"Scotland" by palette knife painter Georgia Hart

The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world.

‘Enough Of War,’ Pope Leo XIV Says In Latest Condemnation Of U.S.-Iran Conflict The first American leader of the Catholic Church has fiercely criticized the war in Iran, deepening tensions between the United States and the Vatican.

The first American leader of the Catholic Church has fiercely criticized the war in Iran, deepening tensions between the United States and the Vatican.

When Strangers Realise They Deserve Love Too (Free Hugs in Edinburgh) YouTube video by JourneyDude in Scotland

Spreading love and kindness in these times is more important than ever, so we did free hugs on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile 💛
Strangers, smiles and a little bit of courage. If you need a bit of kindness today, watch my new video! 👇 Please help and share it #kindness #scotland #hug
youtu.be/nEy_uoXS2Mk

Thread from former US Ambassador to NATO @ivodaalder.bsky.social ↘️

Why the Vatican is at war with Maga Trump and Peter Thiel have managed to unite the disparate factions of the Catholic Church against an earthly enemy

Why the Vatican is at war with Maga (and tech moguls like Peter Thiel) ↘️ giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Europe’s cyber agency blames hacking gangs for massive data breach and leak | TechCrunch CERT-EU blamed the cybercrime group TeamPCP for the recent hack on the European Commission, and said the notorious ShinyHunters gang was responsible for leaking the stolen data online.

NEW: CERT-EU accused cybercrime gang TeamPCP of being behind the recent European Commission hack.

It also accused ShinyHunters of being behind the leak of the stolen data, which was around 92 gigabytes, and contained full names, email addresses, and some email content.

The president speaks genocide The words, the law, the future

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
These are the words of the president of the United States, today.
The president speaks genocide. And so we too must speak. Not only about crimes, but about their legal punishment.
snyder.substack.com/p/the-presid...

Some thoughts about the President of the United States speaking about ending a civilization. The president speaks genocide. Anyone who has been involved in that conversation or associated actions would be complicit. And so we too must speak. Not only about crimes, but about their legal punishment.

Why are we still sending the King to meet a man who insisted just yesterday he would wage genocide on an entire civilisation?

“I believe it is time to explore concepts like the universal basic income (UBI), also known as ‘the negative income tax’: an unconditional flat payment to all citizens, which could be dispersed through the tax system.”

— Pope Francis, in the final section of his book Let Us Dream

Happy Easter! 🥚

🚨 Christina Koch has officially become the farthest any woman has ever traveled from Earth

UK's vague post-Brexit rules on chemicals are now clear. Here's why they're dangerous FROM toothpaste to toys, all of us are in contact with industrially made chemicals every day. We literally can’t live without them ...

Thenational Scot: UK's vague post-Brexit rules on chemicals are now clear. Here's why they're dangerous
www.thenational.scot/news/2591585...

📣 Cyber Security 2026 📣

A key session is Sector Deep-Dive: Protecting Health, Local Government and Critical National Infrastructure.

🗓 Tuesday, 24th February 2026
📍 Technology & Innovation Centre, Glasgow
🌐 hubs.la/Q041vwhh0

#FSCyber

Looking forward to this 👇🏽
#FSCyber

France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US European governments are moving away from U.S. tech giants, opting for domestic or open-source alternatives.

Headlines and images matter

This is 🔥

(On a very important and long overdue movement towards autonomy)

apnews.com/article/euro...

The Cambridge Disinformation Summit will discuss, with global lawmakers, the effects on democracy of concentrated media ownership.

“No other period in history has seen such a rapid and overwhelming buy up of our means of communications by the billionaire class.”

mronline.org/2025/12/03/t...

“The system’s power comes not from its truth but from everyone’s willingness to perform as if it were true.”

Mark Carney explains how totalitarianism works.

The lesson couldn’t be more clear: do not obey in advance. That is how freedom erodes and dignity disappears.

I think witnessing Brexit as both insider & outsider had a profound effect on Mark Carney. His resolve in the face of the next stage of the attempted destabilisation of the West might even be described as a ‘Brexit benefit’!

Prime Minister of Belgium Bart De Wever on frozen Russian assets:

◾️The Russian assets will remain immobilized until the end of the war.
◾️Let me be very clear about this. If it were up to me, every single euro of that money would be used for reparations and for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever:

◾️ Negotiating with Putin, I think, is not a very good idea, because, as the Americans said, if you want to speak, speak softly, but carry a big stick. We don't have a big stick; we can only speak softly.

◾️ It's time to wake up.

The Prime Minister of Belgium speaks:

Statement of the EU Commission. Full text in the link

EU Commission response to US sanctions imposed upon advocates of regulating social media ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Into the void: how Trump killed international law The rules-based global order, its institutions and value system face a crisis of legitimacy and credibility as the US turns away

www.theguardian.com/law/ng-inter...

The beautiful #Christmas #lightshow at the Royal #BotanicalGarden in #Edinburgh. It is a world-leading centre of excellence in plant science, conservation horticulture and education.

The beautiful Hungarian Oak dressed up for #Christmas in the Royal Botanical Gardens in #Edinburgh. Sound on! #gardening #botanicalgardens

Teachers to be trained to spot early signs of misogyny in boys — BBC News The measure is part of the government's strategy to tackle violence against women and girls which will be unveiled on Thursday.

Teachers to be trained to spot the early signs of misogyny in boys apple.news/APT_vu59PQ3a...

The UK's most investable regions This interactive article spotlights the tech niches in 11 regions up and down the UK that are generating excitement among local founders and investors.

A great spotlight on Scotland’s tech ecosystem 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, more specifically #Edinburgh & #Glasgow, by Sifted.

#entrepreneurship #startup #Scaleup #techecosystem

sifted.eu/studio/uk-in...

Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications

“Europe’s drying trend will have “far-reaching” impacts, hitting #foodsecurity, farming and water-dependent ecosystems, especially groundwater-fed habitats” #climateemergency #drought
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Welcome to Pathfounders It's high time we had a new tech media brand.

Today, we are soft-launching Pathfounders, a new tech media brand to offer informed reporting, analysis, and opinion on the top tech startups and VC firms across Europe, Silicon Valley, and globally.
pathfounders.com/p/welcome-to...