Is the pope Catholic? JD Vance thinks he has an answer | Marina Hyde When it comes to theology, Donald Trump’s vice-president clearly knows best. Are we about to see an American break with Rome, asks Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

Is the pope Catholic? JD Vance thinks he has an answer | Marina Hyde

Geoff Mulgan April 14th, 2026 The myth of STEM only growth holds back the UK

‘Why did the USSR, with its fantastic scientists and engineers and heavy investment in STEM, nevertheless stagnate?’
Excoriating from @geoffmulgan.bsky.social on the undervaluing of social science and humanities research
blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Thanks to hosts and all who put in hard work. On tests:

Progress towards peace? Strong civil society declaration. Work ongoing on concrete actions from govts.

Arms flows? Let's see.

Funding? Strong headline pledges. We'll crunch numbers, log money in and support delivered.

Good explanation from @stellacreasy.bsky.social of my analysis of the government/MAC's own data on the fiscal impacts of recent immigration, as featured in today's Guardian.

According to Federal Reserve economists, without Trump's tariffs, inflation would have dropped to pre-pandemic levels last year.

Instead, core goods prices were up 3.1% by February 2026 — and Trump's Iran War will send prices skyrocketing even higher.

Tired of winning yet?

It's literally the first three Commandments, Mike.

Notice how Christian nationalists suddenly believe in the separation of church and state when Bishop Mariann Budde asks the president to be merciful, when the Pope asks the president to be peaceful, and when anyone suggests that the government should take better care of the poor.

It's not as high profile as all the other failings of the last government, but the total collapse of the court system thanks to Chris Grayling is one of the most damning.

The challenges of balancing national economies and global markets, ageing populations and the working population, infrastructure and environment, technology and people, large and small companies, immigration, and so on, remain huge and currently without convincing political platforms.

George Soros living long enough to witness Orban's humiliating defeat is the cherry on top.

Orbánomics has been a disaster for Hungary The country’s economic model has stoked inflation and weighed on growth

Inflation is the kiss of death for politicians:

“Hungary has also experienced the highest cumulative inflation among countries in the EU since 2020. Overall, prices are up 57 per cent over the period, nearly double the rate for the bloc as a whole (28 per cent).”
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Victor Orbán’s removal sends a timely signal.

Corrupt kleptocratic Christian nationalism was on the ballot in Hungary today — just as it will be on the ballots that Americans will cast in November.

It was repudiated abroad — may it be repudiated here in November (and beyond).

It's as if diplomacy is actually a skilled profession.

Many things to say about the demise of Orbanism but the scale of his defeat is impressive. This is surely also a rejection of Trump & Vance. The threatened new era of official US interference in European domestic politics has got off to a satisfyingly calamitous start

Magyar’s speech is powered. From a contact in the audience: “He’s basically just asked all the puppets, all the supreme justices, all the heads of media, all the heads of the ministries to leave their jobs tomorrow and not wait to be fired.”

Laura Thornton: Lots of reasons but one thing I’ve learned from my decades abroad is that nothing infuriates and unites people more than corruption and poor economy. And Orban’s govt had it in spades. Corruption should be the center theme of every campaign, and how it is hurting you.

The causes and consequences of Trump’s defeat The Islamabad negotiations were supposed to conclude the Iran War in such a way that the US and Israel would have something to show for the thousands of lives lost and ruined, the vast quantities of o...

This is my assessment of why Trump’s war went so badly wrong. Underestimating an enemy and a belief in a quick victory are familiar sources of failure, compounded in this sense by incredible ultimatums and delusional claims. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?

all these universities kept axing medieval history departments as if they thought tyrants beefing with the Pope was going to stop being relevant

2/ "The President shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty ... except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, or pursuant to an Act of Congress."

“Running a database isn’t a core competency for most companies. But managing the freaking company is a core competence, or at least it ought to be. And one of the big messages from management cybernetics is that the distinction between these two things is not as clear as you’d think.” Quite so.

Psychologist Dr. John Gartner on Donald Trump: "He has the most severe personality disorder that a human being can have. It's called malignant narcissism. It was originally introduced by Erich Fromm, who escaped the Nazis, to describe the psychology of Hitler and other murderous dictators like him."

They could have cancelled the King’s visit on the grounds of needing to save fuel

This point from @ldfreedman.bsky.social (who's been in Washington this week) is key.

Out of malice and stupidity the Trump administration has destroyed its own decision-making capabilities.

www.ft.com/content/4f09...

Genuinely hard to overstate how much of a strategic defeat it would be for the United States if the war ends with effective Iranian control of the Strait.

There is something deeply sad about someone who starts a sentence with the word ”frankly” and then goes on to whinge like a ten year old that life’s unfair … whitewash … sick to death … usual suspects. Has WhingeUK’s leader run out of steam dredging up the most tired of political cliches?

he forgot the word 'special'

Chris Murphy: "We're gonna give Iran $14b to fund this war with the US? We're gonna give Russia billions to fund their war with Ukraine? We're literally putting money into the pockets of the nations we're fighting. We've never seen this level of incompetence in war-making in this country's history"

Barack Obama pays tribute to Robert Mueller, calling him one of the finest FBI directors in history and honoring his unwavering commitment to the rule of law

Always nice to think that the person sending young men and women off to war has this view about death.

a-grade satire from @hugorifkind.bsky.social as always