Important thread‼️👇🏻

Delighted to have published this brilliant and important collection

Somewhere Bismarck is looking down in confusion as Germany projects power by sending 4,000 pensioners, 12 buffet stations and a TUI loyalty program through the Strait of Hormuz

That should help Anthropic in their court case… 👇🏻

Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media

“I’m new here and love God, America,and Trump!!”

Hundreds of accounts on social media featuring AI-generated pro-Trump influencers posting at a rapid pace about the “radical left” and “America First.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/b...

An interesting week ahead.

Reports of a third attempted arson attack on Jewish targets in North London this week. It's getting really scary and more people need to start taking it seriously.

After 20 months, Starmer is now on his third Cabinet Secretary, his third FCDO Perm Sec, his third/fourth No. 10 chief(s) of staff and his fifth No. 10 Director of Comms

Very timely & important publication: "Why do political debates escalate? Trigger Points and the Moral Dynamics of 'Hot Politics'" @bjsociology.bsky.social by @lwestheuser.bsky.social, @thomaslux.bsky.social & our Director @steffenmau.bsky.social. Open Access. Details below.

NEW: Yvette Cooper only became aware that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting when approached by Guardian on Thursday, I’m told.

Foreign sec then spent evening in FCDO and Downing Street with the PM where she spoke to Sir Olly Robbins. They concluded he could no longer continue in post.

🤣

Wir sind wieder im Bereich der Wohlfühl/Symbolpolitik.

Greetings from London - from a country in crisis since late yesterday evening news emerged that forced resignation of the leading civil servant in the #FCDO, Olly Robbins, over vetting of Peter Mandelson as US ambo.

PM accused of misleading Parliament, opposition leaders call for his resignation.🔥

Congratulations, Abe!
Good of them to ask a leading academic. Now let’s hope they act on your advice. 🤞🏻

"There is no alternative to a strong UK EU relationship" is quite the message from the European Parliament President, and not one you would have heard in Brussels or London even six months ago.

I voted for Brexit. Now I face a red tape nightmare to retire in Spain Gone are the days when any Brit could leave their old life behind in the UK and head for the Spanish sun

It's not abnormal redtape. It's entirely normal globally for non-citizens to face these restrictions.

It was the advent of Europe that eliminated these problems. That was genius.

People forgot that the lack of redtape that was in actual fact not the norm.

#ThankEU

Hooray!!!

Very much looking forward to celebrating the 80th anniversary of @wiltonpark.bsky.social in #London tomorrow!
A unique institution enabling meaningful global dialogue - that’s what WP has been known for for decades.
But its roots lie in teaching German PoWs #democracy in a unique way.
🇬🇧❤️🇩🇪

„Revealed preference“, sagen die Ökonomen… 😇

I’m #hiring a PhD Student in Computational Social Science / Agentic Large Language Models. Know anyone who might be interested? www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/44...

JD Vance is 'splaining theology to the Pope??

JD VANCE SAYS COOKIE MONSTER SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL WHEN TALKING ABOUT COOKIES

Encouraging!
👇🏻

“Where you stand depends on where you sit.”
Exhibit no. 5634
👇🏻

Dass die Moralkeule hier hilft, mag man bezweifeln.
Es handelt sich um ein klassisches Kollektivhandlungsproblem. Wenn man die Dynamik des Geschehens verstehen möchte, nützen wahrscheinlich am ehesten Kenntnisse in Spieltheorie.

His lying powers have sharply declined.

The riches of Viktor Orbán’s home village [FREE TO READ] Hungary’s longtime leader is trailing in the polls ahead of April’s election, as the opposition alleges widespread corruption

Perhaps now is a good time to share the @financialtimes.com investigative series on Viktor Orban. To start with here’s the one we sent a reporter up in a plane for … (300 free clicks)

as.ft.com/r/8cd54659-d...

A line chart which shows the development of the V-Dem Liberal and Electoral Democracy Indices in Hungary from 1980 to 2025. The x-axis shows years, the y-axis shows index values from 0 to 1. After the end of communist dictatorship, Hungary adopted liberal democracy in 1990 - the LibDem index rose from 0.10 to 0.76. When Orbán became prime minister for a second time, he systematically dismantled democratic achievements, reflected in rapidly decreasing indices, LibDem index at 0.32 in 2025.

Will today mark the end of the autocratization of Hungary? 🇭🇺

Development of V-Dem indicators for liberal and electoral democracy from 1980 to 2025.

#30DayChartChallenge | Day 12 - Theme Day: FlowingData #dataviz 📊

Diagramm zur Oberbürgermeisterwahl in Schwerin

In gleich vier Städten traten heuten AfD-Kandidaten zu Bürgermeisterwahlen in M-V an, auch in der Landeshauptstadt, in #Schwerin. Die Rechtsaußen-Kandidatin Petra Federau schaffte es dort mit 26,3 Prozent nicht einmal in die Stichwahl – da hatte sich die AfD deutlich mehr erhofft. 🧵

Now Tisza projected at 138 seats against 54 of Orban’s Fidesz. If these numbers are confirmed, this is a larger victory than Orbàn’s 2010 landslide, which allowed him to change the 🇭🇺Constitution and start backsliding towards an illiberal democracy. A historic day.