madoc cairns

So much of what’s disturbing about politics currently - the nihilism, conspiratism, extreme (and delusional) confidence in state power, the weird racism, and most of all this mania for violence - leads back to the continual murder continually underwritten by our governments for nearly 2 years

I’ve lost track of the number of unselfconsciously extreme arguments for the use of deadly force against civilians I’ve seen over the last year, largely from the right of centre but also from the left. Usually they’re distorted versions of rhetoric first posed by the Israeli govt & its apologists

The US’s ongoing assassination wave obviously draws on longer trends, but it can’t, imo, be disentangled from the past two years of moral & legal norms about violence being publicly trashed.

You can’t have nonviolent dialogue at home & murderous nihilism overseas. This kind of war always comes home

recently found out archaeological evidence suggests Jerusalem, across much of the period covered in the Hebrew Bible, may have had as few as 400 inhabitants, therefore meaning many biblical events fall under the remit of the reknowned adage: "try that in a small town"

Alternatively, if you take the UK at their word, the below images depict the single largest terrorist action in British history

Mike Higgins, who is blind and wheelchair bound, has joined today’s protest against the Palestine Action ban after being arrested at the last.

He, and over 1000 others, risk arrest as a “terrorist” & up to 14 years in prison for displaying seven words:

I OPPOSE GENOCIDE. I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION

One of the largest acts of civil disobedience in British history is currently underway in Parliament Square, with over 1000 protestors risking arrest & jail time as ‘terrorists’ for public display of seven words:

I OPPOSE GENOCIDE. I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION.

Five members of group supporting Palestine Action ‘arrested in police raids’ Defend Our Juries said a number of its spokespeople were held ahead of plans to announce a fresh mass protest against the ban on Palestine Action.

🚨BREAKING: Defend Our Juries leaders arrested in clear violation of international law

This is a terrifying example of UK authorities’ willingness to use authoritarian practices.

amn.st/63327A6z3d

The number of children a single BBC investigation found to have been killed by IDF snipers (90+) is more than double the number of children killed on October 7 & falls within the lower estimates of the number of children killed by Hamas over the organisation's entire history

And we’ve been very much across this on press day. 👀👀👀

The UK in 2025: it’s now a terrorist offence, carrying a sentence of up to fourteen years in prison, to hold this cartoon from Private Eye

Imagine if Charlie Brown had hoes…

You do realise that’s a more serious charge than the one they claimed to suspect him of?

they make the arguments they do. what possible context could mean they are doing something quite different? I can't think of any - multiple unambigious assertions complete to themselves in this

it's a cultural colonisation from the usa - "thin blue line" flag patch

I think if you feel it's not possible to know what's going on in the video that's a comprehension issue at your end and not due to the editing. certainly what is clearly said is damning enough as it is

you're not making a lot of sense i'm afraid. could you rephrase with a more conventional sentence structure so i can follow your argument better

?

Palestine Action is the first large-scale direct action campaign in British history I can think of where a large majority of Britons share their aims and only a tiny majority those of the government

45 sorry! But a month ago so probably not far off

A reminder that according to a Yougov poll from last month (18.06.2025):

55% of British adults oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza (only 15% support)

And 45% of British adults think Israel is committing a genocide.

55 percent per yougov

Well if a view led them to reasonably suspect you did in fact support Palestine action they would be obliged to take you in as a dangerous terrorist

Police in Canterbury today informed a protestor that the phrase "Israel is committing genocide in Gaza" could be considered a declaration of support for Palestine Action and therefore a terrorism offence.

The Lamp Magazine | Pope Francis 1936–2025 A symposium on the late pontiff.

‘In death, as he was in life, he will remain a sign of contradiction.’ @madoc.bsky.social on the life & legacy of the 266th Pope, ‘Pope Francis. 1936–2025.’ Via The Lamp Magazine thelampmagazine.com/issues/issue...

The Lamp Magazine | Pope Francis 1936–2025 A symposium on the late pontiff.

Some Popes are different. Francis was one such Pope.

My biographic introduction to The Lamp's symposium on the last pontificate is online here:

thelampmagazine.com/issues/issue...

posting "what would your job in the new moral universe instituted by those who overcome" and all the answers are "intoning dithyrambs"

have to admit though that my favorite of Horkheimer’s critical recoveries of Nietzsche is from Dämmerung (1934), “Nietzsche & the Proletariat”!

"Perhaps most divisive of all was Francis’s own personality: authoritarian and anarchic, austere and ambiguous; the silence and the noise. He remained, always, La Gioconda: wearing a smile that seemed to—and perhaps did—reveal everything."

i only found out you can't use papacy this way whilst writing this article so im on a learning curve