Simon Pease
@simonpease.bsky.social
Former UK diplomat. Neglectful gardener, baker, and maker. There is one planet. We pass through and are supposed to take care of it. Politics, as well as random observations on other stuff. No unsolicited DMs.
Pinned
Simon Pease
@simonpease.bsky.social
· Dec 2
Human beings are capable of believing two things which are mutually contradictory at the same time, without realising it.
Reposted by Simon Pease
This @nytimes.com account of the Trump administration's chaotic & disastrous Ukraine policy is great journalism; but for European readers, it shd end any lingering idea that we cd rely on the US if Russia attacked us: no-one around Trump cares about European security. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Separation: Inside the Unraveling U.S.-Ukraine Partnership (Gift Article)
As President Trump sought a peace deal and Vladimir V. Putin sought victory, factions in the White House and Pentagon bled the Ukrainian war effort.
www.nytimes.com
December 31, 2025 at 10:26 PM
This @nytimes.com account of the Trump administration's chaotic & disastrous Ukraine policy is great journalism; but for European readers, it shd end any lingering idea that we cd rely on the US if Russia attacked us: no-one around Trump cares about European security. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Simon Pease
THREAD: Verified videos of anti-establishment protests currently unfolding in Iran
Protesters push back police and security forces on Tehran's Jomhouri Street.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/LKZH6YbnT2WE...
@geoconfirmed.org
Protesters push back police and security forces on Tehran's Jomhouri Street.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/LKZH6YbnT2WE...
@geoconfirmed.org
December 31, 2025 at 9:51 PM
THREAD: Verified videos of anti-establishment protests currently unfolding in Iran
Protesters push back police and security forces on Tehran's Jomhouri Street.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/LKZH6YbnT2WE...
@geoconfirmed.org
Protesters push back police and security forces on Tehran's Jomhouri Street.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/LKZH6YbnT2WE...
@geoconfirmed.org
Reposted by Simon Pease
Brexit superfan, convicted fraudster, now advocating mass deprivation of citizenship for people he disagrees with. Charming.
Appropriately David Shipley managed to combine a job evangelizing for Brexit with a financial fraud.
His credibility is in the bin.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...
His credibility is in the bin.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...
'Brexit film' producer jailed for £500k loan application fraud - BBC News
David Shipley, who produced Brexit: The Movie, doctored his payslips in a bid to secure funds.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 31, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Brexit superfan, convicted fraudster, now advocating mass deprivation of citizenship for people he disagrees with. Charming.
Reposted by Simon Pease
This. And they underestimate how many white people actually care about racism. They think that by appeasing racists all they do is piss of black and brown people.
If you keep telling social liberals to fuck off to impress the Times, don't act all surprised when they actually fuck off.
December 31, 2025 at 11:05 AM
This. And they underestimate how many white people actually care about racism. They think that by appeasing racists all they do is piss of black and brown people.
Reading all the takes on why Starmer is unpopular, they all have merit as explanations. But my own take is when you combine them, you realise that overall, none of us can understand him, or why he does the things he does. So we have no basis on which to like or trust him.
December 31, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reading all the takes on why Starmer is unpopular, they all have merit as explanations. But my own take is when you combine them, you realise that overall, none of us can understand him, or why he does the things he does. So we have no basis on which to like or trust him.
Reposted by Simon Pease
Reports from inside Russia make it clear that there was no Ukrainian drone attack on Putin's compound. The compound is protected by SAMs, anti-aircraft guns, and fighter jets, none of which deployed. No person in the region heard or saw any evidence of an attack.
Putin lied; Trump believed him.
Putin lied; Trump believed him.
December 31, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reports from inside Russia make it clear that there was no Ukrainian drone attack on Putin's compound. The compound is protected by SAMs, anti-aircraft guns, and fighter jets, none of which deployed. No person in the region heard or saw any evidence of an attack.
Putin lied; Trump believed him.
Putin lied; Trump believed him.
Reposted by Simon Pease
UK company sends factory with 1,000C furnace into space. 🔭 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK company sends factory with 1,000C furnace into space
A factory in space has been switched on and has reached temperatures of about 1,000C.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 31, 2025 at 7:18 AM
UK company sends factory with 1,000C furnace into space. 🔭 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Simon Pease
Longterm intergenerational shift is a civic widening of inclusion. The short-term shift is hardening views within the minority position
bsky.app/profile/prof...
bsky.app/profile/prof...
Today's opinion poll news in context. The longer term trend has been away from ethno-nationalism.
Source:
Butt S, Clery E, Curtice J, editors (2022). British Social Attitudes: The 39th Report. National Centre for Social Research.
Source:
Butt S, Clery E, Curtice J, editors (2022). British Social Attitudes: The 39th Report. National Centre for Social Research.
December 30, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Longterm intergenerational shift is a civic widening of inclusion. The short-term shift is hardening views within the minority position
bsky.app/profile/prof...
bsky.app/profile/prof...
Reposted by Simon Pease
The UK still has significant potential to unlock broad cross-cutting 65-70%+ societal consensus on foundational democratic norms, but it becomes harder to do this when an increasing number of political, media and other institutions have interests mainly inside one half or one third of the society
December 30, 2025 at 4:31 PM
The UK still has significant potential to unlock broad cross-cutting 65-70%+ societal consensus on foundational democratic norms, but it becomes harder to do this when an increasing number of political, media and other institutions have interests mainly inside one half or one third of the society
Reposted by Simon Pease
Govts should be looking beyond 35%-51% coalitions: to think about narratives, institutions & strategies that seek to articulate what can be shared across many/most in the 40% blocs:one aim may be to bound electoral competition by ratifying what should not be on the ballot paper on foundational norms
December 30, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Govts should be looking beyond 35%-51% coalitions: to think about narratives, institutions & strategies that seek to articulate what can be shared across many/most in the 40% blocs:one aim may be to bound electoral competition by ratifying what should not be on the ballot paper on foundational norms
Reposted by Simon Pease
"Dictators like Putin do not go to war for resources; They go to war for status and survival inside their own pyramid."
Elvira Bary on something many in the West don't understand: Putin needs war to survive.
He will attack again, but where?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7WY...
Elvira Bary on something many in the West don't understand: Putin needs war to survive.
He will attack again, but where?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7WY...
Putin’s Hit List: Which Countries Is Russia Targeting Next?
Putin can’t stop with Ukraine. Here’s who Russia may target next—and why the danger is growing.
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia:…
www.youtube.com
December 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
"Dictators like Putin do not go to war for resources; They go to war for status and survival inside their own pyramid."
Elvira Bary on something many in the West don't understand: Putin needs war to survive.
He will attack again, but where?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7WY...
Elvira Bary on something many in the West don't understand: Putin needs war to survive.
He will attack again, but where?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7WY...
Reposted by Simon Pease
Also a lot of foundations don't like it (in a developing world context) because it's too simple and means not doing of expensive and fun strategy work on more complicated ideas.
December 30, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Also a lot of foundations don't like it (in a developing world context) because it's too simple and means not doing of expensive and fun strategy work on more complicated ideas.
Reposted by Simon Pease
As is said of Starmer, you cannot beat the far right by tilting towards it. So it is with Farage. And that's the polite version. The less polite version is Farage has always been a murky racist individual, albeit one with a talent for talking directly to 'people down the pub'.
December 30, 2025 at 6:46 PM
As is said of Starmer, you cannot beat the far right by tilting towards it. So it is with Farage. And that's the polite version. The less polite version is Farage has always been a murky racist individual, albeit one with a talent for talking directly to 'people down the pub'.
Reposted by Simon Pease
If this is true, it is the most impeachable offense ever.
December 27, 2025 at 6:29 PM
If this is true, it is the most impeachable offense ever.
Reposted by Simon Pease
Here's the CBC News segment where I explain why the Trump-led "peace talks" on the Russo-Ukrainian war are a charade: www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
CBC's Aarti Pole speaks with political science expert Maria Popova about Ukraine-Russia peace talks
Get the latest on CBCNews.ca, the CBC News App, and CBC News Network for breaking news and analysis.
www.cbc.ca
December 29, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Here's the CBC News segment where I explain why the Trump-led "peace talks" on the Russo-Ukrainian war are a charade: www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
Reposted by Simon Pease
They'll blame you for them coming and blame you again for them leaving.
Why politicians trying to appease the anti-immigrant press is a complete hiding for nothing
Why politicians trying to appease the anti-immigrant press is a complete hiding for nothing
December 29, 2025 at 8:28 PM
They'll blame you for them coming and blame you again for them leaving.
Why politicians trying to appease the anti-immigrant press is a complete hiding for nothing
Why politicians trying to appease the anti-immigrant press is a complete hiding for nothing
Reposted by Simon Pease
Reposted by Simon Pease
It is utterly ridiculous that the world has ever taken this obvious charlatan seriously.
But then the exact same thing could be said of Musk ... and so many others who now rule our lives with their iron fists.
fortune.com/article/open...
But then the exact same thing could be said of Musk ... and so many others who now rule our lives with their iron fists.
fortune.com/article/open...
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman says in 10 years time college graduates will be working 'some completely new, exciting, super well-paid' job in space | Fortune
While Bill Gates has said the 2-day workweek could come within the next decade, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says Gen Alpha college graduates will be too busy planet-hopping.
fortune.com
December 29, 2025 at 8:05 PM
It is utterly ridiculous that the world has ever taken this obvious charlatan seriously.
But then the exact same thing could be said of Musk ... and so many others who now rule our lives with their iron fists.
fortune.com/article/open...
But then the exact same thing could be said of Musk ... and so many others who now rule our lives with their iron fists.
fortune.com/article/open...
Reposted by Simon Pease
Isn't this from The Mail on Sunday? It's so antisemitic it could have been in "Der Stürmer" 😡 WTF is it with these people?
No idea who Laurent Brindeau is, but isn’t this caricature of @zackpolanski.bsky.social in today’s @dailymailpolitics.bsky.social ragingly antisemitic?
December 29, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Isn't this from The Mail on Sunday? It's so antisemitic it could have been in "Der Stürmer" 😡 WTF is it with these people?
Reposted by Simon Pease
Security guarantees depend on trust in the guarantor. NATO’s Article 5 is unspecific about what allies will do if one is attacked. Its credibility comes from the military forces nations assign to a NATO Command Chain, the planning staff at SHAPE etc. A bespoke Ukraine guarantee won’t have this/.
December 29, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Security guarantees depend on trust in the guarantor. NATO’s Article 5 is unspecific about what allies will do if one is attacked. Its credibility comes from the military forces nations assign to a NATO Command Chain, the planning staff at SHAPE etc. A bespoke Ukraine guarantee won’t have this/.
Reposted by Simon Pease
Who saw that coming?
December 29, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Who saw that coming?
Reposted by Simon Pease
Britain is facing renewed pressure from the White House to allow American chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated meat into UK supermarkets, as Donald Trump seeks trade concessions in exchange for reviving a collapsed US-UK technology deal.
and so it begins
www.farminguk.com/news/chlorin...
and so it begins
www.farminguk.com/news/chlorin...
December 29, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Britain is facing renewed pressure from the White House to allow American chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated meat into UK supermarkets, as Donald Trump seeks trade concessions in exchange for reviving a collapsed US-UK technology deal.
and so it begins
www.farminguk.com/news/chlorin...
and so it begins
www.farminguk.com/news/chlorin...
Reposted by Simon Pease
It's idiotic to ask him these things while his mind is freshly full of Russian propaganda. Ru wants to occupy all of Ukraine, destroy everything Ukrainian, absorb, russify, and rebuild as Ru. That's what they're attempting to do in the occupied territories. It's genocidal intent, not good will.
Trump: "Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. It sounds a little strange but President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices."
December 28, 2025 at 10:55 PM
It's idiotic to ask him these things while his mind is freshly full of Russian propaganda. Ru wants to occupy all of Ukraine, destroy everything Ukrainian, absorb, russify, and rebuild as Ru. That's what they're attempting to do in the occupied territories. It's genocidal intent, not good will.
Reposted by Simon Pease
Someone who gets fooled this easily really, really wants to be fooled. And Putin is happy to oblige.
Putin plays him every single time. Embarrassing.
Trump: "Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. It sounds a little strange but President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices."
December 29, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Someone who gets fooled this easily really, really wants to be fooled. And Putin is happy to oblige.