This is a good article explaining the arguments over a temporary transfer of Guernica to Bilbao. But it also contains a wonderful snippet of a story about the return of Guernica from New York after the death of Franco, in the hold of a regular Iberia flight.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
i feel like if ai is going to cause mass unemployment, leading to the introduction of ubi, which will be funded by (??) taxing the few companies that remain (??), we could get a head start on that by taxing those companies and introducing ubi right now
christ, not to relitigate It a decade on but it's hard to watch people happily waving Hungarian flags and EU flags at the same time and not think "oh right, almost like it's not that fucking hard to realise that you can have and cherish multiple, complimentary identities"
Congratulations to Péter Magyar on a decisive election victory in Hungary.
The Hungarian people have chosen a new path. We are ready to work with you, and our European allies, to deepen our cooperation in trade, defence, and security.
“Amsterdam is set to ban climate-damaging advertising [fossil fuel & meat adverts] in public spaces, following a trend spreading across Dutch cities.
France has also enacted legislation outlawing adverts from non-renewable energy companies, & one Italian city has plans to do the same.” #UrbanTruth
Certainly, Sam. Here's some information on that topic:
Molotov cocktails are a combination of a chemical accelerant poured into a glass bottle. A cloth is inserted into the neck and lit before being thrown.
They can be enjoyed at any time of year, but they are most commonly drunk in the summer.
1/ This Yanis Varoufakis screed made me so angry the only way I can salvage my day is to go through it line by line as catharsis.
You are welcome to come on the journey toward my aneurism with me.
An angry h/t to @sianushka.bsky.social for bringing this into my life.
unherd.com/2026/04/why-...
Hoy, el Rayo Vallecano sigue haciendo historia en Europa. Han ganado 3-0 en la ida de los cuartos de la Conference. Cántico de la afición antifascista del Rayo: "Quien no baile es Netanyahu".
The problem with Turkey is that it has taken its own authoritarian turn, maintaining their relations with Russia in the process
We should assume whatever needs doing will have to be done without Turkey, unless and until the country returns to liberal democracy
MelonIi, Le Pen, Wilders, Morawiecki, Ventura — all Europe’s far-right have lined up next to Orban to support him in Sunday’s election.
They should be pressured relentlessly over his Russia ties.
Orban is Russia’s man in Europe. The mouse to Russia’s lion, to use *his own words*
Why do our second-tier cities underperform?
Why do we have fewer trams in the UK?
I try my best to give an answer to these two interconnected questions.
chriscurtismk.substack.com/p/to-grow-th...
The Moon: oh wow you guys decided to come back
Artemis II crew: earth’s haunted
Armageddon is terrible, but our only other option was diversity trainings at work.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2026/04/07/s...
2/
A vintage idyllic picture-postcard view of Lucerne, Switzerland; it features an impressive lakeside building and two elegant span bridges, with snow-capped Alps in the background. The image has been altered: a 'code waterfall' effect (as seen in the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies) cascades down over the mountains and streaks across the water of the lake. Three massive fiber optic bundles rear up out of the harbor, their cut tips glowing white. The Swiss flag atop the lakeside building is haloed with radiant glowing streaks.
If you live in Switzerland you can get 25Gbit fiber. That's 25Gbit *symmetrical* - up *and* down. On a dedicated connection that's yours alone. From multiple providers. And you can switch with the click of a mouse. It's *ne plus ultra*, *magnifico*, *wunderschön*:
www.init7.net/de/internet/...
1/
SNL UK is absolutely putting its American counterpart to shame dear lord
"procurement officials insisted on paper, rather than digital, documents. They routinely rejected drawings submitted in English."
Mind-boggling tale of procurement insanity and, maybe, €2bn in sunk costs for the F126. Add to the long list of screw-ups that got von der Leyen 'promoted' to Brussels.
My favourite thing about the paywall fade you get is that it's the perfect encapsulation of slowly backing away from the nutter in the pub who tries to tell you about how MI5 are controlling his teeth.
so they're closing the West Coast Main Line for a week, huh? the single line connecting London to four of Britain's next five biggest urban conurbations? that's mad, weird that no one's ever thought to build an alternative route, perhaps even one that runs at a high speed, too. crazy
"It's just a clickbait headline, you shouldn't take it so seriously and read more into it, there's a lot more nuance to this!" - People treating my 19 word snarky gag comment with all the gravity of a message carved into a recently discovered alien obelisk.
Holiday advice: It's pleasant to get a train to Europe. You just have to turn travelling into a core part of the holiday - lunch in Paris, dinner in Bordeaux, trip to Spain, week on beach etc. It's limiting, but very enjoyable & decent alternative to a flight you won't be able to afford by summer.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Imagine if instead of spending billions of dollars supporting terrorists or weapons, Irans had spent that money helping the people of Iran. They would have had a much different country.
objectively the funniest critique an american could level at another country
A company founded by a man who doesn't believe in democracy and which is aiding Trump's destruction of the American republic and whose UK arm is run by the grandson of Britain's most famous fascist, which helped him get his job, criticises "ideological groups."
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
I wrote about this last year!!! in so many areas of life, AI use is the symptom and not the problem: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/the-ballad...
We need an effort to save this critical service.
“Of all the ways to show Europe is serious about making up the economic ground it has lost,” writes Ulrike Malmendier, a single regulatory framework “is perhaps the easiest—and one with enormous potential”
For those followers who are not subscribers to The Economist:
1. Get a subscription, it is the best investment for you (and probably your career)
2. Meanwhile, ten minutes of the best bits of the interview can be seen here:
youtu.be/Lggjw3OuFrw?...
So, about those Eid prayers in London...
"What's the highest thing in Trafalgar Square?"
"Nelson's column, innit?"
"And the highest thing on the column?"
"Nelson."
"And on Nelson?"
"His hat."
"And the highest thing on his hat?"
"That bit that sticks up."
1/8
