David Hughes
@daihuws.bsky.social
Dabbler in electronic music. Religious studies student.
Also interested in politics, cats, soup, and computers.
I blog (rather sporadically) at https://tech.davidhughes.wales/ and https://theology.davidhughes.wales/
Also interested in politics, cats, soup, and computers.
I blog (rather sporadically) at https://tech.davidhughes.wales/ and https://theology.davidhughes.wales/
(Which, I would say, is not a completely unproblematic point, but not for the reasons that she's claiming.)
December 10, 2025 at 9:08 AM
(Which, I would say, is not a completely unproblematic point, but not for the reasons that she's claiming.)
I was expecting her article to make some substantive points, but she just droned on about the boob hypnotism thing, and - I think - wilfully misunderstood a point Polanski made about unenviable jobs often being done by immigrants.
December 10, 2025 at 9:08 AM
I was expecting her article to make some substantive points, but she just droned on about the boob hypnotism thing, and - I think - wilfully misunderstood a point Polanski made about unenviable jobs often being done by immigrants.
And I'm not convinced that hypnotherapy isn't something akin to applied use of the placebo effect. This person tells me that I will stop drinking (or whatever). I feel empowered to stop drinking. Therefore I stop drinking.
December 10, 2025 at 9:06 AM
And I'm not convinced that hypnotherapy isn't something akin to applied use of the placebo effect. This person tells me that I will stop drinking (or whatever). I feel empowered to stop drinking. Therefore I stop drinking.
When I first learned of the personal allowance taper I couldn't quite believe that it was real. I'm very unlikely to ever earn that much money, and I don't have any problem at all with progressive taxation, but it's not the right way to do it, surely.
November 12, 2025 at 8:22 AM
When I first learned of the personal allowance taper I couldn't quite believe that it was real. I'm very unlikely to ever earn that much money, and I don't have any problem at all with progressive taxation, but it's not the right way to do it, surely.
Western political traditions are HEAVILY influenced by Christianity. It's not like the Age of Enlightenment was so successful as to strip all of the influence of Christianity away. Most liberal political principles are basically a secularised version of Christianity.
November 9, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Western political traditions are HEAVILY influenced by Christianity. It's not like the Age of Enlightenment was so successful as to strip all of the influence of Christianity away. Most liberal political principles are basically a secularised version of Christianity.
They just (correctly, I think*) noted that the advanced capitalist regimes were not as close to collapse as classical Marxism said they ought to be and adjusted their foreign policy accordingly.
* I mean, from their point of view as communist internationalists.
* I mean, from their point of view as communist internationalists.
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
They just (correctly, I think*) noted that the advanced capitalist regimes were not as close to collapse as classical Marxism said they ought to be and adjusted their foreign policy accordingly.
* I mean, from their point of view as communist internationalists.
* I mean, from their point of view as communist internationalists.
I know very little about Ryan Grim, but he sounds like he's taken some Trotskyist dogma about the USSR to heart. It really is a myth that the USSR didn't try to facilitate anti-imperialist, if not socialist movements taking power elsewhere in the world.
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
I know very little about Ryan Grim, but he sounds like he's taken some Trotskyist dogma about the USSR to heart. It really is a myth that the USSR didn't try to facilitate anti-imperialist, if not socialist movements taking power elsewhere in the world.
Thank you so much! Hadn't realised that the older issues were online there - that should give me plenty to be going on with. (Have just joined the society as well. Am writing a dissertation on Nonconformity and disestablishment, so trying to read as widely as I can.)
November 4, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Thank you so much! Hadn't realised that the older issues were online there - that should give me plenty to be going on with. (Have just joined the society as well. Am writing a dissertation on Nonconformity and disestablishment, so trying to read as widely as I can.)
True equality will be reached when everybody feels equally uncomfortable. Genital inspections for all!
November 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
True equality will be reached when everybody feels equally uncomfortable. Genital inspections for all!
Slightly disappointed to discover that these contradictory interpretations were not to be found in the same leader column.
November 4, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Slightly disappointed to discover that these contradictory interpretations were not to be found in the same leader column.
But even if we accept that the 'core of the core' thinks this: so what? Just one of several possible opinions. Why should that opinion be priviliged above all of the others?
November 3, 2025 at 2:44 PM
But even if we accept that the 'core of the core' thinks this: so what? Just one of several possible opinions. Why should that opinion be priviliged above all of the others?
You choosing to designate this as 'the core' is an arbitrary decision, though. I might well decide that the major population centres taken collectively, or the industrial working class, or the class that collectively owns the majority of property is 'the core'.
November 3, 2025 at 2:44 PM
You choosing to designate this as 'the core' is an arbitrary decision, though. I might well decide that the major population centres taken collectively, or the industrial working class, or the class that collectively owns the majority of property is 'the core'.
From the Guardian obit: 'Gott wrote: “I liked bringing in people beyond the usual consensus of the paper, so on a good day we would have both EP Thompson and Enoch Powell. Centrists got furious.”'
This was something that I used to appreciate about the Guardian. Those days are gone, of course.
This was something that I used to appreciate about the Guardian. Those days are gone, of course.
November 3, 2025 at 9:03 AM
From the Guardian obit: 'Gott wrote: “I liked bringing in people beyond the usual consensus of the paper, so on a good day we would have both EP Thompson and Enoch Powell. Centrists got furious.”'
This was something that I used to appreciate about the Guardian. Those days are gone, of course.
This was something that I used to appreciate about the Guardian. Those days are gone, of course.
I agree about the necessity of questioning things, but at the same time I don't expect an adherent of a particular belief system to adopt a belief that's completely against the grain for them. (I think he has a point about MMT, though: I've never found that particularly convincing.)
November 3, 2025 at 9:00 AM
I agree about the necessity of questioning things, but at the same time I don't expect an adherent of a particular belief system to adopt a belief that's completely against the grain for them. (I think he has a point about MMT, though: I've never found that particularly convincing.)
Maybe the Charedi - not exactly a wholesale prohibition on the use of digital devices, but the use of computers and smartphones with access to the open internet is highly discouraged. There may be some subsets that effectively prohibit filing digital tax returns.
November 3, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Maybe the Charedi - not exactly a wholesale prohibition on the use of digital devices, but the use of computers and smartphones with access to the open internet is highly discouraged. There may be some subsets that effectively prohibit filing digital tax returns.
I mean, Gauke is a one nation Tory; of course he's not going to be in favour of Polanski's policies. (I don't mean this as an ad hominem attack or anything: it would just be highly surprising if a lifelong Conservative had a different opinion, surely?)
November 3, 2025 at 8:27 AM
I mean, Gauke is a one nation Tory; of course he's not going to be in favour of Polanski's policies. (I don't mean this as an ad hominem attack or anything: it would just be highly surprising if a lifelong Conservative had a different opinion, surely?)
I have been confused by how often this has been happening lately. Matt Goodwin getting offended at being compared to Enoch Powell on QT the other day, for example.
November 3, 2025 at 8:06 AM
I have been confused by how often this has been happening lately. Matt Goodwin getting offended at being compared to Enoch Powell on QT the other day, for example.
I'm in my 40s and that's what I most know him from. (My partner showed me the The Princess Bride for the first time when we got together and I was unfortunately unmoved by it. You probably have to have been a kid when you first see it.)
November 3, 2025 at 8:04 AM
I'm in my 40s and that's what I most know him from. (My partner showed me the The Princess Bride for the first time when we got together and I was unfortunately unmoved by it. You probably have to have been a kid when you first see it.)
Nevermind that there is scarcely a corner of Britain that hasn't been influenced by migration, or that we - in the age of mass global communication - have influences from overseas everywhere. Or that the white working class, if such a thing even exists, co-exists with all sorts of other communities.
November 2, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Nevermind that there is scarcely a corner of Britain that hasn't been influenced by migration, or that we - in the age of mass global communication - have influences from overseas everywhere. Or that the white working class, if such a thing even exists, co-exists with all sorts of other communities.
Again, it seems to me to be structuring your model such that it gives the result that you want it to. We discount anybody not "native"; we choose the people least influenced by the outside world - and hey presto, we've decided that the core of the nation is the xenophones.
November 2, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Again, it seems to me to be structuring your model such that it gives the result that you want it to. We discount anybody not "native"; we choose the people least influenced by the outside world - and hey presto, we've decided that the core of the nation is the xenophones.
But why is that the core? (Also: white and working class here. Don't lump me in with those xenophobes. Could say same of many people I know.)
November 2, 2025 at 9:36 PM
But why is that the core? (Also: white and working class here. Don't lump me in with those xenophobes. Could say same of many people I know.)
I think I detect some circular logic here. For you, the "white British core population" is defined according to whether they view non-white Britons as British. I have a British passport; I am white; for me whether you are British is defined by citizenship. I don't think this is a minority view.
November 2, 2025 at 7:21 PM
I think I detect some circular logic here. For you, the "white British core population" is defined according to whether they view non-white Britons as British. I have a British passport; I am white; for me whether you are British is defined by citizenship. I don't think this is a minority view.