Yiannis
@yiannisbab.bsky.social
Campaigns on nature, climate finance and human rights. Writing on European politics and the far-right. Occasional posts on https://yiannisbaboulias.substack.com/
Some proper discourse with the Falklands stuff today, well done folks
December 2, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Some proper discourse with the Falklands stuff today, well done folks
it's amazing how Grimes always ends up in the shit end of the political endeavours he gets involved in, a generational talent
Reform UK went into Durham Council promising to find huge savings. They have managed to GROW the authority's deficit by over £11m *in the last two months*.
Grimes recommends “serious consideration” to increasing council tax “by the maximum 5%.” ~AA
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/politic...
Grimes recommends “serious consideration” to increasing council tax “by the maximum 5%.” ~AA
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/politic...
Reform cabinet backs £10mn cuts to start filling Durham’s growing black hole
Reform is now learning that running a big council is not as easy as it probably thought
northeastbylines.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 3:20 PM
it's amazing how Grimes always ends up in the shit end of the political endeavours he gets involved in, a generational talent
Reposted by Yiannis
Germany wants to undermine the EU's 2035 clean car mandate and allow "highly efficient combustion engine cars" after that.
What, you may ask, is a "highly efficient combustion engine car"?
"A highly efficient combustion engine car is a combustion engine car that is highly efficient," per the govt.
What, you may ask, is a "highly efficient combustion engine car"?
"A highly efficient combustion engine car is a combustion engine car that is highly efficient," per the govt.
„Ein hocheffizienter Verbrenner ist ein Verbrenner, der hocheffizient ist.“ (2/2)
December 1, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Germany wants to undermine the EU's 2035 clean car mandate and allow "highly efficient combustion engine cars" after that.
What, you may ask, is a "highly efficient combustion engine car"?
"A highly efficient combustion engine car is a combustion engine car that is highly efficient," per the govt.
What, you may ask, is a "highly efficient combustion engine car"?
"A highly efficient combustion engine car is a combustion engine car that is highly efficient," per the govt.
I've no idea what the whole thing around Reeve's is and honestly I find the continued coverage post-budget an absolute circus
December 1, 2025 at 8:46 AM
I've no idea what the whole thing around Reeve's is and honestly I find the continued coverage post-budget an absolute circus
Is this a real photo from Nolan's Odyssey? The whole thing looks a bit like a school play...
November 30, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Is this a real photo from Nolan's Odyssey? The whole thing looks a bit like a school play...
Imagine doing this for the SWP 🙃
Zarah Sultana boycotts first day of Your Party conference over 'witch hunt' expulsions
Zarah Sultana boycotts first day of Your Party conference over 'witch hunt' expulsions
Zarah Sultana has boycotted day one of the Your Party Conference over the expulsion of members of left-wing groups.
news.sky.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Imagine doing this for the SWP 🙃
There is an interview with Sergei Brin's ex-wife and... she's cooked too. Talking about how she and other "Silicon Valley wives" were used to lay the groundwork for "the great reset". That whole set of people is fundamentally lost to conspiracy and self-indulgence.
November 29, 2025 at 11:00 AM
There is an interview with Sergei Brin's ex-wife and... she's cooked too. Talking about how she and other "Silicon Valley wives" were used to lay the groundwork for "the great reset". That whole set of people is fundamentally lost to conspiracy and self-indulgence.
Reposted by Yiannis
This nonsense is how radical YIMBYs are made. Objections to a new town on a former RAF base because it might impact the *view from a historic garden 2km away*. www.countrylife.co.uk/gardens/one-...
'One of the truly great gardens of the world' is at risk of having its vistas and tranquility blighted forever
The views from Rousham, the birthplace of the English landscape-garden movement, are at risk of development if plans for the nearby former RAF Upper Heyford Air Force base get the go-ahead.
www.countrylife.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 8:36 AM
This nonsense is how radical YIMBYs are made. Objections to a new town on a former RAF base because it might impact the *view from a historic garden 2km away*. www.countrylife.co.uk/gardens/one-...
Sorry, didn't catch that, what did Kemi say again? Can you add it one more time because i missed it in the first three
November 28, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Sorry, didn't catch that, what did Kemi say again? Can you add it one more time because i missed it in the first three
There are hundreds around me but I sort of knew that already. How odd though, prices around here have gone up 600% since the 90's. Wages? Just over 60% I believe.
We’ve mapped the mansion tax.
You can see who's paying - which constituency, which postcode - and how many "mansions" are near you.
Full interactive map here 👇
You can see who's paying - which constituency, which postcode - and how many "mansions" are near you.
Full interactive map here 👇
November 28, 2025 at 10:49 AM
There are hundreds around me but I sort of knew that already. How odd though, prices around here have gone up 600% since the 90's. Wages? Just over 60% I believe.
From the posh part of Croydon I imagine
November 27, 2025 at 10:07 AM
From the posh part of Croydon I imagine
So it's a de facto graduate tax and I wish we just started calling it that so people can make decisions accordingly
Threshold for repaying student loans to converge with minimum wage on.ft.com/3M2AYkD
Threshold for repaying student loans to converge with minimum wage
Surprise move from chancellor means some university graduates in England may have to pay back debts sooner
on.ft.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:39 AM
So it's a de facto graduate tax and I wish we just started calling it that so people can make decisions accordingly
It's no surprise that the Russians targeted far-right politicians with bribes etc, they figured out back in the 00's that with 50-60 million they can basically buy every far-right party in Europe - a bargain if anything! The surprise is all the tankies that continue to do it for free.
November 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
It's no surprise that the Russians targeted far-right politicians with bribes etc, they figured out back in the 00's that with 50-60 million they can basically buy every far-right party in Europe - a bargain if anything! The surprise is all the tankies that continue to do it for free.
Isn't that just, the whole, you know *waves vaguely towards the labour government*
"This was a relatively modest and uneventful budget, and yet it’s dominated the headlines for three months … In policy terms, and on the substance, Labour has just about got itself a passing grade with this budget. The way it’s been sold to the public is a catastrophic failure."
The Budget: Rachel Reeves’s missed opportunity
A government doesn’t get many chances to make real change. Today was one of those opportunities - the chancellor missed it
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Isn't that just, the whole, you know *waves vaguely towards the labour government*
We're subsidising petrol at this point
When can you declare an emergency over?
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
November 25, 2025 at 9:39 PM
We're subsidising petrol at this point
Reposted by Yiannis
Brutal
Robbie Gibb describes the BBC's Political Editor Chris Mason as the "unsung hero of covering politics" and "absolutely first rate"
November 24, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Brutal
I listened to the If Books Could Kill episode in Sapiens (a book I find very dumb tbh) and... In their criticisms, the presenters make similar errors as the book itself. It's amazing how much outdated knowledge there is out there on pre-history.
November 22, 2025 at 12:48 PM
I listened to the If Books Could Kill episode in Sapiens (a book I find very dumb tbh) and... In their criticisms, the presenters make similar errors as the book itself. It's amazing how much outdated knowledge there is out there on pre-history.
Reposted by Yiannis
he never looks at JD that way
November 21, 2025 at 9:38 PM
he never looks at JD that way
Reposted by Yiannis
once again joining the many people who have observed how much of a world-historical problem it is that Trump is so fucking funny
Q: Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
November 21, 2025 at 9:27 PM
once again joining the many people who have observed how much of a world-historical problem it is that Trump is so fucking funny
Trump's only consistent quality is that he loves a winner, especially one that does numbers
A reporter asks if Mamdani stands by calling Trump a fascist. Mamdani starts to give a delicate answer.
Trump (smiles, pats Mamdani's arm): "That's OK, you can just say yes. It's easier. I don't mind."
Trump (smiles, pats Mamdani's arm): "That's OK, you can just say yes. It's easier. I don't mind."
November 21, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Trump's only consistent quality is that he loves a winner, especially one that does numbers
Reposted by Yiannis
BREAKING: The former leader of Reform in Wales, Nathan Gill, has been sentenced to ten and half years in prison for taking bribes to pump out Russian propaganda.
Gill was paid thousands to make pro-Russia speeches and TV interviews.
Gill was paid thousands to make pro-Russia speeches and TV interviews.
November 21, 2025 at 12:57 PM
BREAKING: The former leader of Reform in Wales, Nathan Gill, has been sentenced to ten and half years in prison for taking bribes to pump out Russian propaganda.
Gill was paid thousands to make pro-Russia speeches and TV interviews.
Gill was paid thousands to make pro-Russia speeches and TV interviews.
Also worth considering the location: £101k outside London is *very* good money.
It’s hard to read this stuff from doctors without cringing at how wildly out of touch it sounds (and how little self-awareness). £100k+ income is, to most of the public, beyond our dreams. Entitlement and class privilege is not the best way to win people over to your cause!
November 21, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Also worth considering the location: £101k outside London is *very* good money.
Every few years we get a new mutant creature that has spent too much time reading livejournal blogs and we're asked to pay attention to them because they have the ear of an oligarch shitting himself in public with apocalyptic visions of the antichrist
See also Curtis Yarvin's remarks in a recent Oxford lecture:
"Say what you want about MBS, he's quite an effective king I think in a lot of different ways. Um love the Ritz thing, the whole Saudi embassy thing, I don't know, but I mean he was a journalist". [Giggles]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXYl...
"Say what you want about MBS, he's quite an effective king I think in a lot of different ways. Um love the Ritz thing, the whole Saudi embassy thing, I don't know, but I mean he was a journalist". [Giggles]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXYl...
November 20, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Every few years we get a new mutant creature that has spent too much time reading livejournal blogs and we're asked to pay attention to them because they have the ear of an oligarch shitting himself in public with apocalyptic visions of the antichrist
Reposted by Yiannis
Either you support a tax on wealthier people or you don’t.
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
November 20, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Either you support a tax on wealthier people or you don’t.
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
Chinese EVs are going to eat up European car manufacturers and they'll just be going "just one more diesel engine bro, I promise"
www.politico.eu/article/stel...
www.politico.eu/article/stel...
Stellantis chair presses EU to gut 2035 combustion engine ban
The sector has three weeks to convince EU policymakers to create flexibilities in its green car rules.
www.politico.eu
November 19, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Chinese EVs are going to eat up European car manufacturers and they'll just be going "just one more diesel engine bro, I promise"
www.politico.eu/article/stel...
www.politico.eu/article/stel...