Julian Le Vay
@julianle.bsky.social
Retired public servant in Oxford. We tend our allotment, listen to Bach. I make glass. Our civilisation is crashing. Curse those who opened the gates to Evil.
Read this and weep for base, vile humanity.
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 10, 2026 at 6:57 AM
Read this and weep for base, vile humanity.
Seriously, does anyone really believe anymore that a decent future is possible for this country?
February 9, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Seriously, does anyone really believe anymore that a decent future is possible for this country?
The story is old as history: the King tries to save himself by sacrificing an over-mighty courtier to his uppity barons, now the barons demand he listens to them, but they don't speak with one voice. Eventually a new courtier rises.... For the peasants, of course, nothing ever changes.
February 9, 2026 at 7:57 AM
The story is old as history: the King tries to save himself by sacrificing an over-mighty courtier to his uppity barons, now the barons demand he listens to them, but they don't speak with one voice. Eventually a new courtier rises.... For the peasants, of course, nothing ever changes.
I'm not a party supporter nor an ideologue and if I vote, it's because of the person not the label. I'd settle for a PM who won't take a penny from anyone nor allow his staff to do so, is clear what he stands for and shows it every day, who understands what the world is and what are problems are,
February 8, 2026 at 3:37 PM
I'm not a party supporter nor an ideologue and if I vote, it's because of the person not the label. I'd settle for a PM who won't take a penny from anyone nor allow his staff to do so, is clear what he stands for and shows it every day, who understands what the world is and what are problems are,
Organ grinder fired. Now for the monkey.
February 8, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Organ grinder fired. Now for the monkey.
"Speak, hands, for me! Oh - on second thoughts -not just yet." Understandable that Labour leadership hopefuls prefer to wait for an electoral disaster before declaring themselves. But it looks much like the same sort of cowardly non-leadership we've got now, doesn't it?
February 8, 2026 at 8:25 AM
"Speak, hands, for me! Oh - on second thoughts -not just yet." Understandable that Labour leadership hopefuls prefer to wait for an electoral disaster before declaring themselves. But it looks much like the same sort of cowardly non-leadership we've got now, doesn't it?
A great achievements of our civilisation is the piano. And we English played a key role in its evolution. The Industrial Revolution made possible steel strings of immense strength & a single cast metal frame to contain the incredible tension. Our music isn't much but we gave others the opportunity.
February 6, 2026 at 10:15 AM
A great achievements of our civilisation is the piano. And we English played a key role in its evolution. The Industrial Revolution made possible steel strings of immense strength & a single cast metal frame to contain the incredible tension. Our music isn't much but we gave others the opportunity.
Excellent. He is now surely doomed. What a total waste of space that man was
February 6, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Excellent. He is now surely doomed. What a total waste of space that man was
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Lord Acton, 1887
February 6, 2026 at 8:37 AM
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Lord Acton, 1887
A reminder that Trump remains far more popular in America than Starmer or Macron are in their countries. In a room of 10 Americans, four of them today think that Trump is doing a great job. That essentially is why America can never recover.
February 5, 2026 at 8:28 AM
A reminder that Trump remains far more popular in America than Starmer or Macron are in their countries. In a room of 10 Americans, four of them today think that Trump is doing a great job. That essentially is why America can never recover.
What keeps me sane: Bach. Recent CD by Vikingur Olafsson is stupendous, and also, as O. says, shows how Bach is endlessly being reinterpreted, reworked. I came very late to Bach, but it's changed everything. To think that Beethoven was once the centre of my universe!
February 4, 2026 at 9:03 PM
What keeps me sane: Bach. Recent CD by Vikingur Olafsson is stupendous, and also, as O. says, shows how Bach is endlessly being reinterpreted, reworked. I came very late to Bach, but it's changed everything. To think that Beethoven was once the centre of my universe!
Morgan McSweeney. Of course, he must go. But why are there ALWAYS creeps like that in Labour, control freaks, anti democrats, anti radical, secretive, without values, without integrity, full time professional SHITS?
February 4, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Morgan McSweeney. Of course, he must go. But why are there ALWAYS creeps like that in Labour, control freaks, anti democrats, anti radical, secretive, without values, without integrity, full time professional SHITS?
This is wonderful news and a body blow against the Zionist lobby in government and media.
February 4, 2026 at 2:41 PM
This is wonderful news and a body blow against the Zionist lobby in government and media.
I've just summarised the Mandelson saga for a friend who blessedly does not follow the news. She listened patiently then asked simply 'What does it mean?". I had to think. I said, it means that we've been wrong about our society for a long time perhaps forever. We thought that the rich and
February 3, 2026 at 2:53 PM
I've just summarised the Mandelson saga for a friend who blessedly does not follow the news. She listened patiently then asked simply 'What does it mean?". I had to think. I said, it means that we've been wrong about our society for a long time perhaps forever. We thought that the rich and
Where do they get these people? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?
February 2, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Where do they get these people? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?
The real problem with America
February 2, 2026 at 9:51 AM
The real problem with America
Stop killing protestors. Oh God, your humour is too much for me.....
January 30, 2026 at 11:16 AM
Stop killing protestors. Oh God, your humour is too much for me.....
Reposted by Julian Le Vay
A retired Minneapolis couple who had guns pointed at them by ICE in a church parking lot.
"They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets."
"They had the professional demeanor of criminals."
ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social
"They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets."
"They had the professional demeanor of criminals."
ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social
January 28, 2026 at 7:09 PM
A retired Minneapolis couple who had guns pointed at them by ICE in a church parking lot.
"They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets."
"They had the professional demeanor of criminals."
ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social
"They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets."
"They had the professional demeanor of criminals."
ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social
Watching 'How the West was won' for the nth time. Thinking how America was built first on ethnic cleansing/genocide, then on slavery. Living history, your great great grandfather might have been involved in both. How this might affect America now. History not easily buried. It comes to life again
January 28, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Watching 'How the West was won' for the nth time. Thinking how America was built first on ethnic cleansing/genocide, then on slavery. Living history, your great great grandfather might have been involved in both. How this might affect America now. History not easily buried. It comes to life again
Morning in Oxfordshire
January 28, 2026 at 9:44 AM
Morning in Oxfordshire
Reminder that Trump is far more popular in the US than any major European leader is in their own country
January 25, 2026 at 7:56 AM
Reminder that Trump is far more popular in the US than any major European leader is in their own country
What is astonishing is not Trump but what he reveals about the US. We thought it a country saturated with laws and law suits. Turns out the Pres can send masked gunmen out to shoot dead random citizens, and the law turns a blind eye. George III a benign bumbling old bugger by comparison.
January 25, 2026 at 7:41 AM
What is astonishing is not Trump but what he reveals about the US. We thought it a country saturated with laws and law suits. Turns out the Pres can send masked gunmen out to shoot dead random citizens, and the law turns a blind eye. George III a benign bumbling old bugger by comparison.
When you bomb undefended civilians in the heaviest bombardment since Vietnam, destroy all their houses and hospitals, kill their doctors, cut them off from all medical help and food, herd them into ghettoes and then shoot them down...THAT IS GENOCIDE. And indeed, the Israelis themselves say that.
May 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
When you bomb undefended civilians in the heaviest bombardment since Vietnam, destroy all their houses and hospitals, kill their doctors, cut them off from all medical help and food, herd them into ghettoes and then shoot them down...THAT IS GENOCIDE. And indeed, the Israelis themselves say that.
We are just at very early stages of understanding that the era of high growth is over for ever and that low growth means many things we thought we ought to have and one day would have, are never going to be affordable. Which means Left politics must learn a different language.
May 27, 2025 at 6:32 PM
We are just at very early stages of understanding that the era of high growth is over for ever and that low growth means many things we thought we ought to have and one day would have, are never going to be affordable. Which means Left politics must learn a different language.