Questing Vole
@thequestingvole.bsky.social
Geek, rower, historian, stage manager, giver-away of charitable funds, bureaucrat whose dead hand is ruining academia and caretaker of a small loud fluffy dog.
It is. It’s “voters are super fucking dumb, you can’t win arguments with them, you can’t win arguments at all, the only way to win as a sane person is to be a straw in the polling winds”.
December 20, 2025 at 11:00 PM
It is. It’s “voters are super fucking dumb, you can’t win arguments with them, you can’t win arguments at all, the only way to win as a sane person is to be a straw in the polling winds”.
With no actual sales any more they’re trying to please their Facebook comments page. It won’t work.
December 20, 2025 at 8:12 PM
With no actual sales any more they’re trying to please their Facebook comments page. It won’t work.
Good in that borrowing costing less means there’s more money to spend on other stuff (and implies the people with lots of money riding on it think the govt and its finances are stable). Bad inasmuch as it’s evidence Starmer/Reeves can use to say they’re doing OK and change would be dangerous.
December 19, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Good in that borrowing costing less means there’s more money to spend on other stuff (and implies the people with lots of money riding on it think the govt and its finances are stable). Bad inasmuch as it’s evidence Starmer/Reeves can use to say they’re doing OK and change would be dangerous.
I have been on a panel where this happened, and I’ve had it myself from people trying to console me when I didn’t get a job I really wanted.
December 19, 2025 at 1:53 PM
I have been on a panel where this happened, and I’ve had it myself from people trying to console me when I didn’t get a job I really wanted.
It's good for the members, who get practical nuts and bolts policy experience and a serious test of their willingness to do hard and thankless work for their community. It's less good for the schools if they get people who are interested in campaigning and making a name rather than governing.
December 18, 2025 at 4:53 PM
It's good for the members, who get practical nuts and bolts policy experience and a serious test of their willingness to do hard and thankless work for their community. It's less good for the schools if they get people who are interested in campaigning and making a name rather than governing.
And someone who undeniably comes from a country that has serious issues with gender-based violence, so "people from cultures that don't respect women" gets her too.
December 18, 2025 at 4:29 PM
And someone who undeniably comes from a country that has serious issues with gender-based violence, so "people from cultures that don't respect women" gets her too.
Compared to whatever this is, Iraq was a smashing success, it’s not like in 2006 the Americans were bashing their heads against a brick wall outside Basra taking WW1 casualty levels for no gain.
December 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Compared to whatever this is, Iraq was a smashing success, it’s not like in 2006 the Americans were bashing their heads against a brick wall outside Basra taking WW1 casualty levels for no gain.
I suppose if we were decarbonising the world as aggressively as Greta wants, Russia wouldn’t be able to afford to invade anyone. But it’s still an obviously wrong take.
December 18, 2025 at 1:12 PM
I suppose if we were decarbonising the world as aggressively as Greta wants, Russia wouldn’t be able to afford to invade anyone. But it’s still an obviously wrong take.
There was an 18th-century Scottish philosopher who wrote a Socratic dialogue on corporal punishment with the interlocutor called Ctesticles. His argument in favour of whipping children was a load of balls.
December 18, 2025 at 12:28 PM
There was an 18th-century Scottish philosopher who wrote a Socratic dialogue on corporal punishment with the interlocutor called Ctesticles. His argument in favour of whipping children was a load of balls.
It’s open to all, but most of the people who do it are fairly well off:
1) you generally have to commit to it super early which means you have to know it’s there
2) dire state of language teaching in state schools.
3) you have to trust incidental costs won’t hurt you (cf. “Oxbridge costs more”)
1) you generally have to commit to it super early which means you have to know it’s there
2) dire state of language teaching in state schools.
3) you have to trust incidental costs won’t hurt you (cf. “Oxbridge costs more”)
December 18, 2025 at 12:20 PM
It’s open to all, but most of the people who do it are fairly well off:
1) you generally have to commit to it super early which means you have to know it’s there
2) dire state of language teaching in state schools.
3) you have to trust incidental costs won’t hurt you (cf. “Oxbridge costs more”)
1) you generally have to commit to it super early which means you have to know it’s there
2) dire state of language teaching in state schools.
3) you have to trust incidental costs won’t hurt you (cf. “Oxbridge costs more”)
And the UK won’t send troops to Venezuela, but cooperating with the US anywhere supports (albeit in a minor way) their military posture everywhere. So to Julianna’s point, Britain will inevitably be a bit complicit. But not very much, I hope. More like 2003 France than 2003 UK.
December 17, 2025 at 11:59 PM
And the UK won’t send troops to Venezuela, but cooperating with the US anywhere supports (albeit in a minor way) their military posture everywhere. So to Julianna’s point, Britain will inevitably be a bit complicit. But not very much, I hope. More like 2003 France than 2003 UK.
In the sense that every NATO member was complicit in Iraq because their entire national security apparatus relied on America, at least.
December 17, 2025 at 11:34 PM
In the sense that every NATO member was complicit in Iraq because their entire national security apparatus relied on America, at least.
Hang the polls, will she use the time and power she has to make the country a better place? Government by hypothetical poll got us into this mess.
December 17, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Hang the polls, will she use the time and power she has to make the country a better place? Government by hypothetical poll got us into this mess.
So only between 22.5 and 55% of students come from the bottom 86% of the income bracket? Harvard are "needs blind" because they know they're mostly admitting people who don't need financial aid.
December 17, 2025 at 6:01 PM
So only between 22.5 and 55% of students come from the bottom 86% of the income bracket? Harvard are "needs blind" because they know they're mostly admitting people who don't need financial aid.
Some people have fun in the process of getting chlamydia. Nobody has fun on Xitter except Nazis and there aren't very many of those.
December 16, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Some people have fun in the process of getting chlamydia. Nobody has fun on Xitter except Nazis and there aren't very many of those.
Nobody who had a job at that age is in parliament except Angela Rayner, they’re of the generation where middle-class students didn’t have to work outside the uni bubble.
December 16, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Nobody who had a job at that age is in parliament except Angela Rayner, they’re of the generation where middle-class students didn’t have to work outside the uni bubble.
Marinating yourself in extremist propaganda is dangerous to your sanity and “being an intelligent and critical consumer” is not a perfect prophylactic. This has been known for at least 150 years and is not some radical new invention by blue-haired leftists.
December 16, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Marinating yourself in extremist propaganda is dangerous to your sanity and “being an intelligent and critical consumer” is not a perfect prophylactic. This has been known for at least 150 years and is not some radical new invention by blue-haired leftists.
Only because the Crown and PM have decided they will not take any independent role in appointing Bishops, the law still says they do, they just don't bother. The same was true of judges in the 1990s but we still had a state judiciary!
December 15, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Only because the Crown and PM have decided they will not take any independent role in appointing Bishops, the law still says they do, they just don't bother. The same was true of judges in the 1990s but we still had a state judiciary!
I will grant you that the constitutional status of the Church of Scotland and the "identities" of Northern Ireland are a bit less clear-cut but I don't think you can seriously argue the CofE is not a state church in England, at least.
December 15, 2025 at 9:41 PM
I will grant you that the constitutional status of the Church of Scotland and the "identities" of Northern Ireland are a bit less clear-cut but I don't think you can seriously argue the CofE is not a state church in England, at least.
The Church of England is represented as of right in the House of Lords, making the UK one of two countries with seats in the legislature reserved for the clerics of one and only one religion. I'm not sure how much more of a state church you can have!
December 15, 2025 at 9:36 PM
The Church of England is represented as of right in the House of Lords, making the UK one of two countries with seats in the legislature reserved for the clerics of one and only one religion. I'm not sure how much more of a state church you can have!
Well, there are *some* state religions, at least one and maybe as many as four depending where you are in the country, but their significance has gradually declined to basically nil.
December 15, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Well, there are *some* state religions, at least one and maybe as many as four depending where you are in the country, but their significance has gradually declined to basically nil.
Edging closer? Try “is there and has been for a while”
December 15, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Edging closer? Try “is there and has been for a while”
There’s a time and a place for this argument and when the bodies are still warm is not it.
December 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
There’s a time and a place for this argument and when the bodies are still warm is not it.
I was at uni with Goodall. He was a pretentious arse then and nothing noticeable has changed.
December 13, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I was at uni with Goodall. He was a pretentious arse then and nothing noticeable has changed.
It’s like the Xitter v Bluesky discourse. This phenomenon is annoying. The equal and opposite position is far more common *and kills people* which is somehow less bad than being annoying.
December 13, 2025 at 5:03 PM
It’s like the Xitter v Bluesky discourse. This phenomenon is annoying. The equal and opposite position is far more common *and kills people* which is somehow less bad than being annoying.