Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
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ajaanmark.bsky.social
Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
@ajaanmark.bsky.social
From Australia, have also spent time in Malaysia and Thailand.

Sociologist, educator, flaneur, SFF appreciator

Starting a new Linguistics research project in intercultural pragmatics

Interested in Asia things and languages. Also: Buddhism.

He/Him
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Congrats to the producers for realising that the book is about hate more than love
The first film adaptation of #WutheringHeights (A.V. Bramble, UK, 1920) is now sadly lost.

"It is a credit to the British film industry that the screen version of the book... should be so good. In many ways it is as fine." - Manchester Guardian, 7 August 1920 www.theguardian.com/books/2019/a...
February 7, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Worth remembering that Reform's delightful Gordon and Denton candidate has contributed to this bullshit
February 7, 2026 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
There’s a statue in Parliament that’s been deliberately left damaged for over a century.

The reason why takes us back to one of the most important protests in British history.

Let me show you one of Parliament’s hidden stories.
February 7, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
I guess this is analog doomscrolling
My new thing is to go the bush block and listen to the BBC World Service at 7pm, then read The Origins of Totalitarianism really slowly, underlining most of the sentences
February 7, 2026 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
1 week to go!! We're still sitting on 0 for the fundraiser so if you'd like to help get us started, please click the link below 💖 Every dollar helps!
February 7, 2026 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Huh, I thought "cousin brother/sister" was an Indian thing. I guess it's generally a thing when one's language/culture doesn't have a word for "cousin"? In Tamil/Telugu/Kannada/Hindi, it's just "son/daughter of mother/father's older/younger sibling".
February 7, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
I habitually rate each dog I see out in public. This one outside my local Woolies scored 11/10 - bonus point for the horse ears.❤️
February 7, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Book Cover of the Day:
February 7, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Its not a new sentiment but: Fuck Matt Goodwin.

I have family members who'd dearly like to have kids, but can't due to medical stuff. Friends who have spent years trying but it hadnt happened. Multiple miscarriages.

Fuck Goodwin and everyone who supports him.
So as I struggled with miscarriage after miscarriage before having my 🌈 baby, Reform would seriously think I should pay more tax during that agony.

This policy isn’t just a slippery slope to a handmaids tale dystopian future - it’s a deliberate step towards it
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
Reform by-election candidate suggested people who don’t have kids should pay more tax
Exclusive: The Reform politician’s suggestion would ‘punish millions of women and strip them of their basic dignity to choose’, Labour’s deputy leader has warned
www.independent.co.uk
February 7, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Got to spend today celebrating with the great folks at Masjid Bang O, a historically Sunni Malay/Arab-Persian mosque located right across from Thai Parliament that dates back to before Bangkok's founding
February 7, 2026 at 10:32 AM
But 1995 was ok!
If the protagonist of this Korean drama fails he will be trapped in 1995 forever!
February 7, 2026 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
This is the ideal cityscape. You may not like it, but this is what peak urbanism looks like.
February 7, 2026 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
It's a pity they didn't go with Princess Pingyang, who's not only a genuine historical princess (& the daughter of Li Yuan, the guy who founded the Tang Dynasty, but one so badass she commanded an entire army in her own right to help him do so

Prolly couldn't get that "Disney G-Rating," tho...
February 7, 2026 at 8:55 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
This is both deeply validating and nauseating.

I've long struggled to understand where the anti-trans bigotry was coming from, how it reached a fever pitch so fast, and sustained itself despite clearly evident facts.

This is part of the answer, and its disgusting how these prominent shits worked.
You’re not crazy. The anti-trans movement is not organic; it was funded by pedophilic billionaires like Jeffrey Epstein who backed a network of conservatives to accuse the same people they were sexually abusing of being the real danger. @madycast.com exposes the truth in our in-depth report.
Epstein Backed ‘Billionaires’ Dinner’ Network of Prominent Anti-Trans Figures
Lawrence Krauss, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker and other anti-trans influencers personally benefited from a right-wing academic social group backed by infamous human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, somet...
transnews.network
February 7, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
"It’s the pussy-grabbers’ world – we just live in it. The only difference is you can now see it laid out in black and white." #IfYouReadOneThingToday
So the Epstein scandal is about politics? Silly me for thinking it’s about the mass abuse of women and girls | Marina Hyde
Obsessing over individual players and political chaos leaves less time to focus on the misogyny. And that’s for the best, isn’t it guys, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
A social media ban is effectively a ban on having friends who don't live nearby, which is what most under-16s use it for. For some kids, those friends are a lifeline
February 7, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Sunset on Ngunnawal Country
February 7, 2026 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Lib Dems urge FCA to investigate Peter Mandelson over potential insider trading www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Lib Dems urge FCA to investigate Peter Mandelson over potential insider trading
Exclusive: Daisy Cooper says ex-minister could have ‘abused trading laws’ when sharing state information with Jeffrey Epstein
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:14 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
Indeed, Premier. 👀 "It's really important there's no clashes or violence on the streets in Sydney." www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...
NSW Police given extra powers ahead of Israeli presidential visit
NSW Premier Chris Minns has told demonstrators planning to protest Israel President Isaac Herzog's visit to Sydney that there should be "no clashes or violence".
www.abc.net.au
February 7, 2026 at 3:06 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
#ukgov just gets more and more authoritarian; such a betrayal of the people who voted for it...we won't make that mistake next time
Reflections on the failure of my fatal motion to stop inclusion of #animaltesting under the draconian Public Order Act of 2023. From what I hear, this is certain to be challenged in the courts

www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/peaceful-pro...
Peaceful protest against animal testing facilities has been severely restricted  - Cruelty Free International
www.crueltyfreeinternational.org
February 7, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
I think the real lesson from this week is never upset Jim Pickard and the FT Politics team. I am adding them all to my Christmas card list just in case.
New on FT website:

Downing Street has refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer knew Palantir was a client of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm when they both visited the company in Washington last February — ahead of it winning a £240mn UK government contract.

www.ft.com/content/5bba...
Starmer faces questions over visit to Palantir office alongside Mandelson
Former ambassador was also shareholder in lobbying group that counted US tech firm as a client
www.ft.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:30 AM
Reposted by Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭
that's a "yes", then... #palantir must go
New on FT website:

Downing Street has refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer knew Palantir was a client of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm when they both visited the company in Washington last February — ahead of it winning a £240mn UK government contract.

www.ft.com/content/5bba...
Starmer faces questions over visit to Palantir office alongside Mandelson
Former ambassador was also shareholder in lobbying group that counted US tech firm as a client
www.ft.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:27 AM