Alex Hardy
@alexhardy1987.bsky.social
Researcher @ Liverpool University
Estonia & Georgia enthusiast 🇪🇪🇬🇪
Research Interests: Digital Innovation/Central & Eastern Europe/ Cyber/ Geopolitics
Permanently unhappy sports fan:
Boro ⚽️ New York Giants 🏈 England 🏏
Estonia & Georgia enthusiast 🇪🇪🇬🇪
Research Interests: Digital Innovation/Central & Eastern Europe/ Cyber/ Geopolitics
Permanently unhappy sports fan:
Boro ⚽️ New York Giants 🏈 England 🏏
A complete disgrace - and absolutely not what they promised when awarded the bid. Given the direction of travel, I’m resigned to probably never going to a World Cup.
FIFA has raised ticket prices yet again for most 2026 World Cup games.
Some standard group-stage tickets are now listed at $700 and a lower-level ticket to the World Cup final now priced at $8,680 — nearly $2,000 more than its original price in October.
📝 @henrybushnell.bsky.social
Some standard group-stage tickets are now listed at $700 and a lower-level ticket to the World Cup final now priced at $8,680 — nearly $2,000 more than its original price in October.
📝 @henrybushnell.bsky.social
World Cup ticket prices rise again after draw; What each match costs to attend
For the first time, tickets are available to specific World Cup games, and the prices are largely on a significant rise
www.nytimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 8:23 PM
A complete disgrace - and absolutely not what they promised when awarded the bid. Given the direction of travel, I’m resigned to probably never going to a World Cup.
What a fascinating and useful piece of research
This technology was developed in response to the stark disparity in how urban safety is experienced by women and men.
What’s the safest way to walk home at night? We’ve created an AI-powered app that shows you
This technology was developed in response to the stark disparity in how urban safety is experienced by women and men.
tcnv.link
December 11, 2025 at 7:17 PM
What a fascinating and useful piece of research
I had a quick look at Facebook earlier and I’m not so sure I think it’s the kids that are the problem…
www.bbc.com
www.bbc.com
BBC Home - Breaking News, World News, US News, Sports, Business, Innovation, Climate, Culture, Travel, Video & Audio
Visit BBC for trusted reporting on the latest world and US news, sports, business, climate, innovation, culture and much more.
www.bbc.com
December 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
I had a quick look at Facebook earlier and I’m not so sure I think it’s the kids that are the problem…
www.bbc.com
www.bbc.com
Those who ‘give’ are now reduced to medical workers and the rich, apparently.
December 7, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Those who ‘give’ are now reduced to medical workers and the rich, apparently.
Reposted by Alex Hardy
GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament
December 3, 2025 at 7:07 PM
GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament
The Giants are currently embarrassing, the Jets have a more permanent aura.
Wait. The Giants kicker literally missed the entire ball last night and I’m supposed to believe the Jets are more embarrassing!?
December 3, 2025 at 9:30 AM
The Giants are currently embarrassing, the Jets have a more permanent aura.
Panettone is the worst Italian food item and the worst commonly available Christmas food. People give it away because it is terrible and they don’t want to eat it themselves.
November 30, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Panettone is the worst Italian food item and the worst commonly available Christmas food. People give it away because it is terrible and they don’t want to eat it themselves.
I hope the pigheaded determination to count students in regular migration numbers is given full acknowledgement in the post-mortem when we begin to lose institutions (and the subsequent impact that has on their local communities).
'Ahead of the autumn budget on 26 November, Universities UK (UUK) has calculated that funding per student for teaching in 2025-26 is at 64 per cent of the level it was in 2015-16.' 1/3
University teaching income ‘£6.4 billon less’ than 10 years ago
UUK says shortfall in teaching money is ‘baked in’ to higher education funding system as institutions brace for new tax in upcoming budget
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:39 AM
I hope the pigheaded determination to count students in regular migration numbers is given full acknowledgement in the post-mortem when we begin to lose institutions (and the subsequent impact that has on their local communities).
This is a fun study - but I’d really like to see it replicated with a uniformed member of staff. Results to be presented to politicians who lobby for unstaffed public transport.
Science will often take you to unexpected and delightful places. In this study, researchers hypothesized that riders in a crowded subway car would be more likely to offer their seat to a pregnant person if there were someone in the subway car dressed as Batman 🧪🦇
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
November 23, 2025 at 9:49 AM
This is a fun study - but I’d really like to see it replicated with a uniformed member of staff. Results to be presented to politicians who lobby for unstaffed public transport.
If I have an unlimited budget for bathroom refurbishment, I’m 100% installing a Japanese toilet, not this gaudy nonsense.
On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.
October 31, 2025 at 8:09 PM
If I have an unlimited budget for bathroom refurbishment, I’m 100% installing a Japanese toilet, not this gaudy nonsense.
Reposted by Alex Hardy
I've written a couple of things over the last days about how the government and much of Westminster remaining on X as the platform becomes increasingly toxic is having consequences for our politics...
Our politics is increasingly normalised to racism – because politicians are addicted to X
The platform has quietly dragged British politics into a dark place
inews.co.uk
October 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
I've written a couple of things over the last days about how the government and much of Westminster remaining on X as the platform becomes increasingly toxic is having consequences for our politics...
The UK Defence Budget is 2.5% of GDP. We spend 18% of our GDP on the combined budget of Education, Health, and Housing.
There is a major war in Europe.
There is a major war in Europe.
There is always money for war, never for the poor.
Every penny spent on bombs, tanks and missiles is stolen from our homes, schools and hospitals.
We are not going to take it anymore.
Every penny spent on bombs, tanks and missiles is stolen from our homes, schools and hospitals.
We are not going to take it anymore.
October 28, 2025 at 10:06 AM
The UK Defence Budget is 2.5% of GDP. We spend 18% of our GDP on the combined budget of Education, Health, and Housing.
There is a major war in Europe.
There is a major war in Europe.
‘Your Party’ foreign policy brain rot update:
October 27, 2025 at 11:43 PM
‘Your Party’ foreign policy brain rot update:
Quoted here - a lone voice among partisans. Lots of democratic countries use Digital ID, not just Estonia. By and large, it serves as a secure means to access data that already exists (and it can cut bureaucracy & save money). It will not create a police state.
metro.co.uk/2025/10/24/s...
metro.co.uk/2025/10/24/s...
'Surveillance society': Will you be signing up for a digital ID?
metro.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Quoted here - a lone voice among partisans. Lots of democratic countries use Digital ID, not just Estonia. By and large, it serves as a secure means to access data that already exists (and it can cut bureaucracy & save money). It will not create a police state.
metro.co.uk/2025/10/24/s...
metro.co.uk/2025/10/24/s...
The UK Government and my football club, among a plethora of other other outlets, continue to use this platform above all else. It is indefensible.
This is a "recommended" tweet pushed to a (very much not-Nazi) contact's iPhone lockscreen last week.
Who knows how many millions it was pushed to by Musk's platform, including in this case, in the UK?
It's now been deleted, but only after getting thousands of RTs.
Who knows how many millions it was pushed to by Musk's platform, including in this case, in the UK?
It's now been deleted, but only after getting thousands of RTs.
October 22, 2025 at 9:23 AM
The UK Government and my football club, among a plethora of other other outlets, continue to use this platform above all else. It is indefensible.
All Telegram users are currently having the whining of Pavel Durov pushed on them, where he squeals about the freedoms of the internet. That is Pavel Durov, Russian citizen, Resident of UAE. Both bastions of the free internet, which Mr Durov has never developed the spine to criticise.
October 10, 2025 at 5:10 PM
All Telegram users are currently having the whining of Pavel Durov pushed on them, where he squeals about the freedoms of the internet. That is Pavel Durov, Russian citizen, Resident of UAE. Both bastions of the free internet, which Mr Durov has never developed the spine to criticise.
This also re-enforces what I have been trying to highlight (& so many are desperate to misrepresent) that a Digital ID does necessitate 'one giant database' - tech like X-Road means Digital ID accesses a data exchange layer that then interacts with decentralised sources.
www.ft.com/content/b7c2...
www.ft.com/content/b7c2...
October 3, 2025 at 9:52 AM
This also re-enforces what I have been trying to highlight (& so many are desperate to misrepresent) that a Digital ID does necessitate 'one giant database' - tech like X-Road means Digital ID accesses a data exchange layer that then interacts with decentralised sources.
www.ft.com/content/b7c2...
www.ft.com/content/b7c2...
Reposted by Alex Hardy
Estonia has more than 20 years experience of digital IDs.
As the UK plans to introduce digital IDs, what can it learn from pioneer Estonia?
Estonia has more than 20 years experience of digital IDs.
tcnv.link
October 1, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Estonia has more than 20 years experience of digital IDs.
No, a Digital ID is not going to turn Britain into Cold War-era East Germany. It is a completely normal and useful thing to have in many functioning democracies.
theconversation.com/as-the-uk-pl...
theconversation.com/as-the-uk-pl...
As the UK plans to introduce digital IDs, what can it learn from pioneer Estonia?
Estonia has more than 20 years experience of digital IDs.
theconversation.com
September 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
No, a Digital ID is not going to turn Britain into Cold War-era East Germany. It is a completely normal and useful thing to have in many functioning democracies.
theconversation.com/as-the-uk-pl...
theconversation.com/as-the-uk-pl...
There has been some utter nonsense written about Digital ID in the UK over the past few days. Much referencing Estonian.
I hope this serves as a defence against that nonsense.
theconversation.com/as-the-uk-pl...
I hope this serves as a defence against that nonsense.
theconversation.com/as-the-uk-pl...
As the UK plans to introduce digital IDs, what can it learn from pioneer Estonia?
Estonia has more than 20 years experience of digital IDs.
theconversation.com
September 30, 2025 at 4:50 PM
There has been some utter nonsense written about Digital ID in the UK over the past few days. Much referencing Estonian.
I hope this serves as a defence against that nonsense.
theconversation.com/as-the-uk-pl...
I hope this serves as a defence against that nonsense.
theconversation.com/as-the-uk-pl...
In a way, I do admire the brass neck, although I think if I had such a highly popularised and defining book that turned out to be very, very wrong, I would just call it a day with the public comments and embrace peaceful retirement.
Francis Fukuyama: ‘The neoliberals went too far. Now, we need more social democratic policies’
english.elpais.com/culture/2022...
english.elpais.com/culture/2022...
Francis Fukuyama: ‘The neoliberals went too far. Now, we need more social democratic policies’
The political scientist, who at the beginning of the 1990s declared ‘the end of history,’ returns with a new book where he identifies the threats to classical liberalism: runaway capitalism and too mu...
english.elpais.com
September 29, 2025 at 10:29 AM
In a way, I do admire the brass neck, although I think if I had such a highly popularised and defining book that turned out to be very, very wrong, I would just call it a day with the public comments and embrace peaceful retirement.
This is correct, but it should not have taken this long to take this stance.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Keir Starmer calls Reform migrant policy 'racist' and 'immoral'
The prime minister said he needed
www.bbc.co.uk
September 28, 2025 at 11:41 AM
This is correct, but it should not have taken this long to take this stance.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...