Phil Edwards
@philedwards.bsky.social
"Research fellow" (i.e. retired) at MMU; still writing. Interests: international law, jurisprudence (mainly Kelsen). Other interests: folksong, real ale, the Left, cinema, Bowie, Aickman. Blogs at gapingsilence.wordpress.com and ohgoodale.wordpress.com .
I call shenanigans - MUBI is denying all knowledge of NUDE ON THE MOON (or any other film with NUDE in the title). Its "more like this" for SATAN IN HIGH HEELS includes MULHOLLAND DR., DRILLER KILLER and (rather more obscurely) the wonderful FRANCES HA.
November 10, 2025 at 11:28 PM
I call shenanigans - MUBI is denying all knowledge of NUDE ON THE MOON (or any other film with NUDE in the title). Its "more like this" for SATAN IN HIGH HEELS includes MULHOLLAND DR., DRILLER KILLER and (rather more obscurely) the wonderful FRANCES HA.
Many's the time we used to start out at the Edict of Nantes and then make a night of it at the John Calvin - and if you were lucky you could finish off with a lock-in at the Flowery Cross.
Great days. All gone now of course. Try telling the kids, they won't believe you.
Great days. All gone now of course. Try telling the kids, they won't believe you.
November 10, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Many's the time we used to start out at the Edict of Nantes and then make a night of it at the John Calvin - and if you were lucky you could finish off with a lock-in at the Flowery Cross.
Great days. All gone now of course. Try telling the kids, they won't believe you.
Great days. All gone now of course. Try telling the kids, they won't believe you.
AI filings, like FotL blather, are One Weird Trick for cracking the code of the law. Which doesn't work and never will.
November 10, 2025 at 7:17 PM
AI filings, like FotL blather, are One Weird Trick for cracking the code of the law. Which doesn't work and never will.
O'Toole looks very relaxed indeed!
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
O'Toole looks very relaxed indeed!
Chap wasn't even at Cambridge. Very odd.
November 10, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Chap wasn't even at Cambridge. Very odd.
I guess it's just the "might work for us" meme. Over and over again.
November 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I guess it's just the "might work for us" meme. Over and over again.
And showed me a cheap but glossy volume, looking a bit like a photograph album, with about 200 pages of closely-printed stuff inside.
I know a tiny bit about trust law, and I know they don't look like *that*. I just hope he settled at the first opportunity.
I know a tiny bit about trust law, and I know they don't look like *that*. I just hope he settled at the first opportunity.
November 10, 2025 at 4:06 PM
And showed me a cheap but glossy volume, looking a bit like a photograph album, with about 200 pages of closely-printed stuff inside.
I know a tiny bit about trust law, and I know they don't look like *that*. I just hope he settled at the first opportunity.
I know a tiny bit about trust law, and I know they don't look like *that*. I just hope he settled at the first opportunity.
I was sitting with a guy waiting for his court hearing once, my heart sinking as he told me about his patently hopeless case. (I was a volunteer & was officially there to support him.) At one point I cautiously said something about costs. Ah, he said, I've put all my assets in a trust!
November 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I was sitting with a guy waiting for his court hearing once, my heart sinking as he told me about his patently hopeless case. (I was a volunteer & was officially there to support him.) At one point I cautiously said something about costs. Ah, he said, I've put all my assets in a trust!
I feel the same way about this as I do about Freemen on the Land & similar: they keep doing it over and over again and it keeps not working, over and over again. Surely people will see it doesn't work and stop doing it?
In other words, I have no explanation for Freemen on the Land, or indeed this.
In other words, I have no explanation for Freemen on the Land, or indeed this.
November 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I feel the same way about this as I do about Freemen on the Land & similar: they keep doing it over and over again and it keeps not working, over and over again. Surely people will see it doesn't work and stop doing it?
In other words, I have no explanation for Freemen on the Land, or indeed this.
In other words, I have no explanation for Freemen on the Land, or indeed this.
"ALL DOOMED," SAYS BOFFIN
November 10, 2025 at 3:55 PM
"ALL DOOMED," SAYS BOFFIN
"Where was the car bomb that's all over social media? The answer may surprise you. (Plus: find out if anyone died!)"
November 10, 2025 at 3:55 PM
"Where was the car bomb that's all over social media? The answer may surprise you. (Plus: find out if anyone died!)"
And not because they're interested in the story – that's much too chancy; they might not care about something that's happened in India. People need to read on because they have to; because the story doesn't make sense if they don't read on; because you've only given them half a story.
November 10, 2025 at 3:53 PM
And not because they're interested in the story – that's much too chancy; they might not care about something that's happened in India. People need to read on because they have to; because the story doesn't make sense if they don't read on; because you've only given them half a story.
The mentality at work here is actually the polar opposite of the headline-writer's. It's all about hooking the reader in, keeping the reader reading – specifically, using what they're reading *now* as a means to the end of getting them to read the next thing.
November 10, 2025 at 3:51 PM
The mentality at work here is actually the polar opposite of the headline-writer's. It's all about hooking the reader in, keeping the reader reading – specifically, using what they're reading *now* as a means to the end of getting them to read the next thing.
I mean, "near major landmark in" – really? That was more important than getting in the country up front?
My initial reaction was "well, the art of headline writing is dead" (DELHI: DEADLY CAR BLAST, four words, done and dusted). But it's worse than that.
My initial reaction was "well, the art of headline writing is dead" (DELHI: DEADLY CAR BLAST, four words, done and dusted). But it's worse than that.
November 10, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I mean, "near major landmark in" – really? That was more important than getting in the country up front?
My initial reaction was "well, the art of headline writing is dead" (DELHI: DEADLY CAR BLAST, four words, done and dusted). But it's worse than that.
My initial reaction was "well, the art of headline writing is dead" (DELHI: DEADLY CAR BLAST, four words, done and dusted). But it's worse than that.
(I have no idea what specifically, but if you're looking at a graph for anything in the public realm that descends steadily until 2008 and then flatlines, it feels like George Osborne's fingerprints ought to be on it somewhere.)
November 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM
(I have no idea what specifically, but if you're looking at a graph for anything in the public realm that descends steadily until 2008 and then flatlines, it feels like George Osborne's fingerprints ought to be on it somewhere.)
If they'd written "knows, or ought to know, that it is, or might be, false and misleading" that approach would be in with a shout.
November 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM
If they'd written "knows, or ought to know, that it is, or might be, false and misleading" that approach would be in with a shout.
That passage from Belloc, finding the sublime in the exorbitantly large or exorbitantly small, reminded me strongly of CSL in Last Battle mode; I wonder if he knew it. It certainly makes a bit more sense of the (otherwise baffling) image of being entranced by the landscape *in the mirror*.
November 10, 2025 at 11:24 AM
That passage from Belloc, finding the sublime in the exorbitantly large or exorbitantly small, reminded me strongly of CSL in Last Battle mode; I wonder if he knew it. It certainly makes a bit more sense of the (otherwise baffling) image of being entranced by the landscape *in the mirror*.
Which would be reassuring if they were controlling for political affiliation. But they won't be doing that, not least because (as YP rules currently stand) nobody's supposed to have any other political affiliation.
Oh well, enjoy RESPECT, everyone. I dare say it'll work out better this time.
Oh well, enjoy RESPECT, everyone. I dare say it'll work out better this time.
November 10, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Which would be reassuring if they were controlling for political affiliation. But they won't be doing that, not least because (as YP rules currently stand) nobody's supposed to have any other political affiliation.
Oh well, enjoy RESPECT, everyone. I dare say it'll work out better this time.
Oh well, enjoy RESPECT, everyone. I dare say it'll work out better this time.
The idea is to fill half the spaces at conference from the sortition pool, then send out a second call to members and make up any demographic imbalances in the first sample by weighting the selection from the second pool.
November 10, 2025 at 11:02 AM
The idea is to fill half the spaces at conference from the sortition pool, then send out a second call to members and make up any demographic imbalances in the first sample by weighting the selection from the second pool.
Less voluntaristic! You were supposed to be making it *less* voluntaristic!
@edmundgriffiths.bsky.social
@edmundgriffiths.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Less voluntaristic! You were supposed to be making it *less* voluntaristic!
@edmundgriffiths.bsky.social
@edmundgriffiths.bsky.social
"Apply to be part of the sortition process!"
Apply.
They're literally inviting the most motivated and best organised members to fill up the sortition slots.
Head. Desk.
Apply.
They're literally inviting the most motivated and best organised members to fill up the sortition slots.
Head. Desk.
November 10, 2025 at 10:55 AM
"Apply to be part of the sortition process!"
Apply.
They're literally inviting the most motivated and best organised members to fill up the sortition slots.
Head. Desk.
Apply.
They're literally inviting the most motivated and best organised members to fill up the sortition slots.
Head. Desk.
I explained all that without (I think) descending into a rant, or naming any specific paper-selling Trot group (with or without a history of covering up sex crimes). Then I checked what else was new in YP mailing list land.
November 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
I explained all that without (I think) descending into a rant, or naming any specific paper-selling Trot group (with or without a history of covering up sex crimes). Then I checked what else was new in YP mailing list land.