Ben Hopkins
@ben4world.bsky.social
Live in London. Apparently I need to write a bio. Not sure what to say. I read too much Blue Sky and Twitter.
Worth reading this one!
My latest: in which I visit Oxfordshire's 'Rubbish Mountain', buy a Twirl in the country's most violent Sainsbury's, and explore the absolutely dismal response of the Environment Agency.
Rubbish Mountain
A gigantic pile of rubbish was dumped in a field in Oxfordshire. The response sums up everything wrong with British bureaucracy.
martinrobbins.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Worth reading this one!
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
It is just incredible that the people who always go on about immigration and muslims and sharia law in Britain are the first to promote British immigration into a muslim country with sharia law.
Fury as Nigel Farage ally backs project to get young Brits to move to Dubai
Fury as Nigel Farage ally backs project to get young Brits to move to Dubai
Charlie Mullins has been accused of giving up on Britain after saying he is supporting a project encouraging young people to move to Dubai
www.mirror.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 9:25 AM
It is just incredible that the people who always go on about immigration and muslims and sharia law in Britain are the first to promote British immigration into a muslim country with sharia law.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
What we're seeing is exactly what we saw in the late 1940s, the late 1960s and the mid- to late 1970s: a concerted and hysterical campaign to delegitimise a Labour government, and indeed the very idea of Labour governments at all.
December 1, 2025 at 8:44 AM
What we're seeing is exactly what we saw in the late 1940s, the late 1960s and the mid- to late 1970s: a concerted and hysterical campaign to delegitimise a Labour government, and indeed the very idea of Labour governments at all.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
This has got to be one of Gavin Newsom's best...
December 1, 2025 at 12:07 AM
This has got to be one of Gavin Newsom's best...
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
unbelievable. the canonical example of an illegal order in the Law of War Manual is "an order to fire upon the shipwrecked."
November 30, 2025 at 5:04 PM
unbelievable. the canonical example of an illegal order in the Law of War Manual is "an order to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
"We blow up ‘alleged’ drug boats in the Caribbean but pardon actually convicted drug traffickers in the U.S. Someone help me make sense of this.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
Trump Announces Pardon for Honduran Ex-President Convicted in Drug Case
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:24 AM
"We blow up ‘alleged’ drug boats in the Caribbean but pardon actually convicted drug traffickers in the U.S. Someone help me make sense of this.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
Several newspapers are mourning the death of "Shakespeare in Love screenwriter Tom Stoppard" which, while technically true, is very much on the level of "Thomas The Tank Engine narrator Ringo Starr".
November 29, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Several newspapers are mourning the death of "Shakespeare in Love screenwriter Tom Stoppard" which, while technically true, is very much on the level of "Thomas The Tank Engine narrator Ringo Starr".
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
Feels like a huge political failing of Labour not to have just made a big (costed) list of everything that was broken by the end of the last regime. We can't have honest discussions about paying for stuff because everyone connected with the last regime is focussed on pretending it was all fine.
November 29, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Feels like a huge political failing of Labour not to have just made a big (costed) list of everything that was broken by the end of the last regime. We can't have honest discussions about paying for stuff because everyone connected with the last regime is focussed on pretending it was all fine.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
November 27, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
A year and a half (at most) to the next French presidential election and Marine Le Pen's party is well-set to win.
The general media ignorance of the continent in favour of American minutiae is a gross disservice to the British public, as well as a distortion of the global picture.
The general media ignorance of the continent in favour of American minutiae is a gross disservice to the British public, as well as a distortion of the global picture.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
New poll suggests Jordan Bardella would win second round of 🇫🇷 presidential election against any other of four tested candidates ⬇️
New poll suggests Jordan Bardella would win second round of 🇫🇷 presidential election against any other of four tested candidates ⬇️
November 26, 2025 at 10:22 AM
A year and a half (at most) to the next French presidential election and Marine Le Pen's party is well-set to win.
The general media ignorance of the continent in favour of American minutiae is a gross disservice to the British public, as well as a distortion of the global picture.
The general media ignorance of the continent in favour of American minutiae is a gross disservice to the British public, as well as a distortion of the global picture.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
He can afford all the luxury of being an articulate charlatan without having to reap any of the consequences of enacting what he proposes.
November 24, 2025 at 10:14 AM
He can afford all the luxury of being an articulate charlatan without having to reap any of the consequences of enacting what he proposes.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
Planet Normal. Sounds a great title for a podcast. Who is hosting, who is guesting?
November 20, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Planet Normal. Sounds a great title for a podcast. Who is hosting, who is guesting?
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
Quiet, piggy.
November 18, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Quiet, piggy.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
There were many lessons from this which are being discussed elsewhere, but one of the biggest that isn't being mentioned is the ultimate untouchable rail of politics is trying to cut pensions and pensioner benefits.
Latest YouGov government approval ratings, 15-17 November 2025
Approve: 11% (-2 from 8-10 Nov)
Disapprove: 69% (-1)
Net: -58 (-1)
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
Approve: 11% (-2 from 8-10 Nov)
Disapprove: 69% (-1)
Net: -58 (-1)
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
November 19, 2025 at 12:19 AM
There were many lessons from this which are being discussed elsewhere, but one of the biggest that isn't being mentioned is the ultimate untouchable rail of politics is trying to cut pensions and pensioner benefits.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
'Prometheus' my ass these guys aren't stealing fire from the gods they're stealing money from the people and setting fire to the planet. All for Bezos living out the 'Olympians punish him by chaining him to a rock and having an eagle eat his liver every day' phase of a titan's life tho.
Jeff Bezos will be co-CEO of AI startup Project Prometheus
Jeff Bezos will be co-CEO of AI startup Project Prometheus
Jeff Bezos has a new job.
buff.ly
November 17, 2025 at 11:26 AM
'Prometheus' my ass these guys aren't stealing fire from the gods they're stealing money from the people and setting fire to the planet. All for Bezos living out the 'Olympians punish him by chaining him to a rock and having an eagle eat his liver every day' phase of a titan's life tho.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
If you need me, tap me on the shoulder. I’ll be happily working all day listening to this on a loop.
November 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
If you need me, tap me on the shoulder. I’ll be happily working all day listening to this on a loop.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
Dix ans après une catastrophe écologique historique, la justice britannique a rendu le géant minier australien BHP responsable de la rupture dévastatrice d’un barrage minier au Brésil en 2015.
La décision, très attendue, ouvre la voie à des dizaines de milliards de livres de compensations.
Lire ⤵️
La décision, très attendue, ouvre la voie à des dizaines de milliards de livres de compensations.
Lire ⤵️
Désastre écologique au Brésil : BHP jugé responsable par la justice britannique
La justice britannique a jugé responsable ce vendredi 14 novembre le géant minier australien de la rupture dévastatrice d’un barrage minier au Brésil en 2015. La décision ouvre la voie à des dizaines de milliards de livres de compensations.
www.liberation.fr
November 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Dix ans après une catastrophe écologique historique, la justice britannique a rendu le géant minier australien BHP responsable de la rupture dévastatrice d’un barrage minier au Brésil en 2015.
La décision, très attendue, ouvre la voie à des dizaines de milliards de livres de compensations.
Lire ⤵️
La décision, très attendue, ouvre la voie à des dizaines de milliards de livres de compensations.
Lire ⤵️
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
A man has been found guilty of writing a stream of consciousness novel. He is about to start a 4 year sentence.
November 12, 2025 at 7:37 PM
A man has been found guilty of writing a stream of consciousness novel. He is about to start a 4 year sentence.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
This is the sort of small but meaningful thing that helps to tackle a major frustration for one group of people inability to do something as basic as book a driving test furthers their feeling Britain is broken. Sort of thing govt should be leading with not infighting.
November 12, 2025 at 11:07 AM
This is the sort of small but meaningful thing that helps to tackle a major frustration for one group of people inability to do something as basic as book a driving test furthers their feeling Britain is broken. Sort of thing govt should be leading with not infighting.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
How the far-right wins in the UK, part 18,904: defeating Labour is far, far more important to the Greens than defeating Farage.
Green leader says Starmer is ‘not a man I would be willing to work with’
Green leader says Starmer is ‘not a man I would be willing to work with’
Green leader says Starmer is ‘not a man I would be willing to work with’
www.independent.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:08 AM
How the far-right wins in the UK, part 18,904: defeating Labour is far, far more important to the Greens than defeating Farage.
A point on which I have no special knowledge, but BBC commercial arm has $2.7 billion global revenue (acc Google AI) and I guess much of that is from the USA, so as well as Davie being fed up, maybe the corporation is now in a position where it can be put under pressure from the States?
November 9, 2025 at 6:54 PM
A point on which I have no special knowledge, but BBC commercial arm has $2.7 billion global revenue (acc Google AI) and I guess much of that is from the USA, so as well as Davie being fed up, maybe the corporation is now in a position where it can be put under pressure from the States?
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
Another very pertinent fact that I have not seen mentioned ANYWHERE: In 14 years of Tory rule we had 14 Prisons Ministers - six in a single year, at one point - and a total of 11 Justice Secretaries, including Grayling, Raab, and Truss. In 13 years of Labour it was three: Irvine, Falconer, Straw. 🤔
November 9, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Another very pertinent fact that I have not seen mentioned ANYWHERE: In 14 years of Tory rule we had 14 Prisons Ministers - six in a single year, at one point - and a total of 11 Justice Secretaries, including Grayling, Raab, and Truss. In 13 years of Labour it was three: Irvine, Falconer, Straw. 🤔
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
and like I speak to a LOT of gilts investors/analysts and none of them have said this to me. Entirely possible they are talking to other people, who are not in fact in the gilts market, or who are and have different views. Takes two opinions to make a market i guess.
🤔
🤔
i mean, gilt yields are pretty well behaved for a situation where apparently everyone in the City thinks we're gonna default
on.ft.com/43eNFhX
on.ft.com/43eNFhX
November 6, 2025 at 9:38 AM
and like I speak to a LOT of gilts investors/analysts and none of them have said this to me. Entirely possible they are talking to other people, who are not in fact in the gilts market, or who are and have different views. Takes two opinions to make a market i guess.
🤔
🤔
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
Today on London Poppy Day, I’m proud to support the incredible work of the Royal British Legion. Our armed forces make immense sacrifices to keep us safe. I know Londoners will once again show their generosity towards our veterans & their families at collections across the transport network.
October 30, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Today on London Poppy Day, I’m proud to support the incredible work of the Royal British Legion. Our armed forces make immense sacrifices to keep us safe. I know Londoners will once again show their generosity towards our veterans & their families at collections across the transport network.
Reposted by Ben Hopkins
This has been doing the rounds on planning LinkedIn over the last few days. Viability assessment by a small developer in the south of England.
October 30, 2025 at 11:05 AM
This has been doing the rounds on planning LinkedIn over the last few days. Viability assessment by a small developer in the south of England.