James Vaughan
@equusonthebuses.bsky.social
Historian of UK-Israel relations, British decline, and propaganda. Hittites. Blues harmonica. Aberystwyth Cricket Club. Just posting stuff that interests me really.
Good company at the bar this evening
December 8, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Good company at the bar this evening
Reminded of the joke about the heckler at a Nazi rally. The speaker cries from the platform: ‘The Jews are our misfortune!’
The heckler responds: ‘The Jews, and the cyclists!’
Puzzled, the speaker responds: ‘Why the cyclists?’
The heckler fires back: ‘Why the Jews?’
www.thejc.com/news/usa/for...
The heckler responds: ‘The Jews, and the cyclists!’
Puzzled, the speaker responds: ‘Why the cyclists?’
The heckler fires back: ‘Why the Jews?’
www.thejc.com/news/usa/for...
Former neo-Nazi says watching Seinfeld made him realise his antisemitism was ‘stupid’ - The Jewish Chronicle
Arno Michaelis said that laughing at the sitcom ‘drove home the futility of my antisemitism’
www.thejc.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reminded of the joke about the heckler at a Nazi rally. The speaker cries from the platform: ‘The Jews are our misfortune!’
The heckler responds: ‘The Jews, and the cyclists!’
Puzzled, the speaker responds: ‘Why the cyclists?’
The heckler fires back: ‘Why the Jews?’
www.thejc.com/news/usa/for...
The heckler responds: ‘The Jews, and the cyclists!’
Puzzled, the speaker responds: ‘Why the cyclists?’
The heckler fires back: ‘Why the Jews?’
www.thejc.com/news/usa/for...
After Pearl Harbor. Zec cartoon in the Daily Mirror #OnThisDay 1941
December 8, 2025 at 11:59 AM
After Pearl Harbor. Zec cartoon in the Daily Mirror #OnThisDay 1941
Movie you've watched more than six times with a Gif. Hard mode-no Star Wars, Marvel.
December 7, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Movie you've watched more than six times with a Gif. Hard mode-no Star Wars, Marvel.
Reposted by James Vaughan
Polanski: ”Would you please stop killing Ukrainians and stealing their land?”
Lavrov: “No.”
Polanski: “Thank you for this opportunity to engage in dialogue.”
Lavrov: “No.”
Polanski: “Thank you for this opportunity to engage in dialogue.”
Polanski here exhibits classic main character syndrome, as in believing that others are only ever responding to us as opposed to pushing their own agendas.
December 7, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Polanski: ”Would you please stop killing Ukrainians and stealing their land?”
Lavrov: “No.”
Polanski: “Thank you for this opportunity to engage in dialogue.”
Lavrov: “No.”
Polanski: “Thank you for this opportunity to engage in dialogue.”
Reposted by James Vaughan
You don’t have to watch short-form video! You’ll be less au fait with this week’s microcelebrity but it’s a price worth paying to feel less awful about yourself, not contributing to this economic model in the process
a type of content that makes me want to launch myself into space and is huge part of why everything is so bad: TikToker goes down a “rabbit hole,” makes 9-minute video. The “rabbit hole” was she found an Eater article. The Eater journalist did all the work: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTruBS8cp/
allow me to take you on a journey where, once again, we learn we have no idea what’s in our food. at least we know corporations are pure of heart so I’m sure it’s fine🫶🏼🤡
TikTok video by kaelin
www.tiktok.com
December 7, 2025 at 8:50 PM
You don’t have to watch short-form video! You’ll be less au fait with this week’s microcelebrity but it’s a price worth paying to feel less awful about yourself, not contributing to this economic model in the process
Reposted by James Vaughan
This is a good thread! Every week someone reads out a London Centric story on TikTok without credit and does big views. This isn’t a wah wah moan… more that when a big news outlet steals, they know what they’re doing. I think a lot of content creators sincerely think “reading words” *is* reporting?
Comments are like wow great journalism, TikTok influencer, whose “rabbit hole” consisted of screenshotting someone else’s article
December 7, 2025 at 8:29 PM
This is a good thread! Every week someone reads out a London Centric story on TikTok without credit and does big views. This isn’t a wah wah moan… more that when a big news outlet steals, they know what they’re doing. I think a lot of content creators sincerely think “reading words” *is* reporting?
Reposted by James Vaughan
Comments are like wow great journalism, TikTok influencer, whose “rabbit hole” consisted of screenshotting someone else’s article
December 7, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Comments are like wow great journalism, TikTok influencer, whose “rabbit hole” consisted of screenshotting someone else’s article
Reposted by James Vaughan
a type of content that makes me want to launch myself into space and is huge part of why everything is so bad: TikToker goes down a “rabbit hole,” makes 9-minute video. The “rabbit hole” was she found an Eater article. The Eater journalist did all the work: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTruBS8cp/
allow me to take you on a journey where, once again, we learn we have no idea what’s in our food. at least we know corporations are pure of heart so I’m sure it’s fine🫶🏼🤡
TikTok video by kaelin
www.tiktok.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:10 AM
a type of content that makes me want to launch myself into space and is huge part of why everything is so bad: TikToker goes down a “rabbit hole,” makes 9-minute video. The “rabbit hole” was she found an Eater article. The Eater journalist did all the work: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTruBS8cp/
I hereby predict that the world will end because of TikTok. Sadly Wales doesn't have an independent nuclear weapons capability or it would already have happened. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
TikTok influencer's Wales being part of England remark sparks row
Tennessee Thresher goes viral after telling her podcast she sees Wales
www.bbc.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I hereby predict that the world will end because of TikTok. Sadly Wales doesn't have an independent nuclear weapons capability or it would already have happened. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
New second hand bookshop acquisition. 1938 1st edition of 'Poor Knight's Saddle', Douglas V. Duff's account of the troubled situation in Mandatory Palestine. I appear to have acquired a copy previously belonging to Sir Montague Burton, founder of the famous menswear retail chain...
December 7, 2025 at 3:15 PM
New second hand bookshop acquisition. 1938 1st edition of 'Poor Knight's Saddle', Douglas V. Duff's account of the troubled situation in Mandatory Palestine. I appear to have acquired a copy previously belonging to Sir Montague Burton, founder of the famous menswear retail chain...
Reposted by James Vaughan
I'm especially partial to Liz Everton's article on masculinity and caricature during the Dreyfus Affair
December 6, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I'm especially partial to Liz Everton's article on masculinity and caricature during the Dreyfus Affair
Reposted by James Vaughan
Dear god, give me patience. These people...
December 6, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Dear god, give me patience. These people...
Or maybe that overly large MNC's owned by people like, er, Musk, should be broken up so that the markets can operate more equitably in the interests of ordinary consumers...
This is pretty much exactly like a European saying the United States should be abolished, so that the governments of individual states can better represent their people.
It’s a take, you’re entitled to it, but what’s it got to do with you, buddy?
It’s a take, you’re entitled to it, but what’s it got to do with you, buddy?
December 6, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Or maybe that overly large MNC's owned by people like, er, Musk, should be broken up so that the markets can operate more equitably in the interests of ordinary consumers...
Reposted by James Vaughan
Odd how you never hear "We should run business like a university."
Especially since the original model for corporate charters was much more university-like: specifically justified for a public good.
Especially since the original model for corporate charters was much more university-like: specifically justified for a public good.
the reason its bad to run universities like businesses is that almost all businesses fail on any reasonable timeline of evaluation.
hudson's bay made it the longest and even they only got to about half an oxford of longevity
hudson's bay made it the longest and even they only got to about half an oxford of longevity
They claim financial exigency, but then turn down $4 million pledges to keep the PhD programs open and disregard financial analyses that point to the real problem—bad real estate deals, spending on consultants, and their own salaries 2/2
December 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Odd how you never hear "We should run business like a university."
Especially since the original model for corporate charters was much more university-like: specifically justified for a public good.
Especially since the original model for corporate charters was much more university-like: specifically justified for a public good.
I get this, because the failure to deal with Farage's racism and antisemitism is indeed infuriating. On another level, it rather misses the point that Corbyn would never have done that because it's a form of antisemitism he recognised and condemned. His problem was the antisemitism he didn't see.
Imagine the reaction to allegations that Corbyn had made hissing gas noises to Jewish kids as a schoolboy - and then if he had responded to those allegations by shouting 'Bernard Manning!' at the journalists
The radio silence about Farage from people who are usually supremely vocal about antisemitism is so so telling.
December 6, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I get this, because the failure to deal with Farage's racism and antisemitism is indeed infuriating. On another level, it rather misses the point that Corbyn would never have done that because it's a form of antisemitism he recognised and condemned. His problem was the antisemitism he didn't see.
Reposted by James Vaughan
There is a big assymetry between the media's ability to report on Nigel Farage's racist slurs as a teenager and the lack of interest in reporting Lowe's decisions about legitimising the overtly racist right.
December 5, 2025 at 3:43 PM
There is a big assymetry between the media's ability to report on Nigel Farage's racist slurs as a teenager and the lack of interest in reporting Lowe's decisions about legitimising the overtly racist right.
@alan160755.bsky.social Cheers pal. That’s a much appreciate laugh you’ve provided there.
December 6, 2025 at 4:40 PM
@alan160755.bsky.social Cheers pal. That’s a much appreciate laugh you’ve provided there.
I'd post about the Villa result, but I'm not sure I can handle a war with Arsenal FC and the Green Party on the same afternoon.
December 6, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I'd post about the Villa result, but I'm not sure I can handle a war with Arsenal FC and the Green Party on the same afternoon.
It appears that the Greens are a wee bit angry.
December 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
It appears that the Greens are a wee bit angry.
I don’t know how much Zack Polanski knows about the history of allegations of divided loyalties against British Jews, but I’d suggest it’s probably something he doesn’t want to add a chapter to.
A brief history of an antisemitic trope… 🧵 /1
A brief history of an antisemitic trope… 🧵 /1
December 6, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I don’t know how much Zack Polanski knows about the history of allegations of divided loyalties against British Jews, but I’d suggest it’s probably something he doesn’t want to add a chapter to.
A brief history of an antisemitic trope… 🧵 /1
A brief history of an antisemitic trope… 🧵 /1
Good to see the Glamorgan lads doing so well in the Ashes. Shame they're Aussies, mind...
December 6, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Good to see the Glamorgan lads doing so well in the Ashes. Shame they're Aussies, mind...
Here's a fun interview from a different world #OnThisDay 1993.
"Was it not a bit anti-climactic, I asked, to fight the Russians and end up road-building in Sudan?" Robert Fisk on the Saudi businessman "on the road to peace" - some lad called Osama Bin Laden...
"Was it not a bit anti-climactic, I asked, to fight the Russians and end up road-building in Sudan?" Robert Fisk on the Saudi businessman "on the road to peace" - some lad called Osama Bin Laden...
December 6, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Here's a fun interview from a different world #OnThisDay 1993.
"Was it not a bit anti-climactic, I asked, to fight the Russians and end up road-building in Sudan?" Robert Fisk on the Saudi businessman "on the road to peace" - some lad called Osama Bin Laden...
"Was it not a bit anti-climactic, I asked, to fight the Russians and end up road-building in Sudan?" Robert Fisk on the Saudi businessman "on the road to peace" - some lad called Osama Bin Laden...