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Ian Wiggins

@itswiggins.bsky.social
739 followers 522 following 420 posts

International Affairs for The Royal Society. Science Diplomacy via a bit of both science and diplomacy at the Foreign Office and then Uni of York. Also Chair of Trustees for Excel Learning Trust. (He/Him)

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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
IIRC there’s a whole mini plot for the West Wing when they’re considering moving the press pack across the street to the OEOB, do some polling for it and the pollster calls a member of the WH press pool…
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous f**king fortune
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I spent a while thinking “electric raspberry pink boxes” was some arcane BoE way of moving money around until I realised it was just referring to the colours in the diagram 🤦🏼‍♂️
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Ah yeh you’ve lost your wine transmission mate…. I mean I _can_ fix it obviously but it’s not going to be cheep. Yeh yeh I’ll need to change the intergenerational approach to social drinking and that’s gonna cost you
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The FT really subtweeting @stephenkb.bsky.social with this headline
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Haha - I also suspect it could well be the name of his pro-EU sock puppet on the other place 😄
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I read this headline very quickly and thought it said “Tim Montgomerie still hopes he will be the EU’s next member” Which would be somewhat out of character I guess
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This was fun to do as a Brit…
A dialect map showing I’m from New Jersey, apparently Reasons that gave me away for being from NJ
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Escalators that go up are called Upscalators. Downscalators also exist, obviously.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Ah! That makes sense. And fascinating too
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Love this. Follow up question: is there a difference between a silver band and a brass band? Or is that just the name of the band?
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Not the main issue, but I also fully agree with how Pádraig defines the left side (if you were standing at the foot of the bed facing it) which is objectively correct and yet has caused no end of argument with my wife who defines left/right by the perspective of someone sitting in bed
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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
🎶 Hold me closer lanky striker 🎶 #NorEng
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
RSA vs CAN…
The stick figure meme saying ‘c’mon, do something…’
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
static.klipy.com
Jim Carrey: So You're Telling Me There's a Chance?
Alt: Jim Carrey: So You're Telling Me There's a Chance?
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Sure beats a warm Coke on the Piccadilly line
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
A denim jacket? In _this_ weather?
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I’d not been following the test today, thought this was ironic. Checked score. Died a little inside.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Only one possible song for today, being as we are like seven inches from the midday sun
The cover of Smooth by Santana featuring Rob Thomas
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I had a colleague once, from Northumbria, who insisted on saying Sheffield was in “the North Midlands”.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
(Joking aside, I think this is an excellent move - proper devolution of the civil service out of Whitehall will only happen when ministers and senior officials are also outside of London for extended periods of time)
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Pretty sure Yorkshire had some views the last time Lancashire became a centre of political power for the UK
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Having had both ours early compared to my peers (late twenties so not *early* early) I will now aspire to be exactly this person in the WhatsApp groups 😂
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Fair to say that also came across in the text too
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
(To which I could say, basically yes!)
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Thanks for writing it! My favourite moment was when my wife asked me what I was reading and I said it was a book about economics and warfare… and the current chapter was around pirates and their incentive structures. To which she (who works in HR) said, disbelievingly,“what, like performance pay”?!
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Have just finished ‘Blood and Treasure’ by @duncanweldon.bsky.social which was excellent. And have just started on ‘The Coming Storm’ by Odd Arne Westad… so I’m doing just fine thanks for asking.
The front cover of blood and treasure by Duncan Weldon The front cover of “the coming storm”
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Today I learned that ciabatta is a millennial. Which tracks, honestly.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Hats off to @politico.com London playbook for their The Day Today reference this morning.
static.klipy.com
Chris Morris Says YES! on The Day Today
Alt: Chris Morris Says YES! on The Day Today
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I find myself this morning thinking a lot about Prophet Song by Paul Lynch which is an excellent and terrifying novel about how yes this can in fact happen here. Between flags and riots, it feels like we’re currently living some of the early chapters.
The front cover of the book Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
This is no more about the details of immigration policy than the progroms my great great grandparents fled were about Jews committing crimes. It's straightforward racist violence and it needs the strongest possible response.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Everyone on X and elsewhere who called for a violent response should be charged with incitement. Everyone involved in the pogrom should be locked up with exemplary sentences. Govt should make it clear that will be the response in future anywhere else. Enough.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
And with huge cultural cut through too. As an example: Pretty much anyone my age knows that “Nicole” should be followed by “Papa?”
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The racism we're seeing across the right today is vile and dangerous but it's also a sign of desperation. Three parties all fighting over the votes of aging authoritarians.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
This was excellent. I agree lots of people haven’t engaged at all in the detail. And for those who have, there’s a disingenuous point about the police - do they really think if roles reversed (minority victim; two white men saying they’d been attacked) that the police would have acted differently?
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🦇 Michael (Spooky) Bell 🎃 @mbellcoop.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
As ever @stephenkb.bsky.social gets to the actual issue, past the noise. Well worth reading www.ft.com/content/aa94...
ft.com
What Henry Nowak’s murder does — and does not — tell us about policing
Kemi Badenoch says his killing needs to be seen as a ‘Stephen Lawrence moment’ but the failures in both cases differ
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
When I lived in Moscow it was fairly common knowledge that the police would rent out radar guns from more senior officers so that they could in turn extract fines from motorists. So these developments feel somewhat unsurprising…
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
FTFY
It’s the photo from before, but this time with the bus level like Gary asked for
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Links here: www.ft.com/content/f9ee... The shrinking of Jewish life in Britain And www.ft.com/content/5cdf... How not to defeat antisemitism
ft.com
The shrinking of Jewish life in Britain
It should be entirely possible to be anti-Israel without sinking to dehumanising language
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
This piece by @stephenkb.bsky.social and the one @robertshrimsley.bsky.social are vital reads this morning. I’ll link to both below. As others have said, it is time to Make Racists Embarrassed Again
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 05/05/2026
This is really important. There's a tendency to conflate 'free speech' with 'uncurated speech' but they're different. Social signalling is how we avoid having to criminalise and enforce many difficult to define but terrible behaviours. The choices reputable institutions make shape that signal.
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Eddie Robson @eddierobson.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
How BBC Radio York covered York City's title-winning equaliser.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
And Worthing won too! The Rebels into the Conference!
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
What. A finish. Rochdale score 90+5. York equalises 90+13!!! The BBC Radio York commentary is just a joy to listen to
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Two very important games going on right now for my original hometown and my adopted one
A screenshot of the live text for Rochdale v YorkA screen shot of the live score for Worthing v Ebbsfleet
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
‘elf and safety gone mad
A sign from the Met police that reads “Pixie unloading”.  The sign is lying on the floor having been discarded sometime ago.  No pixies are visible, having presumably already been unloaded.
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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
There was a non-zero chance yesterday that the US president was thinking about using nuclear weapons. The most optimistic interpretation was that he was planning the catastrophic destruction of civilian infrastructure. Diplomacy seems like the sensible approach in that situation.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
This is an excellent summation of what was an impossibly mad 24 hours.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The events of the last few hours, written down in one place, by the great chronicler of the US @hcrichardson.bsky.social
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Well, phew.
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