Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 09/05/2026Sputnik 1 was only launched in 1957 - 4 years before this alleged experience - there were fewer than 30 satellites in orbit by 1961, and she would have been 38 when Sputnik 1 was launched. Was she realistically taught how to identify satellites by her father? 000
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 09/05/2026Just listened to this episode, and was struck by the line that "Betty's father had a keen interest in the night sky and he used to watch satellites and things like that, which he taught Betty." ... 100
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 07/04/2026I think the traditional dismissal stands: those two to three deranged geriatrics only have that power because they have/had mass popular support, and institutions that require societal defence were easily overcome. The questions for me are: how and why did that happen? 0100
Reposted by Franklin StevesSony Kapoor @sonykapoor.bsky.social · 30/03/2026New paper: Bending the Climate Change Curve by Blending Finance: What Is The Real Potential Value-Added of Guarantees? by Stijn Claessens and @sonykapoor.bsky.social for @cepr.org and @findevlab.bsky.social findevlab.org/wp-content/u...findevlab.org 121
Reposted by Franklin StevesKetan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 20/03/2026A huge congratulations to everyone who decried planned, equitable and gradual emissions cuts as too radical. Now you get to experience unplanned, unjust and whiplash-inducing emissions cuts instead. Maybe lets not make the same mistake again? www.afr.com/companies/re... 824871
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 19/03/2026This is *so* good. The only question is whether European regulators will respond to the current ensh*tification of... everything. 000
Reposted by Franklin StevesPhillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 19/03/2026Watching Trump teeter on the edge of blowing up the world economy because of a combination of hubris, strategic incoherence, mendacity and outright stupidity, might be the most extraordinarily depressing thing I have observed in my entire life, or read about in any other period. 701690421
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 11/03/2026Thought I would ask Anthropic's LLM about its use for target selection in Iran, as detailed in the attached WaPo article. This was its response. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... 020
Reposted by Franklin StevesMatt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Things look grim in the markets right now, but at least the U.S. economy wasn’t already being propped up by a massive speculative AI bubble that is highly sensitive to rising energy costs. 4343571027
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 02/03/2026What is that great glowing orb in the sky, a portent of doom? 010
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 02/03/2026They only appear to have one funder - JRRT - and a v junior team. Given they filed their 'election observer' complaint well after the deadline, I'm not convinced this is a professional operation. Perhaps even disingenuous/astroturf (but as I said I've not heard of them before the byelection report). 000
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 02/03/2026Can you provide any more info, please? I've never heard of them before. 110
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 02/03/2026The front lawn of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. 000
Reposted by Franklin StevesArthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 01/03/2026It tells you something about the disorientating rate of change underway that nobody is particularly shocked that a head of state has been assassinated by other states, something which has *never happened* in the modern era. Which is illegal under US law. Shed no tears for Khamanei, but still. 1/3 17415139
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 26/02/2026"Your" idea has been around for 50+ years... 280
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 13/02/2026Same experience but flying to the US - hour upon hour walking up and down the aisle to try to get our sons to sleep. In ~half dozen flights, can only remember one kind woman offering to help. 020
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 13/02/2026I'd be fascinated by a 'Who Do You Think You Are' where they track down all 16 Great Great Great Grandfathers - rather than the one famous one - and then everyone realises how normal and how mixed our heritage is... 000
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 13/02/2026Couldn't agree more. Also applies to flights - parents aren't flying with babies/toddlers because they enjoy it or want to upset others. The Italians' embrace of children is the way forward. 130
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 12/02/2026Lineal descent is always such an odd discussion. You had 16 great great great grandfathers, where did the other 15 come from? I suspect they weren't all born on your street... 100
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 07/02/2026The (for me, surprising) finding was that young men in the UK are overwhemingly supportive of progressive parties, as opposed to most continental party systems where the right/far-right does well or very well with young men. 000
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 07/02/2026Indeed, the UK is a pretty significant outlier from the US and continental Europe in this regard. 131
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Thank you. Odd that he's blocked me... no idea why. 100
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Thanks! No idea why he would have blocked me... 010
Reposted by Franklin StevesArieh Kovler @ariehkovler.com · 05/02/2026On 1 May 1517, xenophobic mobs, riled up by preachers who were in turn pressured by wealthy broker John Lincoln, rioted in London. They claimed that foreigners were stealing their jobs and welfare. Thomas More, then under-sheriff of London, tried to stop the mob with an empassioned speech. 6233105
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Who are you QTing Chris? They seem to have me blocked? 200
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 04/02/2026But what is the mechanism by which he would/could be removed? Starmer's Lab doesn't have enough 'men in grey suits' to achieve that? 000
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 03/02/2026In 2016 I was campaigning against Brexit and one woman said she was voting Leave because the local council had closed the public toilets, and refused to believe the two issues were not connected. 050
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 03/02/2026I was canvassing for the Lib Dems in 2019 and one couple were insisting that Jeremy Corbyn was going to *steal* their privately-owned house, and found myself *defending* Corbyn... so weird. 130
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 30/01/2026We need a Section 86a before this spirals out of control... 010
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 30/01/2026It also made John Gotti - as London made the Krays - but I don't think we can judge either on that basis... 100
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 30/01/2026NYC is one of - if not the - least Trumpy cities in the US. Also - found this Google AI summary amusing if apropos this discussion: 110
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 30/01/2026Fully agree Thomas. Obviously we (Londoners) have to deal with the wider national impacts of Brexit, but IMV London feels as vibrant, cosmopolitan and indeed European as it was pre-2020. 020
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 30/01/2026The data is patchy, but it seems London is still the most popular European destination for Europeans/EU tourists? And we still have over 1 million EU citizens living in London - roughly 15% of the total population. Interesting to see how that compares to Paris, Berlin etc.gov.ukHow many people come to the UK each year? 120
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 30/01/2026Huh. I wasn't born in London but I've lived here all my adult life, and it never really felt like London was the capital of Europe - it's always been, for me, more a global city with a significant European identity, which it retains. 130
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 30/01/2026I can understand that sentiment about England (and Wales), but why specifically London - which voted overwhelmingly to remain? 130
Reposted by Franklin StevesSunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 30/01/2026John Oxley points out the clear yet often overlooked point that young men 18-24 are the second most liberal, left-leaning group in society (after young women) - being more so than young-ish thirtysomething women, and older women, as well as than men in older cohorts 19607185
Reposted by Franklin StevesBruce Springsteen @brucespringsteen.net · 28/01/2026I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay freeyoutu.beBruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen 42559708540544
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 24/01/2026Isn't it obvious that his message is 'I want to be like the billionaires with their NZ bunkers' for only millionaires who can't afford NZ bunkers? 000
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 20/01/2026Unspecified eye problem that requires the sunglasses, apparently... 110
Reposted by Franklin StevesOleksandr Shepotylo @shepotylo.bsky.social · 19/01/20261/ So, should the EU retaliate against Trump's Greenland tariff threats? There are roughly three schools of thought, each progressively more interesting than the last. A brief tour through the logic of escalation and deterrence: 🧵 410346
Reposted by Franklin StevesSimon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 13/01/2026The utterly shameless & widely covered "report" out today, claiming net zero will "cost" £9tn is based on: * Assuming free fossil-fuel energy, free petrol cars, free gas boilers, free gas power plants etc AND * Including climate damages in the "cost" of net zero I kid you not, it is that stupid 16694351
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 12/01/2026But the Australian and proposed UK bans aren't on smartphones, they're bans on under-16s using social media? 100
Reposted by Franklin StevesClimate News @climatenews.bsky.social · 19/11/2024The Bluesky elders will remember that in the old days (2023) all Bluesky climate science lists were managed on various Google sheets. How lucky we all are to now have easy starter packs! ✅💚🌍 Follow all for a diverse set of climate updates in your feed 😊 50581173
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 07/01/2026Fully agree with the sentiment, but as always the question is "how?" 100
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 15/12/2025I also think it's unlikely. However, I think it's a bit more nuanced: Yanukovych's violent crackdown on the pro-AA protests on the Maidan is what led to the Revolution of Dignity. The Revolution and flight of Yanukovych, in turn, paved the way to the seizure of Crimea. 000
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 01/12/2025No one with the wherewithal to draw down their pension or emigrate would do so on the basis of pure speculation about the implications of a future budget. 140
Franklin Steves @franklinsteves.bsky.social · 28/11/2025He uses the phrase "the Russian sphere of influence" 5 times in just over 4 minutes. 🤔 050