In an utterly hilarious development, those five British people who were arrested in Northern France for ‘threatening migrants’ have been ordered to pay €500 each to a migrant aid organisation.

Things aren’t too bad: a card of a small dog and one from my sister. Some books to read. There are some mandarin oranges left over. I’ve survived another weekend.

In a better world the big developers would be forced to up their game because skilled small builders would be providing real competition. Our planning system means big developers instead spend on lawyers and consultants and the smaller builders don't get to build at all.

Discuss

British “migrant hunters” reportedly detained by French police. Imagine travelling to another country to tell foreigners to respect borders, only to discover that country’s laws apply to you too. Absolutely delicious irony.

New from @Ipsos_in_the_UK How would you vote if there was a referendum on the UK applying to join the EU? Should apply to join 56% Should stay out 30%

These are the "American patriots" and "concerned Europeans" you're talking to on X. There's no reason to argue with computers. Just block them all and move on.

You wouldn’t expect a £5 million personal security operation to employ someone who had been charged with, and then convicted of rape. Would you? Not until you remember how laughably weak, Reform’s vetting procedures are.

Very important news out of Jerusalem this week. Bear with me. Out of a million people who live in Jerusalem, close to 60% are Jewish and 40% Palestinian. Of the Palestinians, only 5% are Israeli citizens who can vote in national elections, but *all* Palestinians can vote for mayor. Up until now, Palestinians - both citizens and not - tended to boycott all elections, essentially barring themselves from having a strong voice in the city’s government. But this year the dam was broken. The citizens voted on Tuesday in big numbers. If this trend holds in the next municipal election, and those 40% vote, their impact will be massive. Onward!

Re @BBCr4today

This is fundamentally about the difference between what people ask for (demand) & what they need (what will actually benefit them). If it’s your own money, you’re free to squander it on pointless, health-related fripperies. That’s not what socially funded healthcare is for.

Ich habe noch nie verstanden, warum Law and Order nicht ein genuin linkes Thema ist. Niemand braucht befriedete städtische Räume mehr als arme Leute, die nicht ausweichen können in die grünen Vorstädte oder in Gated Communities. Was ist daran so schwer zu verstehen?

Just a normal day at the office in Warwickshire County Council leamingtonobserver.co.uk/new…

A Russian bot forgot to switch its account from MAGA to "Ukrainian." 😀 This is how Russians simulate public opinion and pressure politicians into adopting a pro-Russian stance—leading them to believe that this is what their electorate demands. That is why it is important to express your position openly.

I wonder whether the person who left this here several days ago come back and take it away?

Like, the entire point of the later non-elective English courses was basically pointing out the various biases and interpretations that can be found in what we consume.

1/La Liga, Real Madrid and now Mbappé have all apologized to China for an offhand joke about Mao, a dictator who died 50 years ago. This is how an authoritarian state exports censorship without passing a single law abroad. It simply controls market access.

Thank you @bkogel89! Excellent paper, and I agree the study of mini-publics is mature enough to subject itself to this kind of systematic criticism. Mini-publics have proven themselves; now what? I for one wouldn’t jump to abolishing elections (my own rhetoric to the contrary perhaps) without learning a lot more.

一个很有趣的事实：如果一个领袖不是独裁者，通常你骂他是独裁者是没有问题的。 如果一个领袖真的是独裁者，你指出这一点就会带来危险。