Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Worth reminding everyone everywhere that pathological oil addiction starts with every single choice to jump in the car out of convenience rather than necessity.
Prices at the petrol pump are way too low to correct the externality. And they have been for decades.
bsky.app/profile/juli...
Prices at the petrol pump are way too low to correct the externality. And they have been for decades.
bsky.app/profile/juli...
Every time we jump in a car for a journey which can be covered on foot or on public transport, we are feeding the massive machine of oil addiction.
Europe is really hardly less addicted to the car, including the UK.
Europe is really hardly less addicted to the car, including the UK.
January 4, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Worth reminding everyone everywhere that pathological oil addiction starts with every single choice to jump in the car out of convenience rather than necessity.
Prices at the petrol pump are way too low to correct the externality. And they have been for decades.
bsky.app/profile/juli...
Prices at the petrol pump are way too low to correct the externality. And they have been for decades.
bsky.app/profile/juli...
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
What’s Entering the Public Domain in 2026: Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, All Quiet on the Western Front, Betty Boop & More
What’s Entering the Public Domain in 2026: Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, All Quiet on the Western Front, Betty Boop & More
Though it isn't the kind of thing one hears discussed every day, serious Disney fans do tend to know that Goofy's original name was Dippy Dawg. But how many of the non-obsessive know that Mickey's fai...
www.openculture.com
January 1, 2026 at 5:25 PM
What’s Entering the Public Domain in 2026: Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, All Quiet on the Western Front, Betty Boop & More
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
this is a great thread, and is a really good overview of conversations we've been having forever about the positionality of the romance reader to the characters
Thanks to Heated Rivalry, people are asking why so many women are writing and reading m/m romance.
Not only is that a boring question, it's backwards.
Why shouldn't women (and women-adjacent people) be doing this? Also: why aren't men reading and writing more genres that center love and HEAs?
Not only is that a boring question, it's backwards.
Why shouldn't women (and women-adjacent people) be doing this? Also: why aren't men reading and writing more genres that center love and HEAs?
December 31, 2025 at 6:37 PM
this is a great thread, and is a really good overview of conversations we've been having forever about the positionality of the romance reader to the characters
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
If immigration is high, the government has lost control of our borders. If it's low, it's because the country is in such a mess that nobody wants to be here. Labour is never going to win these people over, and it should stop trying.
An astonishing article in the Daily Mail.
Not only does it admit that some Romanians have left Britain because of growing discrimination after Brexit, but it also talks about the EU grants they've been able to access to start or boost their businesses back home.
archive.md/2025.12.29-1...
Not only does it admit that some Romanians have left Britain because of growing discrimination after Brexit, but it also talks about the EU grants they've been able to access to start or boost their businesses back home.
archive.md/2025.12.29-1...
December 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
If immigration is high, the government has lost control of our borders. If it's low, it's because the country is in such a mess that nobody wants to be here. Labour is never going to win these people over, and it should stop trying.
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Many thanks to the amazing @michaelspicer.bsky.social for bringing my @bmj.com paper to life! The actual paper is here:
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
December 25, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Many thanks to the amazing @michaelspicer.bsky.social for bringing my @bmj.com paper to life! The actual paper is here:
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
No one in government appears to be curious about how much better people’s lives would be with a relatively modest investment in advice
@wearelapg.bsky.social @legalactiongroup.bsky.social
www.rightsnet.org.uk/now/post/69302
@wearelapg.bsky.social @legalactiongroup.bsky.social
www.rightsnet.org.uk/now/post/69302
December 17, 2025 at 2:35 PM
No one in government appears to be curious about how much better people’s lives would be with a relatively modest investment in advice
@wearelapg.bsky.social @legalactiongroup.bsky.social
www.rightsnet.org.uk/now/post/69302
@wearelapg.bsky.social @legalactiongroup.bsky.social
www.rightsnet.org.uk/now/post/69302
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Interpreting the Zodiac: shedkm turns Croydon office block into emergency housing
Interpreting the Zodiac: shedkm turns Croydon office block into emergency housing
www.architectsjournal.co.uk
December 17, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Interpreting the Zodiac: shedkm turns Croydon office block into emergency housing
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
1/12
Jane Austen breaks her silence in celebrity interview!
A thread in celebration of #JaneAusten250
Questions posed by The Age: answers from Jane Austen (as told to Claire Harman), illustration by Chris Riddell, from cover of the audiobook, Jane's Fame.
Jane Austen breaks her silence in celebrity interview!
A thread in celebration of #JaneAusten250
Questions posed by The Age: answers from Jane Austen (as told to Claire Harman), illustration by Chris Riddell, from cover of the audiobook, Jane's Fame.
December 12, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
An 1585 Recipe for Making Pancakes: Make It Your Saturday Morning Breakfast
An 1585 Recipe for Making Pancakes: Make It Your Saturday Morning Breakfast
Earlier this week, Colin Marshall highlighted a trove of 3,000 vintage cookbooks on Archive.org, many of which date back to the 19th century.
Cookbooks, however, first arrived on the scene well befor...
www.openculture.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:13 PM
An 1585 Recipe for Making Pancakes: Make It Your Saturday Morning Breakfast
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
NEW
The good, the bad and the ugly of ‘rebalancing’ the ECHR
Human rights law should be kept under review, but that does not mean it should be weakened
My latest post for @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
The good, the bad and the ugly of ‘rebalancing’ the ECHR
Human rights law should be kept under review, but that does not mean it should be weakened
My latest post for @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
December 12, 2025 at 12:37 PM
NEW
The good, the bad and the ugly of ‘rebalancing’ the ECHR
Human rights law should be kept under review, but that does not mean it should be weakened
My latest post for @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
The good, the bad and the ugly of ‘rebalancing’ the ECHR
Human rights law should be kept under review, but that does not mean it should be weakened
My latest post for @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Oh sure kids, the Greens SOUND cool, with their "no more war" and "hey everyone, let's smoke a doobie", but they're not living in the REAL world. in the real world, we starve children and ban trans people from Girl Guiding because the Daily Mail told us to. it's called MATURE GOVERNMENT
December 7, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Oh sure kids, the Greens SOUND cool, with their "no more war" and "hey everyone, let's smoke a doobie", but they're not living in the REAL world. in the real world, we starve children and ban trans people from Girl Guiding because the Daily Mail told us to. it's called MATURE GOVERNMENT
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Yes, we do talk a lot about his personal failings, often in very ableist terms, I'd say we talk enough about that.
What we don't talk enough about is the concentration of power that enables one person to destroy so many lives; or indeed about the fact the problem is a political machine, not one man
What we don't talk enough about is the concentration of power that enables one person to destroy so many lives; or indeed about the fact the problem is a political machine, not one man
I mean, do we talk enough about how deranged this person is—and how he should be miles away from the levers of power?
December 6, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Yes, we do talk a lot about his personal failings, often in very ableist terms, I'd say we talk enough about that.
What we don't talk enough about is the concentration of power that enables one person to destroy so many lives; or indeed about the fact the problem is a political machine, not one man
What we don't talk enough about is the concentration of power that enables one person to destroy so many lives; or indeed about the fact the problem is a political machine, not one man
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
... England, presumably being given St David's as a consolation prize. He generated further rows there, and was accused (apparently accurately) of bigamy by the puritan Martin Marprelate tracts, later being removed from office and the priesthood, a very rare occurence. 3/
November 30, 2025 at 12:01 PM
... England, presumably being given St David's as a consolation prize. He generated further rows there, and was accused (apparently accurately) of bigamy by the puritan Martin Marprelate tracts, later being removed from office and the priesthood, a very rare occurence. 3/
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
... warfare with the town corporation and his cathedral's dean, partly over money, but also because he actually tried to impose Protestantism, which didn't seem to go down well. He was solidly backed by Lord Deputy Grey and Walsingham, but in 1581 he seems to have given up and returned to ... 2/
November 30, 2025 at 12:01 PM
... warfare with the town corporation and his cathedral's dean, partly over money, but also because he actually tried to impose Protestantism, which didn't seem to go down well. He was solidly backed by Lord Deputy Grey and Walsingham, but in 1581 he seems to have given up and returned to ... 2/
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
30 November 1582: St David's has a new bishop, Marmaduke Middleton. As well as having an excellent name (I'm struggling to think of any other Elizabethan Marmadukes), he had a highly chequered career. He was bishop of Waterford from 1579, where he engaged in more-or-less open ... 1/
#earlymodern
#earlymodern
November 30, 2025 at 12:01 PM
30 November 1582: St David's has a new bishop, Marmaduke Middleton. As well as having an excellent name (I'm struggling to think of any other Elizabethan Marmadukes), he had a highly chequered career. He was bishop of Waterford from 1579, where he engaged in more-or-less open ... 1/
#earlymodern
#earlymodern
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Christmas at the BBC
![Title panel:
CHRISTMAS… AT THE BBC.
The Traitors Christmas Special:
Who in the BBC Boardroom is trying to bring down the gaff from within?
[Image: The Traitors scene with Claudia Winkleman looking like “ooh-er” while the BBC board sit at a table looking suspiciously at each other]
Apologising To The People Who Want To Destroy Us At Christmas:
A festive extravaganza of self-flagellation before our enemies
[Image: A cozy fireside scene with Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch standing, while at their feet lots of BBC employees are kneeling before them and begging for forgiveness].
Donald's Big Distraction:
Heartwarming Julia Donaldson animation in which a dragon sues the BBC to draw his friends' attention onto something else
[Image: Julia Donaldson’s ‘Zog’ with a Donald Trump wig, holding up a lawyer’s letter to show his dragon friends while trying to block their view of a pile of box files and computer drives some with ‘Epstein’ written on them].
The King's Speech:
We let Nigel Farage tell you the BBC is left wing as if that's some kind of fact
[Image: Nigel Farage as the King delivering his Christmas speech to camera].
A Ghost Story for Christmas:
A venerable British institution is haunted by Boris Johnson's appointees
[Image: A BBC studio with a window, outside in the dark snowy night a spectral apparition in the form of Robbie Gibb taps at the window and wails “I want to destroooy you”]
Christmas Labour Inertia-Time:
Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy present four hours of total silence from under their desks
[Image: Show them both under their desks holding up glasses of sherry]
Rightward Drift Christmas Special:
A bonanza of trust-corrosion with confected immigration panic and Reform coverage
[Image: A computer and a smartphone in a cute snowy scene, both displaying the BBC News website with multiple headlines and LIVE feeds and and BREAKING NEWS stories headlined: “IMMIGRANTS? IMMIGRANTS? IMMIGRANTS? IMMIGRANTS!”]
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreietljvkssrlfwyblu4khsm37dj3753r23rizf7p56rhmo52folnme@jpeg)
November 30, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Christmas at the BBC
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
More winter weather like this, pls.
November 30, 2025 at 10:58 AM
More winter weather like this, pls.
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
The Reform has dropped the act, openly Thatcherite. The Conservatives are copying them to save their skins. The best way to cut support for the authoritarian right is to stand with people against profiteers in water and energy, and give real security.
November 29, 2025 at 1:02 PM
The Reform has dropped the act, openly Thatcherite. The Conservatives are copying them to save their skins. The best way to cut support for the authoritarian right is to stand with people against profiteers in water and energy, and give real security.
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
I'm very pleased to formally launch "Yankee Pensioners in Ireland 1845-1905: An Interactive Map" with location/bio info on 720+ women & men receiving U.S. pensions in Ireland-significantly more than previously thought: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4e3d...
Yankee Pensioners in Ireland 1845-1905: An Interactive Map
An interactive map with biographical info and addresses of 700+ women, men and children who received U.S. pensions in 19th century Ireland.
storymaps.arcgis.com
November 28, 2025 at 1:34 PM
I'm very pleased to formally launch "Yankee Pensioners in Ireland 1845-1905: An Interactive Map" with location/bio info on 720+ women & men receiving U.S. pensions in Ireland-significantly more than previously thought: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4e3d...
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
New substack: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/the-fiscal... The government's problem isn't merely how to raise tax: it's the more difficult one of reallocating labour.
The fiscal challenge
Reeves' problem isn't raising money: it's much more difficult than that.
chrisdillow.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:11 AM
New substack: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/the-fiscal... The government's problem isn't merely how to raise tax: it's the more difficult one of reallocating labour.
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Anyway, here’s Chris Dillow musing on similar themes, except with Science rather than creative cursing and obscene metaphors chrisdillow.substack.com/p/on-incompe...
On incompetence
Much of our political culture is fundamentally incompetent.
chrisdillow.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Anyway, here’s Chris Dillow musing on similar themes, except with Science rather than creative cursing and obscene metaphors chrisdillow.substack.com/p/on-incompe...
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Reading about AI being subverted by adversarial poetry and Russian drones' navigation systems jammed by Ukranian folk anthems, which suggests the opening future 'human rebels' scenes of Terminator may now have to be revised.
November 23, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reading about AI being subverted by adversarial poetry and Russian drones' navigation systems jammed by Ukranian folk anthems, which suggests the opening future 'human rebels' scenes of Terminator may now have to be revised.
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
It’s just nuts. Even if you accept Labour’s policy diagnosis, we “lost control” of our borders, and concern about immigration was rising long before the alarming rise of racism. The big change on racism has been we traded an anti-racist government for one that is at best Trappist on it.
I find insane that shabana mahmood is going out there and saying "white british people cannot be asked to accept too many of us outsiders, it is not in their nature, and their pushback against all of us is to be placated". What???
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood made more explicit her argument that when ethnic minorities face racism, "we have no choice but to ask: what is the cause of our division"
Her answer is the level of net migration, 2019-23 causes racism. (She on Monday said it was caused by the scale of asylum)
Her answer is the level of net migration, 2019-23 causes racism. (She on Monday said it was caused by the scale of asylum)
November 21, 2025 at 1:45 PM
It’s just nuts. Even if you accept Labour’s policy diagnosis, we “lost control” of our borders, and concern about immigration was rising long before the alarming rise of racism. The big change on racism has been we traded an anti-racist government for one that is at best Trappist on it.
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
I wrote about Tunisian anti-fascism and the messy solidarities between French leftist women and the nationalist movement for @newlinesmag.bsky.social. The first piece of my dissertation research to live beyond the thesis!
NEW: In 1930s Tunisia, a group of women political and social organizers fought the rise of fascism, helping to create unexpected solidarity, writes @rcturk.bsky.social for @newlinesmag.bsky.social
newlinesmag.com/essays/how-a...
newlinesmag.com/essays/how-a...
How Anti-Fascism United French Women Pacifists With Tunisia’s Independence Movement
The fight against rising right-wing authoritarianism in the 1930s led to a burgeoning solidarity
newlinesmag.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
I wrote about Tunisian anti-fascism and the messy solidarities between French leftist women and the nationalist movement for @newlinesmag.bsky.social. The first piece of my dissertation research to live beyond the thesis!
Reposted by Assumpta Fardy
Maynooth! Join me for the story of a training school for revolutionaries, a bestselling recipe book and a vegetarian cook who parachuted from a Lancaster bomber into Nazi Germany in 1944.
November 11, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Maynooth! Join me for the story of a training school for revolutionaries, a bestselling recipe book and a vegetarian cook who parachuted from a Lancaster bomber into Nazi Germany in 1944.