John McTernan
@johnmct.bsky.social
Reposted by John McTernan
guys minneapolis is a living hell today. they've tear-gassed so many people, tear-gassed a park, beaten people up in front of me. greg bovino is rolling around to gas stations and posing in front of them, trying to cause a riot.
January 21, 2026 at 9:33 PM
guys minneapolis is a living hell today. they've tear-gassed so many people, tear-gassed a park, beaten people up in front of me. greg bovino is rolling around to gas stations and posing in front of them, trying to cause a riot.
Reposted by John McTernan
It absolutely does. The people going “Reform are just the Tories rebadged!” and Kemi going “they’re just a leftwing party” - these people are Reform’s useful idiots, they’re aiding in Farage’s project to de-demonise his party.
Does comparing Reform to the Tories not also reduce the toxicity around Farage?
January 21, 2026 at 5:57 PM
It absolutely does. The people going “Reform are just the Tories rebadged!” and Kemi going “they’re just a leftwing party” - these people are Reform’s useful idiots, they’re aiding in Farage’s project to de-demonise his party.
Reposted by John McTernan
Think this is absolutely right. "The Conservatives have changed" is one of the most successful election messages in British politics. It has won at least half the elections since 1945 (1951, 1970, 1979, 1992, 2010, 2017, 2019) Why would 'Reform are just the Tories, but changed' be any different?
This is, again, why I think "They are just the Tories with a new name" isn't necessarily damaging for them. Lots of people like(d) voting for the Tories.
www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/voters-lik...
www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/voters-lik...
Voters like Us
Identity, belonging, and the normalisation of Reform
www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk
January 21, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Think this is absolutely right. "The Conservatives have changed" is one of the most successful election messages in British politics. It has won at least half the elections since 1945 (1951, 1970, 1979, 1992, 2010, 2017, 2019) Why would 'Reform are just the Tories, but changed' be any different?
Reposted by John McTernan
Lab to DK is a group twice as large as Lab to Ref (and losses to DK are often easiest to win back)
Lab to Grn/LD is a group three times as large as Lab to Ref (and on multiple metrics this group looks more open to returning to Labour)
Lab to Grn/LD is a group three times as large as Lab to Ref (and on multiple metrics this group looks more open to returning to Labour)
🧵/ How would Britain vote at the start of 2026: Our new study of 17,000 Britons breaks down current voting intention by factors such as age, socio-economic classification, past vote, and more...
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
January 21, 2026 at 3:12 PM
Lab to DK is a group twice as large as Lab to Ref (and losses to DK are often easiest to win back)
Lab to Grn/LD is a group three times as large as Lab to Ref (and on multiple metrics this group looks more open to returning to Labour)
Lab to Grn/LD is a group three times as large as Lab to Ref (and on multiple metrics this group looks more open to returning to Labour)
Reposted by John McTernan
I could have written 10k words on this game. It's remarkable. It's everything you want and need from a city-builder, but also there's transport tycoon and sid meier's colonization stuff in there as well, and even in EA it's almost perfect
Whiskerwood is already one of the finest city-builders Luke has ever played:
aftermath.site/whiskerwood-re...
aftermath.site/whiskerwood-re...
January 20, 2026 at 10:33 PM
I could have written 10k words on this game. It's remarkable. It's everything you want and need from a city-builder, but also there's transport tycoon and sid meier's colonization stuff in there as well, and even in EA it's almost perfect
Reposted by John McTernan
As SpinningHugo knows, the scenario John Kerr envisaged when he drafted the Article 50
Process was that it would be used by a country that was drifting towards autocracy, quitting in high dudgeon after being sanctioned by the rest of the bloc.
Process was that it would be used by a country that was drifting towards autocracy, quitting in high dudgeon after being sanctioned by the rest of the bloc.
One of the awful aspects of Brexit (that the British ignore) is that it weakened the EU. A rational reorganisation would be to reincorporate the British, and throw Hungary out.
/1
/1
💥Viktor Orbán’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó says Hungary is BLOCKING a joint EU statement on Greenland.
After years acting as a Trojan horse for Russia and China, Budapest now does the same for Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Orbán ally Andrej Babiš’s Czech government also refuses to back Denmark...
After years acting as a Trojan horse for Russia and China, Budapest now does the same for Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Orbán ally Andrej Babiš’s Czech government also refuses to back Denmark...
January 20, 2026 at 9:24 PM
As SpinningHugo knows, the scenario John Kerr envisaged when he drafted the Article 50
Process was that it would be used by a country that was drifting towards autocracy, quitting in high dudgeon after being sanctioned by the rest of the bloc.
Process was that it would be used by a country that was drifting towards autocracy, quitting in high dudgeon after being sanctioned by the rest of the bloc.
Reposted by John McTernan
An estimated 100,000 rideshare drivers in Illinois could win the right to join a union under new legislation expected to be filed in Springfield this month.
Uber and Lyft drivers could win union rights if state law changes
An estimated 100,000 rideshare drivers in Illinois could win the right to join a union under new legislation expected to be filed in Springfield this month.
trib.al
January 20, 2026 at 9:26 PM
An estimated 100,000 rideshare drivers in Illinois could win the right to join a union under new legislation expected to be filed in Springfield this month.
Reposted by John McTernan
Wait, sorry, Shabana Mahmood called for WHAT?
January 20, 2026 at 9:38 AM
Wait, sorry, Shabana Mahmood called for WHAT?
Reposted by John McTernan
'Bureaucracies are a lot like ChatGPT in that the quality of what they produce is heavily dependent on the quality of the prompt (and the knowledge of the person scrutinising the output at the end).'
Late to this from @stephenkb.bsky.social yesterday but what a quote
www.ft.com/content/5aba...
Late to this from @stephenkb.bsky.social yesterday but what a quote
www.ft.com/content/5aba...
Defence policy falters when given the wrong prompt
If the UK can no longer soothe the US with its pledges, it should refocus on what spending targets are actually for
www.ft.com
January 20, 2026 at 12:05 PM
'Bureaucracies are a lot like ChatGPT in that the quality of what they produce is heavily dependent on the quality of the prompt (and the knowledge of the person scrutinising the output at the end).'
Late to this from @stephenkb.bsky.social yesterday but what a quote
www.ft.com/content/5aba...
Late to this from @stephenkb.bsky.social yesterday but what a quote
www.ft.com/content/5aba...
Reposted by John McTernan
Reposted by John McTernan
Some perspective: The S&P opened down -1.3% on Trump's Greenland saber-rattling. That's $750 billion of wealth destroyed -- roughly equal to estimates of the value of Greenland.
And so ~in dollar terms~ his shenanigans have already cost the US one Greenland, and we've got nothing to show for it.
And so ~in dollar terms~ his shenanigans have already cost the US one Greenland, and we've got nothing to show for it.
January 20, 2026 at 2:48 PM
Some perspective: The S&P opened down -1.3% on Trump's Greenland saber-rattling. That's $750 billion of wealth destroyed -- roughly equal to estimates of the value of Greenland.
And so ~in dollar terms~ his shenanigans have already cost the US one Greenland, and we've got nothing to show for it.
And so ~in dollar terms~ his shenanigans have already cost the US one Greenland, and we've got nothing to show for it.
Reposted by John McTernan
🍿 If you’re looking to understand what’s happening inside the Dutch far right, today is a great day to read this paper in
@epsrjournal.bsky.social on the evolution of populist radical right party organization in the Netherlands. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
@epsrjournal.bsky.social on the evolution of populist radical right party organization in the Netherlands. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
January 20, 2026 at 2:28 PM
🍿 If you’re looking to understand what’s happening inside the Dutch far right, today is a great day to read this paper in
@epsrjournal.bsky.social on the evolution of populist radical right party organization in the Netherlands. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
@epsrjournal.bsky.social on the evolution of populist radical right party organization in the Netherlands. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by John McTernan
It’s just way harder for a movie that comes out in march to win oscars regardless too
January 20, 2026 at 1:32 AM
It’s just way harder for a movie that comes out in march to win oscars regardless too
Reposted by John McTernan
Reposted by John McTernan
Does anyone remember the classic "ICE vs The Viking in a Bathtub" sketch on Monty Python? Good times!
January 19, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Does anyone remember the classic "ICE vs The Viking in a Bathtub" sketch on Monty Python? Good times!
Reposted by John McTernan
Good point. Not many people know this, but I actually have access to a special, *secret* version of the global economy where I, and I alone, suffer absolutely no ill consequences to the global spike in food or energy costs, by using the special password 'are you nuts?' at the supermarket.
what has stephen bush ever sacrificed?
January 19, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Good point. Not many people know this, but I actually have access to a special, *secret* version of the global economy where I, and I alone, suffer absolutely no ill consequences to the global spike in food or energy costs, by using the special password 'are you nuts?' at the supermarket.
Reposted by John McTernan
If this is true it must be one of the biggest massacres by a government of protesters - not in a civil war - in decades anywhere in the world
January 19, 2026 at 11:19 PM
If this is true it must be one of the biggest massacres by a government of protesters - not in a civil war - in decades anywhere in the world
Reposted by John McTernan
"I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace"
January 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM
"I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace"
Reposted by John McTernan
Think it would be easier than people think to get the public to accept real lower consumption if politicians were more forthright about the case for it. People did so for COVID. "Russia is invading eastern Europe and America is run by a mad king, we need an army" doesn't seem that hard a sell.
January 19, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Think it would be easier than people think to get the public to accept real lower consumption if politicians were more forthright about the case for it. People did so for COVID. "Russia is invading eastern Europe and America is run by a mad king, we need an army" doesn't seem that hard a sell.
Reposted by John McTernan
In this context, does "on the blockchain" mean a distributed permissionless ledger? Because that would seem to me to be creating bearer shares, which is a thing that the tax authorities tend to tell you not to do.
January 19, 2026 at 4:47 PM
In this context, does "on the blockchain" mean a distributed permissionless ledger? Because that would seem to me to be creating bearer shares, which is a thing that the tax authorities tend to tell you not to do.
Reposted by John McTernan
From your mouth to God’s ears
January 18, 2026 at 8:40 PM
From your mouth to God’s ears
Reposted by John McTernan
This is IMV obviously true. Need to bring back the deeply twee 'Love Is' poster campaign TfL ran in the 2000s and also have drivers call people out on the tannoys again.
Gotta do a massssssssive push on phone noise on buses. Has to have big top down element. Expecting individuals to do it alone won’t work
January 18, 2026 at 5:37 PM
This is IMV obviously true. Need to bring back the deeply twee 'Love Is' poster campaign TfL ran in the 2000s and also have drivers call people out on the tannoys again.
Reposted by John McTernan
I just have a few questions…
January 18, 2026 at 5:43 PM
I just have a few questions…
Reposted by John McTernan
"I think we've been here many times in history before," the culture secretary said.
'If It Walks Like A Duck': Lisa Nandy Suggests Nigel Farage Would Lead A 'Fascist' Government
"I think we've been here many times in history before," the culture secretary said.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
January 18, 2026 at 9:17 AM
"I think we've been here many times in history before," the culture secretary said.
Reposted by John McTernan
Prime Minister Keir Starmer:
"Our position on Greenland is very clear – it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes... Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong."
"Our position on Greenland is very clear – it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes... Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong."
January 17, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Prime Minister Keir Starmer:
"Our position on Greenland is very clear – it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes... Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong."
"Our position on Greenland is very clear – it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes... Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong."