Reposted by Alan ColquhounMinna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 28/09/2026This is a perfect example of the multitude of articles demanding ”better strategy” and ”more action” against Russia’s escalating hybrid war, yet fails to suggest anything new (or even any of the already explored slightly more creative options) 1516853
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 28/09/2026You’ve been given free access to this story from The Economist as a gift. You can open the link five times within seven days. After that it will expire. Ireland is helping supply Russia’s war machine www.economist.com/europe/2026/...economist.comIreland is helping supply Russia’s war machineThe EU considers putting an Irish alumina refiner on its sanctions list 1114
Reposted by Alan ColquhounAaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23/09/2026Zelenskyy: "For first time in Russia’s history, we now hear that its oil industry is running on fumes. Our target is Russia’s ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal & destructive. Russia’s finances & Russia’s production are what must be stopped if Putin is to be stopped” 513217905453
Reposted by Alan ColquhounJim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 18/09/2026my brilliant colleague @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the threat from Elon Musk’s X platform www.ft.com/content/f270... 6428101169
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 17/09/2026We'll permit this selfie to go public Tonight's hedonistic encounter was quite energetic and absolutely magnificent! 020
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Edible mushrooms growing in the garden (another symptom of autumn) I would pick them except we also have destroying angel growing in the same patch... 110
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Suppose that after prolonged indulgence, what one most desires is neither another excellent meal, nor more sex, nor intoxication, nor entertainment but simply to be left experientially alone — to wake rested, feel physically ordinary, want nothing urgently and have nothing hurting... 110
Reposted by Alan ColquhounAlan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 04/09/2026substack.com/@alancolquho...substack.comAI And Its ‘Alignment Problem’Artificial intelligence is now routinely discussed as though humanity were approaching a peculiar technological threshold. 041
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 14/09/2026@mrjamesob.bsky.social The 'trolley problem' asks what you ought to do The driverless car problem asks what you ought, in advance, to cause an artificial agent to do every time the relevant circumstances obtain 131
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 12/09/2026youtube.com/watch?v=35yA... He's amazing...youtube.comRen X Chinchilla - Chalk Outlines (Live)YouTube video by Ren 012
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 12/09/2026youtube.com/watch?v=s_nc... This is f**king incredible!!youtube.comRen - Hi Ren (Official Music Video)YouTube video by Ren 131
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 08/09/2026You’ve been given free access to this story from The Economist as a gift. You can open the link five times within seven days. After that it will expire. Could AIs become conscious? (Again, I ask, how could we tell, except by fallible inference from behaviour?) www.economist.com/insider/insi...economist.comCould AIs become conscious? | The Economist InsiderThe question has preoccupied philosophers, neuroscientists and science-fiction writers for decades. Machines haven’t yet become self-aware or developed real feelings. But could they? As AI models get ... 111
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 07/09/2026@mrjamesob.bsky.social To "brutalise" someone is to make them brutal: to coarsen, harden, desensitise or degrade them through exposure to cruelty or violence The morphology is quite transparent: brutal + -ise, roughly “to render brutal” So farage brutalises his followers 140
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 05/09/2026www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... The Morlocks have taken over...bbc.co.ukA66 crash: Distrust and fear hang over MiddlesbroughBBC News visits town where violence has escalated after the fatal crash and residents say they are living in fear. 031
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 05/09/2026www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle... I think the very idea of ownership is ethically questionable here What we call 'pet ownership' is morally defensible precisely to the extent that it ceases to resemble ownership and becomes guardianshiptheguardian.comThe unsettling rise of cat seducers: ‘My little companion was missing – and I was consumed with anger’Has your cat been gaining weight and staying out at night, only to arrive home reeking of marijuana? These are just some of the signs that a neighbour is trying to entice them away ... 220
Reposted by Alan ColquhounHardeep Matharu @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Now James Orr has stepped down as Reform UK's Head of Policy after C4's report, questions remain for Cambridge – where he is Associate Professor. Byline Times revealed serious concerns about his activities there months ago. We all know there won't now be 200+ articles on him and his life don't we? 551915736
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 05/09/2026...and as I've always consistently maintained, if you're going to mount a bronze sculpture of an animal's head on your gable end, make sure it's a rhinoceros... 030
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 05/09/2026The castle, taken from the Grass Market, just now... 130
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Another gratuitous shot of Edinburgh's old town, bathed in early autumn sunshine... 161
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 05/09/2026The dome of Edinburgh University's 'Old College', looking splendid in this morning's oblique light... 000
Reposted by Alan ColquhounChannel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:channel4news.substack.comExclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donationsUndercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 46894593996
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 04/09/2026substack.com/@alancolquho...substack.comAI And Its ‘Alignment Problem’Artificial intelligence is now routinely discussed as though humanity were approaching a peculiar technological threshold. 041
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 04/09/2026alancolquhoun.substack.com/p/bacchanali...alancolquhoun.substack.comBacchanaliaThe Hedonistic Experiment... 131
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 03/09/2026In summer 2023 I weighed 121 kilos (the heaviest I have ever been in my entire life) Half an hour ago, I weighed 94.6 kilos I lost approximately 12 of those kilos in the past three months (I have been experimenting (empirically) with hedonism) It's no secret that I am an addict 231
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 03/09/2026They finally opened North Bridge... My view right now... 051
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 03/09/2026substack.com/@alancolquho...substack.comThe Right Not to Be Persuaded...A curious feature of contemporary disagreement is the tendency to convert epistemic discomfort into moral injury. 042
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 02/09/2026You’ve been given free access to this story from The Economist as a gift. You can open the link five times within seven days. After that it will expire. Europe cannot protect Russia from itself www.economist.com/by-invitatio...economist.comEurope cannot protect Russia from itselfFear of Vladimir Putin going fully rogue has paralysed the West for long enough, writes Radek Sikorski 010
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 31/08/2026August has been a month of quite preposterous erotic abundance 110
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 31/08/2026A man walks into a pub carrying a pint, sits down beside a woman and takes a sip He immediately recoils “Jesus Christ. Did you fart in my Whitbread?” She looks at him indignantly “No. I’m Tessa Sanderson.” 000
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 31/08/2026I think The Economist is over egging its psychological interpretation here There is a more immediate and less intellectually flattering explanation of Putin's remarks: he simply talks bullshit with enormous confidence and then improvises ideological significance around it 262
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 30/08/2026People should pay attention to Frank Ocean’s art because he is one of the rare popular musicians whose work rewards attention at several levels simultaneously: sensual, emotional, formal, linguistic and philosophical. open.spotify.com/album/392p3s...open.spotify.comchannel ORANGE - Album by Frank Ocean | SpotifyFrank Ocean · album · 2012 · 17 songs 230
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 30/08/2026'This has huge implications': Simon Marks on 'Lake America' share-gp.globalplayer.com/videos/2JsSf...share-gp.globalplayer.com'This has huge implications': Simon Marks on 'Lake America' Video | Global PlayerSimon Marks joins Matt Frei for the Washington Round-up in a week which saw the trade war between the US and Canada ramp up. 132
Reposted by Alan ColquhounAlan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 25/04/2025Britten's cadenza, written for Richter to interpolate into the first movement of Mozart's 22nd concerto... 074
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Funny how nobody uses the word "Spaniard" to refer to Spanish people anymore 220
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 27/08/2026You’ve been given free access to this story from The Economist as a gift. You can open the link five times within seven days. After that it will expire. The terrifying mechanics of the Nepali flash flood www.economist.com/science-and-...economist.comThe terrifying mechanics of the Nepali flash floodHow a glacial avalanche visits devastation 053
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 27/08/2026The search for consciousness inside LLMs www.economist.com/interactive/... As usual, the deepest question is never touched... What conceivable evidence could ever distinguish a conscious AI from a functionally equivalent unconscious one?economist.comThe search for consciousness inside AIScientists are trying to figure out whether algorithms could one day wake up and feel 021
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 26/08/2026@mrjamesob.bsky.social My preparations for Armageddon involve playing 'Fallout 4' 020
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Fantastic Mr. Fox, in my back garden, just now... 361
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Distinctly autumnal hues... and a slight chill in the air Brace.. brace! 030
Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Had a very enjoyable dinner in town with the good Professor and his family... 150
Reposted by Alan ColquhounDr Tom Hewitt @ethnotweeter.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Cerrig mân #TomTomos #LlunYDydd 174
Reposted by Alan ColquhounDr Tom Hewitt @ethnotweeter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Tirlun Preseli #TomTomos #LlunYDydd 083
Reposted by Alan ColquhounDr Tom Hewitt @ethnotweeter.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Maes Pinc #TomTomos #LlunYDydd 063
Reposted by Alan ColquhounDr Tom Hewitt @ethnotweeter.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Traeth #TomTomos #LlunYDydd 063
