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ilmar

@ilmarinen7.bsky.social
475 followers 1.4K following 2.3K posts

Solely to blame for own opinions. Not living in the happiest country in the world.

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Reposted by ilmar
Nigella Lawson @nigella.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It’s Korvapuustipäivä in Finland and Kanelsbullens Dag in Sweden, which is to say Cinnamon Bun Day! I happen to have a recipe for Swedish Cinnamon Buns, so of course it has to be #RecipeOfTheDay www.nigella.com/recipes/swed...
nigella.com
Swedish Cinnamon Buns
Swedish Cinnamon Buns are not radically different from other cinnamon buns (and do see my Norwegian Cinnamon Buns), but they do diverge in one fundamental way: rather than having the fluffiness of, sa...
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 02/10/2026
In this piece I tried to tackle something that's been bugging me: If someone is demanding that immigration be cut because their kids can't find an entry level job, it is neither fair to say that they do not have a legitimate concern - nor that their position on immigration is one.
dmitryopines.substack.com
On Legitimate Concerns
Problems, Policies and How To Parse Them
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
At least 21 members of my extended family were arrested and sent from Lithuania to camps or exile colonies in this 1951 act of repression by the Soviet occupiers.
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Novocastrum @novocastrianufc.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
#NUFC #ManCity
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arseblog @arseblog.com · 01/10/2026
p1r.es
Episode 895 – Almost a billion …
Welcome to another episode of the Arsecast – the original Arsenal podcast. In this episode I’m joined by Philippe Auclair to discuss the Premier League statement released this week in relation to Man City being found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges made against them. We discuss how strident the statement was, and how […] The post Episode 895 – Almost a billion … appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW The diabolical defending of Manchester City Understanding an aggressive litigation strategy By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk (Prospect paywall is down currently.) www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th... #MCFC
What can explain such an aggressive and counterproductive approach? To an extent the answer may be in the facts and the evidence. Perhaps the view was that the only chance of getting out of this was to be unhelpful as well as robust. In respect of an earlier dispute with Uefa, an internal communication at the club apparently said “Uefa doesn't respond to anything other than aggression”. Maybe the view was taken that this would work here too. Maybe the club still thinks it will work in the end, with the league being pushed into settlement on appeal or at the doors of the High Court.

But this does not offer a total explanation. What may work with Uefa may not work with other adversaries. The structure of the league’s investigation and the disciplinary approach meant that aggression would not only be unhelpful, but would count heavily against the club. An appeal on the law or procedure at the High Court in this sort of case only has a remote chance of success. It can be assumed the club was warned of all this.

There is a phrase in football punditry that “the defending is diabolical”. Here diabolical is, of course, a synonym for dreadful. But in its more literal sense, diabolical means bedevilled with wrongful purpose. And the strategy adopted by Manchester City in contesting this matter is also in this sense diabolical. The club will have known that it was unlikely to work, and that it would make things harder, but the club decided to do it anyway.
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arseblog @arseblog.com · 01/10/2026
🎙️PODCAST! Discussing the Premier League's bombshell statement this week, Man City found guilty, the evidence presented, their ownership, lies & obfuscation, possible punishments, Guardiola's statement, fallout for other clubs & fans, & lots more with @philippeauclair.bsky.social p1r.es/arsecast895
🎙️PODCAST! Discussing the Premier League's bombshell statement this week, Man City found guilty, the evidence presented, their ownership, lies and obfuscation, Guardiola's statement, fallout for other clubs and fans, and loads more with @philippeauclair.bsky.social
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arseblog @arseblog.com · 30/09/2026
p1r.es
A £900m bombshell … and the rest
Morning. There’s only one place to begin this morning and that’s the Premier League releasing a statement on the Man City charges. It dropped late yesterday afternoon, and suffice to say it’s a bombshell. If I wasn’t expecting them to be found guilty of 114 of 115 charges, I also didn’t expect the explanation to […] The post A £900m bombshell … and the rest appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Luxury retailers want taxpayers to fund a 20% tax break for foreign tourists. They paid consultancy Cebr to claim this will raise £2.6bn for the UK. That convinced Sadiq Khan and Kemi Badenoch. But it's false: a free lunch. Four basic errors mask a £600m loss. Thread:
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This keeps happening. Public debate on tax is increasingly driven by reports from consultancies commissioned by lobbyists. These reports rarely disclose their methodology. They never disclose the terms under which they were written.
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Os Keyes @okeyes.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Since we’re doing another round of “AI will destroy humanity” doom-hype, it’s a good time to announce a new paper myself and my postdoc advisor just had accepted by BioSocieties on just this. TL;DR: almost all the “AI can make bioweapons” literature comes ultimately from the Effective Altruists.
ironholds.org
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SpinningHugo @spinninghugo.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Groan. Haigh. Not someone I trust. There used to be a joke about "disgraced" Liam Fox on twitter. The same should be used about Louise Haigh.
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Jordan @jordanpfot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Danny Tommo, Amodei, Man City fair play Piddington, Macklemore, Dolly ain’t alive no more Netanyahu’s iron dome, Meg and Harry coming home New cat, Clavicular COVID CONSCIOUS LESBIAN BAR 🎶 we didn’t start the fire 🎶
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Liar. Small boat crossings peaked under Johnson in 2022 reaching 46,000 in 2022. In current year they are 18,565 and falling. Also prior to Boris Johnson's Brexit there were none.
It's a disaster, and it can all be traced to
Labour ideology. Burnham has no mandate
from the people. He has no real ideas, and
no plan,

Johnson on X
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Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
JPMorgan and the broking fetish for conviction calls - and why William Butler Yeats would not have done well as head of research at an investment bank -great column by @dsquareddigest.bsky.social as.ft.com/r/6862e493-c...
as.ft.com
JPMorgan and the broking fetish for conviction calls
An admission by some analysts at the bank of an inability to form a baseline view should be thanked rather than mocked
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Yes, it's that time again when the Fascism scene returns to London and this year black is very much in vogue. From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
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arseblog @arseblog.com · 26/09/2026
p1r.es
Rui Pinto has done football a service
Morning all. There’s only one place to start this morning, and that’s with the story that Man City have been found guilty on all but one of the 115 charges that have been pending for so long. First, what a scoop it is from David Ornstein. 🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Manchester City found guilty on virtually all […] The post Rui Pinto has done football a service appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
‘This is playing into his hands’/‘this will allow him to play the martyr card’/‘this will help with his fundraising’ are all really bad takes. Criminals should be arrested and charged with crimes.
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 22/09/2026
Having now worked on the donor, recipient and delivery side of aid for quite some time, I had complicated feelings when Trump started bashing Effective Altruism. I tried writing some of them down. They may not have become more coherent in the process. dmitryopines.substack.com/p/effective-...
dmitryopines.substack.com
Effective Altruism
Some Knee-Jerk Reactions from a Jerk with Knees
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SpinningHugo @spinninghugo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
What we need is an internationally respected news outlet broadcasting across the world. Impartial, carrying stories from everywhere. What about the "British Broadcasting Corporation 's World Service"? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
New UK agency to fight ‘information warfare’ from likes of Russia, Burnham tells UN
PM aims to ‘stem poisonous tide’ of disinformation and deepfakes with National Centre for Information Defence
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Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I mean, to repeat myself on this: I have as part of my political background *very regularly* seen police brutality, and the forces of the state deployed to put us down. And yet here they do nothing? I am willing to excuse or contextualise a lot but…come the fuck on
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Winterink @winterink.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Basically every single pedagogical debate is like this: “Let’s move away from phonics, multiplication tables and testing because they leave kids behind” “Aren’t those the only things that work” “Yes” “And won’t it be less equitable in the end because rich parents can pay for tutors” “Also yes”
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Janne M. Korhonen @jmkorhonen.fi · 12/06/2025
My attempt to translate a famous Finnish poem "On the border." Uuno Kaila, 1931. Dedicated to #Ukraine and Ukrainians - I stand in awe. --- The border gapes, a chasm of freezing cold. Before me lies the steppe, the East. Behind, to West, is Europe of old— I stand, its shield, holding fast.
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Chris Cook @chriscook.news · 21/09/2026
A big new story from us: a big new leak means that we can put numbers on the scale of A7 -- the Kremlin's huge money-laundering machine. $6.9bn laundered through the international banking system via SWIFT, with $1.1bn sent to StanChart alone. www.ft.com/content/3848...
ft.com
Kremlin-backed forgery scheme moved $6.9bn through global banks
FT finds thousands of Russian payments handled by Standard Chartered, Citigroup and other international groups in vast leak from inside fintech A7
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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 19/09/2026
I’ve worn a grubby RNLI cap for decades. I sound London, but I was born in Truro and I was a basically feral (Gen X) kid wandering the coast path with a dog until sunset for a lot of my early life. The lifeboats are in the fabric like trawlers and farms and pasties and fish and chips.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
my brilliant colleague @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the threat from Elon Musk’s X platform www.ft.com/content/f270...
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Nicola Kelly @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I have spent weeks shadowing the RNLI and I can tell you, they do it out of nothing more than compassion. Wrote about the heroes I've met over the years in this free-to-read post. nicolakelly.substack.com/p/the-rnli-a...
nicolakelly.substack.com
The RNLI aren't traitors; they're heroes
I have spent weeks shadowing lifeboat crews. Here's what they do and what it's like.
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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Now, just personally, I would have considered the crocodiles
The assessment did not consider the crocodiles but instead looked at "how the course would perform under a range of conditions, weather patterns, water levels and flood risk at both Games time and throughout the period leading into the Games".
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"How Westminster Works ... and Why It (Still) Doesn't". Really looking forward to hosting the fabulous @iandunt.bsky.social at the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social on 28 September. Come and explore what's wrong with British politics - and what we can do about it. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-westmi...
eventbrite.co.uk
How Westminster Works ... and Why it (Still) Doesn't
Join the podcaster and journalist Ian Dunt to explore how Westminster is working today and how we can build something better for the future!
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David Squires @davidsquires.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Here’s this week’s cartoon for @sport.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/football/pic...
theguardian.com
David Squires on … a big weekend for controversial calls in the Premier League
Our cartoonist on the English top-flight leading the way for debatable decisions and performative sadness
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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Labour doesn’t have a working theory about what Gove & Gibb got right and therefore works (standards, value-add tracking, phonics) and what they got wrong (obsession with funding structures, antagonism to profession/local authorities, lack of focus on school leadership).
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 14/09/2026
static.klipy.com
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James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It can only good happen. It can only good happen. It can only good happen. It can only good happen. It can only good happen. othermeans.substack.com/p/the-wheels...
othermeans.substack.com
The Wheels Are Coming Off
It Can Only Good Happen
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
On Rejoin.... rolandmcs.substack.com/p/on-rejoin
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I've been reading Reform UK's constitution so you don't have to. The party’s founding documents reveal the extraordinary levels of power Nigel Farage wields over Reform UK, making it all but impossible for party members to remove him: bylinetimes.com/2026/08/18/c...
bylinetimes.com
Chairman Farage: How Reform UK Operates as a Democratic Party in Name Only
The party's founding documents reveal the extraordinary levels of power Nigel Farage wields over Reform UK, making it all but impossible for party members to remove him
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Janne M. Korhonen @jmkorhonen.fi · 10/09/2026
The REAL uniform for US space forces just dropped
US space force uniform after Futurama
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FT Alphaville @alphaville.ft.com · 10/09/2026
as.ft.com/r/04ef5a74-6...
as.ft.com
Is now really the time to worry about a new China shock?
Be careful what you wish for
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 10/09/2026
FT exclusive: The IMF dropped the lead candidate to become its new chief economist at the eleventh hour after he was found to have made critical remarks about the Trump administration’s economic policies, according to people briefed on the process ft.trib.al/8I7TNVM
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Claudia Sahm @claudia-sahm.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
My new @opinion.bloomberg.com piece, “… credibility lives in what people believe the central bank will do under pressure. It is precisely when the pressure is greatest that the Fed’s credibility is won or lost.”
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Already a historic story for the ages. America reduced to being ruled by an imbecile, sending two other imbeciles to fawn over a dictator who invaded a country that would have been a US ally in more normal times.
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
A vacuous, cowardly piece by the BBC here, which does little more than launder into the public domain the lies and excuses of Reform www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Nigel Farage tells BBC he 'wasn't listening' in foreign donor talks
The Reform leader also told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that his family are "begging" him to leave his job.
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Leigh Jones @leighsus.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I wrote today's edition of @theleaduk.bsky.social looking at everything that's happened over the last fortnight in Teesside. Most of my writing over the last couple of years has been straight reporting, but this is a bit of a departure.
national.thelead.uk
The death of seven people in one night has exposed the dark underbelly of life Teessiders have known for years
Extreme child poverty and rampant deprivation, coupled with police funding for a rural area rather than the metropolitan levels of crime being faced have been brought into focus by the A66 death crash
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Every Film Now @everyfilmnow.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
‘DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 2’ isn’t fully dead yet. • Script is complete • Hasbro remains committed • A new studio partner is being sought after Paramount passed for financial reasons #DungeonsAndDragons #Hasbro
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Farage is making it very plain that if Reform wins power they will permit no change or scrutiny to their plans from parliament, the judiciary or officials, under a state of emergency. Anyone who objects will be replaced.
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Philippe Auclair @philippeauclair.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
You still use Amazon? Read on.
pluralistic.net
Pluralistic: Amazon achieves enshittification inception (04 Sep 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
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Economics Observatory @econ-observatory.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
NEW on the Economics Observatory – The British disease: what explains the relative decline of the UK economy? by Eoin McLaughlin and Graham Brownlow (@grahambrownlow.bsky.social) buff.ly/t88duAj
economicsobservatory.com
The British disease: what explains the relative decline of the UK economy? - Economics Observatory
Britain established global leadership in manufacturing, innovation and exports in the Industrial Revolution. Relative economic decline from around 1870 was an outcome of comparator countries catching…
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Sam Coleridge @samcoleridge.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Mic loves him brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/amol-nitra...
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
Amol Nitrate: Why the BBC is so high on Amol Rajan's client journalism
The rise and rise of Rajan continues as he's given a plum spot at the Today programme and a primetime interview series
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 01/09/2026
Bluesky is great because no matter how bad you think things are you are always one retweet away from a leading expert in the field who can explain why they're actually so much worse.
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 01/09/2026
A liberal is a conservative who just got mugged by the police
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arseblog @arseblog.com · 01/09/2026
p1r.es
Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal: Saka’s second half strike enough for three points
Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction Arsenal made it two wins from two in the Premier League yesterday, coming away from Villa Park with a 1-0 win thanks to a second half goal from Bukayo Saka. Mikel Arteta named an unchanged side from the one that beat Coventry 3-0 on the opening day, […] The post Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal: Saka’s second half strike enough for three points appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.
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