Alasdair
@ralasdair.bsky.social
Left politics, football (Spurs, Union Berlin, Scotland), rugby (Scotland), cycling, history, occasional rant.
📍Berlin
📍Berlin
This "Andrew being arrested shows Britain's monarchy is better than the US" is a weird take. Both Elizabeth and Charles protected him for years...
It is curious, but it appears to be true, that Britain's centuries old constitutional monarchy is trying, eventually and belatedly, to find some cathartic route to how to ensure that nobody is above the law than the American Republic will attempt with the President himself.
There is no better patriotic sight than seeing Andrew arrested inews.co.uk/opinion/ther...
February 19, 2026 at 9:33 PM
This "Andrew being arrested shows Britain's monarchy is better than the US" is a weird take. Both Elizabeth and Charles protected him for years...
The Duchy of York is a really very unlucky title. One of the princes in the Tower was a Duke of York, Charles I was a Duke of York, James II was a Duke of York…
Since it became a sort of non-hereditary "royal" Duchy, fully half of the holders have met sticky ends of one sort or another.
Since it became a sort of non-hereditary "royal" Duchy, fully half of the holders have met sticky ends of one sort or another.
February 19, 2026 at 7:14 PM
The Duchy of York is a really very unlucky title. One of the princes in the Tower was a Duke of York, Charles I was a Duke of York, James II was a Duke of York…
Since it became a sort of non-hereditary "royal" Duchy, fully half of the holders have met sticky ends of one sort or another.
Since it became a sort of non-hereditary "royal" Duchy, fully half of the holders have met sticky ends of one sort or another.
I'd pay good money for a hidden camera in the Pizza Express PR department every time a new Andrew story breaks...
February 19, 2026 at 4:50 PM
I'd pay good money for a hidden camera in the Pizza Express PR department every time a new Andrew story breaks...
I guess that solves the debate of whether the King should feed and house him. Not sure HMP Brixton was what he was thinking of, though…
Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Police had previously said they were assessing evidence in relation to revelations in the so-called Epstein files.
Follow live updates. https://cnn.it/4aHrFPI
Follow live updates. https://cnn.it/4aHrFPI
February 19, 2026 at 10:46 AM
I guess that solves the debate of whether the King should feed and house him. Not sure HMP Brixton was what he was thinking of, though…
This is pretty close to my view, and reflects my own usage - it saves me time and enables me to do some things I couldn’t do before (my coding’s not great, but now I can build rough and ready demos for customers where I would probably have got a developer involved without an LLM).
Thinking about AI and white collar jobs.
Can AI replace all white collar jobs? Obviously not. That is just silly.
Can it replace some jobs? Almost certainly. But that’s just normal. Word processing replaced a lot of jobs. Databases replaced a lot of jobs. Spreadsheets replaced a lot of jobs.
1/2
Can AI replace all white collar jobs? Obviously not. That is just silly.
Can it replace some jobs? Almost certainly. But that’s just normal. Word processing replaced a lot of jobs. Databases replaced a lot of jobs. Spreadsheets replaced a lot of jobs.
1/2
February 15, 2026 at 9:17 PM
This is pretty close to my view, and reflects my own usage - it saves me time and enables me to do some things I couldn’t do before (my coding’s not great, but now I can build rough and ready demos for customers where I would probably have got a developer involved without an LLM).
The funny thing is that everything the Labour Right made up about the Labour left (“racist Russian spies stuck in the past who hate Britain”) is actually true about Reform…but they refuse to say it?!
Latest in the series of “literally every poll question you can think of shows how dumb and fatally flawed the strategy that the McSweeneyites have pursued is”.
2024 Reform UK voters are also less likely to describe themselves as anti-Russia (48%) than other voters (66-79%)
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
February 14, 2026 at 12:41 PM
The funny thing is that everything the Labour Right made up about the Labour left (“racist Russian spies stuck in the past who hate Britain”) is actually true about Reform…but they refuse to say it?!
Self-censorship by public figures abasing themselves to the official line is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes. Along with violent police repression, state attacks on freedom of speech and assembly, on the issue of Palestine, Germany is not a democracy.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
Berlinale Immediately Gets Heated at Jury Presser as President Wim Wenders Asserts “We Have to Stay Out of Politics”
"We are the counterweight of politics, the opposite of politics, we have to do the work of people — not the work of politicians," said the legendary filmmaker at the first Berlin Film Fest press confe...
www.hollywoodreporter.com
February 14, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Self-censorship by public figures abasing themselves to the official line is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes. Along with violent police repression, state attacks on freedom of speech and assembly, on the issue of Palestine, Germany is not a democracy.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
This is very good news.
Breaking news: The UK government’s contentious ban on Palestine Action under anti-terror laws has been ruled unlawful in a landmark legal victory for civil liberties campaigners. ft.trib.al/V0bk3dr
February 13, 2026 at 10:40 AM
This is very good news.
The IOC’s cognitive dissonance that somehow claims the Marseillaise (“fields of blood against the invaders!”) isn’t political but a helmet remembering dead athletes is political is…quite something.
February 12, 2026 at 10:30 PM
The IOC’s cognitive dissonance that somehow claims the Marseillaise (“fields of blood against the invaders!”) isn’t political but a helmet remembering dead athletes is political is…quite something.
Meanwhile, the IOC are happily selling t-shirts of the 1936 Olympics with no further comment. Ridiculous.
Heraskevych’s choice to forfeit the medal chance instead of give up the memorial helmet is the biggest story in Ukraine today. Everyone is heartbroken but there is a unanimous consensus that this was what had to happen rather than to give up.
February 12, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Meanwhile, the IOC are happily selling t-shirts of the 1936 Olympics with no further comment. Ridiculous.
And I thought being a Spurs fan was embarrassing. Imagine this guy owning your football club…
'The UK has been colonised by immigrants', says INEOS boss and Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe
'The UK has been colonised by immigrants', says INEOS boss and Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Britain has been "colonised" by immigrants, who are draining resources from the state, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of the country's richest and most influential men, has told Sky News.
news.sky.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:23 PM
And I thought being a Spurs fan was embarrassing. Imagine this guy owning your football club…
If anyone’s had a worse night than Spurs fan, it’s your lad with the hair watching West Ham v Man U…
February 10, 2026 at 10:15 PM
If anyone’s had a worse night than Spurs fan, it’s your lad with the hair watching West Ham v Man U…
Really looking forward to watching Spurs finish 3rd in the Championship then going out in the playoffs to Wrexham while Ryan Reynolds looks on from the director’s box. 😐
February 10, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Really looking forward to watching Spurs finish 3rd in the Championship then going out in the playoffs to Wrexham while Ryan Reynolds looks on from the director’s box. 😐
Fun fact: about 15 years ago, there was polling that showed UKIP voters washed their underpants significantly less than other people.
Underwear optional? The health pros and cons of going commando
Underwear optional? The health pros and cons of going commando
There are times when it is better to wear underwear than not. Here’s what the experts say
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Fun fact: about 15 years ago, there was polling that showed UKIP voters washed their underpants significantly less than other people.
In 2020, sure. But after Liz Truss, Labour was always going to win. Did the McSweeney extreme triangulation strategy mean they won a much bigger majority than otherwise? Probably. But it hamstrung them in government and made losing the next election to the far right a likely outcome.
On the other hand I think the wrongest of takes is the idea that McSweeney was incidental to the election victory that was all but guaranteed because of Tory collapse. He built a formidable election campaign- and was literally the only person you could find in 2020 who thought Labour could win.
February 9, 2026 at 12:00 PM
In 2020, sure. But after Liz Truss, Labour was always going to win. Did the McSweeney extreme triangulation strategy mean they won a much bigger majority than otherwise? Probably. But it hamstrung them in government and made losing the next election to the far right a likely outcome.
Applied to a bunch of Scotland tickets and a bunch of England tickets for the WC on the basis that a pal and I might go for a combined trip.
I got…2 x 2 England tickets for $2000. 🫠
I got…2 x 2 England tickets for $2000. 🫠
February 7, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Applied to a bunch of Scotland tickets and a bunch of England tickets for the WC on the basis that a pal and I might go for a combined trip.
I got…2 x 2 England tickets for $2000. 🫠
I got…2 x 2 England tickets for $2000. 🫠
We’re against helping out with genocide and putting kids in concentration camps.
Which, to be fair, Britain has been doing for long enough to probably consider them core British values.
Which, to be fair, Britain has been doing for long enough to probably consider them core British values.
Keir Starmer attacks the racism of Reform and Matt Goodwin but then adds that "Britain has also been let down by a mindset on the left of politics that is too slow to defend core British values"
February 5, 2026 at 1:38 PM
We’re against helping out with genocide and putting kids in concentration camps.
Which, to be fair, Britain has been doing for long enough to probably consider them core British values.
Which, to be fair, Britain has been doing for long enough to probably consider them core British values.
It would be very funny if Keir Starmer’s premiership imploding was Peter Mandelson’s last act in British politics (preferably before serving a brief but memorable prison sentence for breaking the official secrets act).
February 4, 2026 at 8:19 PM
It would be very funny if Keir Starmer’s premiership imploding was Peter Mandelson’s last act in British politics (preferably before serving a brief but memorable prison sentence for breaking the official secrets act).
Fun fact: in Germany, this would be “anonymised” as launching an investigation into “Peter M.”
Met spox: "I can confirm that the Metropolitan Police has now launched an investigation into a
72-year-old man, a former Government Minister, for misconduct in public office offences.”
72-year-old man, a former Government Minister, for misconduct in public office offences.”
February 3, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Fun fact: in Germany, this would be “anonymised” as launching an investigation into “Peter M.”
Incredibly bloviating and pompous in a way only judges can be, but also kinda great.
I know you've heard that a federal judge ordered the release of 5 year old Liam Conejo Arias and his father, and that they're now home.
But did you look at the judge's order?
It's less than 2.5 pages and well worth a minute. "Jesus wept."
Link to pdf: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
But did you look at the judge's order?
It's less than 2.5 pages and well worth a minute. "Jesus wept."
Link to pdf: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 2, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Incredibly bloviating and pompous in a way only judges can be, but also kinda great.
Can’t wait for Mandelson’s resignation from Wes Streeting’s shadow cabinet for an entirely unrelated scandal in 2032.
February 2, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Can’t wait for Mandelson’s resignation from Wes Streeting’s shadow cabinet for an entirely unrelated scandal in 2032.
Not actually a bad idea for Keir Starmer to have a substack. Longer form than here/twitter (and without being owned by a fascist), easier to control than the newspapers, more to Starmer’s brand than TikTok. Not sure just posting boring speeches is going cut it tho.
keirstarmer.substack.com/p/china
keirstarmer.substack.com/p/china
China
Why I went, and what I did while I was there.
keirstarmer.substack.com
January 31, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Not actually a bad idea for Keir Starmer to have a substack. Longer form than here/twitter (and without being owned by a fascist), easier to control than the newspapers, more to Starmer’s brand than TikTok. Not sure just posting boring speeches is going cut it tho.
keirstarmer.substack.com/p/china
keirstarmer.substack.com/p/china
Pedro Sanchez is the sensible moderate social democrat Starmer could’ve been.
www.dw.com/en/spain-to-...
www.dw.com/en/spain-to-...
Spain to grant legal status to 500,000 undocumented migrants
Spain is moving against the European tide with a plan to offer a chance at residency status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants. The move has exposed a deep political divide for the mino...
www.dw.com
January 31, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Pedro Sanchez is the sensible moderate social democrat Starmer could’ve been.
www.dw.com/en/spain-to-...
www.dw.com/en/spain-to-...
Der FDP Landesverband Hamburg geht pleite. Der Markt regelt’s und so…
January 27, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Der FDP Landesverband Hamburg geht pleite. Der Markt regelt’s und so…
America is not 1933 Germany. Trump’s power is not that extensive and his repression not that brutal yet. This is much more like Mussolini’s Italy 1922-25. There is opposition and outcry, but there’s also paramilitaries, authoritarianism and street violence.
January 25, 2026 at 6:50 PM
America is not 1933 Germany. Trump’s power is not that extensive and his repression not that brutal yet. This is much more like Mussolini’s Italy 1922-25. There is opposition and outcry, but there’s also paramilitaries, authoritarianism and street violence.
