James Connelly
jamescon.bsky.social
James Connelly
@jamescon.bsky.social

Emeritus Prof, Hull. Writing Collingwood bio / Philosophical Idealism, Environmental politics & ethics, Elections/electoral systems / Minsters Rail Campaign /[email protected] / https://hull.academia.edu/JamesConnelly .. more

Political science 33%
History 20%

Reposted by James Connelly

There is change in the air. Drying or more wet, depending on where you live. This is extremely bad news for Europe, although not surprise. I remember @wolfgangcramer.net publishing about this back in 2016 (about drying Mediterranean), see next below 1/3
Recommended
I joined @cwarzel.bsky.social on the Galaxy Brain Podcast to explain some of the reasons why America, and a lot of other Western democracies, are sliding into authoritarianism and why it's probably inevitable
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvFh...
America’s Slide Toward Simulated Democracy with Eliot Higgins
YouTube video by The Atlantic
www.youtube.com

Reposted by James Connelly

Stopped into the Andover Bookstore, the oldest independent bookstore in the country, and they had a copy of LIFE AFTER CARS. The owner asked me to sign it, which was so sweet. Apparently they’ve sold a lot of copies, and not just to my mom.

The problem is not so much that Farage was a racist then as that some of his supporters want him to be that sort of racist now.

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Free shipping at @bookshop.org today and tomorrow. Pick up a copy of Life After Cars for a holiday gift or for yourself! Plus you’ll raise money for independent bookstores.

bookshop.org/p/books/life...
Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile
Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile
bookshop.org
‘We like it a lot’: how Romania created the largest deposit return scheme in the world - great way to tackle excessive single-use plastics www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘We like it a lot’: how Romania created the largest deposit return scheme in the world
In the two years since the system was launched, beverage-packaging collection and recycling has risen to 94%
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by James Connelly

Ryan Bourne, a member of the Economists for Brexit* cabal that the Leave camp depended on to make their economic case for leaving, has written a long article in the Times admitting to the damage that Brexit has caused.

(*Other familiar names include Patrick Minford.)

archive.ph/2025.11.26-1...

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Rachel Reeves was frustrated that a Sussex development was delayed by “… some snails … a protected species or something, that are microscopic; you can’t even see them…”

The snail in question is one of Britain’s rarest and most endangered freshwater species, the lesser whirlpool ramshorn.
Living alongside nature: humans must get better at it
The first of two articles inspired by COP30 explores some problems and the need to seek inclusive and nature-aligned solutions.
eastangliabylines.co.uk

Reposted by James Connelly

Cost of extending the fuel duty cut plus cancelled uprating next year: £2.4 billion.

Cost of freezing rail fares next year: £145 million.

Sixteen times more expensive to maintain the fuel duty cut/freeze than to freeze rail fares

Imagine how much fares could be *cut* by ending car fuel subsidies.
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷

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The big question is whether it would matter to most Reform supporters that Farage was an antisemitic bully and now seems pretty clearly to be lying about it.

Farage's racism denials are dishonest, says ex-classmate www.bbc.com/news/article...
Nigel Farage's racism denials are dishonest, says ex-classmate
Peter Ettedgui tells the BBC Nigel Farage targeted antisemitic abuse at him when they were teenagers.
www.bbc.com

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Exclusive: The BBC has issued an apology after one of its presenters failed to challenge a climate-sceptic lobbyist who runs a group that has received funding from fossil-fuel interests
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/b...
BBC Apologises for Failing to Challenge 'Dark Money' Climate-Denial Lobbyist
EXCLUSIVE: BBC faces fresh allegations of bias after corporation admits interview with ‘Net Zero Watch’ lobbying chief Andrew Montford 'fell below usual standards'
bylinetimes.com
Toby Young, self-appointed king of free speech, is speaking in Hungary tomorrow about UK “censorship”.

He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
Toby Young to Address Orbán-Backed Group on UK ‘Censorship’
Conservative peer and right-wing commentator Toby Young is due to deliver a talk tomorrow (25 November) at the in-house think tank of Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán. Young is being interviewed by Mat...
www.desmog.com

Reposted by James Connelly

Farage logic.

Reposted by James Connelly

Under Trump, post-liberal intellectuals have abandoned tradition for radicalism and scholarship for vulgarity. George Packer on Laura Field’s new book, “Furious Minds,” and the rot of the MAGA mind:
An Anatomy of the MAGA Mind
Under Trump, post-liberal intellectuals have abandoned tradition for radicalism and scholarship for vulgarity.
bit.ly

Reposted by James Connelly

As Trump and Putin work to crush Ukraine and destabilise Europe and Farage’s ally gets sentenced to 10yrs for taking Russian bribes, it’s a good time to revisit this excellent report on how the British rightwing has betrayed us all.
Brexit was their weapon of choice.
bylinetimes.com/2022/03/08/p...
Putin’s Plot Against ‘Great’ Britain – And How He Got Away With It
Peter Jukes tracks Vladimir Putin’s long war against the West and the allies he has found in the pro-Brexit establishment in the plot to derail Britain
bylinetimes.com
Do we really think tinkering with rules about ILR etc will fundamentally change the incentives of those risking their lives, and those of their kids in dinghies? And is legitimising racism by seeing it as a logical reaction to policy failure really takes basis on which to proceed?
Actual analysis of the BBC’s coverage of Gaza is devastating for Prescott and the right wing attacks on the BBC. Ratio of Israeli-Palestinian deaths: 1 /34. Ratio of coverage of those deaths: 19 / 1.

cfmm.org.uk/bbc-on-gaza-...
BBC On Gaza-Israel: One Story, Double Standards - Centre For Media Monitoring
cfmm.org.uk

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Reminder.
Good. I'm glad this is the headline. This is the real story. Thank you to the BBC.

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The same people who convinced the British public to back a catastrophic Boris Johnson premiership are now pulling the same trick again with Nigel Farage

www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-confid...
The Confidence Trick That Put Boris Johnson Into Power Is Now Being Used on Nigel Farage
The same people who convinced the British public to back a catastrophic Boris Johnson premiership are now pulling the same trick again with Nigel Farage
www.adambienkov.co.uk
We know that’s not true!

Reposted by James Connelly

Reposted by James Connelly

Reposted by James Connelly

Far right activists descending on my area to demonise people seeking asylum is a far greater threat to locals than single men being housed in a barracks because the same far right activists don’t want them in hotels.

Your Questions: Asylum plans in Crowborough www.bbc.com/news/article...
Plans to house asylum seekers in Crowborough army camp explained
The latest Home Office figures state that 540 men will be housed at the army camp in Crowborough.
www.bbc.com
Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged.

Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.