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Yuriy Akopov

@yakopov.me

420 followers 210 following 6K posts

True men don't kill coyotes https://yakopov.me

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Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 1h

For all its downsides, the UK does not really have "militarised police".

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 11h

"Without farmers you will starve!" (grows soybeans for China and corn for ethanol)

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 11h

Conservatives and reactionaries are different breeds (not unlike liberals and progressives).

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 11h

It was memory holed that in 2020 Silicon Valley and the whole adjacent ecosystem (Cummings et al. in the UK etc.) were very pro lockdown. COVID was a threat unrecognised by "the Blob", and it was coming from CHINA.

https://xcancel.com/g_shullenberger/status/1975216937040048501#m

Reposted by Yuriy Akopov

Liz Fong-Jones (方禮真) @lizthegrey.com · 12h

stealing this phrase. "easier to move gigabits than gigawatts".

John Looney @bigvalen.bsky.social · 13h

You do lose some power, even at 200kV.

The real problem is that grids are under enormous pressure to allow new connections, and can delay adding wind farms and solar parks for YEARS. This can be called stranded power, and big power users chase it.

It's easier to move gigabits than gigawatts.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 15h

As to what sounds correct, I sometimes wonder what programming code looks like to an native English speaker. Some niche languages in Russia used "если...то" instead of "if...then" and it felt so cringe and wrong to me (and not just me)! Guess this was the lack of separation between the contexts.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 15h

(it is not a dig trying to mirror the point, just using it as an opportunity to confess)

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 15h

Not exactly the same but I also feel a bit weird about the British media using "Taoiseach".

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 15h

I absolutely take this criticism and apologise for as long as you are equally as against the generalisation of any other group.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 16h

How many rural people here in Britain thought "well, we should not do a hard Brexit, our fellow urban Brits would really hate that!"

Yet we are expected to nurse rural concerns and needs all the time.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 16h

Deaths are already happening. How many people do you think say something like "wait, we should not kill USAID or send people to El Salvador! This is not what our urban compatriots WHO PAY FOR OUR HOSPITALS BTW would approve of!"

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 16h

BlueSky moment (laudatory)

Richard J @preachypreach.bsky.social · 21h

Edward Behr’s (very good) memoirs with the unprintable name?

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 16h

I understand it's a 'no, it isn't a green light' then.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 16h

That is a different question, and there are of course some older people who aren't like that, but if any generation can be generalised for their social and political views, it's them because they're least split as a group.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 16h

If they should be treated as people without agency that must be shielded from the consequences of their own preferred policy, is that a green light to ignore their concerns in the future and just do what you think is better for them?

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 17h

In pretty much every major Western country the rural communities and their 'genuine concerns' have been totally dominating politics. It's time to try something else. If they still failed to extract any benefits despite being so overrepresented in political discussion, it's a terminal skill issue.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 17h

Ref and the current form of Con are never going to refuse a coalition under a PR if the alternative is a centrist or a left wing government.

Anyway, I think PR *may* help in some specific scenarios but it is FAR from being a reliable firewall.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 17h

Lab+LD+Grn+SNP coalition would a) never happen; b) if it does happen it'll fall apart very quickly. It's a 4 way coalition! Not many are like that even in countries with an established PR tradition.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 18h

And in general, when you're hastily changing the voting system because it's your only hope it's already too late. See how the Tories changed the voting system for regional mayors hoping for a Tory win in London which then still didn't happen.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 18h

Voting patterns under FPTP don't translate into the PR ones because a lot of voters choose a candidate tactically. Britain is a very conservative country politically, and PR will reflect that.

There are arguments for PR, some of them good, but it is not a good firewall against reactionaries.

Reposted by Yuriy Akopov

𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘴 @bheanilla.bsky.social · 18h

The EU is Israel‘s largest trading partner, accounting for 1/3 of Israel’s imports.

Israel is only 0.8% of our trade.

Euronews @euronews.com · 18h

The EU has been lambasted as "irrelevant" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent interview for Euronews.

#EuropeNews

EU welcomes Israel-Hamas deal and reiterates call for two-state path

The EU has been lambasted as "irrelevant" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent interview for Euronews.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 18h

You'll also be getting it every time in every election though.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 18h

Not going to help because you'll just get a Ref+Con coalition.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 18h

Many people don't even buy avocados either.

Yuriy Akopov @yakopov.me · 18h

No you are definitely not, it's Oz Katerji, do your research.