John Kovacs
@johnkovacs001.bsky.social
Reposted by John Kovacs
And just like that, I’m banned from Marks & Spencer’s.
November 17, 2023 at 8:59 PM
And just like that, I’m banned from Marks & Spencer’s.
Reposted by John Kovacs
I'm sorry but casually embarking on regime change in Venezuela based on trumped up claims of the country being a major purveyor of drugs and then switch "we want their oil" is bananas. Wars of conquest were a thing of the past and if the US starts one, we're not much better than Russia.
December 17, 2025 at 10:03 PM
I'm sorry but casually embarking on regime change in Venezuela based on trumped up claims of the country being a major purveyor of drugs and then switch "we want their oil" is bananas. Wars of conquest were a thing of the past and if the US starts one, we're not much better than Russia.
Reposted by John Kovacs
Really important post by @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social on the role of political elites in legitimising the populist radical right. I often wonder about the impact of WW2 on the generation who experienced it and saw how it arose. We forget too easily.
Y'days post: Understanding the rise of the populist far right mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/12/unde...
The role of social norms of humanitarism and anti-racism, and their abandonment by political elites and others, in explaining the rise in right wing populism.
The role of social norms of humanitarism and anti-racism, and their abandonment by political elites and others, in explaining the rise in right wing populism.
Understanding the rise of the populist far right
This is a follow-up to last week’s post. Occasionally I receive comments on social media that point me to academic analysis that I wasn’t ...
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Really important post by @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social on the role of political elites in legitimising the populist radical right. I often wonder about the impact of WW2 on the generation who experienced it and saw how it arose. We forget too easily.
Reposted by John Kovacs
I used my lunch break to write about the far right's plastic patriots, and how they are Putin's men.
Also some thoughts on where we are re the threat from Russia to the UK.
open.substack.com/pub/sianushk...
Also some thoughts on where we are re the threat from Russia to the UK.
open.substack.com/pub/sianushk...
Plastic patriots & Putin
Some thoughts on the far right's fake patriotism, and where we are with war and defence
open.substack.com
December 16, 2025 at 2:51 PM
I used my lunch break to write about the far right's plastic patriots, and how they are Putin's men.
Also some thoughts on where we are re the threat from Russia to the UK.
open.substack.com/pub/sianushk...
Also some thoughts on where we are re the threat from Russia to the UK.
open.substack.com/pub/sianushk...
Reposted by John Kovacs
Reposted by John Kovacs
Once again the old wind-up gramophone is dusted off, this time to play this Japanese-sung interpretation of "Jingle Bells" from 1955.
#FestiveForeignCovers
#FestiveForeignCovers
小坂 一也 & ワゴン・マスターズ ♪ジンベル・ベルス♪ 1955年 78rpm record , HMV 102 phonograph
YouTube video by sabo yobo
youtu.be
December 12, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Once again the old wind-up gramophone is dusted off, this time to play this Japanese-sung interpretation of "Jingle Bells" from 1955.
#FestiveForeignCovers
#FestiveForeignCovers
Reposted by John Kovacs
Reposted by John Kovacs
🇺🇸 attempts to force 🇺🇦 surrender are currently 0 from 3. Europe is winning, even if it doesn't realise.
Trump's national security strategy exposes weakness. Its attitude to Europe is like the obsessive ex stalking the former partner, wondering who that new guy is.
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
Trump's national security strategy exposes weakness. Its attitude to Europe is like the obsessive ex stalking the former partner, wondering who that new guy is.
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
America's Weakness, Europe's Strength
The 'new' national security strategy is the admission of defeat from a declining country
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 2:07 PM
🇺🇸 attempts to force 🇺🇦 surrender are currently 0 from 3. Europe is winning, even if it doesn't realise.
Trump's national security strategy exposes weakness. Its attitude to Europe is like the obsessive ex stalking the former partner, wondering who that new guy is.
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
Trump's national security strategy exposes weakness. Its attitude to Europe is like the obsessive ex stalking the former partner, wondering who that new guy is.
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
Reposted by John Kovacs
Last year, Benin stiffled a coup preparation that had been clearly inspired and in contact with the Burkinabe junta elements and some Russians, so this today's revolt is not appearing out of this air.
December 7, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Last year, Benin stiffled a coup preparation that had been clearly inspired and in contact with the Burkinabe junta elements and some Russians, so this today's revolt is not appearing out of this air.
Reposted by John Kovacs
1. BREAKING
A coup is underway in the West African nation of Benin.
A group of soldiers appeared on state television and declared the dissolution of the government, the removal of President Patrice Talon (an ally of the United States), and the dismantling of state institutions.
A coup is underway in the West African nation of Benin.
A group of soldiers appeared on state television and declared the dissolution of the government, the removal of President Patrice Talon (an ally of the United States), and the dismantling of state institutions.
December 7, 2025 at 9:43 AM
1. BREAKING
A coup is underway in the West African nation of Benin.
A group of soldiers appeared on state television and declared the dissolution of the government, the removal of President Patrice Talon (an ally of the United States), and the dismantling of state institutions.
A coup is underway in the West African nation of Benin.
A group of soldiers appeared on state television and declared the dissolution of the government, the removal of President Patrice Talon (an ally of the United States), and the dismantling of state institutions.
Reposted by John Kovacs
I am ratcheting down my social media, but let me just say that all European leaders except on the far Right should note that the U.S. now seeks regime change in their country; basically seeks to depose them. US strategy is to support the political forces that threaten liberal democracy in Europe.
Trump Administration Says Europe Faces ‘Civilizational Erasure’
www.nytimes.com
December 6, 2025 at 7:29 AM
I am ratcheting down my social media, but let me just say that all European leaders except on the far Right should note that the U.S. now seeks regime change in their country; basically seeks to depose them. US strategy is to support the political forces that threaten liberal democracy in Europe.
Reposted by John Kovacs
kind of obsessed with this custom binding for Moby dick by Susan and Chaim Ebanks at Exeter Bookbinders
December 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
kind of obsessed with this custom binding for Moby dick by Susan and Chaim Ebanks at Exeter Bookbinders
Reposted by John Kovacs
I spoke to the New York Times in this great explainer piece by Charlie Savage
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
December 4, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I spoke to the New York Times in this great explainer piece by Charlie Savage
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
Reposted by John Kovacs
Pleased to discover that slightly misnaming the national chess championship you won as a school child is a much more serious offence than repeatedly racially abusing your fellow pupils and telling them they should go to the gas chamber
December 3, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Pleased to discover that slightly misnaming the national chess championship you won as a school child is a much more serious offence than repeatedly racially abusing your fellow pupils and telling them they should go to the gas chamber
Reposted by John Kovacs
So much for all that bleating about being misled by the Treasury from the BBC's political editor Chris Mason .....
www.ft.com/content/48c2...
www.ft.com/content/48c2...
UK Politics: OBR says Reeves did not mislead public over Budget forecasts
Fiscal watchdog faces Treasury committee after accidental publication of key report prompted chair to resign
www.ft.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:19 PM
So much for all that bleating about being misled by the Treasury from the BBC's political editor Chris Mason .....
www.ft.com/content/48c2...
www.ft.com/content/48c2...
Reposted by John Kovacs
Nigel Farage was a racist bully at school but Rachel Reeves won the wrong chess championship so who can say who is worse?
December 2, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Nigel Farage was a racist bully at school but Rachel Reeves won the wrong chess championship so who can say who is worse?
Reposted by John Kovacs
This should be the main story on all TV news programmes. The University of Essex is closing its Southend campus because of the fall in the number of foreign students and the loss of income they provided for the University. www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2566689...
December 2, 2025 at 7:53 PM
This should be the main story on all TV news programmes. The University of Essex is closing its Southend campus because of the fall in the number of foreign students and the loss of income they provided for the University. www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2566689...
Reposted by John Kovacs
David Miles (of the OBR) at the Treasury Select Committee: Reeves’ speech was not inconsistent with the OBR’s assessment.
December 2, 2025 at 10:20 AM
David Miles (of the OBR) at the Treasury Select Committee: Reeves’ speech was not inconsistent with the OBR’s assessment.
Reposted by John Kovacs
Currently dorking out over this graph about child mortality with my brother. Just mind boggling to take in.
December 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Currently dorking out over this graph about child mortality with my brother. Just mind boggling to take in.
Reposted by John Kovacs
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
Reposted by John Kovacs
Recreate the magic of A Christmas Carol for an elderly relative by waking them repeatedly to tell them where they’ve gone wrong in life.
November 30, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Recreate the magic of A Christmas Carol for an elderly relative by waking them repeatedly to tell them where they’ve gone wrong in life.
Reposted by John Kovacs
This absurd pardon shows the murderous boat bombings were never about stopping drugs
November 29, 2025 at 7:07 PM
This absurd pardon shows the murderous boat bombings were never about stopping drugs
Reposted by John Kovacs
'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
November 29, 2025 at 5:08 PM
'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
Reposted by John Kovacs
Ahahahahaha, local business that recorded themselves sticking a load of Union Jacks to lampposts all about town are currently pissing and moaning about finally Finding Out.
November 28, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Ahahahahaha, local business that recorded themselves sticking a load of Union Jacks to lampposts all about town are currently pissing and moaning about finally Finding Out.