The Spectre Haunting Europe
@frightfulhobgoblin.bsky.social
Sometimes antisocial but always antifascist
🟥 Libertarian communist
🦋♾️ AuDHD
🚻 he/him
🏳️⚧️ Trans liberation
🇵🇸 Palestinian liberation
⚒️ Working-class liberation
🟥 Libertarian communist
🦋♾️ AuDHD
🚻 he/him
🏳️⚧️ Trans liberation
🇵🇸 Palestinian liberation
⚒️ Working-class liberation
Capitalism is so cooked it's only systemic response to anthropogenic climate change is to *commodify the greenhouse gases themselves* so they can be traded in a manner that preserves profit and massive inequality in the hands of greenhouse gas producers.
November 25, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Capitalism is so cooked it's only systemic response to anthropogenic climate change is to *commodify the greenhouse gases themselves* so they can be traded in a manner that preserves profit and massive inequality in the hands of greenhouse gas producers.
This is really what it's all been about: trying to bilk the handful of day-traders & sovereign funds that prop up the bond markets into grudging acceptance of her tenure by performative cruelty vs benefits recipients, the disabled, migrants etc.
Neoliberal feedback mechanisms are psychopathic.
Neoliberal feedback mechanisms are psychopathic.
Reeves asks banks to praise her plans as they escape Budget tax raid on.ft.com/3KjmNae
Reeves asks banks to praise her plans as they escape Budget tax raid
Chancellor is under pressure from some Labour MPs to raise levies on business this week
on.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:31 PM
This is really what it's all been about: trying to bilk the handful of day-traders & sovereign funds that prop up the bond markets into grudging acceptance of her tenure by performative cruelty vs benefits recipients, the disabled, migrants etc.
Neoliberal feedback mechanisms are psychopathic.
Neoliberal feedback mechanisms are psychopathic.
Wicked: For Good is actually a film about how antifascist partisans are critical to defeating authoritarianism even if they fail to achieve state power directly; they destabilise internal systems and lay its contradictions bare.
November 24, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Wicked: For Good is actually a film about how antifascist partisans are critical to defeating authoritarianism even if they fail to achieve state power directly; they destabilise internal systems and lay its contradictions bare.
Burying the tottering HE sector, for the kind of money the government loses down the back of the sofa - less than 0.05% of the govt's annual budget.
I'd describe this as a catastrophic failure of imagination, but the obvious solution - wealth taxes on the rich - is insultingly obvious to everyone.
I'd describe this as a catastrophic failure of imagination, but the obvious solution - wealth taxes on the rich - is insultingly obvious to everyone.
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Burying the tottering HE sector, for the kind of money the government loses down the back of the sofa - less than 0.05% of the govt's annual budget.
I'd describe this as a catastrophic failure of imagination, but the obvious solution - wealth taxes on the rich - is insultingly obvious to everyone.
I'd describe this as a catastrophic failure of imagination, but the obvious solution - wealth taxes on the rich - is insultingly obvious to everyone.
Surely this was the point? Create an atmosphere in which anti-genocide opinions and speech are considered terrorism, or terrorist adjacent?
What do you mean these people aren't 'real' terrorists, and they're gumming up other repressive systems designed to demonise Muslims more generally?
What do you mean these people aren't 'real' terrorists, and they're gumming up other repressive systems designed to demonise Muslims more generally?
Palestine Action ban could lead to people being wrongly criminalised, Home Office official says
Palestine Action ban could lead to people being wrongly criminalised, Home Office official says
Exclusive: Member of homeland security group says anti-terrorism Prevent scheme risks being overwhelmed by Palestine advocates
The anti-terrorism Prevent programme risks being overwhelmed because of the government’s ban on Palestine Action and could lead to people being wrongly criminalised, a member of the Home Office’s homeland security group has warned.
The official said there was already confusion among counter-terrorism police, officials and in schools and hospitals as a result of the proscription of the direct action group, which makes being a member of – or showing support for – it a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Surely this was the point? Create an atmosphere in which anti-genocide opinions and speech are considered terrorism, or terrorist adjacent?
What do you mean these people aren't 'real' terrorists, and they're gumming up other repressive systems designed to demonise Muslims more generally?
What do you mean these people aren't 'real' terrorists, and they're gumming up other repressive systems designed to demonise Muslims more generally?
It's pretty instructive to compare the kinds of arguments that racists made in favour of segregation to the arguments transphobes make in favour of excluding trans people from public life.
Performative white feminine fragility vs the hypersexualised other has always been the #1 weapon.
Performative white feminine fragility vs the hypersexualised other has always been the #1 weapon.
November 23, 2025 at 10:27 AM
It's pretty instructive to compare the kinds of arguments that racists made in favour of segregation to the arguments transphobes make in favour of excluding trans people from public life.
Performative white feminine fragility vs the hypersexualised other has always been the #1 weapon.
Performative white feminine fragility vs the hypersexualised other has always been the #1 weapon.
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that a hack writer whose wizards canonically simply shat themselves and cleaned it up with magic would be confused and enraged by the normal operation of bathrooms.
November 22, 2025 at 11:23 PM
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that a hack writer whose wizards canonically simply shat themselves and cleaned it up with magic would be confused and enraged by the normal operation of bathrooms.
Zack Polanski inviting Zarah Sultana to join the Greens is, frankly, top craic.
November 22, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Zack Polanski inviting Zarah Sultana to join the Greens is, frankly, top craic.
Pontification about 'the dangers of populism' come down to no more than that which has been playing on the mind of the bourgeoisie for 600 years: fear of the mob.
On the contrary - the mob is the *only* social institution which has advanced, safeguarded and underpinned social progress.
On the contrary - the mob is the *only* social institution which has advanced, safeguarded and underpinned social progress.
November 22, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Pontification about 'the dangers of populism' come down to no more than that which has been playing on the mind of the bourgeoisie for 600 years: fear of the mob.
On the contrary - the mob is the *only* social institution which has advanced, safeguarded and underpinned social progress.
On the contrary - the mob is the *only* social institution which has advanced, safeguarded and underpinned social progress.
No coincidence that Mamdani was meeting Trump whilst the House Democrats were passing a resolution to 'condemn socialism'.
A very real split between narrow establishment politics and emergent mass politics (in its positive, optimistic form vs its negative, hateful form). The old ways are dying.
A very real split between narrow establishment politics and emergent mass politics (in its positive, optimistic form vs its negative, hateful form). The old ways are dying.
November 22, 2025 at 5:52 PM
No coincidence that Mamdani was meeting Trump whilst the House Democrats were passing a resolution to 'condemn socialism'.
A very real split between narrow establishment politics and emergent mass politics (in its positive, optimistic form vs its negative, hateful form). The old ways are dying.
A very real split between narrow establishment politics and emergent mass politics (in its positive, optimistic form vs its negative, hateful form). The old ways are dying.
You mean, the same trick that was used to put Starmer into power too?
The same people who convinced the British public to back a catastrophic Boris Johnson premiership are now pulling the same trick again with Nigel Farage
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-confid...
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-confid...
The Confidence Trick That Put Boris Johnson Into Power Is Now Being Used on Nigel Farage
The same people who convinced the British public to back a catastrophic Boris Johnson premiership are now pulling the same trick again with Nigel Farage
www.adambienkov.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 11:38 AM
You mean, the same trick that was used to put Starmer into power too?
You could only believe this if you were either a child or in a coma between 2001-9.
Hell, I was a child and even I remember what a nasty piece of work this lunatic Christofascist was.
Hell, I was a child and even I remember what a nasty piece of work this lunatic Christofascist was.
Watching the funeral of VP Dick Cheney and listening to his daughter, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, speak. One can only hope that this GOP will find its democratic compass again and reject all things fascist. I didn’t always agree with VP Cheney BUT he was antifa. He always put country over party.RIP🙏
November 22, 2025 at 9:38 AM
You could only believe this if you were either a child or in a coma between 2001-9.
Hell, I was a child and even I remember what a nasty piece of work this lunatic Christofascist was.
Hell, I was a child and even I remember what a nasty piece of work this lunatic Christofascist was.
Has come to my attention that my account has been labelled for having a 'hate symbol' as its pfp.
Firstly, that's a pumpkin. That's the joke.
Secondly, this requires believing that the people who built Auschwitz and the people who liberated were identical.
Firstly, that's a pumpkin. That's the joke.
Secondly, this requires believing that the people who built Auschwitz and the people who liberated were identical.
November 21, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Has come to my attention that my account has been labelled for having a 'hate symbol' as its pfp.
Firstly, that's a pumpkin. That's the joke.
Secondly, this requires believing that the people who built Auschwitz and the people who liberated were identical.
Firstly, that's a pumpkin. That's the joke.
Secondly, this requires believing that the people who built Auschwitz and the people who liberated were identical.
Another MP has left Your Party.
Cart-before-horse strategy of placing unprincipled alliance with petit bourgeois MPs ahead of actual mass party building has turned out to be totally unsustainable.
We have to face it - Corbyn just isn't that good a leader.
Cart-before-horse strategy of placing unprincipled alliance with petit bourgeois MPs ahead of actual mass party building has turned out to be totally unsustainable.
We have to face it - Corbyn just isn't that good a leader.
November 21, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Another MP has left Your Party.
Cart-before-horse strategy of placing unprincipled alliance with petit bourgeois MPs ahead of actual mass party building has turned out to be totally unsustainable.
We have to face it - Corbyn just isn't that good a leader.
Cart-before-horse strategy of placing unprincipled alliance with petit bourgeois MPs ahead of actual mass party building has turned out to be totally unsustainable.
We have to face it - Corbyn just isn't that good a leader.
Remember that scene in The Big Short when Steve Carell and the lads lay out the impending subprime mortgage crash to the Moody's credit rating agent, and it dawns on them that they're also in on the titanic con?
We're about there.
We're about there.
"It’s hard to overstate how unlikely it is that a business with almost $200bn of annual revenue would grow at a rate of over 60 per cent. Yet such are the fantastical finances of Nvidia." from an excellent FT Lex note www.ft.com/content/bd6f...
Nvidia’s AI supremacy is a weapon that cuts both ways
While the chipmaker is the big winner from the booming technology, it is singularly exposed to changing expectations
www.ft.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Remember that scene in The Big Short when Steve Carell and the lads lay out the impending subprime mortgage crash to the Moody's credit rating agent, and it dawns on them that they're also in on the titanic con?
We're about there.
We're about there.
Pretty on brand for the Sensibles to watch the Danish Left managing to blunder into reviving the fortunes of a fragmented and dwindling far-right - and think, ace let's do that here too!
November 20, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Pretty on brand for the Sensibles to watch the Danish Left managing to blunder into reviving the fortunes of a fragmented and dwindling far-right - and think, ace let's do that here too!
If you call a conference at two weeks notice, I wonder what socioeconomic makeup of delegates you're likely to get?
'Idle wealthy' is probably an exaggeration - but certainly not representative of the Party (far less the working-class as a whole).
Yet again, mass participation is an afterthought.
'Idle wealthy' is probably an exaggeration - but certainly not representative of the Party (far less the working-class as a whole).
Yet again, mass participation is an afterthought.
November 19, 2025 at 11:34 PM
If you call a conference at two weeks notice, I wonder what socioeconomic makeup of delegates you're likely to get?
'Idle wealthy' is probably an exaggeration - but certainly not representative of the Party (far less the working-class as a whole).
Yet again, mass participation is an afterthought.
'Idle wealthy' is probably an exaggeration - but certainly not representative of the Party (far less the working-class as a whole).
Yet again, mass participation is an afterthought.
So it transpires that the ECHR full guidance on the Supreme Court's landmark trans decision is so egregiously draconian that even absolute wallopers like Phillipson are loathe to let it see the light of day.
There is no way out of this lunatic cul-de-sac without dismantling the organs of cis power.
There is no way out of this lunatic cul-de-sac without dismantling the organs of cis power.
"Trans people could be banned from single-sex spaces based on how they look. The Times has seen the equalities watchdog’s final guidance, which Whitehall figures fear Bridget Phillipson is delaying to avoid a political backlash" [Times]
www.thetimes.com/article/82ee...
www.thetimes.com/article/82ee...
Trans people could be banned from single-sex spaces based on how they look
The Times has seen the equalities watchdog’s final guidance, which Whitehall figures fear Bridget Phillipson is delaying to avoid a political backlash
www.thetimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:15 PM
So it transpires that the ECHR full guidance on the Supreme Court's landmark trans decision is so egregiously draconian that even absolute wallopers like Phillipson are loathe to let it see the light of day.
There is no way out of this lunatic cul-de-sac without dismantling the organs of cis power.
There is no way out of this lunatic cul-de-sac without dismantling the organs of cis power.
Grimly funny that this is all going to be somewhat academic if tonight's NVIDIA earnings call falls short.
Labour plot to slash electricity prices for AI companies
LABOUR are planning to cut electricity prices for tech companies while energy bills continue to leave families struggling, The National can reveal. 👇
www.thenational.scot/news/2563567...
LABOUR are planning to cut electricity prices for tech companies while energy bills continue to leave families struggling, The National can reveal. 👇
www.thenational.scot/news/2563567...
Labour plot to slash electricity prices for AI companies while families struggle
LABOUR are planning to cut electricity prices for tech companies while energy bills continue to leave families struggling, The National can reveal.
www.thenational.scot
November 19, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Grimly funny that this is all going to be somewhat academic if tonight's NVIDIA earnings call falls short.
Why would you bother even going through the motions of pretending that a sovereign wealth fund conducting private partnership construction investment will result, some long distance down the line, in cheaper bills, when the government is foundering on rocks entirely of its own making?
LATEST: The head of Labour’s flagship public energy company GB Energy has failed to back the party’s election pledge to cut bills by £300
GB Energy boss fails to back Labour's £300 bill cut pledge
www.thenational.scot
November 19, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Why would you bother even going through the motions of pretending that a sovereign wealth fund conducting private partnership construction investment will result, some long distance down the line, in cheaper bills, when the government is foundering on rocks entirely of its own making?
It somewhat demystifies the quiescence of the 'Don't Tread On Me' libertarian crowd to realise they conceive of the 'Me' to be tread upon exclusively as white, propertied men - whose rights have never been less encroached upon.
This has been true since the 'universal' language of the Founders.
This has been true since the 'universal' language of the Founders.
November 19, 2025 at 6:21 PM
It somewhat demystifies the quiescence of the 'Don't Tread On Me' libertarian crowd to realise they conceive of the 'Me' to be tread upon exclusively as white, propertied men - whose rights have never been less encroached upon.
This has been true since the 'universal' language of the Founders.
This has been true since the 'universal' language of the Founders.
The libs have decided that obviously Trump's acting AG fitted up James Comey because she is a dumb woman who has had plastic surgery.
Not because she was directed to do so by a would-be autocrat.
Not because she was directed to do so by a would-be autocrat.
November 19, 2025 at 4:59 PM
The libs have decided that obviously Trump's acting AG fitted up James Comey because she is a dumb woman who has had plastic surgery.
Not because she was directed to do so by a would-be autocrat.
Not because she was directed to do so by a would-be autocrat.
The right to be addressed and validated as your actual gender is one so basic, so universal, so automatic, that cis people frequently fail to acknowledge it as a human right at all.
November 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
The right to be addressed and validated as your actual gender is one so basic, so universal, so automatic, that cis people frequently fail to acknowledge it as a human right at all.
This is just about on the money.
Any short-term electoral gain will be temporary, compared to the skewing of public debate in the direction of fascist parties.
Labour haven't even been given the grace of the temporary populist bounce - bc they're attempting bread & circuses, without either.
Any short-term electoral gain will be temporary, compared to the skewing of public debate in the direction of fascist parties.
Labour haven't even been given the grace of the temporary populist bounce - bc they're attempting bread & circuses, without either.
Danish politician warns UK over plans to copy hardline immigration crackdown
A DANISH politician has said Britain should not copy his country’s strict migration policy – warning it will only fuel the growth of the…
www.thenational.scot
November 19, 2025 at 3:54 PM
This is just about on the money.
Any short-term electoral gain will be temporary, compared to the skewing of public debate in the direction of fascist parties.
Labour haven't even been given the grace of the temporary populist bounce - bc they're attempting bread & circuses, without either.
Any short-term electoral gain will be temporary, compared to the skewing of public debate in the direction of fascist parties.
Labour haven't even been given the grace of the temporary populist bounce - bc they're attempting bread & circuses, without either.
We caught them smiling and telling jokes in the concentration camp! Guards! Guards!
Asylum seekers aren't crying and terrified all the time and that makes the Daily Express mad
November 19, 2025 at 12:24 PM
We caught them smiling and telling jokes in the concentration camp! Guards! Guards!