Abstarred
@abstarred.bsky.social
London based. Into travel, politics, music and literature. Seeking out a better world.
Reposted by Abstarred
Finding the reactions to this bleakly funny. Lads, the point isn’t that you are sending enough people to “win”, because we in fact, can’t win. It is just to have a tripwire! If you are going “why not 13, like Germany?” you have not understood how bad things are.
BREAKING: The UK is sending a single military officer to Greenland at the request of Denmark to participate in a multi-nation exercise
January 14, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Finding the reactions to this bleakly funny. Lads, the point isn’t that you are sending enough people to “win”, because we in fact, can’t win. It is just to have a tripwire! If you are going “why not 13, like Germany?” you have not understood how bad things are.
Reposted by Abstarred
BREAKING: The United States economy posts its worst year for layoffs since 2009, with layoffs surging 183% in October compared to September of this year.
November 6, 2025 at 1:57 PM
BREAKING: The United States economy posts its worst year for layoffs since 2009, with layoffs surging 183% in October compared to September of this year.
Reposted by Abstarred
BAME contestants being consistently the first voted out on any and all shows and the elephant in the room never being mentioned…
October 15, 2025 at 9:43 PM
BAME contestants being consistently the first voted out on any and all shows and the elephant in the room never being mentioned…
Reposted by Abstarred
You don’t actually have to both sides this. The Jewish community in the UK is not the Israeli government. You can just condemn the murder of two British Jews killed in their place of worship and you don’t have to say a single other thing.
October 2, 2025 at 11:36 AM
You don’t actually have to both sides this. The Jewish community in the UK is not the Israeli government. You can just condemn the murder of two British Jews killed in their place of worship and you don’t have to say a single other thing.
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My favourite fact about Iceland is that we have many, many crime writers but only one forensic pathologist, and he was so busy answering all of their questions that he decided to have a small seminar for writers to get some peace.
It immediately sold out so he had another one that also sold out.
It immediately sold out so he had another one that also sold out.
July 3, 2023 at 12:04 PM
My favourite fact about Iceland is that we have many, many crime writers but only one forensic pathologist, and he was so busy answering all of their questions that he decided to have a small seminar for writers to get some peace.
It immediately sold out so he had another one that also sold out.
It immediately sold out so he had another one that also sold out.
Reposted by Abstarred
It might be worth reading my paper on how Europe should fight a war against Russia without the Americans, and which are the key gaps that need to be filled first
www.martenscentre.eu/wp-content/u...
www.martenscentre.eu/wp-content/u...
September 19, 2025 at 8:07 PM
It might be worth reading my paper on how Europe should fight a war against Russia without the Americans, and which are the key gaps that need to be filled first
www.martenscentre.eu/wp-content/u...
www.martenscentre.eu/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Abstarred
Incredibly powerful and heartbreaking writing. This is the reality in today's UK for anyone who isn't white British. Please read it.
I wrote something about feeling like a guest in a country that is my home.
bestforbritain.substack.com/p/my-place-o...
bestforbritain.substack.com/p/my-place-o...
My place or yours? - Flags and the far right from someone who looks different to you
By Alex Andreou
bestforbritain.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Incredibly powerful and heartbreaking writing. This is the reality in today's UK for anyone who isn't white British. Please read it.
Reposted by Abstarred
Elon Musk openly called for violence on our streets yesterday.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
September 14, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Elon Musk openly called for violence on our streets yesterday.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
Reposted by Abstarred
I need you to understand what this country feels like right now for those of us who look different. I'm sitting here, trying to plan for Saturday, make sure I don't even need to go to the corner shop for milk, like it's Christmas Day or lockdown. Why? Because I live near where Yaxley-Lennon will 1/
September 11, 2025 at 11:31 PM
I need you to understand what this country feels like right now for those of us who look different. I'm sitting here, trying to plan for Saturday, make sure I don't even need to go to the corner shop for milk, like it's Christmas Day or lockdown. Why? Because I live near where Yaxley-Lennon will 1/
Reposted by Abstarred
I said a month ago that Pritzer = unlikely Desmoulins, jumping on metaphorical table in mediated Palais Royal to warn of danger, rally patriots. Now he's Mirabeau and Sieyes ("Be Loud for America"="What is the Third Estate?") too.
Newsom = Lameth brothers + Barnave. Media darling of early days.
Newsom = Lameth brothers + Barnave. Media darling of early days.
Had students read @rlspang.bsky.social’s “How Revolutions Happen” for our 1st French Rev class today & the Q she poses–“What is the difference between a revolution & the failure of a state or the collapse of an empire?” hit home even harder than it did in 2020
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
How Revolutions Happen
Revolutionary imagery is ubiquitous right now. But real structural change involves more than the toppling of statues, and what happens next is a matter of chance.
www.theatlantic.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:36 AM
I said a month ago that Pritzer = unlikely Desmoulins, jumping on metaphorical table in mediated Palais Royal to warn of danger, rally patriots. Now he's Mirabeau and Sieyes ("Be Loud for America"="What is the Third Estate?") too.
Newsom = Lameth brothers + Barnave. Media darling of early days.
Newsom = Lameth brothers + Barnave. Media darling of early days.
Reposted by Abstarred
"Actually I didn't even apply to Stanford, yeah, they just wrote to me and said come and study here, yeah, and they weren't the only ones, either, and they said I was so good that I could probably skip a year, yeah. But in the end I went to Sussex because of my allergies."
September 1, 2025 at 6:57 PM
"Actually I didn't even apply to Stanford, yeah, they just wrote to me and said come and study here, yeah, and they weren't the only ones, either, and they said I was so good that I could probably skip a year, yeah. But in the end I went to Sussex because of my allergies."
Reposted by Abstarred
Americans are just on the verge of accepting it’s probably not true and going to bed when suddenly all the Brits wake up and start hooting and hollering
August 30, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Americans are just on the verge of accepting it’s probably not true and going to bed when suddenly all the Brits wake up and start hooting and hollering
Reposted by Abstarred
Joe Biden outliving him would be objectively hilarious.
August 30, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Joe Biden outliving him would be objectively hilarious.
Reposted by Abstarred
Neither did I but this essay from Nick Clegg is a sharp reminder about the misplaced nostalgia about the “Special Relationship” and, maybe, after his years of working in the US for Facebook (🤬😡) he has a better feel for it than many a politician
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
What Trump Doesn’t Understand About ‘America First’
It’s time for Europe and the United States to accept how different they actually are.
www.theatlantic.com
August 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Neither did I but this essay from Nick Clegg is a sharp reminder about the misplaced nostalgia about the “Special Relationship” and, maybe, after his years of working in the US for Facebook (🤬😡) he has a better feel for it than many a politician
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Abstarred
Robert Jenrick, the Tory Shadow Justice Secretary and former Home Office Minister, joining protesters outside an asylum hotel is one of the most disgusting acts by a frontline British politician in living memory.
August 17, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Robert Jenrick, the Tory Shadow Justice Secretary and former Home Office Minister, joining protesters outside an asylum hotel is one of the most disgusting acts by a frontline British politician in living memory.
Reposted by Abstarred
holy shit this is a helluva ad from the Democrat running against Joni Ernst in Iowa. worth every second
August 12, 2025 at 8:13 PM
holy shit this is a helluva ad from the Democrat running against Joni Ernst in Iowa. worth every second
Reposted by Abstarred
Wrote a terrifyingly vulnerable thing about terminal illness and loss - an extremely rare foray, for me, into something which has no mention of movies. Hope someone somewhere likes it or relates to it, I guess.
christinanewland.substack.com/p/a-perpetua...
christinanewland.substack.com/p/a-perpetua...
A Perpetually Burning Building
On loss, on illness, & not at all on cinema
christinanewland.substack.com
August 10, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Wrote a terrifyingly vulnerable thing about terminal illness and loss - an extremely rare foray, for me, into something which has no mention of movies. Hope someone somewhere likes it or relates to it, I guess.
christinanewland.substack.com/p/a-perpetua...
christinanewland.substack.com/p/a-perpetua...
Reposted by Abstarred
As everyone has said this is an extraordinary piece. To paraphrase Tony Blair if we can't beat this lot then we deserve to lose.
I spent the day with Curtis Yarvin and the "dissident right" at a garden party in Surrey and wrote quite a few words about it.
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
Sunday at the garden party for Curtis Yarvin and the new, new right
[FREE TO READ] What you learn at a gathering of neoreactionaries, Very Online rightwingers and the formerly cancelled
on.ft.com
August 9, 2025 at 3:48 PM
As everyone has said this is an extraordinary piece. To paraphrase Tony Blair if we can't beat this lot then we deserve to lose.
Reposted by Abstarred
If you don't already, watch Colbert. He is a man with no more f*cks left to give. And it's glorious.
Check out this song parody from last night's show: Mike Johnson Delays House Epstein Vote Until September
Check out this song parody from last night's show: Mike Johnson Delays House Epstein Vote Until September
July 23, 2025 at 8:46 PM
If you don't already, watch Colbert. He is a man with no more f*cks left to give. And it's glorious.
Check out this song parody from last night's show: Mike Johnson Delays House Epstein Vote Until September
Check out this song parody from last night's show: Mike Johnson Delays House Epstein Vote Until September
Reposted by Abstarred
I can't quite believe it, but, it appears that the person responsible for this at the University of Warwick has had a Vogue photoshoot about the rebrand, explaining his 'journey from the world of luxury [goods marketing] into higher education' vogue.sg/university-o...
July 22, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I can't quite believe it, but, it appears that the person responsible for this at the University of Warwick has had a Vogue photoshoot about the rebrand, explaining his 'journey from the world of luxury [goods marketing] into higher education' vogue.sg/university-o...
Reposted by Abstarred
This is excellent. In three minutes she explains how democracies become dictatorships. It's happened so many times, yet in each country, most people said, 'it can't happen here'
#StaceyAbrams explains how to achieve an #autocracy in 10 steps.
We're at step 9.
The military is in our streets. Is our democracy worth the effort to defend it?
We're at step 9.
The military is in our streets. Is our democracy worth the effort to defend it?
July 22, 2025 at 8:07 PM
This is excellent. In three minutes she explains how democracies become dictatorships. It's happened so many times, yet in each country, most people said, 'it can't happen here'
Reposted by Abstarred
Three stunning and shaming paragraphs, by Rachel Wolf of Public First, in @theobserveruk.bsky.social
July 20, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Three stunning and shaming paragraphs, by Rachel Wolf of Public First, in @theobserveruk.bsky.social
Reposted by Abstarred
What no Felix courtesy faves does to a mfer
Was going through some old stuff for unrelated reasons and MAN I had actually forgotten this hall of fame bad tweet
July 18, 2025 at 11:43 PM
What no Felix courtesy faves does to a mfer
Reposted by Abstarred
President Emmanuel Macron’s appealed to the UK this afternoon to throw in its lot with Europe – Brexit or no Brexit – to defend democracy and the rules-based international order against threats from Russia and China but also implicitly from Donald Trump 1/
July 8, 2025 at 5:18 PM
President Emmanuel Macron’s appealed to the UK this afternoon to throw in its lot with Europe – Brexit or no Brexit – to defend democracy and the rules-based international order against threats from Russia and China but also implicitly from Donald Trump 1/