iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1m

Ruffo is also a pretty strange name, according to Wikipedia: «Ruffo was the son of a foreman at an ironworks, who named him after a favourite dog, Ruffo. His mother only ever called him "Cafiero"» (Cafiero was his middle name)

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 31m

I didn't know until today that the great baritone Titta Ruffo was born Ruffo Titta, and swapped his forename and last name for the stage.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1h

I already signed a few days ago!

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1h

Apart from the lies that they keep telling about "automatic settlement", they always give these anodyne replies. "In due course" it's been many months, people have been left waiting for changes that could dramatically affect their lives. You can tell the Home Office dos not consider us people.

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Chris Boyd @paperghost.bsky.social · 2h

god i am so sick of NOBODY calling out that automatic settlement ISN'T A THING every time the liars at the home office, and ukgov generally, make this claim. call them out!! it's the easiest thing in the world to pull them up on! jesus christ inews.co.uk/news/uk-inde...

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Last November, we set out reforms that mean settlement must be earned and not automatic. A consultation on elements of those reforms has now closed, and we will set out our response in due course.”

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 2h

An unrelated thing I love in Canto XXXII is when Dante talks about "la Danoia in Osterlicchi", i.e. the Danube (Danoia, like Donau in German) in Austria (Osterlicchi, or Österreich)

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 2h

(the translation of the passage from Dante)

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 2h

The origin of the phrase is in Canto XXXII: El piange qui l’argento de’ Franceschi: “Io vidi”, potrai dir, “quel da Duera là dove i peccatori stanno freschi”. [Here he laments the silver of the Frenchmen; ‘I saw,’ you then can say, ‘him of Duera, down there, where all the sinners are kept cool.’]

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 2h

I learnt today that the Italian expression "stare fresco" (be in trouble/wait for something in vain, literally "be cool") apparently comes from Dante: in the frozen lake of Cocito he meets Buoso da Duera, who allegedly accepted a bribe from the French to not oppose them in their march to Benevento.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 2h

I'm always fascinated by how different animal noises are in different languages: frogs go "cra cra" in Italian, "croak" or "ribbit" in English and "op op" in Thai. In Thai dogs go "hong hong", while they "bau bau" in Italian and "woof woof" in English.

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Three thousand years ago, a Greek potter looked at a bowl and thought: ‘You know what this needs? A leg!’ Clay bowl with leg-shaped handle!🦵😆 Early Geometric period 850 BC. Altes Museum, Berlin 📷 by me #Archaeology

My photo shows an ancient Greek pottery bowl with a rounded, deep body, wide open mouth and flared rim. It has a large handle shaped like a human leg, extending from the left side of the bowl in my photo, bending at a right angle and ending in a flat foot. The bowl has a camel-coloured surface decorated with dark brown geometric patterns, which include zigzags and meander motifs arranged in horizontal bands around the body of the bowl and along the leg. From Attica, Early Geometric period, circa 850 BC. It sits on a light stone coloured surface in a display case at the Altes Museum in Berlin.

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Spooky Snigdha @snig.bsky.social · 7h

In India the leaders of the Cockroach youth movement have been arrested, along with more than 1,000 protesters, opposition politicians, journalists, student union leaders & lawyers; New Delhi is in lockdown. The police have prevented mass protests against the country’s election chief taking place.

aljazeera.com

India’s ‘Cockroach’ leaders detained; New Delhi in lockdown

Indian police crackdown appears to have prevented mass protests against the country's election chief from taking place.

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Youzi @mostlydefinite1.bsky.social · 9h

Sad truth is the UK media is racist also in the unconscious sense in that they just don’t see foreigners as people (there are exceptions like white Americans, Australians etc). But eg a mexican spouse of a UK citizen? the UK media essentially have zero interest in you, your voice, your rights etc

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Mike Cookson 🔶 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @mikecookson.bsky.social · 9h

Ever wonder who teaches people to park on pavements? #DrivingInstructors I despair.

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James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 9h

Yes. Many of the other changes will probably end up being a mistake, but at the end of the day are valid policy choices. Earned Settlement is just unimaginably immoral and would cause permanent damage. You can always grant more visas but can’t undo the damage of arbitrarily changing rules on people.

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James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 9h

Yes. Our government have gone for both but also much tougher scrutiny of every application of any kind. They’ve clearly cut immigration by much more than they realised. The low point is Earned Settlement, a proposal to change the rules retrospectively to kick out lots of work visa holders unfairly.

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Miss Omar @auntiekayadventure.bsky.social · 9h

It’s World Mental Health Day 💚 It’s okay not to be okay. Cycling is my therapy it helps me clear my mind, explore new places, and finding peace in the beautiful views. Be kind to yourself and others. You never know what someone is going through. ❤️ #BikeTherapy #MentalHealthAwareness

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Gareth Dennis @garethdennis.uk · 10h

I talk a lot about major transport investment, but one of the biggest bangs for the buck policy-wise would be a full pavement parking ban and more rigid enforcement of traffic rules. Enforcement is so lax that this stuff is just completely normalised now, and it's unacceptable.

a YSS Scaffolding truck parked on double yellows and blocking a pavement in Tang Hall

an MG5 parked fully on the pavement as if it's a parking spot, blocking buggies from passing

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 10h

A colleague of mine was forced to leave our company because the government decided his salary was not enough to allow him to stay in the UK. Luckily he found another job somewhere else, which allowed him to stay in the country, but we lost a great team member.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 10h

The almost exclusive focus on care workers (who absolutely need to be treated much better by the government) means a lot of the impact on other workers goes unseen. And on spouses of British citizens/settled immigrants. It's an attack on the values of fairness & integration the gov claim to support.

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ew6389.bsky.social @ew6389.bsky.social · 11h

Cannot repeat enough how much my mental and physical health have suffered since May 2025. I have lived here for a decade, paid my tuition fees and taxes, been a member of many communities, yet I’ve been shoved into limbo yet again for being undesirable. But I’m a foreigner, so none of that matters.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 12h

Also, maybe a year and a half after the immigration white paper, more people in the media should have understood what the reforms entail? Maybe they should know by now that it's not only about care workers (which is what you'd think reading most media coverage) but about many more people?

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 12h

By all means, write your column about Polanski. But it seems to me that the party of government, which has a huge majority in parliament, and which is pushing unprecedented anti-immigrant reforms, would deserve a little bit of scrutiny and pushback. Maybe even more (I know, crazy thought!)

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 12h

I'd like the people who write tons or articles about Zack Polanski to take some time to report on the truly horrible immigration policies the government is pushing.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 12h

Same. It genuinely makes me quite furious.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 12h

*putting on my Roman senator toga* I don't think many people have fully realised how bad the Earned Settlement proposals are. And we need them to understand that, because they must be stopped.

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Sarah Woolley @sarahwoolley.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This is what families are already up against. Nishta survived trafficking and rebuilt a life here against so much hostility. Earned settlement proposals will make that road LONGER and harder. Sign the petition above to stand with our neighbours. www.lbc.co.uk/article/wait...

lbc.co.uk

Waiting a decade in limbo for permanent UK residency is not immigration policy - It is a prison sentence | LBC

I have been living and working in the UK for more than a decade.

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Sarah Woolley @sarahwoolley.bsky.social · 12h

The government is trying to sneak in a policy that will put 90,000 children in poverty. ✍️Add your name and tell Andy Burnham to bin earned settlement. Just a few hundred to go before we reach 10,000!!!! act.praxis.org.uk/andy-burnham...

act.praxis.org.uk

To Andy Burnham: Scrap the earned settlement proposals

Sign the petition and call on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to scrap the earned settlement plans. They are unpopular. They are divisive. And they will devastate our already struggling NHS and our social...

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 13h

Absolutely mad how the UK government has decided that xenophobia and racism are more important than a functioning economy, and more important than universities specifically.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 13h

I'm going to start (have started already?) sounding like Cato with his "Carthago delenda est" but Labour MPs who are not xenophobes/racists need to vocally oppose Earned Settlement. And more people in the media who (claim to) oppose racism/xenophobia should put pressure on them to do so.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 23h

I know it's a minor point in this racist rant, but "a thousand years of demographic stability" includes the Black Death which killed a significant percentage of the population on this island, but apparently a few of us foreign people moving here is a "catastrophe".

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Cool Bike Art @coolbikeart1.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

"Ride a bike to school - joyous fun for brother, sister and everyone!" 1929

Illustration featuring three children in old timey outfits riding bicycles. In the background is an image of a school building.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

It's hyperbole. But very few people, especially in positions of power.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I have a British passport in my bedroom drawer, I am not ethnically English, and I don't know if Bobby Jenrick would consider me culturally British or English, but he can get lost anyway. I'm a better British citizen (and person) than he could ever hope to be.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

That is, when they're not actively supporting restricting our rights and driving many of us out of the country, like many in the Labour party.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

This is very true. The last two years have been eye-opening, and not in a positive way. Too many people, even many of those who would think of themselves as progressive/centre left, are at best indifferent to what happens to immigrants, and unwilling to do anything to stand up for our rights.

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Sathnam Sanghera @sathnam.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Dear tv and radio producers. Thankyou for the invitation. But, no, I do not want to appear on your show to defend the idea that I am English, after 50 years of living and working here, because the increasingly feral right want to turn this into a "debate" and you cannot see how you're being played

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Zentrum für Politische Schönheit @politicalbeauty.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

BREAKING: Jüdische Studierende (JSUD) verwehren dem Neonazi & "Landtagsvize" Tillschneider den Zugang in die Synagoge von Halle.

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

‘Culturally British by my standards’ is one of the most chilling phrases uttered in British politics. Entirely unsurprising to me who it’s from.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Maybe @jamesbowes01.bsky.social, @paperghost.bsky.social or @ew6389.bsky.social can confirm if (at least from what we know so far) this would apply to stay at home parents as well. There may be exceptions I'm not aware of.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

That would indeed appear to be the case, at least for what was announced months ago. We are still waiting for details, and this may hopefully change.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

As far as I know for the first application it's only for the sponsor, for extension it's for the household (though in our case my income was always enough on its own). But the new one would be specifically for the visa holder, which currently is not required to have any income at all.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Is the government going to change its policy so that more refugees can follow in her path and thrive in our country, then? Because their current immigration and asylum policy runs counter to this goal, making integration and settlement much harder for refugees (and immigrants more generally)

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Solidarity, I completely understand.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

It would also be good if the media could talk more about what the proposed reforms entail; instead coverage has been very lacking and often imprecise.

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