily Damari, a hostage held in Gaza since October 7th, ‘will be released by Hamas today as part of the ceasefire deal’ (t.co/f2BvpeWjMv) reports the Telegraph (@telegraphnews.bsky.social)

#ReleaseEmily #BringThemHomeNow #LetThemGoNow

Are you referring to Tindale, or to Neil?

Since his BBC, Speecie, and #GBNews days, I have found Andrew Neil’s reporting on UK and global economics, energy policy and #NetZero, and French politics to be particularly insightful, with analysis backed up by rich data.

cc @chrischirp.bsky.social

Screen grab from ChatGPT interface.

In 1996, JavaScript made Web popups possible. We marvelled: This static page could change!

Today, sites/apps suffer “interface pollution”, with rollovers spawning ‘bubbles’ and controls.

But neither should designers hide UI controls under rollovers, as @OpenAI does in ChatGPT.

@eddwilson.bsky.social That is great to hear. While appreciating you are doing this ‘off your own bat’ you want any input on what people would like to use such a service for, do ask.

I asked about this in the past, and @eddwilson.bsky.social noted the difficulty of doing this. Disappointing, not least as @bbcradio4.bsky.social should be providing this information to listeners.

x.com/eddwilson/st...

Transport journalist, former MP and Transport Under-Secretary Norman Baker on Julia Hartley-Brewer with show #TalkTV with Alex Phillips, on the increase in motoring offences, the irrationality of enforcing all the 20mph limits and allowing motorists to judge for themselves… https://buff.ly/41lj8yI