Matt Brown
@nowheria.bsky.social
Guitar player and blogger. UK. Runs @rochefoucauld.bsky.social & @mrfluent.bsky.social Find my blog called 'Bulletins' here: http://mattsbulletins.blogspot.com/
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Things That Happen In A Story: Genesis, the Odyssey, Dickens & Sherlock Holmes
mattsbulletins.blogspot.com
I'm re-upping my last Bulletin because I've added some thoughts at the end and also a hefty quote from Bourdieu, worth checking it out for alone: mattsbulletins.blogspot.com/2025/11/thin...
Reposted by Matt Brown
Reposted by Matt Brown
Reposted by Matt Brown
Keir Starmer is vainly trying to make himself look tough and purposeful.
Keir Starmer says Britain needs to ‘go faster’ on defence spending ft.trib.al/LwYdISM
Keir Starmer says Britain needs to ‘go faster’ on defence spending
Prime minister is said to be examining how to bring forward plans to spend 3 per cent of UK GDP on military
ft.trib.al
February 16, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Keir Starmer is vainly trying to make himself look tough and purposeful.
This very short piece ends with a clip of Robert Duvall explaining Jung and synchronicity early on in 'The Eagle Has Landed'. A small sample of a great man's work. RIP. mattsbulletins.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-...
The First Reference to Jung
mattsbulletins.blogspot.com
February 16, 2026 at 7:22 PM
This very short piece ends with a clip of Robert Duvall explaining Jung and synchronicity early on in 'The Eagle Has Landed'. A small sample of a great man's work. RIP. mattsbulletins.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-...
Reposted by Matt Brown
Defunding the BBC World Service & shutting it down would be an incredible loss & very shortsighted indeed. The BBC has broadcast for nearly 90 years in foreign languages, battlind disinformation & propaganda globally. Serious journalism is more needed than ever.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial
Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported
www.theguardian.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Defunding the BBC World Service & shutting it down would be an incredible loss & very shortsighted indeed. The BBC has broadcast for nearly 90 years in foreign languages, battlind disinformation & propaganda globally. Serious journalism is more needed than ever.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Matt Brown
I don't get it why exactly the Foreign Office should want to let the World Service die by cutting it's funding. It was the FO that pushed for foreign-language broadcasts in the late 1930s for supporting it's diplomacy. I have publsihed quite a bit on the subject.
stephanieseul.com/british-prop...
stephanieseul.com/british-prop...
February 15, 2026 at 9:19 PM
I don't get it why exactly the Foreign Office should want to let the World Service die by cutting it's funding. It was the FO that pushed for foreign-language broadcasts in the late 1930s for supporting it's diplomacy. I have publsihed quite a bit on the subject.
stephanieseul.com/british-prop...
stephanieseul.com/british-prop...
New scam worth knowing about: www.theguardian.com/money/2026/f...
Brushing fraud: Britons told to beware of mystery parcels as new scam soars
Fraudsters use stolen personal details to send out products, then post a fake verified and positive online review
www.theguardian.com
February 15, 2026 at 9:10 PM
New scam worth knowing about: www.theguardian.com/money/2026/f...
Reposted by Matt Brown
305. Self-interest, which is accused of all our crimes, often deserves to be praised for our good deeds.
February 15, 2026 at 8:57 PM
305. Self-interest, which is accused of all our crimes, often deserves to be praised for our good deeds.
@questingvole.bsky.social Dear Sam, I thought you might appreciate this as an example of AI nonsense. I was just checking when 'The Warden' was published - these Copilot search results are involuntary. Check the publication date.
February 12, 2026 at 9:27 PM
@questingvole.bsky.social Dear Sam, I thought you might appreciate this as an example of AI nonsense. I was just checking when 'The Warden' was published - these Copilot search results are involuntary. Check the publication date.
Reposted by Matt Brown
"A candour affected is a dagger concealed." - Marcus Aurelius, from Meditations Bk.11, 15.
February 12, 2026 at 8:05 PM
"A candour affected is a dagger concealed." - Marcus Aurelius, from Meditations Bk.11, 15.
Reposted by Matt Brown
New warning signs in the modern European languages library
February 11, 2026 at 8:20 PM
New warning signs in the modern European languages library
Reposted by Matt Brown
This. Also, I gave Starmer much benefit of the doubt in print. Maybe too much; striving to analyse ways in which he could succeed - how it might work. But you have to recognise the data that tell you he is failing.
Getting really tired of "this is all a media concoction"...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
February 11, 2026 at 2:18 PM
This. Also, I gave Starmer much benefit of the doubt in print. Maybe too much; striving to analyse ways in which he could succeed - how it might work. But you have to recognise the data that tell you he is failing.
Reposted by Matt Brown
🚨 What on earth just happened?!
Join me and @kiranstacey.bsky.social as we chew over a dramatic day in Westminster - and what it means for the prime minister, the Labour Party and - most importantly - the country.
(Produced by legend @frankietobi.bsky.social)
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...
Join me and @kiranstacey.bsky.social as we chew over a dramatic day in Westminster - and what it means for the prime minister, the Labour Party and - most importantly - the country.
(Produced by legend @frankietobi.bsky.social)
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...
Starmer survives Sarwar’s putsch, for now – podcast
Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey discuss how much longer Keir Starmer can survive as prime minister
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 9:48 PM
🚨 What on earth just happened?!
Join me and @kiranstacey.bsky.social as we chew over a dramatic day in Westminster - and what it means for the prime minister, the Labour Party and - most importantly - the country.
(Produced by legend @frankietobi.bsky.social)
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...
Join me and @kiranstacey.bsky.social as we chew over a dramatic day in Westminster - and what it means for the prime minister, the Labour Party and - most importantly - the country.
(Produced by legend @frankietobi.bsky.social)
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...
The way that Peter Mandelson is behaving in response to this scandal shows that he just cannot grasp the magnitude of it at all; as if his old tricks & devices will somehow help him e.g. when he issued that statement saying he hadn't profited from releasing government information >>
NEW: Mandelson just sent a memo to UK newspapers via the press watchdog demanding they stop publishing his links to Epstein.
He cited clauses in the Editors code, designed to protect grieving families.
The memo was NOT to be published.
The National just said ‘fuck that’ & published it in full 👏
He cited clauses in the Editors code, designed to protect grieving families.
The memo was NOT to be published.
The National just said ‘fuck that’ & published it in full 👏
Peter Mandelson issues secret notice demanding press leave him alone – read in full
LATE on Friday evening, this notice was circulated from representatives of Peter Mandelson, via press regulator IPSO and the Press Association news…
www.thenational.scot
February 7, 2026 at 10:25 AM
The way that Peter Mandelson is behaving in response to this scandal shows that he just cannot grasp the magnitude of it at all; as if his old tricks & devices will somehow help him e.g. when he issued that statement saying he hadn't profited from releasing government information >>
Reposted by Matt Brown
303. Whatever good is said about us never teaches us anything new.
February 6, 2026 at 7:20 PM
303. Whatever good is said about us never teaches us anything new.
Reposted by Matt Brown
Six years ago today, Dr. Li Wenliang died from Covid. Imagine if he hadn’t been silenced by the Chinese government for speaking out—what a different world we might be living in now.
February 6, 2026 at 6:51 PM
Six years ago today, Dr. Li Wenliang died from Covid. Imagine if he hadn’t been silenced by the Chinese government for speaking out—what a different world we might be living in now.
That forlorn 'Pride of Place' sign in the background. @aiannucci.bsky.social as prophet yet again.
"We'll call the scheme 'Pride of Place, yeah ? & present it like it's a street sign !"
"We'll call the scheme 'Pride of Place, yeah ? & present it like it's a street sign !"
February 5, 2026 at 6:58 PM
That forlorn 'Pride of Place' sign in the background. @aiannucci.bsky.social as prophet yet again.
"We'll call the scheme 'Pride of Place, yeah ? & present it like it's a street sign !"
"We'll call the scheme 'Pride of Place, yeah ? & present it like it's a street sign !"
Reposted by Matt Brown
Hot Take: Mandy should have listened to Epstein more.
February 4, 2026 at 9:51 AM
Hot Take: Mandy should have listened to Epstein more.
I'm re-upping my last Bulletin because I've added some thoughts at the end and also a hefty quote from Bourdieu, worth checking it out for alone: mattsbulletins.blogspot.com/2025/11/thin...
Things That Happen In A Story: Genesis, the Odyssey, Dickens & Sherlock Holmes
mattsbulletins.blogspot.com
February 3, 2026 at 8:55 PM
I'm re-upping my last Bulletin because I've added some thoughts at the end and also a hefty quote from Bourdieu, worth checking it out for alone: mattsbulletins.blogspot.com/2025/11/thin...
Reposted by Matt Brown
Looking back fondly on this quote Mandelson gave me last September
"I do not, and have never, lobbied government on behalf of any commercial interest," he added.
February 3, 2026 at 10:54 AM
Looking back fondly on this quote Mandelson gave me last September