Yuriy Akopov
@yakopov.me
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
This is not a complaint btw, life of an immigrant is supposed to be more difficult and it is a part of the deal people are willingly taking, but considering the share of immigrants in the some cities that experience is underrepresented in class discourse.
November 11, 2025 at 9:36 AM
This is not a complaint btw, life of an immigrant is supposed to be more difficult and it is a part of the deal people are willingly taking, but considering the share of immigrants in the some cities that experience is underrepresented in class discourse.
It is double confusing from the immigrant's perspective. You think you are in a firmly middle class profession which means you are middle class, but you don't have a social circle to match, you don't have a house to tastefully decorate, and your cultural references are obscure.
Could someone explain to me what is meant when a British person refers to "the middle class" ? Like, in the US, as I hear it, it basically just means a person who makes a certain amount of money, not too far below and not wildly above the median. Seems like a complex concept when UK writers use it?
November 11, 2025 at 9:26 AM
It is double confusing from the immigrant's perspective. You think you are in a firmly middle class profession which means you are middle class, but you don't have a social circle to match, you don't have a house to tastefully decorate, and your cultural references are obscure.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
I mean this is another punishment beating for people between 100k and 125k who’s the salary sacrifice to get the free child care and avoid stupidly high marginal tax rates. Complete nonsense of a policy.
If you think that “the slow vanishing of employee benefits” is a better trade politically than “the other lot saying you broke your promise on income tax”, you are out of your tree: www.ft.com/content/1160...
November 11, 2025 at 7:51 AM
I mean this is another punishment beating for people between 100k and 125k who’s the salary sacrifice to get the free child care and avoid stupidly high marginal tax rates. Complete nonsense of a policy.
In hindsight it is clear that after the initial shock of 2022 Russia wouldn't have 'escalated' if it received a more definite response, while now it is more likely to do that because it has been in war mode for years already, and a big leap from the status quo for the Euros is a smaller step for it.
The decision to sacrifice Ukrainians as disposable, second-class people for the sake of "avoiding escalation" has been an act of strategic idiocy. The consequences are now clear: Russia is more battle-hardened,its drone production is in overdrive, and its desperation makes it more dangerous,not less
On the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, President Zelensky called NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg from a bunker in Kyiv, pleading for a no-fly zone to stop Russian airstrikes.
He cited NATO’s past interventions in Bosnia and Iraq, but
He cited NATO’s past interventions in Bosnia and Iraq, but
November 10, 2025 at 9:31 PM
In hindsight it is clear that after the initial shock of 2022 Russia wouldn't have 'escalated' if it received a more definite response, while now it is more likely to do that because it has been in war mode for years already, and a big leap from the status quo for the Euros is a smaller step for it.
An airplane built by a group of young Armenians in 1973 who planned to use it to escape the USSR (they failed):
November 10, 2025 at 8:54 PM
An airplane built by a group of young Armenians in 1973 who planned to use it to escape the USSR (they failed):
The sophisticated class of professional opinion havers supposed to create meanings and trends are just happily lapping up what they are fed by anonymous X accounts. No added value whatsoever, completely reduced to merely a legitimisation vehicle.
I am intrigued by terms like 'yookay', 'freshies' and also 'Boriswave' now being used in a completely offhand manner by writers and journos
are writers for the spectator okay?
November 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
The sophisticated class of professional opinion havers supposed to create meanings and trends are just happily lapping up what they are fed by anonymous X accounts. No added value whatsoever, completely reduced to merely a legitimisation vehicle.
This one on birth rates is really good.
November 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
This one on birth rates is really good.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
There has yet to be a good piece on TFRs and depopulation anywhere and Runciman does better than most but still fails
November 10, 2025 at 6:00 PM
There has yet to be a good piece on TFRs and depopulation anywhere and Runciman does better than most but still fails
I've done countless small repairs with this multitool in about 20 years, and it remains almost fully functional. Real "buy it for life" stuff.
November 10, 2025 at 5:23 PM
I've done countless small repairs with this multitool in about 20 years, and it remains almost fully functional. Real "buy it for life" stuff.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
This x100000!
Eeveryone in the news media lurches towards takes like "trust in news can revive the BBC!!!" and ignores the fact that trust is completely useless and abstract if no one is watching/listening/reading in the first place.
Eeveryone in the news media lurches towards takes like "trust in news can revive the BBC!!!" and ignores the fact that trust is completely useless and abstract if no one is watching/listening/reading in the first place.
I reckon a shared national popular culture is just as important (if not more important) than a fact based, impartial news service for liberal democracy to work.
November 10, 2025 at 3:01 PM
This x100000!
Eeveryone in the news media lurches towards takes like "trust in news can revive the BBC!!!" and ignores the fact that trust is completely useless and abstract if no one is watching/listening/reading in the first place.
Eeveryone in the news media lurches towards takes like "trust in news can revive the BBC!!!" and ignores the fact that trust is completely useless and abstract if no one is watching/listening/reading in the first place.
I think it is a safe bet he hears that quite often from at least some of his kids (worse dads than him are still hearing it regularly) or current girlfriends at very least. Both of his parents are still alive as well. His fans worship him. Come on.
His taste in art is shockingly bad though.
His taste in art is shockingly bad though.
The ability to convince capital markets to hand you a trillion dollars on the strength of obvious bullshit paired with the inability to get a single human to sincerely and spontaneously say they love you is some real punishment of the gods shit.
Elon has never experienced this and neither have his biggest fans but now they can create these visuals with the help of a computermachine
November 10, 2025 at 8:15 AM
I think it is a safe bet he hears that quite often from at least some of his kids (worse dads than him are still hearing it regularly) or current girlfriends at very least. Both of his parents are still alive as well. His fans worship him. Come on.
His taste in art is shockingly bad though.
His taste in art is shockingly bad though.
Elizabeth Holmes is apparently reinventing herself as a right wing trad influencer on X, which is of course very funny but also feels bad because it shows how strong the pull is (and that the reason for that is everyone being welcome into that sphere for as long as they do the ritual dance).
November 9, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Elizabeth Holmes is apparently reinventing herself as a right wing trad influencer on X, which is of course very funny but also feels bad because it shows how strong the pull is (and that the reason for that is everyone being welcome into that sphere for as long as they do the ritual dance).
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
The BBC should have values more similar to my own not because my values are good or correct but because lefty lib people like me are huge idiots who love the concept of the bbc and alienating us leave it with no defenders
November 9, 2025 at 10:06 AM
The BBC should have values more similar to my own not because my values are good or correct but because lefty lib people like me are huge idiots who love the concept of the bbc and alienating us leave it with no defenders
News from Ukraine are really bad, guys, and unlike before this isn't even something that can be plugged by providing more weapons (apart from air defence). Manpower problems are apparently getting acute, and the long Russian campaign of taking out power generation in the country starts to work.
November 8, 2025 at 10:52 PM
News from Ukraine are really bad, guys, and unlike before this isn't even something that can be plugged by providing more weapons (apart from air defence). Manpower problems are apparently getting acute, and the long Russian campaign of taking out power generation in the country starts to work.
If you see this etc. etc.
November 8, 2025 at 10:28 PM
If you see this etc. etc.
Ballad of a Small Player is very good, a mix of Uncut Gems and Wes Anderson (laudatory for both).
November 8, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Ballad of a Small Player is very good, a mix of Uncut Gems and Wes Anderson (laudatory for both).
God this was absolutely surreal. Unbelievable.
HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE
November 7, 2025 at 9:39 PM
God this was absolutely surreal. Unbelievable.
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
Some good-ish climate news.
10 Years After the Paris Climate Agreement, Here's Where We Are
Has anything really changed in the decade since the Paris Agreement was reached? Actually, quite a lot.
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Some good-ish climate news.
I think there are still obvious cases where the reverse poppy police have a point, but in general this needs to be toned down a bit unless the goal is to gift yet another powerful symbol and what essentially is a national festival to the far right for their exclusive ownership.
People are taking the piss out of this, but I was intrigued by the Polish marking. Turns out it's an acknowledgment by the local community of three Polish squadrons who flew from a local RAF base, 22 of whom died in service and 6 of whom are buried locally. I think the mockery is uncalled for.
www.yoursouthport.com/blog/life-si...
In Flanders Fields, the crochet grows...
The "sip...bloody hell" meme isn't strong enough here.
In Flanders Fields, the crochet grows...
The "sip...bloody hell" meme isn't strong enough here.
November 7, 2025 at 10:49 AM
I think there are still obvious cases where the reverse poppy police have a point, but in general this needs to be toned down a bit unless the goal is to gift yet another powerful symbol and what essentially is a national festival to the far right for their exclusive ownership.
Throwing vulnerable people under the bus to appease the far right and imperialists is despicable (unless they are Eastern Euros, the traitors of Communism).
Like, whether you think Nato expansion was good and smart or not, it is surely not up for debate that it was a central part of a policy that has now put Europe on the brink of all-out war with Russia, quite possibly without American support, and I see nobody at all asking whether that was clever.
November 6, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Throwing vulnerable people under the bus to appease the far right and imperialists is despicable (unless they are Eastern Euros, the traitors of Communism).
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
Sadiq’s feed on the other place is telling because if you scroll down the quote tweets enough the white nationalist blueticks with anime crusader avatars get replaced by the Five Pillocks lot. I recall when he got a nice new dog, posted a photo of it, and had loads of people saying it was haram.
November 5, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Sadiq’s feed on the other place is telling because if you scroll down the quote tweets enough the white nationalist blueticks with anime crusader avatars get replaced by the Five Pillocks lot. I recall when he got a nice new dog, posted a photo of it, and had loads of people saying it was haram.
Gonna tell my kids these were Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen
November 5, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Gonna tell my kids these were Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen
We need to start blaming the real enemies of the ordinary working people - greedy farmers!!!
FYI, I've fleshed out some recent comments on Tesco bashing into a blog... 🤔✍️
julianhjessop.substack.com/p/its-time-t...
julianhjessop.substack.com/p/its-time-t...
November 5, 2025 at 7:30 AM
We need to start blaming the real enemies of the ordinary working people - greedy farmers!!!
Reposted by Yuriy Akopov
This trajectory I should add is obvious when you consider for example:
a) Jazz fans in 1920
b) Jazz fans in 1960
c) Jazz fans today
Quite different groups really - yet (often) the same music.
a) Jazz fans in 1920
b) Jazz fans in 1960
c) Jazz fans today
Quite different groups really - yet (often) the same music.
November 4, 2025 at 11:26 PM
This trajectory I should add is obvious when you consider for example:
a) Jazz fans in 1920
b) Jazz fans in 1960
c) Jazz fans today
Quite different groups really - yet (often) the same music.
a) Jazz fans in 1920
b) Jazz fans in 1960
c) Jazz fans today
Quite different groups really - yet (often) the same music.