Harmonious Bosch
@ljon.bsky.social
It's grimly funny that these lads have cast aside the notion anything could be learned from the entire history of the art of diplomacy in favour of One Weird Trick: 'Do you like the repellent South African's website?'
“One current senior Trump administration official and a former one tell Zeteo that since January, high-ranking officials at the State Department and the White House have viewed a government or ally’s treatment of X as one of the standards…
Oh, hey, that's my article.
December 27, 2025 at 6:10 PM
It's grimly funny that these lads have cast aside the notion anything could be learned from the entire history of the art of diplomacy in favour of One Weird Trick: 'Do you like the repellent South African's website?'
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
With my tinfoil hat on, I detect an effort to normalise talk on immigration that would have been considered extreme a few years ago. No mention of any achievements or the like, just wishy washy statements like "he hasn’t shied away from the thorny issue of immigration"
December 27, 2025 at 3:54 PM
With my tinfoil hat on, I detect an effort to normalise talk on immigration that would have been considered extreme a few years ago. No mention of any achievements or the like, just wishy washy statements like "he hasn’t shied away from the thorny issue of immigration"
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
From Joe Marler’s visual-only stunts to the incomprehensible shuffling sounds Steven Bartlett recently subjected headphone users to, dodgy audio experiences are on the rise
www.theguardian.com
December 27, 2025 at 10:20 AM
will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other
It's only the 27th so there's plenty of time to go yet but this has to be a strong contender for at least a category win in the 'You Can Say The Most Bonkers Things Between Christmas And The New Year And The Papers Will Publish Them' awards.
December 27, 2025 at 10:03 AM
It's only the 27th so there's plenty of time to go yet but this has to be a strong contender for at least a category win in the 'You Can Say The Most Bonkers Things Between Christmas And The New Year And The Papers Will Publish Them' awards.
Many Stephen Collinseses have never had it so good.
Stephen Collins: Here’s the unpopular truth: many of us have never had it so good
Stephen Collins: Here’s the unpopular truth: many of us have never had it so good
Ireland has never been better off, yet a narrative of State failure dominates political debate and much of the media
www.irishtimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Many Stephen Collinseses have never had it so good.
Keeping a noble Labour tradition alive.
December 25, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Keeping a noble Labour tradition alive.
turning a big dial taht says 'Bloodsports and Animal Cruelty' on it and constantly looking back at the audience for approval like a contestant on the price is right.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has doubled down on her party's pro-fox hunting position, despite some internal criticism.
jrnl.ie/6911618t
jrnl.ie/6911618t
Mary Lou McDonald says Sinn Féin's support of fox hunting is the right choice
The matter will be debated again at the party’s Ard Fheis in April.
jrnl.ie
December 25, 2025 at 9:45 AM
turning a big dial taht says 'Bloodsports and Animal Cruelty' on it and constantly looking back at the audience for approval like a contestant on the price is right.
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
a book that, should its core argument be true, would disprove the germ theory of disease. real depressing
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
December 24, 2025 at 2:14 PM
a book that, should its core argument be true, would disprove the germ theory of disease. real depressing
December 24, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
If you enjoyed this when it was “Muslim Bolsheviks are racistly menacing Britain with a return to the 1970s” then I see no reason why you wouldn’t now enjoy it when it’s the mad emperor’s court saying “Muslim Bolsheviks will seize control of Britain’s nuclear arsenal”. It is exactly the same shit.
December 24, 2025 at 11:37 AM
If you enjoyed this when it was “Muslim Bolsheviks are racistly menacing Britain with a return to the 1970s” then I see no reason why you wouldn’t now enjoy it when it’s the mad emperor’s court saying “Muslim Bolsheviks will seize control of Britain’s nuclear arsenal”. It is exactly the same shit.
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
❤️
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
This night 26 years ago was the lowest point in my adult life. After six months in Sweden I had no job, no prospects and about three euro in my pocket. I didn't want to be here any more.
In truth, I didn't want to be anywhere any more.
I was a total failure.
This night 26 years ago was the lowest point in my adult life. After six months in Sweden I had no job, no prospects and about three euro in my pocket. I didn't want to be here any more.
In truth, I didn't want to be anywhere any more.
I was a total failure.
December 24, 2025 at 7:50 AM
❤️
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
December 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM
This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
This needs more widespread coverage: The US has sanctioned five individuals, including the founder and Director of @hateaid.org - a German NGO that supports victims of online hate and harassment and image-based sexual abuse
December 24, 2025 at 9:45 AM
This needs more widespread coverage: The US has sanctioned five individuals, including the founder and Director of @hateaid.org - a German NGO that supports victims of online hate and harassment and image-based sexual abuse
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
Micheál Martin giving us several reasons why he's a terrible person, all in one headline and just in time for Christmas!
December 24, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Micheál Martin giving us several reasons why he's a terrible person, all in one headline and just in time for Christmas!
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
What a sentence.
"It has been called the grandchild of the 2017 Whitechapel fatberg, which weighed 130 tonnes and stretched for more than 250 metres (820ft)."
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
"It has been called the grandchild of the 2017 Whitechapel fatberg, which weighed 130 tonnes and stretched for more than 250 metres (820ft)."
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Fatberg weighing 100 tonnes discovered in east London sewer
Mass of congealed fat, oil and grease 100 metres in length found blocking sewers in Whitechapel area of capital
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
What a sentence.
"It has been called the grandchild of the 2017 Whitechapel fatberg, which weighed 130 tonnes and stretched for more than 250 metres (820ft)."
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
"It has been called the grandchild of the 2017 Whitechapel fatberg, which weighed 130 tonnes and stretched for more than 250 metres (820ft)."
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
Since the Guardian are doing the "a handful of women’s groups have started to question the “unintended consequences”" thing, time to repost the open letter from Irish feminists telling UK transphobes to piss off
December 23, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Since the Guardian are doing the "a handful of women’s groups have started to question the “unintended consequences”" thing, time to repost the open letter from Irish feminists telling UK transphobes to piss off
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
I was just going to repost this as another example of genAI being used to devalue the work of artists, but actually, there's more to talk about here. This article is in response to an ad (which I can't find now), for an Irish-language genAI film competition. 1/
www.thejournal.ie/udaras-na-ga...
www.thejournal.ie/udaras-na-ga...
'An insult to what art is': Údarás na Gaeltachta's AI competition faces backlash from artists
The Gaeltacht development agency defended its decision.
www.thejournal.ie
December 22, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I was just going to repost this as another example of genAI being used to devalue the work of artists, but actually, there's more to talk about here. This article is in response to an ad (which I can't find now), for an Irish-language genAI film competition. 1/
www.thejournal.ie/udaras-na-ga...
www.thejournal.ie/udaras-na-ga...
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
yes of all the horror stories of AI, I think the use of "synthetic publics" to do research on might be - in a very crowded field - the worst one?
*as a novelist* - I can write you fake characters who believe whatever you like. it is just stories.
this is a whole culture developing AI psychosis.
*as a novelist* - I can write you fake characters who believe whatever you like. it is just stories.
this is a whole culture developing AI psychosis.
Pleased to see this piece. Personally, I find these uses of synthetic data v concerning and I find the traction and endorsements that this work has to be quite baffling, esp given the well-storied role of algorithmic targeting in undermining democracy
"We risk inheriting a future in which institutions answer to synthetic publics rather than real ones" rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/researc...
December 22, 2025 at 10:36 AM
yes of all the horror stories of AI, I think the use of "synthetic publics" to do research on might be - in a very crowded field - the worst one?
*as a novelist* - I can write you fake characters who believe whatever you like. it is just stories.
this is a whole culture developing AI psychosis.
*as a novelist* - I can write you fake characters who believe whatever you like. it is just stories.
this is a whole culture developing AI psychosis.
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
Notice how the event took place in October and she's saved the story for a couple of months until she can guarantee airtime over Christmas.
Total gaslighting. Anti-trans activist; chooses to speak in person, provoking students who want to protect trans rights; they exercise their freedom of speech to tell her she isn't wanted; she gets to speak anyway; the BBC dutifully platforms her again; and now she threatens to sue everyone.
University threatened with legal action after protest at event
Prof Alice Sullivan says her talk at the University of Bristol became like a
www.bbc.co.uk
December 22, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Notice how the event took place in October and she's saved the story for a couple of months until she can guarantee airtime over Christmas.
Free speech in these people's minds always means 'You all have to listen to me.'
Total gaslighting. Anti-trans activist; chooses to speak in person, provoking students who want to protect trans rights; they exercise their freedom of speech to tell her she isn't wanted; she gets to speak anyway; the BBC dutifully platforms her again; and now she threatens to sue everyone.
University threatened with legal action after protest at event
Prof Alice Sullivan says her talk at the University of Bristol became like a
www.bbc.co.uk
December 22, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Free speech in these people's minds always means 'You all have to listen to me.'
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
Meanwhile, the UK’s equivalent of the Dutch SyRi scandal (excessive data sharing and surveillance of benefit recipients, resulting in flat-out wrong and occasionally batshit errors) has been met not with government resignations but with a shrug.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Labour admits 60% of parents wrongly targeted in HMRC child benefit fraud crackdown
Exclusive: Scale of government’s anti-fraud fiasco is four times higher than previously admitted
www.theguardian.com
December 22, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Meanwhile, the UK’s equivalent of the Dutch SyRi scandal (excessive data sharing and surveillance of benefit recipients, resulting in flat-out wrong and occasionally batshit errors) has been met not with government resignations but with a shrug.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Harmonious Bosch
The problem with this piece, like all the other pieces, is that the missing hed, dek, & lede is that all of this was wildly illegal, unconstitutional, & criminal. This is how you normalize lawless authoritarianism - treat like just another story in our politics. “Transformation” is lazy euphemism.
This WaPo piece weaves together an incredibly powerful story about the way Trump has devastated government and the dedicated people who wake up every day to serve the public. wapo.st/4b14KAy
The year Trump broke the federal government
How DOGE and the White House carried out a once-unthinkable transformation of the nation’s sprawling bureaucracy.
wapo.st
December 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
The problem with this piece, like all the other pieces, is that the missing hed, dek, & lede is that all of this was wildly illegal, unconstitutional, & criminal. This is how you normalize lawless authoritarianism - treat like just another story in our politics. “Transformation” is lazy euphemism.