Benjamin Görlach

Pekka Siitoin (1944-2003), the Reichsführer of Finland (self-employed), a satanist and a "raunchologist" in his latter years. In the photo, an old man dressed in a red cape and shorts, wearing long "horns" on his head and holding a wooden cross upside down, is making a hand gesture. He is sitting on a porch and looks very, very silly. Among other things, he declared he would be the first Finn to have sex with an "ufo woman," and also knew nifty spells like how to drink a lot of booze but stay sober ("drink two glasses of milk and eat 200 g of cheese. Then say: 'Oh cow, in You I trust.'") But he also was convicted of a bombing and arson of a printer of the newspaper of the Finnish Communist Party. Fuck Nazis. Picture from https://mubi.com/en/cast/pekka-siitoin , details from https://turunaika.fi/jutut/okkultistista-naantalin-natsiksi/ and https://www.hs.fi/helsinki/art-2000006441407.html

So I just learned about the 1986 airplane hijacking attempt in #Oulu, #Finland, and now you too are going to. Because I burst out laughing in a train reading about it.

It has:
✔️beer (lots)!
✔️hijinks!
✔️weird occult Nazis!
✔️✔️✔️"HYPNOTIC-MAGNETIC GAZE!"

Why oh why this isn't a movie yet! (a THREAD.)

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

NEW: Coal-fired power generation fell in both China and India in 2025, for the first time since 1973. The drop came after record clean energy additions in both countries, and was the first time that clean energy was a major driver of falling coal power use.

Biking through the Heide near Amersfoort, NL on the last day of 2025, kids loved it (and me too!)

📢 Bilanz des #Energiejahrs 2025: DE verliert Tempo beim Klimaschutz! Die Emissionen sinken um 9 Mio. t CO₂ bzw. 1,5% = weniger als halb so viele Einsparungen wie 2024. In diesem Tempo würde das Land sein 2030-Klimaziel verfehlen, der Umstieg auf Klimatechnologien in 🏠🚗 🏭 kommt zu langsam voran. 1/x

A picture is worth 1000 words...

This appeared on the BBC News today, showing the increase in solar electric generation in the UK.

Not sure who produced it, but genuinely think this is a genius piece of scientific communication - the construct and choice of colour scale is near-perfect.

Chapeau!

Mood.

Der Klimawandel bedroht unsere Zukunft - aber keiner spricht mehr drüber. Warum ist das so? Donald Trump, Russland, Gaza, Krieg, Rente, Wehrpflicht, Stadtbild - diese Themen haben 2025 dominiert: Und das Klima? Haben wir das vergessen?

„Wenn Menschen in ungewohntem Terrain Angst bekommen, gibt es eine goldene Regel: Auf keinen Fall nach hinten lehnen.”
Lesenswerte Reflektionen von @luisaneubauer.bsky.social zur aktuellen Lage der Klimapolitik. Zum Einstieg in die zweite Hälfte der Dekade, die tituliert wurde als „decisive decade“

Here are my favourite 2025 papers on climate policy/politics (listed in no particular order).
1. Ascari, Guido, Andrea Colciago, Timo Haber, and Stefan Wöhrmüller. 2025. ‘Inequality along the European Green Transition’. Economic Journal.
doi.org/10.1093/ej/u...

YouTube video by RTÉ News 'Fairytale of New York' played at Shane MacGowan's funeral

Happy Fairytale of New York season to all those who celebrate, and now we have this iconic performance at Shane Macgowan’s funeral to watch, too. 🥹 youtu.be/6s8lvnSmISc?...

Recently, I have been thinking about the political economy of policy advice. Below are my thoughts; I'd be curious to hear what "practitioners" think about these. Let's start by thinking about the demand for and supply in the market for policy advice. Policymakers rely on expertise for two

3) unsolicited and independent, eg policy proposals coming out of academic research. Relevance often limited (often legal/technical/political feasibility not a consideration), in principle independent but political actors can select papers and proposals that match their position (or priors)

2) unsolicited advice in an established format comes from advisory bodies. By nature should be independent, but appointees are also selected since they have taken certain positions in the past / are expected to play certain roles. Formally independent but still need to stay relevant.

Few reflections how advice enters the political system: 1) much of it is solicited and tendered. Tends to be unattractive for independent advisors, since it is (more or less explicitly) to support a given position. Recipients mostly bureaucrats, rarely higher ranks, very rarely elected officials.

Love it! Here are three more candidates for the pack: @kumpfenbach.bsky.social , @economista.bsky.social and @katjadiehl.bsky.social

YouTube video by Ingwar Perowanowitsch CYCLING CITIES - Der Film

Ein sehr schöner sehenswerter Film von @ingwarpero.bsky.social zeigt an wunderbaren Beispielen, wie eine kluge Verkehrspolitik die Lebensqualität in unseren Städten rasch und drastisch verbessern kann! Die Reise geht von Paris über Gent, Utrecht und weitere bis Kopenhagen. youtu.be/R5jQc1jXLAU?...

’tis the season - driving home for Christmas with a #treebybike in tow

Europe is hollowing out its Green Deal, leaving a vacuum of political

End of year reflections on EU climate policy: it’s really not looking good for the Green Deal.
@jannikjansen.bsky.social and I wrote a short piece on why we're far from "staying the course" - and why that's a strategic mistake for Europe (1/12)
tinyurl.com/jdc-green-deal

EU-Klimazoll: Warum der CBAM notwendig und unterschätzt ist Mit dem Emissionshandel und dem CO2-Grenzausgleich (CBAM) stehen aktuell ausgerechnet die Instrumente unter Druck, die zukunftsfähige Geschäftsmodelle anreizen und absichern sollen. Die EU-Kommission ...

Im @tspbackground.bsky.social Energie & Klima habe ich argumentiert, warum der EU-Klimazoll #CBAM besser ist als sein Ruf, weshalb wir ihn für die Industrietransformation brauchen, und welchen Erfolg er bereits vor seinem offiziellen Start verbuchen konnte: background.tagesspiegel.de/energie-und-...

Commission takes action for clean and competitive automotive sector The Commission today presented the Automotive Package to support the sector\'s efforts in the transition to clean mobility.

1/ Es gibt verschiedene Sichtweisen zum „Aus vom #Verbrenner-Aus“. Ich versuche im Thread mal zwei Enden des Spektrums zusammenzufassen: optimistisch ("schadet nicht") und pessimistisch ("Eigentor").

Als Fakten-Grundlage hier die Mitteilung der EU-Kommission: ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Ok, let me confess: one of my guilty pleasures is "bicycle infrastructure p***0graphy", watching youtoube clips where users showcase the terrific cycling infrastructure found in some parts of the world. Most of it Dutch and Danish, tbh. Seeing a full-length documentary from Freiburg blows my mind!

#ice #electric #co2 #ice #phev #batteries #chargers #grids #biofuel #hybrid #biofuel | william todts | 13 comments The EU drops its #2035 #ICE ban. The signal this sends is terrible. However, the reality is the majority of cars sold in 2030-2035 must still be #electric and #CO2 will drop sharply as a result. Fir...

Ich verstehe es auch nicht, aber die Kollegen bei Transport & Environment: www.linkedin.com/posts/willia...

Vingt autres rues de Paris avant / après en une minute

Sowieso stets lesenswert, aber dieses Mal besonders: zum 10jährigen des #ParisAgreement ein besorgender Blick auf globale Dynamiken, mit einen schönen Hoffnung gebenden Twist. Hoffnung ist nicht die Überzeugung, dass etwas gut ausgeht, sondern die Gewissheit, dass etwas Sinn hat, egal wie es ausgeht

Comment: EU governments, the European Parliament and the Commission are expected to finalise an agreement on the bloc’s 90% #emissionreduction target for #2040 climate target very soon. 🎯1/x

‘Too small to matter’ is the laziest-possible excuse in climate debate At a time of crisis, co-operation is the only way to resolve the climate collective-action problem

If Ireland's emissions are "too small to matter" then I might as well evade my taxes and eat doughnuts for lunch.

Read my latest column about the laziest excuse in the climate debate:

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

New publication: From January 2026, the EU’s 🇪🇺 Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism ( #CBAM) will start placing a fee on carbon-intensive imports, while free allowances under the EU carbon market (ETS) are reduced. 1/x

Gas aus Russland: Das "billige Gas" aus Russland ist eine Mär Wenn Ministerpräsident Kretschmer die Hoffnung auf billiges russisches Gas nährt, täuscht er seine Wähler. Denn den Preis für Gas bestimmt der Markt, nicht Putin.

Warum russisches Gas für Deutschland NIEMALS BILLIG war, sondern zuletzt sogar irrsinnig teuer und eine böse Falle. www.zeit.de/politik/ausl...

(1/4) In der aktuellen Debatte um die Zukunft der deutschen #Wirtschaft wird Klimaschutz von einigen Akteuren als Belastung beschrieben; manche fordern gar eine Abschwächung. Diese Argumentation greift zu kurz, denn #Klimaschutz ist eine Chance, die wirtschaftliche Modernisierung voranzutreiben 📈

13 To be clear: this is the adopted and agreed position of the EU Member States (the Council). To become law, still needs to be agreed with the European Parliament and the Commission. So details may still change - but broad lines can be expected to stay.🤝🇪🇺