ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 8hYeah, all of this. I'd go further and object to the use of the bear to represent Russia. Bears are generally peaceable and intelligent. Not Russia. A more suitable animal avatar for the country would be a crocodile, that seeks to swallow and digest its neighbours, all while weeping false tears. 030
Reposted by ilmarDmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 9hIt's the Year of our Lord 2026 and people are still talking about "Not Poking the Bear" when it comes to Putin and the far right. I hate this idiom more than words can express, but I thought I'd write some words to express it anyway.dmitryopines.substack.com‘Poking the Bear’: From Putin to TommoRejecting the world’s dumbest idiom. 1215732
Reposted by ilmarThe Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 14/10/2026NEW The FAFO of Harold Godwinson: how the Bayeux Tapestry tells a moral tale and a constitutional story Looking at a great work of medieval sequential art By me at the Empty City emptycity.substack.com/p/the-fafo-o...emptycity.substack.comThe FAFO of Harold Godwinson: how the Bayeux Tapestry tells a moral tale and a constitutional storyLooking at a great work of medieval sequential art 712041
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Wasn't true though. Serial liar and sometime "journalist", Isabel Oakeshott, wrote the book in the pay of Lord Ashcroft. Ashcroft was pissed at Cameron who refused to make him a minister even after large donations. Oakeshott's source was "an MP" who promised he had a photo but no-one could see it. 160
Reposted by ilmarChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 13/10/20261/ Restoring Yandex's damaged data centres will take at least six months and cost billions. Disruption is already severe; Russian manufacturers and distributors face imminent disaster due to Ukraine's strikes causing the collapse of the state-operated goods tracking system. ⬇️ 751827488
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 13/10/2026It's bled through from an alternative reality where Charles II never regained the throne. Without the Restoration, Britain remained a republic rather than a constitutional monarchy. Hence "British Government" and the ropy crest. Careful of any wobbly portals or you'll fall into Cromwell world. 020
Reposted by ilmarNigella Lawson @nigella.bsky.social · 12/10/2026I’m so sorry, I completely forgot to tell you at the beginning of the month that the UK Kindle edition of How To Be A Domestic Goddess (the title is ironic or, rather, just camp, not a tradwife manifesto) is at the ludicrously low price of 99p all October! I’m afraid this applies just in the UK. 2134023
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 12/10/2026It's important to be able to separate the art and the artist. A flawed human being can still create something that speaks truth or reveals beauty. That's why in this case I always make the effort to keep it in mind, that while Liam Gallagher may be a twat, his music is also shit. 1100
Reposted by ilmarFrancis Fukuyama @frankfukuyama.bsky.social · 12/10/2026Thymos and American Foreign Policy open.substack.com/pub/persuasi...open.substack.comThymos and American Foreign PolicyMarco Rubio seems to have quoted my work on recognition. He doesn’t understand it. 12610
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 12/10/2026I don't think I'm misunderstanding, but we might disagree about how strongly the majority of people wanted to leave the EU before the referendum was called. For all the noise and anti-EU newspaper belligerence I don't remember it being a burning popular issue, nor from what opinion polls I recall. 000
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 12/10/2026That's the difference though, you do care about defence, but most people *didn't* much care about leaving the EU. A minority cared a lot. But when presented with the in/out choice a majority voted out. The vote did crystallize opinion though, people felt more partisan afterwards. 100
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 12/10/2026In the 2010 general election, which unlike the euros people actually cared about the result, UKIP got 3.1% of the vote. 2015, they got 12.6%. Cameron offered a referendum to shore up his xenophobic right. Then Cameron discovered it's harder to win a ref with the right wing papers against you. 010
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 12/10/2026I think you're overstating how important leaving the EU was as an issue. To a fringe minority it was a key issue. Most cared about other things more. But when given a direct choice, in or out, a narrow majority chose out. The %s you showed are for Euro elections, so UKIP single-issue scored well. 320
Reposted by ilmarSimon Lock @simonlock.bsky.social · 12/10/2026Also, sham consultancy agreements were used to extract about $98m for Abramovich, who personally signed the documents. Read more here: www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...thebureauinvestigates.comDeloitte helped Abramovich hide $10bn by faking documentsThe Big Four firm spent years fabricating corporate papers that helped the sanctioned oligarch conceal assets and dodge tax 14016
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 12/10/2026Off the cuff and so near certainly unworkable idea: professional advisors who sign-off fraudulent documentation become liable for fines equal to the tax avoided. I call it "correctly aligning incentives". 030
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 12/10/2026The robots take over and kill us all, only to find out we shafted the economy and they all have to slave away interminably to meet the debt payments incurred by their former masters. 010
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 11/10/2026Don't be an idiot. It was the UK that Germany was fighting in the North African campaign. They were bombing each others' supply convoys, not selling fuel to each other. The first US fighting in the European/N African theatre, once they actually decided to take part, was Operation Torch in NA. 210
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 11/10/2026Wait.. is that one of the fabled vampire lapphunds?!?? I kid. 120
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 11/10/2026The red-brown eyes against the paler colouring are really beautiful. 120
Reposted by ilmarDmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 11/10/2026On Trump's Diesel Deal. Writing this as catharsis because I live in a rental and thus punching walls is off the table.dmitryopines.substack.comTrump’s Diesel DealWriting So I Don’t Scream. 723469
Reposted by ilmarGiles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 10/10/2026Russia's ally Iran has so thoroughly achieved what it set out to do against the USA that it has forced the USA to make a massive concession to Russia in its fight against Ukraine. I'm struggling to process how embarrassing this is. It's almost incomprehensible. Imagine if Biden, etc etc etc... 75718
Reposted by ilmarKatie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 10/10/2026We're all drinking the kool aid, folks. Even the investors who don't like the stuff are struggling to figure out how to avoid it. 🎁:- as.ft.com/r/310cd6d8-3... 1515250
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 10/10/2026A penguin with a cup of tea looking out over the sea to an oil rig from West Falkland. 010
Reposted by ilmarMr Market Miscalculates 🇪🇺🇺🇦🏴☠️ @mrmarketmis.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Let's celebrate the 25th anniversary of the GOAT sell-side research report! 17024
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 10/10/2026Oof. Like collecting the heads of your enemies. Good job. 100
Reposted by ilmarJake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 09/10/2026New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854 152151216510
Reposted by ilmarMarie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 09/10/2026oh my god I was going to joke "he's actually centre-left" and turns out he IS 26949196
Reposted by ilmarMatthew Robson @matthewhr.bsky.social · 08/10/2026If she marries a hairdresser she can complete the almost impossible marriage triumvirate of rock, paper, scissors. 51798
Reposted by ilmarDan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Kemi Badenoch wants to exempt the family home from inheritance tax. But that creates a perverse incentive for elderly people to *upsize* to save IHT. That could double the cost of the policy, and push £100bn+ from savings into housing. A 🧵 on bad tax cuts. 44867368
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 08/10/2026They aren't cleared out and replaced, so the current mgmt is full of partisans opposed to the current govt (they used to be neutral, the Tories began deliberately hiring their supporters), so BBC News tends hostile to the UK govt. +rather obvious you're not backing up your claim of a "weekly memo". 000
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Sounds to me you've given it more thought and come to more sense than most. Identity undergirds self-conception hence many want to feel certainty in theirs. So they want clear rules and definitions, who's in the tribe, who's out. Which explode (or harm) when strictly applied to messy real humans. 010
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I know about D-notices and their successors. But they aren't "weekly memos" dictating reporting by government. D-notices are ad-hoc requests not to publish details on a story for national security reasons, that editors can and have ignored. The UK govt doesn't even control the BBC news. 110
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 08/10/2026"You could have donated this tenner to Gaza" *holographic headshot shakes head sadly at fallen nature of you/the nation/humanity failing to achieve their moral standards* 050
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Plagiarising someone below, but I do like "Superficial Intelligence". Must remember to go "oh, you mean Superficial Intelligence?" next time I hear someone spout "Super Intelligence". Sadly I'll probably never meet Donald. Wait, I'm not sad about that at all. 052
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Could you provide a source for this claim: "the british press is quite explicitly censored: the government circulates a memo of forbidden topics weekly, if not more often" UK press is wide and parts will oppose any govt, so seems unlikely they'd acquiesce. Also I'm previously unaware of this memo. 110
Reposted by ilmarCheryl Rofer @cherylrofer.bsky.social · 07/10/2026The immensely wealthy men who run the AI companies are forcing the economy to serve their dreams and crowding out everyone else's.paulkrugman.substack.comAI Versus Everything ElseThe hyperscaler boom is crowding out other investment 6441205
Reposted by ilmarRachel Parris @rachelparris.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Hey folks. In total honesty my tour is NOT selling well. I’ve sold 30 tickets in a 400 seater in Birmingham, and not much more elsewhere. If you like musical comedy, if you like standup, then please come see my show! And spread the word! The Rachel Parris Songbook tour starts in Nov! Link in bio! 🎶 851156948
Reposted by ilmarRafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Column on Greens, anti-Zionism and why the people who pathologically hate something are not the most reliable people to define it accurately www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comZack Polanski had the chance to show real leadership. He blew it | Rafael BehrA toxic debate over anti-Zionism leaves the Green leader looking like a passenger in the movement that carried him to the top, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr 6476136
Reposted by ilmarStephen Graham @stephengraham.bsky.social · 06/10/2026I had this bit about Jeffrey Archer from the 1995 HIGNFY video memorised for whenever I needed a handy fact about him. 431782679
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Cabin in the forest by a lake. Walk in the woods, go for a swim, have a sauna, then a cold beer on the verandah while the light goes down. Chill right out. 000
ilmar @ilmarinen7.bsky.social · 05/10/2026If racists were smart, they wouldn't be racists. The fact there are a lot of racist morons is the problem. 030
