Mathew Nicolson
@eyjarskeggi.bsky.social
Finished a PhD in the history of Scottish island political & constitutional history.
Can be found doing things at:
@EuropeElects.bsky.social
@ShetlandElects.bsky.social
@HistoryofElections.bsky.social
@ScotHistNetwork.bsky.social
Can be found doing things at:
@EuropeElects.bsky.social
@ShetlandElects.bsky.social
@HistoryofElections.bsky.social
@ScotHistNetwork.bsky.social
Pinned
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
NEW: In 1940, amid the fall of France, French citizens in French Polynesia voted on whether to affiliate the colony with the Free French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. historyofelections.substack.com/p/episode-5-...
Episode 5: French Polynesia 1940
In 1940, amid the fall of France, French citizens in French Polynesia voted on whether to affiliate the colony with the Free French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle.
historyofelections.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:48 PM
NEW: In 1940, amid the fall of France, French citizens in French Polynesia voted on whether to affiliate the colony with the Free French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. historyofelections.substack.com/p/episode-5-...
A fascinating article, and similar to those that have argued they receive more empathy from ChatGPT than mental health services - with some suggested solutions.
theconversation.com/ai-is-beatin...
theconversation.com/ai-is-beatin...
AI is beating doctors at empathy – because we’ve turned doctors into robots
AI chatbots are outperforming doctors in empathy ratings. But the real story isn’t about robot superiority, it’s about how we’ve broken healthcare.
theconversation.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:44 AM
A fascinating article, and similar to those that have argued they receive more empathy from ChatGPT than mental health services - with some suggested solutions.
theconversation.com/ai-is-beatin...
theconversation.com/ai-is-beatin...
Someone in 2022 decided to write an impressively detailed article (6,000 words!) about Wallis and Futuna in the Second World War - the only French colony in the Pacific to remain affiliated with the Vichy regime en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_...
Wallis and Futuna in World War II - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 9, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Someone in 2022 decided to write an impressively detailed article (6,000 words!) about Wallis and Futuna in the Second World War - the only French colony in the Pacific to remain affiliated with the Vichy regime en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_...
A very obvious point but not one that I think is particularly known outside of the region is how similar and interconnected all the Polynesian languages are
November 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
A very obvious point but not one that I think is particularly known outside of the region is how similar and interconnected all the Polynesian languages are
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
9-10 November 1938 | The November Pogrom – a pogrom against the Jews throughout Nazi Germany. Hundreds were killed (or died by suicide), 30,000 men arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps, over 1,000 synagogues burnt, over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged.
November 9, 2025 at 11:00 AM
9-10 November 1938 | The November Pogrom – a pogrom against the Jews throughout Nazi Germany. Hundreds were killed (or died by suicide), 30,000 men arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps, over 1,000 synagogues burnt, over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged.
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
This is, FWIW, why you're better off curating your following list well and using the Following tab rather than the Discover feed
Proof (if we needed it) that algorithmic amplification is dramatically accelerating, and perhaps even driving, the unravelling of our democracies.
Fixing the problem means tackling the algorithms themselves, not just trying - and failing - to address the harms they cause.
on.ft.com/49LNvCy
Fixing the problem means tackling the algorithms themselves, not just trying - and failing - to address the harms they cause.
on.ft.com/49LNvCy
November 7, 2025 at 2:53 PM
This is, FWIW, why you're better off curating your following list well and using the Following tab rather than the Discover feed
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
best ending of all time, let's be real
November 6, 2025 at 10:17 PM
best ending of all time, let's be real
US presidential approval on this day of their presidency:
Bush Jr: +75.3
Kennedy: +65.4
Johnson: +59.0
Bush Sr: +52.3
Truman: +40.8
Eisenhower: +36.1
Nixon: +27.3
Carter: +24.4
Reagan: +18.4
Obama: +8.6
Clinton: +3.4
Ford: -5.2
Biden: -8.3
Trump II: -13.0
Trump I: -18.1
via Silver Bulletin
Bush Jr: +75.3
Kennedy: +65.4
Johnson: +59.0
Bush Sr: +52.3
Truman: +40.8
Eisenhower: +36.1
Nixon: +27.3
Carter: +24.4
Reagan: +18.4
Obama: +8.6
Clinton: +3.4
Ford: -5.2
Biden: -8.3
Trump II: -13.0
Trump I: -18.1
via Silver Bulletin
November 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
US presidential approval on this day of their presidency:
Bush Jr: +75.3
Kennedy: +65.4
Johnson: +59.0
Bush Sr: +52.3
Truman: +40.8
Eisenhower: +36.1
Nixon: +27.3
Carter: +24.4
Reagan: +18.4
Obama: +8.6
Clinton: +3.4
Ford: -5.2
Biden: -8.3
Trump II: -13.0
Trump I: -18.1
via Silver Bulletin
Bush Jr: +75.3
Kennedy: +65.4
Johnson: +59.0
Bush Sr: +52.3
Truman: +40.8
Eisenhower: +36.1
Nixon: +27.3
Carter: +24.4
Reagan: +18.4
Obama: +8.6
Clinton: +3.4
Ford: -5.2
Biden: -8.3
Trump II: -13.0
Trump I: -18.1
via Silver Bulletin
Somehow Ozymandius, King of Kings, returned.
November 3, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Somehow Ozymandius, King of Kings, returned.
This also led me down the rabbit hole of learning about "Instapoetry", which I recognise from images like this. I don't know - I kinda like it. But even if it's not to your taste, seems snobbish to punch down on a genre that's largely written by amateur poets and enjoyed by new readers.
November 3, 2025 at 3:16 PM
This also led me down the rabbit hole of learning about "Instapoetry", which I recognise from images like this. I don't know - I kinda like it. But even if it's not to your taste, seems snobbish to punch down on a genre that's largely written by amateur poets and enjoyed by new readers.
A harsh review for a poetry collection I generally enjoyed (albeit as someone not well read in poetry - I picked it up by random at the Scottish Poetry Library). Seems unfair though to criticise the author for expressing himself by poetry rather than activism tearsinthefence.com/2023/11/02/n...
Neptune’s Projects by Rishi Dastidar (Nine Arches Press)
I should have listened to George, who told me – after my rant about how wonderful Rishi Dastidar’s previous books Saffron Jack and Ticker Tape were – that I would tire of …
tearsinthefence.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:06 PM
A harsh review for a poetry collection I generally enjoyed (albeit as someone not well read in poetry - I picked it up by random at the Scottish Poetry Library). Seems unfair though to criticise the author for expressing himself by poetry rather than activism tearsinthefence.com/2023/11/02/n...
Very sad to read this. I met him at his museum in Staffin a couple of years ago - he had an infectious enthusiasm for the fossils and archaeological findings he'd dedicated his life to preserving. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Tributes to champion of Skye's 'Dinosaur Island'
Dougie Ross, who has died at the age of 68, made his first fossil discoveries when he was a boy.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 2, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Very sad to read this. I met him at his museum in Staffin a couple of years ago - he had an infectious enthusiasm for the fossils and archaeological findings he'd dedicated his life to preserving. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
No, Microsoft, no matter how aggressively you beg me, I am not using AI to write this script.
November 2, 2025 at 2:49 PM
No, Microsoft, no matter how aggressively you beg me, I am not using AI to write this script.
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
Every time you say "actually Frankenstein was the name of the scientist" you're just replicating his damnable act of disavowal and abandonment that drove his creation to murder but okay
November 2, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Every time you say "actually Frankenstein was the name of the scientist" you're just replicating his damnable act of disavowal and abandonment that drove his creation to murder but okay
Turns out we might be destroying the ozone layer again (via Universe Today)
November 2, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Turns out we might be destroying the ozone layer again (via Universe Today)
I clearly have been underestimating how stressful a job being the chief electoral officer of Nunavut must be nunatsiaq.com/stories/arti...
November 1, 2025 at 8:36 PM
I clearly have been underestimating how stressful a job being the chief electoral officer of Nunavut must be nunatsiaq.com/stories/arti...
I've seen a few of these incidents - never understand how dog walkers aren't mortified watching what happens when dogs are off the lead www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/2558777...
Dog owners ordered to keep pets on leads after peacock incidents
WORK is continuing to encourage dog owners to keep their dogs on leads in places such as Dunfermline’s Pittencrieff Park.
www.dunfermlinepress.com
November 1, 2025 at 12:07 PM
I've seen a few of these incidents - never understand how dog walkers aren't mortified watching what happens when dogs are off the lead www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/2558777...
Oh God, it's going straight for the radio communications
October 31, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Oh God, it's going straight for the radio communications
This is how sitcoms normally seem to me
AI sitcom accidentally a Lynchian fever dream. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and insane lament.
October 30, 2025 at 8:00 AM
This is how sitcoms normally seem to me
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
Seems about as good a time as any to unleash my new Shiny app on the world: I give you…the Dutch Coalition Generator!
a red and gray kaleidoscope with a circle in the center
ALT: a red and gray kaleidoscope with a circle in the center
media.tenor.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Seems about as good a time as any to unleash my new Shiny app on the world: I give you…the Dutch Coalition Generator!
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
Netherlands, 9:00 PM Ipsos-I&O exit poll:
Seat projection national parliament
D66-RE: 27 (+18)
PVV-PfE: 25 (-12)
VVD-RE: 23 (-1)
GL/PvdA-G/EFA|S&D: 20 (-5)
CDA-EPP: 19 (+14)
JA21~ECR: 9 (+8)
FvD-ESN: 6 (+3)
BBB-EPP: 4 (-3)
...
+/- vs. Last election result
➤ europeelects.eu/netherlands
Seat projection national parliament
D66-RE: 27 (+18)
PVV-PfE: 25 (-12)
VVD-RE: 23 (-1)
GL/PvdA-G/EFA|S&D: 20 (-5)
CDA-EPP: 19 (+14)
JA21~ECR: 9 (+8)
FvD-ESN: 6 (+3)
BBB-EPP: 4 (-3)
...
+/- vs. Last election result
➤ europeelects.eu/netherlands
October 29, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Netherlands, 9:00 PM Ipsos-I&O exit poll:
Seat projection national parliament
D66-RE: 27 (+18)
PVV-PfE: 25 (-12)
VVD-RE: 23 (-1)
GL/PvdA-G/EFA|S&D: 20 (-5)
CDA-EPP: 19 (+14)
JA21~ECR: 9 (+8)
FvD-ESN: 6 (+3)
BBB-EPP: 4 (-3)
...
+/- vs. Last election result
➤ europeelects.eu/netherlands
Seat projection national parliament
D66-RE: 27 (+18)
PVV-PfE: 25 (-12)
VVD-RE: 23 (-1)
GL/PvdA-G/EFA|S&D: 20 (-5)
CDA-EPP: 19 (+14)
JA21~ECR: 9 (+8)
FvD-ESN: 6 (+3)
BBB-EPP: 4 (-3)
...
+/- vs. Last election result
➤ europeelects.eu/netherlands
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
Interesting that "Quisling" was already a derogatory term for a traitor/collaborator by April 1940 (and that "Kuusinen" never similarly caught on)
It's 23 April 1940 ... and the House of Commons is debating whether refugees fleeing Hitler should be interned oh ... and whether Oswald Mosley.... the leader of the British Union of Fascists....is a fascist.
After all - he had once been a minister of the Crown.
After all - he had once been a minister of the Crown.
October 27, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Interesting that "Quisling" was already a derogatory term for a traitor/collaborator by April 1940 (and that "Kuusinen" never similarly caught on)
Reposted by Mathew Nicolson
Former parliamentarian Siham Hassan Hasaballah, the youngest parliamentarian in Sudan’s history, was killed in an RSF attack in her home city Al Fashir.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
Verified GFM campaigns on Sudan funds:
sudanfunds.com/campaigns
#KeepEyesOnSudan
Verified GFM campaigns on Sudan funds:
sudanfunds.com/campaigns
October 27, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Former parliamentarian Siham Hassan Hasaballah, the youngest parliamentarian in Sudan’s history, was killed in an RSF attack in her home city Al Fashir.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
Verified GFM campaigns on Sudan funds:
sudanfunds.com/campaigns
#KeepEyesOnSudan
Verified GFM campaigns on Sudan funds:
sudanfunds.com/campaigns
And there I was thinking the squirrels I fed yesterday just wanted walnuts
October 27, 2025 at 3:59 PM
And there I was thinking the squirrels I fed yesterday just wanted walnuts