Brieg Powel

Governments and voters are both reacting to algorithm-shaped “public opinion,” not grounded priorities. Immigration feels urgent because platforms amplify fear, pulling parties into hollow performances of toughness. The far right reads that drift as confirmation it’s winning.

South Park: 🎶 Peter Thiel knows about the Antichrist 😂

If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education.

We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.

Gone a bit quiet 😔

Here is Nathan Gill in 2014 blaming the EU for Russia advancing on Ukraine

Nathan Gill pled guilty to accepting bribes from Russia to promote a pro Russia anti EU position

He started in UKIP, joined the Brexit Party, then Reform UK

Here's what he said at the European Parliament

Any journalist or commentator who writes a wrap-up of this speech that suggests that any of it was normal, worthy of respect, not absolutely deranged, not an insult to the audience, not an embarrassment for the US, should be relieved of their jobs.

Er...buses? Trams? Metros? Come on @economist.com , you're better than this

Nick Gibb was awarded a BA in Law in 1981 & trained as an accountant. Hence, he's enormously well qualified to comment on the quality of education research. No irony at all in his criticism of the sector as 'out-of-touch, ideological and lacking rigour'.

Reform and X are not Britain, as John Curtice shows, though this loud minority voice thinks it is

Migration bad for economy?
32% of public - but 73% of Reform

Bad for our culture?
31% of public - 81% of Reform

Rights for ethnic minorities have gone too far?
18% of public - but 49% of Reform

Report also notes how Iran abused the survivors

Israeli airstrikes on Tehran killed inmates in ‘apparent war crime’ – report Human Rights Watch also finds that Iran abused survivors of June attack, which killed 80 people

More on the story today as a @hrw.org report finds that the strike was an "apparent war crime" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

A-level results in England expected to return to near pre-pandemic levels Career-focused subjects such as business studies and economics to surpass traditional academic disciplines like history in popularity

'Just 40,900 students entered to take history, compared with 41,900 taking economics and 43,000 for physics. Maths remains the most popular A-level with 105,000 entries this year, up by more than 4% compared with 2024.'

Both 'Just' and 'career-related' doing heavy lifting here. 1/2

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

Israel levelling thousands of Gaza civilian buildings in controlled demolitions - BBC News Investigation by BBC Verify using satellite images and verified footage to show the extent of destruction in Gaza, where the Israeli military have carried out demolitions to raze entire towns and subu...

Just when you think the destruction in #Gaza can't get any worse. Good BBC investigation into deliberate demolition of entries Palestinian towns. Reveals that emolitions have significantly accelerated in the last 3-4 months in what are suspected "war crimes"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

I think my great grandfathers (from Somme to 1918), 2 great uncles (1 KIA in Arras, 1 so ill mentally after being gassed that he *never* slept a full night after 1916), 2 grandfathers (1 in Burma as infantry Lt, 1 RAF ground in UK), 2 grandmothers in industry & agriculture would agree you

According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns - such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage - indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.

The Dinah report is now published, on the widespread use of sexual violence by Hamas during the October 7th attack, consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC), and likely a deliberate coordinated strategy.

news.sky.com/story/widesp...

Record air bombardment of #Ukraine by #Russia last night. Straight after #Trump agreed to restart supplies to Ukraine & questioned #Putin 's sincerity

The proposals are 2% on income *above* a threshold (like £10m). So if you had £11m you would only pay the 2% on the £1m (therefore £20k tax)

Moving the Population in Gaza is a Manifest War Crime We wrote this essay to fulfill our human, conscientious, and civic duty, as Israelis – and as Zionists – who have expertise in areas related to the IDF’s order.

1/ A remarkable essay by two eminent Israeli scholars

"We wrote this essay to give [former IDF chief of staff's] words legal backing... We felt compelled to fulfill our human, conscientious, and civic duty, as Israelis – and as Zionists – who have expertise in areas related to the IDF’s ... order."

From economy of occupation to economy of genocide - (A/HRC/59/23) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 (Advance unedited... To learn more about Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage. Human Rights Council Fifty-ninth session 16 June–11 July...

UN Special Rapporteur: #Israel has moved from an "economy of occupation" to an "economy of genocide" in #Gaza
www.un.org/unispal/docu...

Israel’s Deadly Assault on Iran Prison Incites Fury, Even Among Dissidents

Full story here (pay wall): www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/w...

This from the @nytimes.com on #Israel's bombing of the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. They targeted the visitor centre & the wing holding transgender prisoners. Around 100 transgender prisoners remain missing, presumed killed whilst 79 others from across the prison already confirmed killed

😂

Edrych ymlaen at ei weld! Hapus i ddarllen drafft os ti moyn

Thanks!

Diolch!

Really insightful piece this, highly recommended

Russia expanding chemical weapons use in Ukraine, say European spy agencies The Dutch and German secret services say there is strong evidence that Moscow is using the choking agent chloropicrin.

The Dutch and German secret services say there is strong evidence that Moscow is using the choking agent chloropicrin.

Somewhat reassured that the man who I thought was a spitting image of George Monbiot I saw crossing the road in front of me, stuck at a traffic light by the Exeter university campus, was in fact, George Monbiot.

BTW, interesting 🧵 from the man himself here 👇

BBC Open Letter | PDF | Bbc | Gaza Strip An Open Letter to BBC Management, Written by BBC Journalists and Signed by Media Industry Professionals

Just when there was a much bigger story about another letter, penned by their own journalists and staff, expressing concern with the Beeb's problematic coverage of #Gaza
www.scribd.com/document/883...