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Jon Henley

@jonhenley.bsky.social

14K followers 520 following 990 posts

Paris-based writer of European allsorts at the Guardian

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 1d

He's a very good writer (unlike LLMs...)

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 1d

Ditto! So miss early Twitter.

Reposted by Jon Henley

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 3d

This detailed demolition of @gullyfoyleuk.bsky.social's "75 Brexit Benefits" by @alanbeattie.bsky.social deserves wider circulation.

Intellectual garbage disposal is a valuable public service!

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 3d

OK, let's take this seriously. I had an odd half an hour and via Apple Books had a quick look at the three claims I knew most about - two re the post-Brexit bilateral preferential trade agreements replicated from the EU versions and one about cheaper bananas. All are wrong or wildly implausible. 1/n

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 4d

👇

Jeremy Cliffe @jeremycliffe.bsky.social · 4d

Worth nuancing (valid) worries about Babis-led Czechia joining Hungary & Slovakia in trio of EU spoiler states + democratic backsliders.

1/ Czech institutions strong
2/ Babis's ANO has backed off some prior pro-🇷🇺🇨🇳 positions
3/ ANO not all-mighty; will form minority govt or lead fractious coalition

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 5d

BREAKING: Populist Czech billionaire Andrej Babis has won a parliamentary election, marking a political comeback.

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 9d

On many issues, of course, modern far right and far left parties increasingly share the same policies. But Stačilo is built around the old Communist party, calls itself "left wing" (and "patriotic"), and is referred to as far or extreme left by Czech political scientists.

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 9d

Thread of the day, no notes

Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 10d

When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 10d

The idea that anyone pays James Delingpole to write anything is frankly beyond me

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 11d

And a very fine phase it is ! But at least you've managed to keep the earring :)

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

Cute!

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

That's certainly true! Different generation

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

Not among the (roughly) under 30s, I find... Certainly compared to what it was like here 20-odd years ago. Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, Minecraft etc have worked wonders. Still not close to Dutch, Scandis etc but an amazing improvement in a couple of decades

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

"eventually"

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

I think it will inevitably be digital-only eventually - or at least, that's the one people will use. My daughter keeps her physical French ID card in her phone case so she has it with her. She and her generation will jump at a digital version.

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

Physical ID cards are mandatory in 15 EU countries, as the article says. As they move to digital wallets, citizens in those countries will have that card stored digitally. They may possibly be able to opt out of that feature, but they'd still have to have a physical card.

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

That's clear from the article, I think? The first paragraph says exactly that. Germany is certainly rather a tech outlier (see fax use ...) But in other countries digital take-up has been fine.

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

Please explain why.

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 12d

Really? Please explain how it is different to other digital ID wallets in use elsewhere

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 13d

The professor of populism has become the populist professor

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 16d

Bloody brilliant, magnificent achievement

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 16d

C'mon, only 33% fat... 😜

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 16d

In a nutshell (as usual with @casmudde.bsky.social 's observations)

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · 16d

Public opinion is outcome of complex interaction between fact, perception, and ideology — which are shaped, to large part, by (social) media and politics.

The gap between fact and perception is growing because neoliberal media emphasize extreme outliers and dominant ideology emphasizes mistrust.

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 16d

This must at least partly be due to the unwritten media rule that bad news is (almost always) bigger than good news

Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 16d

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds

open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 16d

TRUE

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 16d

Ah il faut sortir les pulls alors!

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 17d

My worry would be not that they can't be bothered to take advantage of it, but that they are not politically aware enough to see that it exists