Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
@ianford.bsky.social
Recent emigrant from the Other Place.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
A great example of how when you give the bully any daylight, they will go for the sun. The number of people who have believed this admin was operating in good faith and they were just making moderate concessions only to find the admin won't back down when they smell blood is shocking. Peak naivete.
November 14, 2025 at 3:27 PM
A great example of how when you give the bully any daylight, they will go for the sun. The number of people who have believed this admin was operating in good faith and they were just making moderate concessions only to find the admin won't back down when they smell blood is shocking. Peak naivete.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Absolutely correct. So much of the discourse around restoring trust in the institutions is focused on decorum and civility theater. But why would anyone trust the institutions if, after the horror show that we are suffering through, they yet again fail to impose some measure of real accountability?
Something the US needs to accept too is that without a large-scale correction imposing consequences on a large number of people, the crisis of governance here will continue indefinitely
November 14, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Absolutely correct. So much of the discourse around restoring trust in the institutions is focused on decorum and civility theater. But why would anyone trust the institutions if, after the horror show that we are suffering through, they yet again fail to impose some measure of real accountability?
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
especially in these incredibly high tension times, you should simply not make even super obvious jokes about killing people on social media websites imo
and I get why websites like Bluesky are taking this stuff rather seriously at this particular point in time, personally
and I get why websites like Bluesky are taking this stuff rather seriously at this particular point in time, personally
November 14, 2025 at 3:21 PM
especially in these incredibly high tension times, you should simply not make even super obvious jokes about killing people on social media websites imo
and I get why websites like Bluesky are taking this stuff rather seriously at this particular point in time, personally
and I get why websites like Bluesky are taking this stuff rather seriously at this particular point in time, personally
Excellent article about nostalgia.
In part, the broader cultural resonance of nostalgia today is because we have no clear vision about how to make a better society in the future. Instead we retreat into a misty eyed fantasy of the past. Which is fertile ground for fascism.
In part, the broader cultural resonance of nostalgia today is because we have no clear vision about how to make a better society in the future. Instead we retreat into a misty eyed fantasy of the past. Which is fertile ground for fascism.
November 14, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Excellent article about nostalgia.
In part, the broader cultural resonance of nostalgia today is because we have no clear vision about how to make a better society in the future. Instead we retreat into a misty eyed fantasy of the past. Which is fertile ground for fascism.
In part, the broader cultural resonance of nostalgia today is because we have no clear vision about how to make a better society in the future. Instead we retreat into a misty eyed fantasy of the past. Which is fertile ground for fascism.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Nostalgia is a key facet of fascism
It’s well trod academic ground and absolutely accurate to say nostalgia and fascism are not just bed fellows but co dependent actors that need one another to spread further.
It’s well trod academic ground and absolutely accurate to say nostalgia and fascism are not just bed fellows but co dependent actors that need one another to spread further.
I have come to the conclusion that nostalgia is a poison.
Like some poisons, it may have uses in small doses when carefully titrated, but when taken unfiltered and unmeasured it corrodes.
Like some poisons, it may have uses in small doses when carefully titrated, but when taken unfiltered and unmeasured it corrodes.
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
November 14, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Nostalgia is a key facet of fascism
It’s well trod academic ground and absolutely accurate to say nostalgia and fascism are not just bed fellows but co dependent actors that need one another to spread further.
It’s well trod academic ground and absolutely accurate to say nostalgia and fascism are not just bed fellows but co dependent actors that need one another to spread further.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
This is what least surprised me. Powerful people will always have casual disregard and indifference to consequences - because they so rarely face any consequences.
4. @davidkurtz.bsky.social said he was “astonished not so much by the chumminess [Jeffrey Epstein] enjoyed with elites even after he’d served time for soliciting prostitution with a minor, but by the messages’ flagrantness, their casual disregard, and their indifference to consequence.”
The Corrupt Roots of America’s Elite Run Deep
It’s the Impunity, Stupid In reviewing a portion of the 20,000-plus Jeffrey...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:45 PM
This is what least surprised me. Powerful people will always have casual disregard and indifference to consequences - because they so rarely face any consequences.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Yes. They thought they would pay their tribute and then conduct business as usual. Not understanding the nature of who they are dealing with.
YELLEN: “.. businesses feel paralyzed by the uncertainty about policies that represent the strong but really personal whims of a single individual.”
@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
November 14, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Yes. They thought they would pay their tribute and then conduct business as usual. Not understanding the nature of who they are dealing with.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Starmer and Reeves wave white flags on tough decisions yet still oversee the collapse of the Labour vote as frustrated voters on the Left go to Greens, Centre to Plaid, LibDems or SNP and the Right to Reform that will lead their own MPs to replace them sooner rather than later
Futile cowardice
Futile cowardice
November 14, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Starmer and Reeves wave white flags on tough decisions yet still oversee the collapse of the Labour vote as frustrated voters on the Left go to Greens, Centre to Plaid, LibDems or SNP and the Right to Reform that will lead their own MPs to replace them sooner rather than later
Futile cowardice
Futile cowardice
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
The irony is that the Right used to cast the 1970s as the nadir of Britain's postwar decline, from which it had been "rescued" by Mrs Thatcher.
Labour was invariably said to want to "take us back to the 1970s".
But the 80s is less attractive to Reform's new voters, so the 70s are being repurposed.
Labour was invariably said to want to "take us back to the 1970s".
But the 80s is less attractive to Reform's new voters, so the 70s are being repurposed.
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
November 14, 2025 at 1:57 PM
The irony is that the Right used to cast the 1970s as the nadir of Britain's postwar decline, from which it had been "rescued" by Mrs Thatcher.
Labour was invariably said to want to "take us back to the 1970s".
But the 80s is less attractive to Reform's new voters, so the 70s are being repurposed.
Labour was invariably said to want to "take us back to the 1970s".
But the 80s is less attractive to Reform's new voters, so the 70s are being repurposed.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Maybe nothing sums up the cultural vapidity of Tech like the fact they sprinted past doing Torment Nexus stuff that's *like* a Black Mirror episode, and straight to shit that's explicitly *from* Black Mirror episodes, promoted with ads which are lit, shot and set-designed like Black Mirror episodes.
November 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Maybe nothing sums up the cultural vapidity of Tech like the fact they sprinted past doing Torment Nexus stuff that's *like* a Black Mirror episode, and straight to shit that's explicitly *from* Black Mirror episodes, promoted with ads which are lit, shot and set-designed like Black Mirror episodes.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Absolute nonsense. Anyone who lived through the period, or who has studied the period, will know how daft, how dangerously silly, this kind of rot is. If I may, I was there. It was FAR more grey, tough, poor, bigoted, boring, terrifying, violent & frequently flat-out insane than nostalgia insists.
November 14, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Absolute nonsense. Anyone who lived through the period, or who has studied the period, will know how daft, how dangerously silly, this kind of rot is. If I may, I was there. It was FAR more grey, tough, poor, bigoted, boring, terrifying, violent & frequently flat-out insane than nostalgia insists.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
If only someone had written a book about this www.panmacmillan.com/authors/agne...
November 14, 2025 at 9:49 AM
If only someone had written a book about this www.panmacmillan.com/authors/agne...
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
It's a useful reminder that sometimes tech can make a task more efficient for one side (applying for jobs), and more efficient for the other side (writing job adverts), and yet make the system as a whole completely inefficient.
November 14, 2025 at 10:14 AM
It's a useful reminder that sometimes tech can make a task more efficient for one side (applying for jobs), and more efficient for the other side (writing job adverts), and yet make the system as a whole completely inefficient.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
At what point does the name change to the Trump files?
November 14, 2025 at 10:23 AM
At what point does the name change to the Trump files?
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Top trading partners have gone to war with each other in 1870, 1914, 1939, 1941, 1980, 1990, I could go on. It may well delay or obstruct such a decision, but by itself alone it wouldn’t stop it. Trade entanglements are not a magic tool to prevent war. Norman Angell was wrong in 1910, still wrong.
November 14, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Top trading partners have gone to war with each other in 1870, 1914, 1939, 1941, 1980, 1990, I could go on. It may well delay or obstruct such a decision, but by itself alone it wouldn’t stop it. Trade entanglements are not a magic tool to prevent war. Norman Angell was wrong in 1910, still wrong.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
it's so funny that alex jones was totally right about everything, the government is a bunch of drug-addled pedophiles and masked regime thugs are grabbing people off the streets, and now he has to pretend it's all a hoax
November 13, 2025 at 9:44 PM
it's so funny that alex jones was totally right about everything, the government is a bunch of drug-addled pedophiles and masked regime thugs are grabbing people off the streets, and now he has to pretend it's all a hoax
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Watching Ireland play international football has taken years off my life.
November 13, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Watching Ireland play international football has taken years off my life.
🤞🤞🤞
Watching the MAGA coalition implode in real time.
One of the biggest US stability risks was the potential scope Trump had to mobilise angry and armed supporters against his enemies. This constant infighting could demoralise MAGA and ensure that worst is avoided.
One of the biggest US stability risks was the potential scope Trump had to mobilise angry and armed supporters against his enemies. This constant infighting could demoralise MAGA and ensure that worst is avoided.
GOP Rep. Don Bacon says that he will now vote 'YES' to release the Epstein files if there is a vote on the House floor.
November 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM
🤞🤞🤞
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
Michael Wolff tried to buy New York Mag — with money from Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.
So Wolff didn't just have a reporter-source relationship with Epstein. Nor was Wolff his informal PR adviser. They saw each other as potential business partners.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
So Wolff didn't just have a reporter-source relationship with Epstein. Nor was Wolff his informal PR adviser. They saw each other as potential business partners.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Blurred lines: how Michael Wolff aspired to be part of elite circles he wrote about
The writer who features prominently in newly released Jeffrey Epstein emails has achieved extraordinary access but faced questions about his journalistic ethics
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Michael Wolff tried to buy New York Mag — with money from Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.
So Wolff didn't just have a reporter-source relationship with Epstein. Nor was Wolff his informal PR adviser. They saw each other as potential business partners.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
So Wolff didn't just have a reporter-source relationship with Epstein. Nor was Wolff his informal PR adviser. They saw each other as potential business partners.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
This should have been the conclusion in *2016*.
If the US system remains trapped in an endless knife fight between a party of good government and a party of nihilistic governance then Europeans need to accept that the US will no longer be a stable partner long after Trump is gone
I'd just like to point out that we spent an entire shipment of air defense interceptors' worth of money on new signs for a name change that isn't even legally the name of the DoD.
Ukraine is currently experiencing rolling blackouts from Russian strikes, btw.
Ukraine is currently experiencing rolling blackouts from Russian strikes, btw.
November 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM
This should have been the conclusion in *2016*.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Paedophilia reduced to polling numbers. Grim beyond words. 😬
Enten: "Trump is 39 below water on the Epstein case. 39 points in the negative! My goodness gracious. What Trump has been selling on the Epstein files, the Epstein case, the American people have not been buying at all ... less than half of Republicans are buying it. This is his worst issue by far"
November 13, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Paedophilia reduced to polling numbers. Grim beyond words. 😬
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
World showing clear signs of addiction to Trump scandals. Needs a higher dose every day just to maintain the same levels of outrage.
November 13, 2025 at 6:00 AM
World showing clear signs of addiction to Trump scandals. Needs a higher dose every day just to maintain the same levels of outrage.
Reposted by Ian Ford 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
America’s civic ethical norms are obsessed with worship of and obsequiousness to power, and particular with the images and ideas projected by those in power. But this is functionally incompatible with having a society grounded in a coherent reality and able to exercise effective sense-making.
November 13, 2025 at 5:06 PM
America’s civic ethical norms are obsessed with worship of and obsequiousness to power, and particular with the images and ideas projected by those in power. But this is functionally incompatible with having a society grounded in a coherent reality and able to exercise effective sense-making.