Mark Berry
@boulezian.bsky.social
Musicology and history (intellectual, political, etc.). Writing a book on the complete Mozart operas in eighteenth-century historical context. Views, for better or worse, my own. He/him/his https://boulezian.blogspot.com/
Reposted by Mark Berry
to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth
February 17, 2026 at 1:45 PM
to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth
Sue Ellen has announced, as Reform UK Ltd ‘Equalities’ spokesperson, she wants to outlaw the ‘pernicious, divisive notion of protected characteristics’. That puts her several leagues to the fascist right of the Trump administration.
February 17, 2026 at 1:46 PM
Sue Ellen has announced, as Reform UK Ltd ‘Equalities’ spokesperson, she wants to outlaw the ‘pernicious, divisive notion of protected characteristics’. That puts her several leagues to the fascist right of the Trump administration.
Reposted by Mark Berry
One more UK government IT disaster. (£)
Let's start being realistic about what can be achieved, not starting grand certain failures. And rethink the disastrous model of #Outsourcing.
And what can we learn from others? "Pakistan did theirs for one-third of the price"
www.ft.com/content/186f...
Let's start being realistic about what can be achieved, not starting grand certain failures. And rethink the disastrous model of #Outsourcing.
And what can we learn from others? "Pakistan did theirs for one-third of the price"
www.ft.com/content/186f...
UK quietly shelves £110mn frictionless post-Brexit trade border project
Experts criticise halt to programme that had used Deloitte and IBM as contractors
www.ft.com
February 17, 2026 at 12:29 PM
One more UK government IT disaster. (£)
Let's start being realistic about what can be achieved, not starting grand certain failures. And rethink the disastrous model of #Outsourcing.
And what can we learn from others? "Pakistan did theirs for one-third of the price"
www.ft.com/content/186f...
Let's start being realistic about what can be achieved, not starting grand certain failures. And rethink the disastrous model of #Outsourcing.
And what can we learn from others? "Pakistan did theirs for one-third of the price"
www.ft.com/content/186f...
Reposted by Mark Berry
"No country has ever attempted to rip out its economic infrastructure and replace it with something more primitive" says person who co-founded a campaign for the UK to leave the largest trading bloc in the world, wreaking havoc on the country's economic infrastructure.
February 16, 2026 at 8:50 AM
"No country has ever attempted to rip out its economic infrastructure and replace it with something more primitive" says person who co-founded a campaign for the UK to leave the largest trading bloc in the world, wreaking havoc on the country's economic infrastructure.
Reposted by Mark Berry
The fact that Reform want people to have more kids and also want to end working from home shows how incoherent their world view is.
February 16, 2026 at 8:55 AM
The fact that Reform want people to have more kids and also want to end working from home shows how incoherent their world view is.
Reposted by Mark Berry
😂 Oops! That did NOT quite go to plan for GB News!
February 16, 2026 at 3:35 PM
😂 Oops! That did NOT quite go to plan for GB News!
Reposted by Mark Berry
As an ex-Civil Servant, I’m assuming the advice from officials was that postponing the elections was legally risky, and that advice was disregarded on political grounds. And now they’re panicking.
Yet more evidence that Starmer’s Labour are just utterly clueless at the basics of government.
Yet more evidence that Starmer’s Labour are just utterly clueless at the basics of government.
I am pleased the Government has done another u turn.
Attempting to cancel elections, on top of scrapping jury trials, mandatory ID cards, criminalising peaceful protest and harassment of journalists is part of a disturbing authoritarian trend of this caretaker Prime Minister.
Attempting to cancel elections, on top of scrapping jury trials, mandatory ID cards, criminalising peaceful protest and harassment of journalists is part of a disturbing authoritarian trend of this caretaker Prime Minister.
Breaking: UK government is confirming it’s dropped plans to delay local elections at 30 English councils
February 16, 2026 at 4:05 PM
As an ex-Civil Servant, I’m assuming the advice from officials was that postponing the elections was legally risky, and that advice was disregarded on political grounds. And now they’re panicking.
Yet more evidence that Starmer’s Labour are just utterly clueless at the basics of government.
Yet more evidence that Starmer’s Labour are just utterly clueless at the basics of government.
All you need know about Josh Simons was that he got ahead of the ‘Labour antisemitism crisis’ curve by pretending to be a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and becoming an advisor, almost immediately resigning (2016!) on alleged grounds of ‘Labour antisemitism’. His socialist ‘beliefs’ instantly vanished.
February 16, 2026 at 3:39 PM
All you need know about Josh Simons was that he got ahead of the ‘Labour antisemitism crisis’ curve by pretending to be a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and becoming an advisor, almost immediately resigning (2016!) on alleged grounds of ‘Labour antisemitism’. His socialist ‘beliefs’ instantly vanished.
Reposted by Mark Berry
the guardian is reviewing an interview with a survivor of mass rape.
i mean it just seems weird to be like 'four stars!' about something like this. 🤷♀️
it would fit better as an opinion piece i think?
i mean it just seems weird to be like 'four stars!' about something like this. 🤷♀️
it would fit better as an opinion piece i think?
Gisèle Pelicot: The Newsnight Interview review – you can only gaze admiringly at her strength and grace
Gisèle Pelicot: The Newsnight Interview review – you can only gaze admiringly at her strength and grace
Mme Pelicot’s innate dignity shines through, as she explains why she waived her anonymity – after her husband drugged her so that dozens of men could sexually assault her
www.theguardian.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:36 PM
the guardian is reviewing an interview with a survivor of mass rape.
i mean it just seems weird to be like 'four stars!' about something like this. 🤷♀️
it would fit better as an opinion piece i think?
i mean it just seems weird to be like 'four stars!' about something like this. 🤷♀️
it would fit better as an opinion piece i think?
Reposted by Mark Berry
I think the incredible thing about all of this is if he does order a half-way competent investigation he's basically dug his own grave when he's already dug another 3 in recent weeks. The man just will not stop.
In fairness, I don’t think we can understand Sir Keir instructing the Forde investigation unless he was basically clueless about the shenanigans and just assumed they’d find little or no wrongdoing by his own staff. I could easily believe he personally is still oblivious to all this stuff.
February 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM
I think the incredible thing about all of this is if he does order a half-way competent investigation he's basically dug his own grave when he's already dug another 3 in recent weeks. The man just will not stop.
The same type of people who sabotaged the 2017 and 2019 UK General Elections, ensuring departure from the EU and reinstallation of Johnson, who are - sorry, were - as enthusiastic about Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson as they are about genocide, child poverty, and deporting refugees: the PLP.
I do think there’s a certain type of Democrat that realizes it’s possible we are dealing with a perfect storm where almost any Democrat will win, and are terrified we might nominate radical candidates who will actually engage in needed change instead of status quo corporate centrist bullshit.
One of the interesting things this time around is just how hollow the whole thing sounds. In the past, people have been able to use the empty concept of electability to anoint and position the person they demanded, but now that Republicans are getting obliterated everywhere, that doesn't work.
February 16, 2026 at 1:10 PM
The same type of people who sabotaged the 2017 and 2019 UK General Elections, ensuring departure from the EU and reinstallation of Johnson, who are - sorry, were - as enthusiastic about Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson as they are about genocide, child poverty, and deporting refugees: the PLP.
Reposted by Mark Berry
If children were more politically active they would be quite pissed to be told that their screen time is “the most urgent public health issue” while the largest measles outbreak since the vaccine sweeps their schools because of conspiracies that the adults in their life believed from social media.
‘It’s the most urgent public health issue’: Dr Rangan Chatterjee on screen time, mental health – and banning social media until 18
‘It’s the most urgent public health issue’: Dr Rangan Chatterjee on screen time, mental health – and banning social media until 18
The hit podcaster, author and former GP says a failure to regulate big tech is ‘failing a generation of children’. He explains why he quit the NHS and why he wants a ban on screen-based homework
www.theguardian.com
February 16, 2026 at 7:52 AM
If children were more politically active they would be quite pissed to be told that their screen time is “the most urgent public health issue” while the largest measles outbreak since the vaccine sweeps their schools because of conspiracies that the adults in their life believed from social media.
Next up, the NY Times calls for ‘a sane National Socialism’.
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
Carrie Prejean Boller perfectly encapsulates the rising tide of antisemitism in the United States, our columnist David French writes. “Boller is also, ironically enough, showing the necessity for a sane Christian Zionism.”
Carrie Prejean Boller perfectly encapsulates the rising tide of antisemitism in the United States, our columnist David French writes. “Boller is also, ironically enough, showing the necessity for a sane Christian Zionism.”
Opinion | Toward a Sane Christian Zionism
Toward a sane Christian Zionism.
nyti.ms
February 15, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Next up, the NY Times calls for ‘a sane National Socialism’.
Liberals are ‘still with her’.
Hillary Clinton: "More people were deported under my husband and Barack Obama without killing American citizens and without putting children into detention camps than were in the first Trump term or this first year of Trump's second term."
February 15, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Liberals are ‘still with her’.
Reposted by Mark Berry
Reposted by Mark Berry
What this Harry Yorke? Tch, those pesky face-eating leopards, eh?
February 15, 2026 at 11:16 AM
What this Harry Yorke? Tch, those pesky face-eating leopards, eh?
Reposted by Mark Berry
I imagine all the lads are horrified and devastated to discover Labour Together compiles bullshitty dossiers of nonsense designed to damage people they want to wreck, especially these journos, who took dossiers from Labour Together and presented them to the public as a terrifying national menace.
February 15, 2026 at 11:51 AM
I imagine all the lads are horrified and devastated to discover Labour Together compiles bullshitty dossiers of nonsense designed to damage people they want to wreck, especially these journos, who took dossiers from Labour Together and presented them to the public as a terrifying national menace.
Reposted by Mark Berry
The key thing about this story isn’t actually what the PR firm did - awful as it is - it’s that the journalists they smeared *were investigating the undeclared funding that brought Starmer to power*
That’s why Josh Simons commissioned them
To stop reporting on Labour Together breaking election law
That’s why Josh Simons commissioned them
To stop reporting on Labour Together breaking election law
Sunday Times splashing today with story about Labour Together paying for a smear campaign against journalists investigating its undeclared funding
Democracy for Sale broke story 10 days ago and we’ve been reporting on it ever since😊
Now we need proper accountability!
democracyforsale.substack.com
Democracy for Sale broke story 10 days ago and we’ve been reporting on it ever since😊
Now we need proper accountability!
democracyforsale.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 11:01 AM
The key thing about this story isn’t actually what the PR firm did - awful as it is - it’s that the journalists they smeared *were investigating the undeclared funding that brought Starmer to power*
That’s why Josh Simons commissioned them
To stop reporting on Labour Together breaking election law
That’s why Josh Simons commissioned them
To stop reporting on Labour Together breaking election law
I’m not sure how any of this could be true of the Holy Roman Empire. It may have been ‘multicultural’, but there were tariffs and duties aplenty between territories. Also unclear who would have fought to defend it, or even what defending it would mean.
some past “multicultural economic zones” you may recall include the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire.
while all of these had significant problems “no one will die to defend them” was memorably not among them
while all of these had significant problems “no one will die to defend them” was memorably not among them
1/3 What Musk is really referring to here is, of course “race” - that construct that served to define the hierarchies of wealth & power structured by modern colonialism. Like other far right racists though, he uses the word “culture” as a seemingly less pernicious synonym.
February 15, 2026 at 4:14 PM
I’m not sure how any of this could be true of the Holy Roman Empire. It may have been ‘multicultural’, but there were tariffs and duties aplenty between territories. Also unclear who would have fought to defend it, or even what defending it would mean.