John Rowan
@jrowanbxl.bsky.social
Artisanal bureaucrat. Faceless and unelected during office hours. Does health emergency stuff for the European Commission. Posts likely to be about EU and UK politics, movies, history, Brussels, rugby (Leicester Tigers fan), food.
What is striking is that the people who did this care so little about the content that they not only just chucked it through AI, but then didn't bother to check the actual end result.
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 2:23 PM
What is striking is that the people who did this care so little about the content that they not only just chucked it through AI, but then didn't bother to check the actual end result.
Definite touch of the Colin Robinsons about Hassett.
November 17, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Definite touch of the Colin Robinsons about Hassett.
Reposted by John Rowan
Terminator starts promisingly, being about two naked men on a quest for some trousers, but then goes off in a different direction that isn't as interesting.
November 16, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Terminator starts promisingly, being about two naked men on a quest for some trousers, but then goes off in a different direction that isn't as interesting.
Reposted by John Rowan
You have to say England’s bench have really come on and dominated the all-important “theatrically gesticulating at the referee” phase of the game.
November 15, 2025 at 4:43 PM
You have to say England’s bench have really come on and dominated the all-important “theatrically gesticulating at the referee” phase of the game.
Reposted by John Rowan
England are doing nothing differently to last year but just have the nause to win these games, because they've grown into how Borthwick wants them to play.
Remember a year ago when people said Borthwick should go
November 15, 2025 at 5:10 PM
England are doing nothing differently to last year but just have the nause to win these games, because they've grown into how Borthwick wants them to play.
Reposted by John Rowan
"Thank Heavens Reeves froze the thresholds," says the median voter in 2029 as they walk past the derelict sports centre and down the empty high street to cast their vote.
English councils plan to sell off social clubs and sports centres to balance books
English councils plan to sell off social clubs and sports centres to balance books
Survey finds 60% of key cities councils are planning to sell assets to meet costs of adult and children’s social care
English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books, according to a survey of local authorities.
The key cities group of councils, which represents second-tier cities in England, said 60% of councils were planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:34 AM
"Thank Heavens Reeves froze the thresholds," says the median voter in 2029 as they walk past the derelict sports centre and down the empty high street to cast their vote.
Reposted by John Rowan
If you want to see a government ACTUALLY “losing control” of something, helpless in the face of organised crime, look at this:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Kidlington fly-tipping: Criminals dump mountain of waste in field
The enormous pile of rubbish is called an
www.bbc.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 6:49 PM
If you want to see a government ACTUALLY “losing control” of something, helpless in the face of organised crime, look at this:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by John Rowan
🇧🇪 Well done #Brussels: The Best Places to Go in Europe in 2026
“This often-overlooked European capital is having a cultural moment, signaling a shift from a bureaucratic hub to a creative powerhouse”
@cathhart.bsky.social @jrowanbxl.bsky.social
www.cntraveler.com/story/the-be...
“This often-overlooked European capital is having a cultural moment, signaling a shift from a bureaucratic hub to a creative powerhouse”
@cathhart.bsky.social @jrowanbxl.bsky.social
www.cntraveler.com/story/the-be...
The Best Places to Go in Europe in 2026
For dazzling islands, design cities, and cultural events you won't want to miss.
www.cntraveler.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:50 PM
🇧🇪 Well done #Brussels: The Best Places to Go in Europe in 2026
“This often-overlooked European capital is having a cultural moment, signaling a shift from a bureaucratic hub to a creative powerhouse”
@cathhart.bsky.social @jrowanbxl.bsky.social
www.cntraveler.com/story/the-be...
“This often-overlooked European capital is having a cultural moment, signaling a shift from a bureaucratic hub to a creative powerhouse”
@cathhart.bsky.social @jrowanbxl.bsky.social
www.cntraveler.com/story/the-be...
Those are eye-wateringly high numbers. If we were a serious culture, nobody who predicted Brexit would be economically beneficial would ever be given the time of day again.
November 14, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Those are eye-wateringly high numbers. If we were a serious culture, nobody who predicted Brexit would be economically beneficial would ever be given the time of day again.
Increasingly convinced that misplaced nostalgia is a gateway drug for fascism.
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
November 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Increasingly convinced that misplaced nostalgia is a gateway drug for fascism.
Reposted by John Rowan
happy Partially Muscled Skeleton Stands by the Perimeter Fence and Screams for Thirty Seconds Before Vanishing day
November 14, 2025 at 6:39 AM
happy Partially Muscled Skeleton Stands by the Perimeter Fence and Screams for Thirty Seconds Before Vanishing day
Reposted by John Rowan
Growing up in a time when “selling out” was the most shameful thing you could do and then being forced to live through the 2020s feels like being kicked in the head by a horse every day
November 13, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Growing up in a time when “selling out” was the most shameful thing you could do and then being forced to live through the 2020s feels like being kicked in the head by a horse every day
In his intro to his book on Arnhem, Martin Middlebrook recounts meeting a man at the annual commemoration who claimed to have been at Arnhem Bridge. When Middlebrook asked him for more details (which unit he was in, where at the bridge he'd ended up) the guy rapidly made his excuses and disappeared.
There's "wearing an army surplus beret and pretending you were in the Paras" and then there's whatever the fuck this is.
www.lbc.co.uk/article/admi...
www.lbc.co.uk/article/admi...
‘Admiral with fake medals’ sparks fury after blagging his way into Remembrance event | LBC
Veterans have told of their anger after a man posing as an admiral turned up at a Remembrance Sunday event.
www.lbc.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 4:11 PM
In his intro to his book on Arnhem, Martin Middlebrook recounts meeting a man at the annual commemoration who claimed to have been at Arnhem Bridge. When Middlebrook asked him for more details (which unit he was in, where at the bridge he'd ended up) the guy rapidly made his excuses and disappeared.
I think this line was not considered particularly icky in 1993.
November 13, 2025 at 10:36 AM
I think this line was not considered particularly icky in 1993.
Reposted by John Rowan
"As we wrestle with our own predicaments abroad, the Churchill of history is a better guide than the Disney version".
@patporter76.bsky.social on why we need to engage with the contradictions & compromises of the actual Churchill, not the "loveable bulldog" of myth.
thecritic.co.uk/winston-chur...
@patporter76.bsky.social on why we need to engage with the contradictions & compromises of the actual Churchill, not the "loveable bulldog" of myth.
thecritic.co.uk/winston-chur...
Winston Churchill was not Tony Blair | Patrick Porter | The Critic Magazine
Historian and culture warrior Andrew Roberts is right to rebuke the MAGA fringe and its line of attack on mid-century British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, now a figure of legend and myth.
thecritic.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:31 AM
"As we wrestle with our own predicaments abroad, the Churchill of history is a better guide than the Disney version".
@patporter76.bsky.social on why we need to engage with the contradictions & compromises of the actual Churchill, not the "loveable bulldog" of myth.
thecritic.co.uk/winston-chur...
@patporter76.bsky.social on why we need to engage with the contradictions & compromises of the actual Churchill, not the "loveable bulldog" of myth.
thecritic.co.uk/winston-chur...
Reposted by John Rowan
"This woke Me-Too bullshit has gone too far," said the former Harvard President and Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to the billionaire pedophile sex trafficker in a private email that the Justice Department under both parties kept secret for years
November 13, 2025 at 1:46 AM
"This woke Me-Too bullshit has gone too far," said the former Harvard President and Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to the billionaire pedophile sex trafficker in a private email that the Justice Department under both parties kept secret for years
Reposted by John Rowan
yes yes we all know about the Edmund Fitzgerald, rest her soul, but did you know about the ship laden with explosives that sank in the mouth of the Thames in 1944 and could explode at any minute and which attempts to disarm keep failing
November 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
yes yes we all know about the Edmund Fitzgerald, rest her soul, but did you know about the ship laden with explosives that sank in the mouth of the Thames in 1944 and could explode at any minute and which attempts to disarm keep failing
Reposted by John Rowan
My daughter is 21 today. Most memories of that moment are as precious as can be imagined. All but one.
open.substack.com/pub/pauljenk...
open.substack.com/pub/pauljenk...
Not My Child
Sometimes a man cannot do a thing, not a single thing, to help.
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:22 AM
My daughter is 21 today. Most memories of that moment are as precious as can be imagined. All but one.
open.substack.com/pub/pauljenk...
open.substack.com/pub/pauljenk...
Reposted by John Rowan
Even a simple factoid like this gets overlooked, but it was not long ago that *everyone* directly knew multiple examples of people taken away by this at something preposterous like age 22
November 10, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Even a simple factoid like this gets overlooked, but it was not long ago that *everyone* directly knew multiple examples of people taken away by this at something preposterous like age 22
Reposted by John Rowan
Reposted by John Rowan
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
Reposted by John Rowan
Seems petty but I strongly resent Truss turning up at the Cenotaph.
Quite apart from her appalling record on literally everything, she's gone full Twitter Fash and as such is the antithesis of everything my friends died for.
Quite apart from her appalling record on literally everything, she's gone full Twitter Fash and as such is the antithesis of everything my friends died for.
November 9, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Seems petty but I strongly resent Truss turning up at the Cenotaph.
Quite apart from her appalling record on literally everything, she's gone full Twitter Fash and as such is the antithesis of everything my friends died for.
Quite apart from her appalling record on literally everything, she's gone full Twitter Fash and as such is the antithesis of everything my friends died for.
Reposted by John Rowan
Claude Francis Barry’s paintings of WW1 are amongst the most accomplished of his works, with his images of searchlights across London being the most evocative - here (1918) he used small concentrated dots of colour to create an atmospheric haze of light.
November 7, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Claude Francis Barry’s paintings of WW1 are amongst the most accomplished of his works, with his images of searchlights across London being the most evocative - here (1918) he used small concentrated dots of colour to create an atmospheric haze of light.
Really enjoyed watching the Enola Holmes films with kids 2 (11) and 3(10). Perfectly judged breezy tone with exciting-but-not-too-scary jeopardy.
Looked up if they're making a third and, unfathomably, it's going to be darker in tone because everyone wants to make bloody Prisoner of Azkaban
Looked up if they're making a third and, unfathomably, it's going to be darker in tone because everyone wants to make bloody Prisoner of Azkaban
November 7, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Really enjoyed watching the Enola Holmes films with kids 2 (11) and 3(10). Perfectly judged breezy tone with exciting-but-not-too-scary jeopardy.
Looked up if they're making a third and, unfathomably, it's going to be darker in tone because everyone wants to make bloody Prisoner of Azkaban
Looked up if they're making a third and, unfathomably, it's going to be darker in tone because everyone wants to make bloody Prisoner of Azkaban
Reposted by John Rowan
We had fucking congressional hearings over Mortal Kombat.
There are no words for how evil this is
November 7, 2025 at 2:11 AM
We had fucking congressional hearings over Mortal Kombat.