Kieran Williams

A political compass chart showing the travel of the three parties since 2002 (or later, if younger), as estimated by the Chapel Hill Expert Survey.

How Mr Babiš's ANO (PfE, ex-RE) traveled from the liberal-right quadrant to the left-conservative one, as captured by @chesdata.bsky.social

With a comparison with fellow Central European social-national peers Mr Orbán's Fidesz (PfE, ex EPP) an Mr Fico's Smer (NI, ex-S&D).

A chart showing the price in votes of a seat in the Czech parliament (Czech National Council 1990-1992, Chamber of Deputies 1996-2025.

The price in votes of a seat in the lower house of the Czech parliament.

Welsh Labour have genuinely posted this video of their Caerphilly candidate Richard Tunnicliffe on social media.

Turn the sound on. 🔊🔊

It had the caption: "Vote for this total diva on Thursday October 23rd."

I have no idea what to say.

Population pyramid of Cameroon on 1 Jan 2025 according to the median projections of UN World Population Prospects 2024.

Cameroon elects its president tomorrow. The incumbent, Mr Biya, is running. At 92, he is the current oldest head of state. In office since 1982, also the current longest-serving non-royal head of state. 8 in 10 Cameroonians were born during his time in office.

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With her extraordinary work—in collaboration with her husband, Peter—no one has done more to promote Slovak literature in the anglophone world than @juliasherwood.bsky.social And this latest translation of powerful short stories about the atrocity and violence of the Second World War is a triumph.

Latin America remains haunted by the specter of “strongman” rule. Term limits have been a way of guarding against this threat, but aspiring autocrats have now found a new avenue to bypass this barrier to power: courts of law.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Pirátská ženská revoluce Výsledky voleb v letošním roce ale naznačují, že voličstvo Pirátů hledá po letech strávených s muži ve vedení a u moci i něco jiného. Nastala ženská pirátská revoluce.

KOMENTÁŘ 💬 | „Výsledky voleb v letošním roce ale naznačují, že voličstvo Pirátů hledá po letech strávených s muži ve vedení a u moci i něco jiného. Nastala ženská pirátská revoluce,“ píše Apolena Rychlíková pro Český rozhlas Plus. irozhl.as/xNj

The 2025 Czech election – Andrej Babiš’s Pyrrhic victory Andrej Babiš’s ANO won the 2025 Czech election on 3–4 October. Yet as Jan Rovny explains, Babiš will find it challenging to form a stable government.

Fine blog on Czech election. Big win for Babiš as in 2017 pyrrhic.

But am left wondering after cost-of-living dominated campaign, if liberal–illiberal cultural divide so key. And if shapeshifting pragmatist AB really readable in classic left/right,lib/con terms?

blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

Zemřel spisovatel,dramatik a disident Ivan Klíma(94). Napsal přes 20 knih a byly přeloženy do 30 jazyků. Hlavním motivem byly vztahy mezi muži a ženami. Uspěl v 60.letech, za normalizace šel na index. Publikovat mohl až po listopadu 1989. Čest jeho památce! #RIP ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/clanek/domac...

TLDR: Expect a Babiš-Motorist government with small majority or a strong minority administration reluctantly enabled by opposition parties as the less evil.

With just under half of electoral precincts in Czechia counted, it looks like Andrej Babis’s ANO movement that won big. Now on 38% of votes counted. Likely to drop has results from big cities come in, but 35%?

Over 95% votes now counted. Babis’s ANO wins over a third of the vote. Some form of coalition with ANO at the helm likely.

Czechia, 97,63% polling places counted:

National parliament election

ANO-PfE: 35.08% (+8.0)
SPOLU-ECR|EPP: 22.95% (-4.8)
STAN-EPP: 11% (n.a.)
Piráti-G/EFA: 9% (n.a.)
SPD-ESN: 7.88% (-1.7)
Auto-PfE: 7% (new)
Stačilo!-NI|S&D: 4% (n.a.)
...

+/- vs. 2021 election

➤ europeelects.eu/czechia

A Timeline of High-Profile Shootings at Houses of Worship The attack on a Mormon church in Michigan was one of many similar shootings over the past 20 years, according to an analysis by The Trace.

The September 28 attack on an LDS church in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, was at least the 20th high-profile shooting at a house of worship in the past two decades.

Collectively, these shootings left at least 92 people dead and 100 wounded.

Moldovan voters have (yet again!) thwarted Ru’s efforts to intimidate, buy, and manipulate them into abandoning their pro-EU course.

Political showdown looms over Germany’s top court appointments Germany’s political factions are locked in tense negotiations ahead of a crucial vote to fill top court vacancies, with coalition leaders scrambling for opposition support amid lingering fallout from an abortion-related standoff

Political showdown looms over Germany’s top court appointments

Hungary and Slovakia AWOL from EU’s “drone wall” talks Hungary and Slovakia will not participate in the first round of EU discussions on the ...

Hungary and Slovakia AWOL from EU’s “drone wall” talks

In the data on drone and missile strikes by fascist Russia on democratic Ukraine since Trump took office, you can literally see Putin test Trump, gauge the reaction, and then test more - each time raising the intensity of his attacks.

Why Jimmy Kimmel’s First Amendment rights weren’t violated – but ABC’s would be protected if it stood up to the FCC and Trump Think you know what the First Amendment means and protects? You − and a lot of Jimmy Kimmel’s defenders − may well be wrong.

The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel is a serious threat to free expression – but not because the comedians’ rights were violated.

Just last year a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the government can’t legally pressure a corporation to suppress speech.

buff.ly/BI13STP

El Salvador leads Latin America's democratic decline, global watchdog warns The latest IDEA report warns El Salvador faces the fastest democratic erosion in Latin America, with security policies under Bukele raising concerns over freedoms, judicial independence, and long-term institutional damage.

ICYMI: The latest IDEA report warns El Salvador faces the fastest democratic erosion in Latin America, with security policies under Bukele raising concerns over freedoms, judicial independence, and long-term institutional damage. Bne IntelliNews

Brazil Supreme Court panel votes to convict Bolsonaro of coup attempt Bolsonaro is accused of orchestrating a coup to retain power following his loss to incumbent Lula da Silva in the 2022 presidential elections.

Majority in Brazil's Supreme Court panel vote to convict former President Bolsonaro of coup attempt

5 forecasts early climate models got right – the evidence is all around you From rising global temperatures to the fast-warming Arctic, early climate models predicted the changes half a century ago.

Early climate models from the 1960s accurately predicted global warming, stratospheric cooling, and Arctic amplification decades before observations confirmed these patterns. A @noaa.gov scientist explains:
buff.ly/tGtY7rC
@climate.noaa.gov 🌎 #climatechange

Matching the Forbes 400 to tax data finds that they pay a total tax rate of 24 percent of economic income, lower than the 30 percent tax rate paid on average in the US, from Akcan S. Balkir, Emmanuel Saez, Danny Yagan, and Gabriel Zucman https://www.nber.org/papers/w34170

NEW: The Fifth Circuit rejects a Second Amendment challenge to the federal law strictly regulating the possession of firearm silencers. The panel describes the law as presumptively lawful & holds that the challenger failed to rebut that presumption on these facts.

cases.justia.com/federal/appe...

Von der Leyen visit spotlights Bulgaria’s uneasy growth as European arms hub European Commission president’s trip comes on the heels of Germany’s Rheinmetall announcing that it plans two new factories in Bulgaria to establish the country as Europe’s largest gunp…

Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Bulgaria’s largest state-owned arms producer today has drawn protests from nationalist parties over the country’s burgeoning arms production.

Nejbohatším Čechem je zbrojař Strnad. Za rok navýšil svůj majetek o čtvrt bilionu, a sesadil tak Křetínského Majetek vlastníka zbrojařské skupiny CSG činí 330 miliard korun. Jmění loňského vítěze Daniela Křetínského odhadl časopis Euro na 280 miliard korun. Strnad překonal i dědičku PPF Renatu Kellnerovou.

Nejbohatším Čechem je podle časopisu Euro majitel zbrojařské skupiny CSG Michal Strnad s majetkem 330 miliard korun. Z čela žebříčku sesadil loňského vítěze Daniela Křetínského, jehož majetek časopis odhadl na 280 miliard korun.

irozhl.as/wXQ

Federal Grants for Area Studies and Foreign Language at Risk Expected funding for National Resource Centers, which are dedicated to language and area studies education, never came through this summer. Experts worry this could spell disaster for the already-stru...

Ellen Lust from Cornell: "If the NRC & FLAS programs are shuttered permanently, the effects will be felt for generations to come..US citizens will be ill-equipped to live, work & lead in a global world.. these policies weaken the US’ global position & will make America less secure and prosperous.”

Bulletin: Women in Rural Areas Face a Higher Risk of Harm Geographic isolation and an uptick in gun ownership increases their chances of experiencing violence

Geographic isolation and increased gun ownership puts women in rural areas at higher risk of becoming victims of violence.

Thai Woman Jailed For 43 Years For Lese-majeste Freed A Thai woman who received one of the kingdom's longest ever royal insult sentences was freed from prison on Wednesday under a mass pardon marking the king's birthday.

A Thai woman originally sentenced to 43 years for lese-majeste has been pardoned and freed. But she still spent 8 years behind bars just for posting anti-monarchy material on social media.

Trump’s intel chief freezes out Five Eyes allies on Ukraine The intelligence alliance of the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as the U.S. is one of the closest in the world.

“In a July 20 directive signed by Gabbard, reported by CBS, the U.S. intelligence community was given orders to classify all analysis and information related to the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations as "NOFORN," or no foreign dissemination”

www.politico.eu/article/tuls...