ratanvaswani.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Dr. Alaa al-Najar while working at Nasser Hospital found the bodies of her dead 7 children upon entering the hospital. Her children Yahia, Rakan, Raslan, Jubran, Ev, Rivan, and Sidin - all killed in one instant

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

I’ve wondered about this from my perspective as a Brit. Brexit has caused very damaging economic and social rupture in the UK but the constitutional order remains intact. This may not prove to be the case in the US.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

‘A UNSC intervention is long overdue. Virtually all of Israel’s wars ended with an intervention by the council. Whether in 1967, 1973, 1982 or 2006, a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire was a crucial step towards the ending of hostilities.’ - @yairwallach.bsky.social

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Many voters, wrongly, think it irresponsible for those on low incomes to have more than 2 kids. But is this a dealbreaker electorally? Really? I’m not convinced. Why can’t this Labour government, for once, just do the right thing?

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Excellent piece by Gordon Brown - reminding us about the 4.5m children languishing in poverty in UK. It's getting worse by the day. It's NOT about workshy parents: 7/10 poor children live in households with one working parent. Child poverty is not inevitable. The Government CAN do something about it

submitted 2 days ago • 4 comments

It’s computer specs, that’s what it is. Google tried it a few years ago - didn’t really work. Maybe this thing will, AI revolution and all that. But it might be shit - who wants computer specs?

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Horrific murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in the middle of DC. This kind of violence is illegal, immoral, inexcusable and of course - if the chant of ‘free Palestine’ by the alleged shooter is true - solves nothing and helps zero Palestinians.

submitted 2 days ago • 376 comments

This is absolutely terrible news. With the shifting regulatory climate (i.e., antivax ratfuckery), Moderna has withdrawn their application for their eagerly anticipated COVID-flu combo vaccine. This vaccine offered better protection than getting each shot separately. h/t @merz.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 401 comments

Martin Kettle has interesting things to say about devolution in an increasingly fractured UK. But there is a glaring omission: this ‘Council of the Nations and Regions’ thing is meaningless if local administrations can’t raise their own money.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Daniel Lieberman’s great book on human evolution restates something I’ve often read - sapiens and neanderthals were different homo species but occasionally interbred. But I thought species are defined against each other by inability to mate to produce offspring? What’s the answer? #evolution

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Sadly it will never happen, but I would absolutely love tannoy announcements in the UK in both English and a variety of other languages depending on locality - Welsh, Gaelic, Hindi/Urdu, Polish, Swahili, Jamaican patois, Cantonese… my bliss. #langsky

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: More than half of disabled people with daily living needs in parts of England and Wales could lose out under planned cuts At least 50% of PIP daily living allowance claimants in ten constituencies could lose this benefit By me, for @bigissue.com www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

submitted 4 days ago • 10 comments

The welfare state has already collapsed if it has abandoned the welfare of those in need.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Look at what the American fascist regime has done in the last, most horrifying 24 hours. I dread to think about the consequences of each item on this list for the US and the world.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

There’s political and popular capital to be gained from going much bigger on reintegrating with the EU. It will only grow with time. Let’s see which UK political party dares in 2029 to start murmuring about accession. Not inconceivable that it will be the Tories - they’re good at not dying.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

In its own horrifying way, stunning.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Is it wholly implausible that the Lib Dems overtake Labour and become the party of choice in 2029 for tactical voters to keep Reform out?

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

I’m old fashioned enough to think the BBC should be leading on what the deal is and what it means. Rather than the political claims from both sides.

submitted 5 days ago • 203 comments

I doubt there’ll be much sustained bellyaching about Brexit betrayal even amongst Reform voters. There’s just not enough sense of personal grievance to be whipped up about fishing rights. It’ll blow over - good. British populism will drift back in a day or two to demanding more racism - groan.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

fair play, that’s a decent signing

submitted 6 days ago • 43 comments

I like semicolons; useful when you can’t decide between a comma and a stop.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Not talking in unison, but many years ago, when I lived for a while in New York, I sometimes walked past pairs of glamorous Manhattan ladies not bothering to take turns and just jabbering away simultaneously at each other. Most peculiar.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Go to the Garden Cinema in London for the UK’s (and possibly Europe’s) most interesting arthouse programme. Last week I saw the first, and today the second, of Cocteau’s Orphic trilogy, Orphée - rapturous, unsettling, dream-like, compelling; cinema as an art form at its best.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

“Venceréis porque tenéis sobrada fuerza bruta, pero no convenceréis. Para convencer hay que persuadir, y para persuadir necesitaríais algo que os falta: razón y derecho en la lucha”. Miguel de Unamuno

submitted 6 days ago • 9 comments

'Night Clocks' by contemporary printmaker Lisa Benson #WomensArt

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

One of many great nuggets in Nicholas Ostler’s Empires of the Word is that ‘Iron’ is a Celtic, pre-Anglo survival in English. (We didn’t adopt Latin ‘ferrum’). But I’m still puzzled how after 400 years of Roman rule, England didn’t become Romance speaking, like Gaul. Who knows? #langsky

submitted 6 days ago • 3 comments

I’m taking it seriously. Even if they don’t win, I’m taking very seriously the possibility that the 2029 General Election is fought on Reform’s preferred racist themes. It will be horrific.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Sure, what possible objection could you have to the Hunger Games for immigrants wanting citizenship?

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Trump threatening Bruce Springsteen is not just disgusting but so, so dangerous.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Starmer, a few months from now, trying to reverse out of his Farageist blind alley.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Why would the President of the United States diss his country’s most loved citizen?

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

So what does Starmer do now? Fire Morgan McFarage and use the rest of the parliament to find better language, policy and vision? Or double down on the nasty right wing stuff? My guess is he doubles down on the nasty stuff.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Via @greenpeaceuk.bsky.social on insta, the most accurate use of this meme ever

submitted 9 days ago • 36 comments

Struck by how this paragraph could apply to so many European countries, including the UK

submitted 8 days ago • 6 comments

I expected Starmer’s Labour to disappoint but that it would at least be more pragmatic than performative. Remember Boris Johnson dressing up for the cameras as a policeman, a scientist and stuff? This looks less silly but really it’s the same.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Such a mystery…

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

I enjoyed Calamity Jane on telly when I was a kid - especially Doris Day singing the Deadwood Stage - so imagine my delight this evening when we saw a terrific West End style production at our local theatre in Wimbledon. Whip crack away!

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Spain showing leadership. We must follow.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

The best way for Labour to stem the bleeding from its head is to stop banging it against a brick wall.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Here’s a suggestion for Labour: to win over racist voters pissed off with the state of the country, try improving the state of the country rather than making Labour racist too?

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Excellent advice. The one quibble I might have is on testing. In my experience as both a learner and teacher, regular low-stakes testing - especially involving recall rather than review - is an important element of making progress. #langsky

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

Mmh Hmh.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Labour expect (and probably want) a single opponent in Reform. Trouble is, they’ve already conceded on immigration, Brexit etc. Maybe the progressive vote splits as Reform gobbles up the Tories, ushering in Nigel Hitler.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments