Yuriy Akopov
@yakopov.me
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
I volunteer with a London youth club that does amazing things on a budget with low overheads.
This week we're running a matched funding campaign. For every £1 donated the club gets £2.
And if you donate any amount, I'll give you a free month of London Centric.
donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
This week we're running a matched funding campaign. For every £1 donated the club gets £2.
And if you donate any amount, I'll give you a free month of London Centric.
donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
Westminster House Youth Club Christmas Appeal – Big Give
We're a busy youth club providing after-school opportunities, support, and education to young people in south east London. We've got …
donate.biggive.org
December 3, 2025 at 11:33 AM
I volunteer with a London youth club that does amazing things on a budget with low overheads.
This week we're running a matched funding campaign. For every £1 donated the club gets £2.
And if you donate any amount, I'll give you a free month of London Centric.
donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
This week we're running a matched funding campaign. For every £1 donated the club gets £2.
And if you donate any amount, I'll give you a free month of London Centric.
donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
Just thought that the difference here could be explained by the fact Western economies are more service heavy.
Cross-country differences in perceptions about AI -- Chinese are highly positive across age groups and think it will help address improtant societal challenges
US and UK are much more negative with low-income residents in every country much more concerned than high-income residents
US and UK are much more negative with low-income residents in every country much more concerned than high-income residents
December 3, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Just thought that the difference here could be explained by the fact Western economies are more service heavy.
I use it very actively, but almost exclusively for work questions with concrete answers. "Do Terraform tags on a Sagemaker domain propagate to the underlying EFS volume?" "What could be a bash one liner to return the name of the subfolder with the larger number of files in it, nested?" Etc.
I found this partial defense of AI by @jamesomalley.co.uk very interesting, especially the idea of speaking 'conversational' developer as a skill for the future.
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/how-ai-has...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/how-ai-has...
How AI has made my life better
And why is my experience so different to everyone else?
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
December 3, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I use it very actively, but almost exclusively for work questions with concrete answers. "Do Terraform tags on a Sagemaker domain propagate to the underlying EFS volume?" "What could be a bash one liner to return the name of the subfolder with the larger number of files in it, nested?" Etc.
TIL that the share of people remaining childless isn't actually rising, or at least not wildly so. Share of British women who didn't have children by the age of 45 is virtually the same for those who are both 45 and 85 today.
There is no crisis here at all, yet this is the group that gets the blame
There is no crisis here at all, yet this is the group that gets the blame
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
TIL that the share of people remaining childless isn't actually rising, or at least not wildly so. Share of British women who didn't have children by the age of 45 is virtually the same for those who are both 45 and 85 today.
There is no crisis here at all, yet this is the group that gets the blame
There is no crisis here at all, yet this is the group that gets the blame
"How many divisions did you say the Pope has?"
Feels like a heavy-handed metaphor that in the same week two high-profile charities have had to cave on trans inclusion and it's the billion-euro defense contractor that could actually stand its ground and win a tribunal
December 3, 2025 at 4:09 PM
"How many divisions did you say the Pope has?"
I suspect I am much more conservative on the small boats and unregulated arrivals issues in general than the BlueSky median, but boasting about "searching people's mouths" like that is very very bad. Absolutely bleak, and don't even believe that no one should ever be searched like that.
The UK has gone quite, quite mad.
It's ridiculous that we (just about) survived 14 years of the Tories, only for Labour to allow the madness to take hold and spread.
Some of the stuff in those bullets is just breath-takingly evil.
And it's not winning Labour ANY votes. Just helping Reform.
It's ridiculous that we (just about) survived 14 years of the Tories, only for Labour to allow the madness to take hold and spread.
Some of the stuff in those bullets is just breath-takingly evil.
And it's not winning Labour ANY votes. Just helping Reform.
December 3, 2025 at 10:02 AM
I suspect I am much more conservative on the small boats and unregulated arrivals issues in general than the BlueSky median, but boasting about "searching people's mouths" like that is very very bad. Absolutely bleak, and don't even believe that no one should ever be searched like that.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
How to build a modern functional growing economy:
1) Depend on votes of pensioners from peripheral transfer dependent regions
2) Endlessly piss off people who live in your largest urban centres and attack their industries
3) Get rid of all the foreigners
4) Singapore is achieved!
1) Depend on votes of pensioners from peripheral transfer dependent regions
2) Endlessly piss off people who live in your largest urban centres and attack their industries
3) Get rid of all the foreigners
4) Singapore is achieved!
December 3, 2025 at 12:15 AM
How to build a modern functional growing economy:
1) Depend on votes of pensioners from peripheral transfer dependent regions
2) Endlessly piss off people who live in your largest urban centres and attack their industries
3) Get rid of all the foreigners
4) Singapore is achieved!
1) Depend on votes of pensioners from peripheral transfer dependent regions
2) Endlessly piss off people who live in your largest urban centres and attack their industries
3) Get rid of all the foreigners
4) Singapore is achieved!
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
You're not going to build Singapore on Thames on the votes of people who live in Hartlepool. But I guess people are going to have to learn that the hard way.
December 3, 2025 at 12:10 AM
You're not going to build Singapore on Thames on the votes of people who live in Hartlepool. But I guess people are going to have to learn that the hard way.
Good!
The King has commanded that the Greater London Authority (GLA) shall be allowed to use the coat of arms that once belonged to its predecessor, the GLC.
www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the...
www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the...
The King grants the Mayor of London permission to use the GLC’s historic coat of arms
The King has commanded that the Greater London Authority (GLA) shall be allowed to use the coat of arms that once belonged to its predecessor, the GLC.
www.ianvisits.co.uk
December 2, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Good!
Really unsettling to see Putin visibly happy and enjoying the attention he receives. Gone are the days of him comically gripping the table or disappearing for weeks to avoid having to provide a commentary. Casually threatened to nuke Europe again btw.
December 2, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Really unsettling to see Putin visibly happy and enjoying the attention he receives. Gone are the days of him comically gripping the table or disappearing for weeks to avoid having to provide a commentary. Casually threatened to nuke Europe again btw.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
"To proportion the eagerness of contest to its importance seems too hard a task for human wisdom."
-- Samuel Johnson, actually writing about the Falklands, I do not lie to you, back in 1771
www.samueljohnson.com/falklands.html
-- Samuel Johnson, actually writing about the Falklands, I do not lie to you, back in 1771
www.samueljohnson.com/falklands.html
December 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
"To proportion the eagerness of contest to its importance seems too hard a task for human wisdom."
-- Samuel Johnson, actually writing about the Falklands, I do not lie to you, back in 1771
www.samueljohnson.com/falklands.html
-- Samuel Johnson, actually writing about the Falklands, I do not lie to you, back in 1771
www.samueljohnson.com/falklands.html
Went to see an old friend, which was also Lizzy's first trip to Central London.
December 2, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Went to see an old friend, which was also Lizzy's first trip to Central London.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
This week’s Nimby Watch: how just three people managed to get a popular kids park and skate park bulldozed, and themselves a £130,000 payout – and all their neighbours an 84% council tax bill hike.
capx.co/nimby-watch-...
capx.co/nimby-watch-...
READ MORE
If Nimbys are able to get playgrounds demolished, then there's no stopping them
capx.co
December 2, 2025 at 9:47 AM
This week’s Nimby Watch: how just three people managed to get a popular kids park and skate park bulldozed, and themselves a £130,000 payout – and all their neighbours an 84% council tax bill hike.
capx.co/nimby-watch-...
capx.co/nimby-watch-...
Liberal about the global context that is the US (and by extension, the UK) affairs while conservative about the local one (your own country or home country) is A TYPE.
the dozen or so Argentinean leftists who turned up in the thread to whine about their fascist invasion losing are an ample demonstration of the point.
December 2, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Liberal about the global context that is the US (and by extension, the UK) affairs while conservative about the local one (your own country or home country) is A TYPE.
> looking for a new right wing party
> asking the influencer if that is a new party or the Tories
> she doesn't understand
> pull out the graphs explaining the Tory policies of the last 14 years
> she laughs and says 'it is a based new populist party sir'
> cast a vote
> it's the Tories
> asking the influencer if that is a new party or the Tories
> she doesn't understand
> pull out the graphs explaining the Tory policies of the last 14 years
> she laughs and says 'it is a based new populist party sir'
> cast a vote
> it's the Tories
Three former Conservative MPs defect to Reform UK
Former deputy Tory chairman Jonathan Gullis praises Nigel Farage as he, Lia Nici and Chris Green quit Kemi Badenoch’s party
Former deputy Tory chairman Jonathan Gullis praises Nigel Farage as he, Lia Nici and Chris Green quit Kemi Badenoch’s party
Three former Conservative MPs defect to Reform UK
Three former Conservative MPs defect to Reform UK
www.thetimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:41 PM
> looking for a new right wing party
> asking the influencer if that is a new party or the Tories
> she doesn't understand
> pull out the graphs explaining the Tory policies of the last 14 years
> she laughs and says 'it is a based new populist party sir'
> cast a vote
> it's the Tories
> asking the influencer if that is a new party or the Tories
> she doesn't understand
> pull out the graphs explaining the Tory policies of the last 14 years
> she laughs and says 'it is a based new populist party sir'
> cast a vote
> it's the Tories
True even if the government happens to be bad.
You can see that in how the news about immigration falling sharply are presented (which is something those people declared was their top priority for decades, and apart from Brexit it's the first time they are getting something there in like 30 years).
You can see that in how the news about immigration falling sharply are presented (which is something those people declared was their top priority for decades, and apart from Brexit it's the first time they are getting something there in like 30 years).
What we're seeing is exactly what we saw in the late 1940s, the late 1960s and the mid- to late 1970s: a concerted and hysterical campaign to delegitimise a Labour government, and indeed the very idea of Labour governments at all.
December 1, 2025 at 9:09 AM
True even if the government happens to be bad.
You can see that in how the news about immigration falling sharply are presented (which is something those people declared was their top priority for decades, and apart from Brexit it's the first time they are getting something there in like 30 years).
You can see that in how the news about immigration falling sharply are presented (which is something those people declared was their top priority for decades, and apart from Brexit it's the first time they are getting something there in like 30 years).
Putting on makeup on a commuter train - better or worse than no headphones tiktoks?
December 1, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Putting on makeup on a commuter train - better or worse than no headphones tiktoks?
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
We can't know why the mysterious cable incidents have stopped - or indeed whether they will resume.
But whatever the cause for the pause, the Baltic Sea nations' efforts to patrol, surveil, cooperate and communicate are impressive.
But whatever the cause for the pause, the Baltic Sea nations' efforts to patrol, surveil, cooperate and communicate are impressive.
@sarahkirchberger.bsky.social or @elisabethbraw.bsky.social may have a better view of whether this hearty confidence is justified.
December 1, 2025 at 7:40 AM
We can't know why the mysterious cable incidents have stopped - or indeed whether they will resume.
But whatever the cause for the pause, the Baltic Sea nations' efforts to patrol, surveil, cooperate and communicate are impressive.
But whatever the cause for the pause, the Baltic Sea nations' efforts to patrol, surveil, cooperate and communicate are impressive.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
Been reading a lot of Philip Roth lately and it occurs to me that there was a mid-twentieth century belief in the transcendent power of sex that's about as dead as Manicheeism now.
November 30, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Been reading a lot of Philip Roth lately and it occurs to me that there was a mid-twentieth century belief in the transcendent power of sex that's about as dead as Manicheeism now.
Noticed today that a primary school in the area had added green parakeets to its logo. Such a nice touch - there are indeed quite a few parakeets there!
November 30, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Noticed today that a primary school in the area had added green parakeets to its logo. Such a nice touch - there are indeed quite a few parakeets there!
This is an awful situation, but stories like this really need to come with an explainer of the rules that apply here because what the public gets from them otherwise is "visa holders on low incomes can claim benefits, so you were lying when you were saying they could not do that".
UK immigration status fears prompt carer to cancel benefits she is entitled to
UK immigration status fears prompt carer to cancel benefits she is entitled to
Woman cancels all benefits including disability living allowance for daughter after policy change announcement
A low-paid carer from Ghana has cancelled all the benefits she is legally entitled to, including the disability allowance one of her children receives, owing to fears about her immigration status after the policy changes announced by the home secretary.
The radical changes to legal migration announced by Shabana Mahmood on 20 November will penalise those who are living and working legally in the UK, but who claim benefits. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:52 PM
This is an awful situation, but stories like this really need to come with an explainer of the rules that apply here because what the public gets from them otherwise is "visa holders on low incomes can claim benefits, so you were lying when you were saying they could not do that".
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
Cross-country differences in perceptions about AI -- Chinese are highly positive across age groups and think it will help address improtant societal challenges
US and UK are much more negative with low-income residents in every country much more concerned than high-income residents
US and UK are much more negative with low-income residents in every country much more concerned than high-income residents
November 30, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Cross-country differences in perceptions about AI -- Chinese are highly positive across age groups and think it will help address improtant societal challenges
US and UK are much more negative with low-income residents in every country much more concerned than high-income residents
US and UK are much more negative with low-income residents in every country much more concerned than high-income residents
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
Honestly it's funny that he is *quite literally* saying "deregulate and reduce the burden of taxation on business to create jobs" and nobody on the left will criticise him. Good.
Soon small businesses won’t have to wait for Small Business Saturday to get attention from their Mayor.
Some changes that they can look forward to:
Some changes that they can look forward to:
November 29, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Honestly it's funny that he is *quite literally* saying "deregulate and reduce the burden of taxation on business to create jobs" and nobody on the left will criticise him. Good.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
It does feel like half the stories in the UK press only make sense if you follow Enoch1488, a peadophile on twitter who they have decided is the voice of True Working Class Brits
At some point the media’s view of their jobs changed from holding politicians accountable to active scalp hunting over relatively nothing. They’re trying to use a relentless drum-beat of less than honest narrative creation to try and force resignations in a way they never did before.
November 30, 2025 at 10:12 AM
It does feel like half the stories in the UK press only make sense if you follow Enoch1488, a peadophile on twitter who they have decided is the voice of True Working Class Brits