Red Hot World

Reform UK poster torn across the middle to reveal “Conservatives” underneath

Spotted in Clacton

Really concerned to hear the Defence Secretary refuse to rule out UK's involvement in future strikes on Iran.

Iraq lessons must be learned.
Further escalation in the Middle East makes us all less safe.

Starmer must rule out UK involvement immediately.

Just the BBC’s Clive Myrie and Justin Webb rationalising an @theonion.com headline as if it were a valid viewpoint rather than satire 🤯
#Iran.

Chat GPT took it surprisingly well TBF

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

Hope is here 💚

satellite image of snow covered Britain from 2010

New York underwater.

Agriculture in Northern Europe wiped out by a big freeze.

Southern Europe plunged into drought.

That’s what's coming if the AMOC current in the Atlantic keeps slowing or shuts down altogether.

How can we be so sure? Because we got a preview in 2009. 🧵

Currently the world produces more than enough food to feed everyone, but hunger persists due to poverty, conflict, poor distribution and waste.

In the coming decades we’re going to have to feed a larger population in much more difficult conditions.

Its a cycle. Actions-> Results-> Beliefs -> Actions

We need more stories that help people learn from what’s working.

Not just what’s going wrong.
Not just what “has to happen by 2050.”

Real examples of action that others can see, understand & build on.

Here's a 🧵on advice & tips for sharing #climate stories that actually inspire action.

Alice Smith tweet: "We don't need surveillance by the state. We need surveillance of the State. We should know every penny spent, every second spent, every decision made, and the name of exactly who decided what at every level."

💯 this - we need democratic oversight of every layer of government.

They can't be trusted. They shouldn't be trusted.

There's no better way of communicating the insane trajectory of humanity in the 21st century than cartoons and no-one did it better than Jon Kudelka. Rest in power Jon.

Here's his top ten.

1. Asteroid mitigation program

Police use dogs to quell civil unrest in Birmingham, Ala., on May 3, 1963. Birmingham’s police commissioner “Bull” Connor also allowed fire hoses to be turned on young civil rights demonstrators. These measures set off a backlash of sentiment that rejuvenated the flagging civil rights movement. (Bill Hudson / The Associated Press)

There’s a strong consensus in the social sciences that nonviolence is more effective than violence. Look it up.

If you find it hard to believe, that might be because our culture is biased towards violent solutions.

Because you are living in a patriachy.

A picture of bad bunny with the word love

Bad Bunny understood the assignment…

Gloria Steinem in the Guardian on The Mermaid and the Minotaur by Dorothy Dinnerstein. "It looks at the way humans lived before patriarchy, and before male control of reproduction was codified into “masculine” versus “feminine” roles. It reports that, in our very long migratory past, both men and women raised children. Men developed empathy, patience, attention to detail and a sense of the value of life – all those qualities now wrongly called “feminine”, because they are necessary to raise children. Just as women become more whole as humans by entering into public life, men become more whole as humans by entering into private life. So for this reason, I choose Dinnerstein’s political and practical book. It convinced me, and may convince you, that men raising children – boys being raised to raise children – is the key to equality, democracy and world peace."

The key to equality, democracy and world peace? 🕊️

Men raising children. 👨‍🍼

“Political will” is invoked like magic fairy dust or an abstract variable. It isn’t. If scientists want their evidence to matter, they need to ask how political will is built through organising, mobilisation, & social movements that generate sustained pressure across society & force political action

The Epstein files are not meant to wake you up. They are meant to exhaust you. So many names, so many theories, so many threads. You drown in speculation while the obvious crimes continue in daylight. They do not care if you know they are depraved. They care if you realize they are structural.

💯 this.

It's the system that promotes the worst of humanity.

It's the system that needs to change.

Tony Benn was a prophet.

“Today (1987) we had a meeting of the NEC & the Shadow Cabinet. Kinnock introduced the meeting and spoke for about 20 minutes. We went on to Peter Mandelson who said a few words. I find Mandelson a threatening figure for the future of the Party.”

Yes.

True but

Brits celebrate VE Day

if you think about it, there's nothing more British than uniting to defeat the far right

the Spanish PM

So is global collapse now inevitable?

Not necessarily - strong states can push back against oligarchs. Citizens can demand it.

We need redistribution of power and money. Accountability. Real consequences.

When elites spiral out of control, societies must find ways to reign them in.

party scene from Baz Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet

History is full of examples:

🗝️ The Roman Republic collapsing under elite factionalism
🎂 France’s Ancien Régime hollowed out by privilege
💰 Forced reforms after the excesses of the US's Gilded Age

Different outcomes but all driven by the same underlying dynamic.

the tech bros at Trump's inauguration

More recently, Peter Turchin has shown how societies produce too many elite aspirants chasing too few top positions: "elite overproduction".

The result is vicious competition, norm-breaking, corruption and rising instability. Turchin warned this would peak in the 2020s.

Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch

This idea goes back centuries.

Ibn Khaldun described how ruling groups start out cohesive and disciplined, then descend into opulence and self-interest.

Vilfredo Pareto called it the “circulation of elites”. When circulation stops, decay sets in.

Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Benjamin Netenyahu

Early in an elite cycle, power is constrained. Leaders have something to prove. Institutions are new. Failure has consequences. And things work pretty well.

Later on, elites close ranks. Entry is inherited or networked. The system starts serving them, not society.

Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein

Why are the worst people on the planet teaming up to destroy everything we hold dear?

History has the answer: we have a log jam in the "elite circulation" system.

Over time, unchecked elite power drifts towards corruption and self-protection - until societies break. 🧵

scooby doo and a ghost are standing next to each other in a cartoon scene . ALT: scooby doo and a ghost are standing next to each other in a cartoon scene .

Scooby Doo was ahead of its time because no matter what monster they unmasked, it always ended up being a creepy white guy terrorizing people for money.

We need a bit more nuance than “Epstein was Mossad so why are they calling him a Russian spy?”

The truth is he was batting for Netenyahu, Putin, Trump, Farage, Bannon, Thiel, Dimon… Naked money and power. The very worst of humanity.

WhatsApp message: The whole Epstein thing is shredding my brain. As a former teacher I spent £100s getting criminal records checks (including getting my fingerprints taken to work abroad), went through training every year about abuse, had “safeguarding” drilled in until it natural/habitual, the worry of wanting to keep these children safe, the pressure of Ofsted… And right now I feel like it was never enough because any of the kids I taught could have been swept up by people rich enough to do whatever the hell they wanted and not just get away with it but rub it in the faces of every child, parent, teacher, carer, nurse, doctor, social worker, guardian, on the planet… My brain is physically not processing it. Especially how insidious it apparently is into British politics, it’s completely unignorable… How can this be happening? I’m sorry to vent, I guess I’m having a hard day again…

All right-thinking people are losing their shit about this.

Tax Policy Associates: Epstein emails reveal Mandelson advising JPMorgan to threaten Chancellor over post-crisis banker bonus tax

For anyone wondering why Labour won’t tax the rich, here’s your answer.