Mark Hearn
mgh59.bsky.social
Mark Hearn
@mgh59.bsky.social
Obscure historian of the fin de siècle and historical theory. Wistful social democrat and dismal observer of late modernity. Solace in art and culture, music, family.
Reposted by Mark Hearn
From 1964-73, the US dropped two million+ tons of ordnance on Laos. It’s history’s most bombed country per capita.

~30% didn’t explode. They’re still blowing children’s limbs off.

Through USAID, 🇺🇸 funded ongoing demining work in Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam. That’s stopped now 🧵
March 17, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Hmmm…
Congratulations to the senior Tories who, having been told this for a mere 60 years, and staunchly denied it throughout, have finally twigged that it might not be a brilliant idea to have a nuclear deterrent which can be switched off by another state.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
US support to maintain UK’s nuclear arsenal is in doubt, experts say
Malcolm Rifkind joins diplomats and analysts urging focus on European cooperation to replace Trident
www.theguardian.com
March 9, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Reposted by Mark Hearn
And there it is. Always remember the US don’t have to give us anything for our $368bn. NOTHING.

The dumbest procurement deal ever agreed to in Australian political history

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
Trump pick for Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia would be ‘crazy’ if Taiwan tensions flare
Nominee for undersecretary for defense policy says Aukus deal to deliver Virginia class submarines could leave US sailors ‘vulnerable’
www.theguardian.com
March 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Some help for thinking in a mad world
The Centre proudly presents the spring programme of PHO2-—The Ostrava-Oulu Research Seminar in the Philosophy of History—that we run together with @centrephilohistory.bsky.social. From next week to June we'll have 5 events. For more info, please see below. And come and join us if you can!
March 9, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Great album
Who’s ready to go with Lee Morgan to “Search For The New Land”? I certainly am!

Morgan assembled a stellar lineup when he recorded this album in 1964: Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, Herbie Hancock, Reginald Workman, and Billy Higgins! The results speak for themselves!
#leemorgan #jazz #bluenote
February 4, 2025 at 3:16 AM
There’s hope yet
"Fossil fuels are losing their grip on EU energy. At the start of the European Green Deal in 2019, few thought the EU’s energy transition could be where it is today; wind and solar are pushing coal to the margins and forcing gas into structural decline"

Big new @ember-energy.org report on EU energy
European Electricity Review 2025 | Ember
The EU’s electricity transition continued at pace in 2024, as solar overtook coal for the first time and gas declined for the fifth year in a row.
ember-energy.org
January 24, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Reposted by Mark Hearn
Thomas Piketty and Michael Sandel in discussion on the left after Trump.

In an age of rampant inequality and oligarchic government, two leading thinkers ask: can democratic socialism survive?
The left after Trump
In an age of rampant inequality and oligarchic government, two leading thinkers ask: can democratic socialism survive?
www.newstatesman.com
January 22, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Some antidote for the times
"Yasmin Williams is known for extending the boundaries of solo fingerstyle guitar ... On her latest record, 'Acadia,' she expands her distinctive sound world even further," says Acoustic Guitar. Watch her perform songs from the album and more AG at www.nonesuch.com/journal/watc...
January 22, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Great song
January 15, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Solidarity killer: ‘[US] labor law has been so degraded by business and conservative interests that employers can still fire workers at the slightest sign that they may be thinking about going union’.
January 15, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Fascinating article about great music
Check out Ethan Iverson's immersive cover story for The Nation "Jazz Off the Record" about McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Slugs' & a pivotal era in jazz history: www.thenation.com/article/cult...

A Listener’s Guide to Jazz From 1964–1972: www.thenation.com/article/cult...
January 15, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Reposted by Mark Hearn
NIGERIA: Uproar in Lagos: LTV, Radio Lagos, Traffic Radio workers stage fiery protest over Oracle, Minimum Wage pmnewsnigeria.com/2025/01/13/u...
Uproar in Lagos: LTV, Radio Lagos, Traffic Radio workers stage fiery protest over Oracle, Minimum Wage
At the crack of dawn, the aggrieved staff, united under the banners of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers’ Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), stormed t...
pmnewsnigeria.com
January 13, 2025 at 11:22 AM
What’s in it for the workers? Translating ‘social democratic priorities into the language of productivity and growth.’
"The major advantage of embracing the productivity failure diagnosis is that the path to higher productivity is not pre-determined... Labour [can] translate social democratic priorities into the language of productivity & growth"- @aleddavies.bsky.social

politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/labour-...
Labour and the Productivity Diagnosis
Reeves' focus on productivity offers space for the pursuit of a moderate social democratic agenda.
politicalquarterly.org.uk
January 13, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Mark Hearn
"Orwell's Ghosts assesses Orwell's understanding of free speech and condemnation of authoritarianism... [It] steers a careful course through some of the most complicated issues of his time and our own."

- Lyndsey Jenkins reviews @fieryparticle.bsky.social's book on #Orwell

https://buff.ly/41W5Ads
January 13, 2025 at 4:28 PM