Ailsa Laing
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ailsalaing.bsky.social
Ailsa Laing
@ailsalaing.bsky.social
AuDHDer. Trans-inclusive feminist and secularist. European Scot. She/They. No DMs unless we've already 'met'.
Pinned
It's more than sad - it hurts, a great many people a great deal. BUT it's accurate that this is not a major defeat. Russia have thrown the lives of ONE MILLION of their people on this pyre. No nation can 'win' who will do that to its own people.
Sad, but very definitely NOT a major defeat
Russians have lost a million men
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Netanyahu has formally requested a pardon from President Isaac Herzog.

In a statement he said: “The security and political reality and the national interest require the immediate termination of the trial.”

The aim of the carnage all along,
November 30, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
“Pensacola managed to turn MLK Plaza into a stage for authoritarian slapstick, where compassion is contraband and decency is a misdemeanor.”
open.substack.com/pub/closerto...
THE CRIME OF FEEDING THE HUNGRY
PENSACOLA’S MOST PATHETIC POWER TRIP YET
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
COMMENTARY: Because they're usually past retirement age, ships in Russia's shadow fleet don't last long before they need to be scrapped.
 
This has opened a whole shadow trade that’s bound to cause serious harm to both humans and the environment.

🔗 politi.co/4837viZ 
November 30, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Russia is spending 7.5pc of GDP on the war against Ukraine

We're at war with ourselves in a special kind of war
November 30, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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Even the Brexit-backing right recognises the mistake of Brexit.

They don't offer any way out for the UK. You can still feel the arrogant pride in this article.

Humility is required, realism about consequences such as giving up trade deals, and positivity about Europe.
Time to admit the truth: Brexit has been an unmitigated economic failure
Leaving the EU has reduced Britain’s GDP by up to 8pc, according to a devastating US study
www.telegraph.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
NEW! Vast swathes of Europe’s water reserves are drying up, two decades of satellite data reveals, with freshwater storage shrinking across Europe

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
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
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:35 PM
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Kaja Kallas:
"In 100 years Russia has attacked 19 countries, while no country has attacked Russia in the same period."
November 28, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
They're not hiding it, folks—straight up neo-Nazi advertising, from the font to the language to the 11 stars for the Confederacy. Then you have the DHS openly using white nationalist language of "remigrate", which means ethnic cleansing.

This is who MAGA is now.
November 30, 2025 at 6:43 AM
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The House and Senate are both investigating Pete’s war crimes
November 30, 2025 at 12:28 AM
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Steve Baker has acknowledged the bare minimum threshold was wrong, not that he commits to saying the question put to the country was naive or that it hasn’t worked. Got himself worked up into a lather at the time, manipulated by many I think. www.politics.co.uk/news/2023/10...
‘Hard man of Brexit’ Steve Baker regrets EU referendum did not require Leave win ‘supermajority’ of 60 per cent - Politics.co.uk
The leading “Leave” campaigner was a prominent voice the 2016 referendum, which saw the voting public back ending EU membership by 52 per to 48 per cent.
www.politics.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Really bad news. And completely irresponsible given where we are.
Can’t decide who this is worse for, the EU or the UK. But the real looser, of course, is European defence. So all of us.

on.ft.com/4pb0xP6
UK talks to join EU defence fund break down
UK talks to join EU defence fund break down
Discussions fail after Britain refuses to pay billions of euros in fees
on.ft.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
All the president’s millions: how the Trumps are turning the presidency into riches
All the president’s millions: how the Trumps are turning the presidency into riches
From Vietnam to the Balkans, Donald Trump’s family has launched a global dealmaking blitz since his re-election
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
I wrote for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the special needs problem highlighted by the budget and the big political battle over it coming next year.

share.google/kTTENR1gX4Y4...
Labour’s holiday homework: solve the problem of special needs education | The Observer
share.google
November 30, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Tesla scales back Robotaxi fleet goal in Austin

The Tesla Robotaxi fleet in Austin has only about 30 Model Ys in use. When we compare 60 vehicles to the 500 cars promised just weeks ago, the difference is huge. Tesla will miss its year-end goal by almost 90%.

/1
Tesla scales back Robotaxi fleet goal in Austin
The announced doubling of the Tesla Robotaxi fleet in Austin only brings the total number of supervised EVs to about 60, a massive shortfall from the 500 vehicles the company promised just weeks ago.
www.arenaev.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Google has been giving free advertising to anti-abortion groups targeting pregnant women in Scotland and across the UK, the Sunday National can reveal
November 30, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Ukrainian forces downed multiple Russian jet-powered Shaheds for the first time using Ukrainian-made Sting interceptor drones overnight.
November 30, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
How low we have sunk as a country. The US Department of Defense is now run by a rabid war criminal.

Ordering the execution of helpless survivors of an attack is ALWAYS a war crime, whether they civilian or military.

Pure, mindless, barbarism.
www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-pet...
Pentagon Pete in Legal Peril Over ‘Kill Them All’ Orders
A follow-up missile allegedly killed survivors of a U.S. strike on a drug boat.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 29, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Today is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Palestinians have the right to dignity, justice, and self-determination.

Solidarity today and every day.

#PalestineDay
November 30, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Must read from
@pimlicat.bsky.social

Pro Europeans on both side of the channel need to redouble our efforts to compromise, co-operate and forge stronger partnerships.

Even more important at a moment when Ukraine's sovereign future hangs in the balance.

www.bestforbritain.org/uk_access_to...
UK access to SAFE vital to deter tyrant on our doorstep
The UK's access to Europe's SAFE defence fund is vital to deter "the tyrant on our doorstep", campaigners have stressed, following reports that negotiations over Britain joining the €150 billion fund ...
www.bestforbritain.org
November 28, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
There is a distinct lack of public voices making the case for the UK and EU working together, and far too many finding fault with something or other. Which at a point when Europe collectively is struggling isn't a good sign.
November 28, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Kazakhstan and Turkey condemned Ukrainian strikes, with Kazakhstan calling attacks on the Caspian Pipeline terminal serving Chevron and Shell harmful to bilateral ties, while Turkey expressed concern over strikes in its Black Sea economic zone.
November 30, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Farage's alliance with the US hard-right should alarm every British woman
Nigel Farage's alliance with the US hard-right should alarm every British woman
Women’s bodies are the new battleground as Nigel Farage aligns with the US hard-right. His link to the group that toppled Roe v. Wade puts UK reproductive freedom at serious risk, writes columnist…
www.mirror.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
🔥🔥🔥 Great to see Jonathan Fink of Silicon Curtain (@CurtainSilicon) here in Kyiv, Ukraine 🇺🇦!

Jonathan has a tremendous understanding of Russia and what is truly transpiring there.

Thanks, Jonathan!
youtu.be/qFBcjYfN7qs?...
Putin Wants War - Why This Invasion is Not Over
YouTube video by Silicon Curtain
youtu.be
November 30, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
Exclusive: anti-genocide Jewish woman’s testimony to PA proscription court...
Exclusive: anti-genocide Jewish woman's testimony to PA proscription court
Leading Jewish anti-genocide activist tells High Court that ban on Palestine Action only protects arms dealers—and insists: “Not in our name”
www.thecanary.co
November 29, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Ailsa Laing
open.substack.com/pub/european...

And yet we hear nothing about this from the press that most of us trust
@theguardian.com
@theobserveruk.bsky.social
@newstatesman1913.bsky.social
@neweuropeansuk.bsky.social

What do you know?
Is it so disturbing that you’re keeping it from us?
EXPOSED: The Government’s Freeport Con Trick – A Forensic Takedown of Their Insulting Response
The government just responded to my petition about Industrial Strategy Zones. What they said was a masterclass in gaslighting.
open.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:46 PM