She's about to become the most-loved and (from other quarters) most-hated peace prize recipient, for no fault of her own

I've been a bit sceptical of the "exodus of US-based academics to Europe" thing, but this is a notable move.

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

No!

It’s like the old joke about the Holy Roman Empire… it’s none of those things!

My article on the 20 point gaza "peace plan" is now out. Let me tell you why peace processes in the Israeli Palestinian conflict seem to keep failing, with a focus on Tony Blair the menace of the middle east

theconversation.com/a-gaza-peace...

Even subtle online rumours change sentiments toward entire groups and heighten conflict-related emotions, especially when combined with injustice frames doi.org/10.1177/0010...

British Synagogue Attacker Pledged Allegiance to ISIS, Police Say

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/w...

"Many of the CEOs I spoke with didn’t care about democracy per se. For them, democracy wasn’t a moral good. It was a source of volatility. What they wanted was stability... "

But "The evidence is overwhelming: countries that weaken democracy do not gain more stability and security, they lose it."

NEW

Has the government overreached in using terrorism law against Palestine Action?

A disclosed MI5 document indicates that the basis for proscription may be weak

By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

1. Wasn’t “British Ice” a Zima-like beverage in the 90s?
2. Kind of an oxymoron too #roomtemperature

Looks like Robocop but I haven't seen it in a long time!

Interesting but perhaps not surprising - the vast majority of research (86%) on "covert action" focuses on Western states. Much of that, US and UK.

Similar to what I found regarding literature on armed conflict.

doi.org/10.1080/0268...

Essex in the news

This is helpful, even for a very slow runner like myself.

Over the weekend, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller repeatedly attacked judges, calling them part of an "organized terrorist attack" on the US government....

On Saturday, the home of a judge who ruled against Trump, went up in flames

time.com/7323442/sout...

Men in balaclavas set fire to a mosque in East Sussex last night. It's only appearing on the BBC's local coverage, rather than its main national headlines, despite coming just a week after the (also under-reported) firebombing of an asylum hotel in London last week
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Jihad Al-Shamie: Who was the Manchester synagogue attacker?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is wild but worth reading. “The group was passionately vegan, mostly transgender and highly educated. Seven of them are now in jail.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Criminals change course after public revulsion. Fascinating and pretty rare (but see article for comparable examples).

Hackers delete children's pictures and data after nursery attack backlash www.bbc.com/news/article...

Today's collective action feat from war-ravaged Portland - all the golden retrievers dressed in a Halloween costume at the pumpkin patch managed to come together for a photo

I first thought the headlines were “US troops to Poland.” That would make sense.

Trends in Terrorism Research and Publications (2010–2023): A Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Authorship, Thematic and Methodological Shifts. by Nyadera, Odote, and Agwanda, and Nzau.

Looks super interesting! Geographic location of authors/institutions, gender, topics...

doi.org/10.1080/1057...

Now we're at 19. 19 new groups added to the US Foreign Terrorist Organization list this year.

13 of them are drug cartels or gangs.