iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

This is the sort of VM that in the old days would have had Special Branch knocking at my door.

Caller recorded as coming from “London Country Mortars”

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Infantino starting to think maybe he screwed the pooch on this one #USAvBEL

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

It’s not me that needs to look at the map.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Brooks understood that the ultimate victory over the ideology of the “Master Race” was to have the Nazis high-kicking on a Broadway stage powered by the Jewish genius of Jerome Silberman (Wilder), Zero Mostel, and Melvin Kaminsky (Brooks).

Audience members aghast watching the stage show in the movie, The Producers

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Robert Pondiscio has important things to say about education policy in the United States, but on the bigger picture he is often off by a country mile. The U.S. wouldn’t even place top 10 on these metrics. Prosperity: 19th Freedom: 15th Safety: 🙅‍♂️

would choose America. Not because America is perfect. Not because it is free from injustice, conflict, or disappointment. Simply because if you had to place a bet on which nation offered you the greatest likelihood of living your life in safety, prosperity, dignity, and freedom, you would be hard-pressed to make a better wager. Needless to say, this is not

• Prosperity (Legatum, which folds in safety, governance, health, living conditions and personal freedom into one measure: the 2025 top five are Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and
Switzerland, with the UK 12th and the US
19th. x
• Freedom (the Cato/Fraser Human
Freedom Index, covering both personal and economic liberty): Switzerland first, then Denmark, New Zealand, Ireland and Luxembourg, with the US 15th and the UK tied 19th. Cato
• Safety (Global Peace Index): Iceland first for the 17th consecutive year, Time Out with Ireland, New Zealand, Austria and Switzerland completing the 2025 top five.
The Vision of H...

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Allison Morris in the Belfast Telegraph leaving hanging in the air hints at the truth of rumours that have circulated in N.I. about Jeffrey Donaldson for years. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/comment/news...

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Clarion: "Seven out of 10 businesses say they are doing the same or better after the introduction of Oxford’s congestion charge." The survey: "Its perceived effect is mixed but leans negative... decreased shop-front business customer numbers"! www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/transport-an...

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

In unrelated news, I texted a mate who is an ex-cop (not Hampshire Constabulary, PSNI or Met) and asked him what % of coppers did he think were actually racist: "Not that many in a way that would be obvious at first or to the public but once you scratch the surface I'd say 10% maybe 15."

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

It is likely to get me cancelled on here for saying so, but the 1973 War Powers Resolution on Cambodia was probably pivotal in bringing the Khmer Rouge to power by undercutting China's leverage over them.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

No! That's not how it went in 80s slang. The evolution of 'skill' went: Brilliant -> brill -> brillo pads -> skillo pads -> skillo -> skill uk.yahoo.com/style/7-forg...

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

"He was just tired and smelling toast"

Epic handshake meme: clotbusters and partisanship both one hell of a drug

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

The Economist's coverage of Colombia is normally quite good, so it is a bit weird, or perhaps telling, that the best their newsletter could do to make a "leftist" sound a bit scary is to try and make a good thing sound like a bad thing.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Turns out the answer is actually pretty easy to locate:

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Istg is there anything more stupid than sending me an email reminding me that my Father is dead because you are worried about sending me an email on Father’s Day in case it reminds me my Father is dead.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

For reference. These are the voters I was referring to.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

And thank you to The Guardian and their list for putting in motion a renewed search by me for a book I bought 25 years ago and was enjoying but then lost and I couldn’t remember the name or author. Behold, ‘Modern Times, Modern Places’ by Peter Conrad archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes....

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I sometimes get told I’m unfair when I say many leftists have no theory of change and treat politics as a purity test not a means to obtain power. But no.

Bsky response to a report on Green Party deal with Conservatives to run Worcestershire County Council: “So the greens will team up with the ‘not quite as right wing as reform’ Tories……what a bunch of nice guys”

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

You’ve just identified the vaguery: where you win votes can matter more than how many votes you win.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Ed Miliband doesn’t need to win back the voters David Cameron won in 2015, he needs to win back most of the voters Keir Starmer won in 2024. He can probably do that.

Chart showing Elecroral Calculus website election prediction of National Prediction: Labour majority 142

Party 2024 Votes 2024 Seats Pred Votes Gains Losses Net Change Pred Seats
CON 24.4% 121 19.0% 7 75 -68 53
LAB 34.7% 412 30.0% 54 70 -16 396
LIB 12.6% 72 13.0% 1 7 -6 66
Reform 14.7% 5 20.0% 78 0 +78 83
Green 6.9% 4 10.0% 9 2 +7 11

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

I’m old enough to remember being told it is antisemitic to suggest the State of Israel represents Jews outside of that country. blogs.timesofisrael.com/antizionism-...

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Gonna have to be a bit more specific Lee.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Wow, if only the EBU had some tools at its disposal that would allow it to stand up for its principles. #eurovision #esc26 #ESC

screenshot from March 2024 of EBU website calling for foreign journalists to be allowed into Gaza.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

And here is the projected real terms trend until the end of this parliament:

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Where is this austerity of which you speak?

Graph showing UK government spending as a share of GDP at its highest point in 50 years excluding the great financial crisis and the Covid crisis.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I had an interesting Q&A with ChatGPT this morning about Israel-Palestine and the Oslo process, but found myself having to constantly push back on certain framings. I asked Claude to analyse and tell what it showed. The results are interesting. 1/2

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

The British government’s terrorism legislation reviewer, who has called for pro-Palestinian marches to be banned, has some other hot takes.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

I'd imagine this has something to do with the fact the US population is 5x larger than the UK's, but the universities are about the same size? www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Here's another interesting one that caught my eye as a former resident of the 44th ED. 190 people voted for Cuomo in the 45th ED, and >500 for Mamdani, but the fact "10 voters" joined a lawsuit to block a homeless shelter 12 blocks away is frontpage news on Bullshit Mountain.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I sometimes like to check in on Fox News, to see how they are spinning things. It's not like there's much of significance going on in the world or anything like that, so they;re leading with *checks notes* "The top cop in the 9th most populous county in Maryland doesn't like progressive politics"

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

@stevenswinford.bsky.social Fact check: when Matthew Doyle campaigned for Sean Morton, Morton had been suspended as a Labour councillor and was running for re-election as an independent.

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

If this isn't advice what is it then?

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

The BBC is really starting to get on my nerves. It is meant to be a public service broadcaster not a frigging click bait farm.

Screenshot of BBC News story Preview with the sentence “Ricky Hodges said on social media that Muslims…“

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Chris Connolly @edtechris.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

The group least likely to be open to sharing a house with a Jewish student “considering recent geopolitical events” was… Jewish students.

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