Jo Wolff
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jowolff.bsky.social
Jo Wolff
@jowolff.bsky.social

Jonathan Wolff,
Political Philosopher.
Fellow British Academy
Emeritus Professor Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford
Wolfson College
President The Royal Institute of Philosophy
THFC supporter in 'early season false hope’ mode.

#academic .. more

Jonathan Wolff is a British philosopher. He is a Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy and Public Policy and Governing Body Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. He was formerly the Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. Prior to his joining the Blavatnik School in 2016, Wolff's academic career had been spent at University College London (UCL), where he was, latterly, Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. .. more

Political science 51%
Philosophy 14%
Pinned
I’ve changed my header photo to this one. It shows my father Herbert and his sister Lotte with their parents Fritz and Marta in their Frankfurt apartment before Herbert and Lotte were sent to England on the Kindertransport, and later Fritz and Marta transported to Lodz Ghetto, final fate unknown.

Don’t be ridiculous. The US is far from a Banana Republic. It’s a Banana De Facto Monarchy.

Looking increasingly likely that for visa and ticket price reasons the only people who will be able to travel to the US to watch the World Cup this year are super-rich Trump Supporters. I’m yet to meet one in Europe but then I live a sheltered life.

Reposted by Graham Dutfield

I must have visited the US 20-30 times. Lived there for a year. I have set foot in almost all States. (Missing North Dakota, Hawaii, Alaska maybe one or two others.) Love being there. Some of my most cherished memories. Not expecting to go again until regime change.
This is INSANE www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/t...

and these are our closest allies!
This is INSANE www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/t...

and these are our closest allies!

I normally dislike the term ‘newly minted’ but I applaud its use here, in British slang.
Nearly 40% of newly minted billionaires this year received their wealth through inheritance.

This is the highest figure since UBS started releasing its annual billionaire wealth report in 2015.

Another reminder that the myth of the "self-made" billionaire is just that, a myth.

Reposted by Jonathan Wolff

Nearly 40% of newly minted billionaires this year received their wealth through inheritance.

This is the highest figure since UBS started releasing its annual billionaire wealth report in 2015.

Another reminder that the myth of the "self-made" billionaire is just that, a myth.

Good spot. It's actually a kosher cookbook, so it could be milk and meat?

“The opponents of freedom exult because their indignation has been yielded to.” Spinoza

Hey, how about letting AI celebrate Xmas for us this year? And we can just eat a pork pie and watch old movies without having to cook for ages or clear up after.
McDonald's has released an AI-generated Christmas ad

The studio behind it says they 'hardly slept' for several weeks while writing AI prompts and refining the shots — 'AI didn't make this film. We did'

Comments have been turned off on YouTube

From a 1953 cookbook. Apparently you shouldn’t tell invalids what you are serving them in advance. And if you are serving them Stewed Sheep’s Tongues I can understand why.

It is there. Also that Eleanor taught herself Norwegian in order to translate Ibsen. But it’s easy to get distracted by the horror of Aveling.

I did! These are the sorts of things I collect in my mind.

No instrument just the breathing

“Excuse me, what I am buying from you and going to put in my body?”

“It’s a secret!”

Reposted by Jonathan Wolff

The New World Order.

A few billion in Trump Meme coins

Promise of a Moscow Trump Tower

A little property deal for Barron

Russian assets unfrozen

Alaska returned to Russia

The Art of the Deal.

Crack open the Temperance Champagne!

We will protect you from the cradle to the grave. We’re just bringing the grave closer to the cradle.
“New moms said the shifting health advice from the Trump administration has made an already seemingly endless number of decisions feel even more daunting”
Confusion, Anxiety for Parents as Vaccine Guidelines are Upended
www.nytimes.com
McDonald's has released an AI-generated Christmas ad

The studio behind it says they 'hardly slept' for several weeks while writing AI prompts and refining the shots — 'AI didn't make this film. We did'

Comments have been turned off on YouTube

Hands up if you already knew that Marx’s daughter Eleanor was the first translator of Madame Bovary into English (under the name Eleanor Marx-Aveling).

Here’s a bonus illustration from the book.

"If the democratic state does not wish to give itself up, then it must resort to intolerance toward the enemy of the constitution."

Jürgen Habermas, 2004.
An economist from Ghana told me that a bonus reason for promoting wind and solar power is that it’s much harder to use for corruption and repressive geopolitics.

Remind me again. Who is in favour of fossil fuels?

Never again!!

Never?

Well … maybe sometimes.

(The serious point - the forces that bring evil can be suppressed but rarely eliminated.)

Really? Amazing.

What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?

Watching Rolf Harris play the didgeridoo on TV as a kid I taught myself how to circular breathe.
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?

Curling a freekick around a wall.
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?

Lacing up a 6-plate Steinbeck to view a film print to start an edit - and come to that, fixing a cut with tape

Reposted by Jonathan Wolff

What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?

Curling a freekick around a wall.
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?

Lacing up a 6-plate Steinbeck to view a film print to start an edit - and come to that, fixing a cut with tape
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?

Archival research feels like it’s full of these, but then there’s always one throwback archive with a microfiche machine or a paper catalogue (or, indeed: NARA)

Gunther Anders, possibly, born Gunther Stern and used as a named subject in his famous parents’ developmental psychology studies, which is why he changed his name, I believe. Hannah Arendt’s first husband.

Reposted by Jonathan Wolff

Follow @reformexposed.bsky.social for a daily dose of uk based doom

Reposted by Sabine Pahl

Doom scrolling here from the UK is a bit problematic, given the site is 90% American. Everyone is called Tom Johnson or Kirsti Nutti and they’ve done something inexplicable but obviously very bad. Again!