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Alan Calder

@alancalder.bsky.social

Jaded, early fifties gen-x ex x-er. Background in risk, natural hazards and disaster modelling within the insurance industry. Climate change is unfortunately real -past time to take it seriously. Also: Cycling, Aberdeen FC, The Scottish Highlands.

545 Followers  |  780 Following  |  182 Posts  |  Joined: 07.10.2023  |  1.9392

Latest posts by alancalder.bsky.social on Bluesky

"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain." This James Baldwin quote is hitting harder than ever.

02.11.2025 19:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1246    πŸ” 386    πŸ’¬ 17    πŸ“Œ 8

I absolutely abhor violence in all forms - but Darren Grimes definitely has a way of testing that principle to the limit.

02.11.2025 12:07 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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More than 50 child asylum seekers still missing after disappearing from Kent care Council data obtained by the Guardian shows 345 children have gone missing in recent years, many probably taken by traffickers

Jesus Christ. We go mad about one bloke we wrongly released, yet hear next to nothing about this horror? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

01.11.2025 13:57 β€” πŸ‘ 1787    πŸ” 908    πŸ’¬ 35    πŸ“Œ 39
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Gary Marcus was right.

29.10.2025 17:07 β€” πŸ‘ 92    πŸ” 31    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 3
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US citizen, 67, β€˜has six ribs broken’ by Border Patrol agents, his running club says The incident unfolded Saturday in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood, where residents say federal agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade

"According to his running club, the man, who is a U.S. citizen, was returning from a team run when agents pulled him out of his vehicle, tackled him to the ground and kneeled on top of him, allegedly breaking six ribs and causing internal bleeding"

28.10.2025 20:40 β€” πŸ‘ 2988    πŸ” 1764    πŸ’¬ 126    πŸ“Œ 253
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From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.

27.10.2025 16:11 β€” πŸ‘ 2797    πŸ” 1057    πŸ’¬ 53    πŸ“Œ 126
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Wind power has cut Β£104bn from UK energy costs since 2010, study finds Reduction comes from energy generated from windfarms and lower cost of gas owing to lower demand

Interesting study from researchers at UCL on how wind power has held down energy costs in the long term.

The key argument is that it has lowered gas prices in Europe by reducing demand for gas. And actually most of the savings are on gas, not electricity bills

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

28.10.2025 08:34 β€” πŸ‘ 133    πŸ” 62    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 4
He went on: "That audience was taken from a
city that is no longer British ... That was not
my country any more. Why not come down
and do it in Thurrock, do it in Stoke, do it in
Burnley?


"Do it somewhere where there are still
significant numbers of English and British
people [living], and they haven't been
ethnically cleansed from their own country.'

He went on: "That audience was taken from a city that is no longer British ... That was not my country any more. Why not come down and do it in Thurrock, do it in Stoke, do it in Burnley? "Do it somewhere where there are still significant numbers of English and British people [living], and they haven't been ethnically cleansed from their own country.'

He added: "There is not much support for me
there [in London], because the place is
dominated by ethnic minorities. There is an
ethnic minority that supports me: the
English. But there's not many of them left."

He added: "There is not much support for me there [in London], because the place is dominated by ethnic minorities. There is an ethnic minority that supports me: the English. But there's not many of them left."

Here's Nick Griffin - British National Party leader in 2009 - complaining that the BBC Question Time audience he faced was "dominated by ethnic minorities."

He was criticised at the time by just about everyone.

Nowadays they'd be discussing what he meant on #R4today

28.10.2025 07:56 β€” πŸ‘ 415    πŸ” 114    πŸ’¬ 18    πŸ“Œ 2
Post image 26.10.2025 09:48 β€” πŸ‘ 964    πŸ” 355    πŸ’¬ 18    πŸ“Œ 9

Doesn’t seem to be on the Politics section of the news website at all, its all good… /s

26.10.2025 09:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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"You left Europe because you wanted less boats, you have more boats. You left Europe because you wanted more investment. You have less investment."

Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania on the UK's decision to leave the European Union.

Watch in full ➑️ bit.ly/4qkZnS0

25.10.2025 08:00 β€” πŸ‘ 625    πŸ” 274    πŸ’¬ 23    πŸ“Œ 41
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Reform’s Sarah Pochin forced to apologise after claiming adverts 'full of black people' drive her 'mad’ | LBC The Runcorn and Helsby MP was responding to a viewer live on air who complained about the demographics of advertising.

Nothing on the BBC Radio news this morning. Nothing I could find on their website. This is an MP from the party whose lead in the opinion polls normally ensures them wall-to-wall coverage. She spouts racist nonsense for which even she feels obliged to apologise. What on earth are they playing at?

26.10.2025 06:57 β€” πŸ‘ 2051    πŸ” 812    πŸ’¬ 140    πŸ“Œ 85
Reuters: Britain's ruling Labour Party suffered a heavy electoral defeat in Wales, a traditional stronghold, in a result that highlights the threat posed by the Reform UK party, as the government struggles to revive the economy and ease fears about immigration

Reuters: Britain's ruling Labour Party suffered a heavy electoral defeat in Wales, a traditional stronghold, in a result that highlights the threat posed by the Reform UK party, as the government struggles to revive the economy and ease fears about immigration

Amazing

24.10.2025 08:51 β€” πŸ‘ 138    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 15    πŸ“Œ 29
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A big shift in technology.

The purple bars show the sales of cars powered by combustion engines in China.

In green, you see the rise of electric cars in recent years.

24.10.2025 06:34 β€” πŸ‘ 68    πŸ” 27    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 3

That scene of the Welsh BBC correspondent being the only person interviewing Caerphilly's new Plaid AM while the rest of the media interviewed Reform's loser in the background was far too on the nose.

24.10.2025 01:34 β€” πŸ‘ 2122    πŸ” 693    πŸ’¬ 34    πŸ“Œ 31
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Palestinian woman in hospital after being clubbed by masked Israeli settler The attacker is seen striking the 55-year-old woman with a large wooden stick during the assault in the West Bank village of Turmus Ayaa.

FINALLY the BBC starts covering what we’ve all already seen.

β€œA 55-year-old Palestinian woman has been taken to hospital after being clubbed over the head by a masked Jewish settler as she was picking olives.”

21.10.2025 12:01 β€” πŸ‘ 604    πŸ” 307    πŸ’¬ 35    πŸ“Œ 9

To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?

21.10.2025 10:47 β€” πŸ‘ 6056    πŸ” 1713    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 83
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Runaway Insurance Costs Bring Back Talk of Price Caps Increasingly, insurers in both red and blue states are being told to cap prices as lawmakers come under pressure.

I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes, but apparently it's still possible for experienced financial journalists to write long-ish articles about exploding home insurance prices and never mention the phrase "climate change."
www.wsj.com/finance/regu...

20.10.2025 11:53 β€” πŸ‘ 166    πŸ” 42    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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Tory MP criticised after demanding legally settled families be deported Katie Lam said move would make UK β€˜culturally coherent’ and that a large number of people β€˜need to go home’

"People who have come to the United Kingdom legally, played by the rules and made it their home do not need to β€˜go home’. This is their home.” - @eddavey.libdems.org.uk on Conservative proposals to strip people of indefinite leave to remain & deport them
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

20.10.2025 20:17 β€” πŸ‘ 211    πŸ” 73    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 10

Voters’ anger is largely focused on asylum, and perhaps on low-skilled immigration.

The government response seems to be focused on making sure no high-skilled immigrant will ever pick the UK in future, and the ones currently here will rapidly rethink their decision.

This will not end well.

20.10.2025 09:28 β€” πŸ‘ 415    πŸ” 120    πŸ’¬ 28    πŸ“Œ 9
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Amazing story in The Times. Reform UK failed to pay VAT to HMRC on its sales (tickets, merchandise). About Β£400k in all.

Not tax avoidance. Not tax evasion. They just didn't realise when you sell stuff you have to charge VAT.

20.10.2025 09:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1520    πŸ” 751    πŸ’¬ 175    πŸ“Œ 136

This is excellent, bravo

20.10.2025 09:30 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Apropos of nothing, I really do think UK journalists and politicians need some reminding that mass deportation of LEGAL immigrants, particularly those with permanent status, is far more extreme than even Trump's America and would basically place Britain completely on its own among democracies.

19.10.2025 11:32 β€” πŸ‘ 2333    πŸ” 763    πŸ’¬ 24    πŸ“Œ 55

Not that for sure, even if he was shitting on a maga rally they would probably still love it

19.10.2025 08:19 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Fact Check: Nigel Farage on Ukraine and Putin Podcast Episode Β· Quiet Riot Β· S1, E9 Bonus Β· 12m

I see Nigel Farage is back to claiming he "predicted" the war between Russia and Ukraine in the EU Parliament, when in fact he spoke AFTER the annexation of Crimea, to defend Russia and claim it was all the EU's fault.

I did a full fact-check, with clips, here:

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...

18.10.2025 11:27 β€” πŸ‘ 669    πŸ” 297    πŸ’¬ 27    πŸ“Œ 19

Clearly a completely crazy thing to post - you’d think bad pr - but media outlets will either pass off as his sense of humour, or ignore it and his supporters laugh. At least the protests were large and peaceful. The more silly costumes people wear the better, to highlight the absurdity of it all.

19.10.2025 05:58 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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UPDATE: COLOMBIA’s President says πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ government (Trump) β€œcommitted murder” and bombed a fisherman with no ties to drugs

β€œThe boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure”

19.10.2025 04:06 β€” πŸ‘ 7749    πŸ” 3221    πŸ’¬ 224    πŸ“Œ 214

The left is melting down at the now iconic β€œdiarrhea President”

19.10.2025 04:35 β€” πŸ‘ 3301    πŸ” 275    πŸ’¬ 104    πŸ“Œ 16
Jess Gill
@jessgillO3

I've never had curry or a kabab and don't intend to.
British food is the best. English breakfasts, Sunday roasts, fish and chips, pies, pasties, scones.
Also, our national dish isn't a chicken tikka masala we only think that because a Labour MP said it decades ago to push multiculturalism.
15:31Β·17 Oct 25-78K Views

Jess Gill @jessgillO3 I've never had curry or a kabab and don't intend to. British food is the best. English breakfasts, Sunday roasts, fish and chips, pies, pasties, scones. Also, our national dish isn't a chicken tikka masala we only think that because a Labour MP said it decades ago to push multiculturalism. 15:31Β·17 Oct 25-78K Views

The British Right are just in total freefall into savagery at this point

18.10.2025 09:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2513    πŸ” 281    πŸ’¬ 414    πŸ“Œ 579

What Trump is doing is very bad. But I want to push back against some of the numbers here.

ICE did not hire 10,000 agents. It WANTS to. That it keeps running ads suggests it is struggling. And when it does, it seems to cannibalize local police, who don't like that.

More significantly:

14.10.2025 02:50 β€” πŸ‘ 804    πŸ” 302    πŸ’¬ 18    πŸ“Œ 12

@alancalder is following 18 prominent accounts