Howell Harris

@trefeca.bsky.social

147

Followers

324

Following

759

Posts

Retired (US, business & technology) historian. Twitter escapee. Hope this doesn't go the same way. Welsh & European. Durham resident. Gardener & cyclist.

Posts Replies Media

What a surprise!

Soldiers testimonials are starting to come out. www.972mag.com/israeli-sold...

‘I’m bored, so I shoot’: The Israeli army’s approval of free-for-all violence in Gazawww.972mag.com Israeli soldiers describe the near-total absence of firing regulations in the Gaza war, with troops shooting as they please, setting homes ablaze, and leaving corpses on the streets — all with their c...

Reposted by

Howell Harris

“E. Macron” is an anagram of Cameron, whom he joins in the “civilization-threatening terrible political judgment” sweeps

Some classy pol sci analysis here.

Realistically I think you should probably expect that a third of the parliament of any European country are likely to be insane people from now on. The goal is to keep that the ceiling. This may be pessimistic but this is linked to that being the proportion of our citizens which are insane

Reposted by

Howell Harris

End this 14 years of Tory misrule says the Prime Minister.

Fascinating! How many people have died in the last 26 years that he has dominated so negatively?

This is a New York Times op-ed about Netanyahu, suggesting that the U.S. government's patience with him should come to an end. It was published twenty-six years ago.

Reposted by

Howell Harris

"Simple answers to the crises which Labour will face" Richard Murphy says there are simple solutions to the 6 immediate crises that Labour will face: 👉Thames Water 👉Public sector pay 👉Prison overcrowding 👉Universities going under 👉NHS Funding 👉Bankrupt councils

Simple answers to the crises which Labour will faceeastangliabylines.co.uk Richard Murphy argues that there are simple solutions to the six immediate crises that Labour will face. But would the voters believe him?

Bad news for the US & therefore for the rest of us too.

Biden’s dilemma is that he represents the kind of stable, predictable, slightly boring centrist governance old white people (who decide elections) used, on the whole, to like. The problem for his campaign is that an awful lot of old white people have been radicalized by Fox into Nazi anarchists.

I changed my phone a week or so ago, & as an experiment I haven’t reinstalled Twitter. It’s good — this place has more variety (my Follow list is less British) & better manners — but I am missing the nutters, the trolls, the bad-faith arguments. I think I’m going to have to succumb again. Alas.

Reposted by

Howell Harris

the fools-based international order

First nine words will do, in that case.

The UK will never get back on its feet until its political class break their obsession with doing everything that US politics is doing, five years later and a bit worse.

Quite. It’s still working. Will cover a multitude of sins.

David Rowe

Reposted by

Howell Harris

This Mary Beard clip on Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation is very good. Points out the obvious limitations and partiality while being generous about the strengths of Clark’s work. V good point that it’s harder to construct a narrative if you try to take in the whole world www.bcc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Mary Beard Remembers... Civilisationwww.bbc.co.uk Mary Beard delivers a personal introduction to Kenneth Clark’s landmark 1969 series.

Reposted by

Howell Harris

Inspired by today's excellent column by @jbouie.bsky.social in which he mentions the "new mantra of `free enterprise'," I am sharing a page from FREE ENTERPRISE: AN AMERICAN HISTORY (2019), on how a new meaning of the phrase became dominant after the New Deal, crowding out other possible variants.

How times, and tastes, change! @gilesmacdonogh.bsky.social

Reposted by

Howell Harris

Often think of these beautiful paragraphs from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, where a WW2 film is played backwards. (They inspired Martin Amis's Time's Arrow, written in reverse chronology.)

Reposted by

Howell Harris

tread on this, Johnny Reb

Reposted by

Howell Harris

For your reading pleasure on Confederate Surrender Day, here is The Liberator absolutely roasting Robert E. Lee with a damning bill of particulars shortly after the end of the Civil War. A man "not in the slightest degree penitent, either for his treachery, perjury, treason, falsehood, or cruelty."

Reposted by

Howell Harris

Since I don’t think Dave is on here, this is his latest column in the local newspaper. Bang on the money.

A nice comparison. And with LG it was, at worst, honest corruption — money changing hands, favours traded, not the purchase of political influence & party donations.

Lloyd George is often cited as the acme of peerage corruption. Note that in a 2,146 day administration he created 115 of them. Johnson, Truss, and Sunak together have created 148 in a much shorter period of time.

Reposted by

Howell Harris

'the new changes to election law brought in by the Tories without a parliamentary vote raised the spending limits for the pre-election period from £19m to £34m. The new rules also make it easier than ever to funnel dark money into British politics.' democracyforsale.substack.com/p/frank-hest...

Frank Hester shows how ‘mega donors’ buy British democracydemocracyforsale.substack.com The Conservatives started the political donations arms race. Until it’s stopped, there will be more scandals

Reposted by

Howell Harris

We're all doomed - maybe: www.enlightenmenteconomics.com/blog/index.p...

Reposted by

Howell Harris

I was waiting for this. I do know this man slightly, though I've never actually met him.

Reposted by

Howell Harris

In five years from now, if current long term trends continue, the possibility of Israel changing course (towards civic pluralism and democracy) will be greatly reduced. The potential for external pressure to achieve change will also be much more limited. The time for external pressure is now

I suppose it might be possible to look more favourably on a policy designed to pass muster with the bunch of crooks, thugs, & fanatics who form Netanyahu’s government & its Knesset majority.

Reposted by

Howell Harris

A while back I wrote a note on the literature that came out of the David Irving suit. 🗃️ erauchway.github.io/posts/irving...

David Irving has apparently died.

Reposted by

Howell Harris

Looks like an absolute treat. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger review – Scorsese’s guide to cinema greats www.theguardian.com/film/2024/fe...

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger review – Scorsese’s guide to cinema greatswww.theguardian.com Martin Scorsese, who helped rescue the British film-makers’ work from obscurity, is the perfect person to discuss their unique and now beloved work

Reposted by

Howell Harris

Americans, it’s that simple. You can have Biden, with his faults and flaws. Or you can have Trump, then lose your republic and watch the RBO unravel. It’s that simple. To “punish Biden for Gaza” by letting Trump win is just like overdosing on fentanyl to manage your sore back. Cure kills patient.

Reposted by

Howell Harris

Cold War Steve

Reposted by

Howell Harris

A close look at the law and policy of holding a Northern Ireland border poll How the law carefully shapes what will be an essentially political decision New detailed post by me emptycity.substack.com/p/a-close-lo...

Reposted by

Howell Harris

My new Coppola Comment post, on the Gaza tunnel economy. How Gaza's tunnels enabled it to withstand a siege and brought about a remarkable, if short-lived, economic recovery. (Yes, the image is of the London Tube. Read the post to find out why!) coppolacomment.substack.com/p/tunnel-eco...

Tunnel economycoppolacomment.substack.com How a network of tunnels built for smuggling revitalised Gaza's economy and enabled it to withstand a siege.