Howell Harris
@trefeca.bsky.social
Retired (US, business & technology) historian. Twitter escapee. Hope this doesn't go the same way. Welsh & European. Durham resident. Gardener & cyclist.
Reposted by Howell Harris
"BRITAIN BECOMES DUMP FOR THE NAXI EXILES. Scores of Jews and other exiles are being smuggled into England in small foreign ships, for £25 a time."
Daily Mirror, 1938.
Sound familiar?
Daily Mirror, 1938.
Sound familiar?
October 2, 2026 at 8:45 AM
"BRITAIN BECOMES DUMP FOR THE NAXI EXILES. Scores of Jews and other exiles are being smuggled into England in small foreign ships, for £25 a time."
Daily Mirror, 1938.
Sound familiar?
Daily Mirror, 1938.
Sound familiar?
Reposted by Howell Harris
History is written by the victors. Thatcher broke the power of trade unions by mass unemployment, industrial restructuring, frittered away N Sea Oil, laid the foundations for the current housing crisis, decimated local bus services, hollowed out local government and introduced the poll tax.
October 2, 2026 at 7:16 AM
History is written by the victors. Thatcher broke the power of trade unions by mass unemployment, industrial restructuring, frittered away N Sea Oil, laid the foundations for the current housing crisis, decimated local bus services, hollowed out local government and introduced the poll tax.
Small change for Big Change.
He is not burning cash. He is investing money to shape political discourse and public opinion in line with his ideology and interests. And it's a successful strategy. Also, for a billionaire losing 10 million is like losing 1000 pounds for a middle class person.
Find someone to love you like Paul Marshall loves burning cash on GB News
pressgazette.co.uk/media_busine...
pressgazette.co.uk/media_busine...
September 30, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Small change for Big Change.
Seen on Facebook, think it’s the work of a Graham McInnes.
September 30, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Seen on Facebook, think it’s the work of a Graham McInnes.
Absolutely. They deserved to lose. Trouble is that the Shitters deserved to lose more, tho they ran the better campaign, particularly the expert way they played the brown card & dog-whistled in islamophobic.
In retrospect I tend to be surprised that remain got 48% given a mostly atrocious campaign at national level.
September 30, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Absolutely. They deserved to lose. Trouble is that the Shitters deserved to lose more, tho they ran the better campaign, particularly the expert way they played the brown card & dog-whistled in islamophobic.
Reposted by Howell Harris
To think there are still people out there talking about "targeted strikes" and "minimising civilian casualties". This is no different to what Russia has done in Eastern Ukraine.
A satellite image of southern Gaza shows an apocalyptic scene—not a single building appears to be left standing.
September 30, 2026 at 11:15 AM
To think there are still people out there talking about "targeted strikes" and "minimising civilian casualties". This is no different to what Russia has done in Eastern Ukraine.
Reposted by Howell Harris
This is your semi-regular reminder that pensioner poverty:
a) is real
b) is significantly less prevalent than working-age poverty and half the rate of child poverty, and
c) is such that a pensioner is statistically more likely to live in a household worth over £1 million than to live in poverty
a) is real
b) is significantly less prevalent than working-age poverty and half the rate of child poverty, and
c) is such that a pensioner is statistically more likely to live in a household worth over £1 million than to live in poverty
September 30, 2026 at 12:47 PM
This is your semi-regular reminder that pensioner poverty:
a) is real
b) is significantly less prevalent than working-age poverty and half the rate of child poverty, and
c) is such that a pensioner is statistically more likely to live in a household worth over £1 million than to live in poverty
a) is real
b) is significantly less prevalent than working-age poverty and half the rate of child poverty, and
c) is such that a pensioner is statistically more likely to live in a household worth over £1 million than to live in poverty
Reposted by Howell Harris
Exam question is, 27 of your neighbours have decided to be in a club, several others have decided to be heavily aligned, do you want to be in it or not.
September 30, 2026 at 8:12 AM
Exam question is, 27 of your neighbours have decided to be in a club, several others have decided to be heavily aligned, do you want to be in it or not.
Not just Macron saying this, tho he is admirably blunt. We told them so.
Macron: “Brexit is the biggest lie of the last 30 years.
“Those who said, "We will be richer" - eight points of GDP less ten years later.
"”We will solve the problem of immigration" - it is more complicated than before.
"”We are going to crush it in international trade" - it is worse.”
“Those who said, "We will be richer" - eight points of GDP less ten years later.
"”We will solve the problem of immigration" - it is more complicated than before.
"”We are going to crush it in international trade" - it is worse.”
September 30, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Not just Macron saying this, tho he is admirably blunt. We told them so.
Quite. Crackpot realism triumphs again.
It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.
September 30, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Quite. Crackpot realism triumphs again.
Reposted by Howell Harris
The view from your cozy, comfortable home when your neighbors are genocidal murderers.
Kyiv, Ukraine 📍
Kyiv, Ukraine 📍
September 29, 2026 at 2:34 PM
The view from your cozy, comfortable home when your neighbors are genocidal murderers.
Kyiv, Ukraine 📍
Kyiv, Ukraine 📍
Reposted by Howell Harris
Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington:
We have failed to live up to the command in Deuteronomy, “you shall not violate the rights of the alien or the orphan,” and to the words on the Statue of Liberty. And so “we are losing our soul as a nation.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/we-are-los...
We have failed to live up to the command in Deuteronomy, “you shall not violate the rights of the alien or the orphan,” and to the words on the Statue of Liberty. And so “we are losing our soul as a nation.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/we-are-los...
‘We Are Losing Our Soul as a Nation’
What we saw in Springfield, Ohio.
www.thebulwark.com
September 29, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington:
We have failed to live up to the command in Deuteronomy, “you shall not violate the rights of the alien or the orphan,” and to the words on the Statue of Liberty. And so “we are losing our soul as a nation.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/we-are-los...
We have failed to live up to the command in Deuteronomy, “you shall not violate the rights of the alien or the orphan,” and to the words on the Statue of Liberty. And so “we are losing our soul as a nation.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/we-are-los...
Reposted by Howell Harris
One obvious point about the Republican rats desperately deserting the sinking Trump ship:
They're still rats.
They're still rats.
September 29, 2026 at 11:42 AM
One obvious point about the Republican rats desperately deserting the sinking Trump ship:
They're still rats.
They're still rats.
Reposted by Howell Harris
The number of times Nigel Farage has fallen over himself to get a racist xenophobic slant on some breaking news SHOULD be a wake up call to anyone who thinks he isn’t just a hate monger, trying to distract from his crypto millions with some new scapegoat
September 28, 2026 at 11:11 PM
The number of times Nigel Farage has fallen over himself to get a racist xenophobic slant on some breaking news SHOULD be a wake up call to anyone who thinks he isn’t just a hate monger, trying to distract from his crypto millions with some new scapegoat
Reposted by Howell Harris
Pope Leo, "Today relations between people between and states are becoming increasingly barbaric"
"Lies and deceit are boasted about"
"Europe can overcome this by coming together"
"Lies and deceit are boasted about"
"Europe can overcome this by coming together"
September 28, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Pope Leo, "Today relations between people between and states are becoming increasingly barbaric"
"Lies and deceit are boasted about"
"Europe can overcome this by coming together"
"Lies and deceit are boasted about"
"Europe can overcome this by coming together"
Reposted by Howell Harris
It’s as if had James Callaghan stood up in 1976 and saying “for the past 30 years we’ve been too concerned with price stability”.
Healy on ITV just now saying we have a system which asks "how much are you entitled to" and that's absolutely not true, the welfare system in the UK has loads of conditionality to look for and find work, it's so weird Labour keep pretending otherwise
September 28, 2026 at 11:26 PM
It’s as if had James Callaghan stood up in 1976 and saying “for the past 30 years we’ve been too concerned with price stability”.
HE “policy” discussion in England is infected by the same sick logic too.
Who says they “don’t make enough money”? Compared to what?
You don’t need to grant the far right authoritarian party’s premise. You can write that they’re using arbitrary numbers based on no standards that should not be taken seriously, & you can just say that plainly instead of stenographizing
You don’t need to grant the far right authoritarian party’s premise. You can write that they’re using arbitrary numbers based on no standards that should not be taken seriously, & you can just say that plainly instead of stenographizing
Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/kQdKbY1
September 29, 2026 at 7:48 AM
HE “policy” discussion in England is infected by the same sick logic too.
Reposted by Howell Harris
For years we've heard that Biden created a "Ministry of Truth," which didn't actually happen. But, I still hear people talking about it. But then Trump directed his FCC boss to be a literal Minister of Truth and the story disappeared within a day or two.
What are we even doing here?
What are we even doing here?
Trump Orders The FCC To Punish A Reporter. Where Did All The ‘Ministry Of Truth’ Screamers Go?
Remember the Disinformation Governance Board? As we were quick to point...
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/28/trump-orders-the-fcc-to-punish-a-reporter-where-did-all-the-ministry-of-truth-screamers-go/
Remember the Disinformation Governance Board? As we were quick to point...
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/28/trump-orders-the-fcc-to-punish-a-reporter-where-did-all-the-ministry-of-truth-screamers-go/
Trump Orders The FCC To Punish A Reporter. Where Did All The ‘Ministry Of Truth’ Screamers Go?
Remember the Disinformation Governance Board? As we were quick to point out, this organization was named in the dumbest possible way by some incompetent people within the Biden administration, which only fed into the [ahem] disinformation around it. The program, a part of DHS, was an advisory group with no enforcement capabilities, and was tasked...
www.techdirt.com
September 29, 2026 at 1:04 AM
For years we've heard that Biden created a "Ministry of Truth," which didn't actually happen. But, I still hear people talking about it. But then Trump directed his FCC boss to be a literal Minister of Truth and the story disappeared within a day or two.
What are we even doing here?
What are we even doing here?
Reposted by Howell Harris
Always funny when ostensible liberals are like "You see, this postcolonial conflict is actually very nuanced and complex, because what makes it so very unique is that the majority ethnic group doesn't want to share power with the minority ethnic groups."
Oh wow, I didn't know that, that's wild man.
Oh wow, I didn't know that, that's wild man.
September 29, 2026 at 4:18 AM
Always funny when ostensible liberals are like "You see, this postcolonial conflict is actually very nuanced and complex, because what makes it so very unique is that the majority ethnic group doesn't want to share power with the minority ethnic groups."
Oh wow, I didn't know that, that's wild man.
Oh wow, I didn't know that, that's wild man.
Reposted by Howell Harris
Rare opportunity to invest in no future.
September 29, 2026 at 5:23 AM
Rare opportunity to invest in no future.
Reposted by Howell Harris
it’s so funny that people were like “OMG a 2PM Oval Office announcement, is Trump going to end the war in Iran or invade Cuba?!?!”
and it turns out, no, he’s just going to rant about how good the economy is + how elections are rigged and then fall asleep
and it turns out, no, he’s just going to rant about how good the economy is + how elections are rigged and then fall asleep
September 28, 2026 at 7:05 PM
it’s so funny that people were like “OMG a 2PM Oval Office announcement, is Trump going to end the war in Iran or invade Cuba?!?!”
and it turns out, no, he’s just going to rant about how good the economy is + how elections are rigged and then fall asleep
and it turns out, no, he’s just going to rant about how good the economy is + how elections are rigged and then fall asleep
Good question.
As the Danish government is also expanding CPH I probably should cast the first stone.
But: Why is the UK letting the sovereign investments funds of Quatar (20%), Saudia Arabia (15%), Singapore (11%) and China (10%) expand Heathrow, in reality betting on the world giving up on the Paris Agreement?
But: Why is the UK letting the sovereign investments funds of Quatar (20%), Saudia Arabia (15%), Singapore (11%) and China (10%) expand Heathrow, in reality betting on the world giving up on the Paris Agreement?
September 28, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Good question.
I guess you could call the yellow areas “concentration camps”.
Smotrich presented these maps and his "sovereignty plan" a year ago, but I wasn't aware of them until this week.
September 28, 2026 at 6:52 PM
I guess you could call the yellow areas “concentration camps”.
Reposted by Howell Harris
That being said I'm in favour of abolishing the Home Office
"Most civil servants work in Justice, Home Office, DWP, HMRC & Defence. Cut 224,000 jobs and you cut: prisons, borders, benefits, pensions, tax collection, the armed forces. Then the specialists who keep rivers clean, stop cyber attacks and contain animal disease ..."
via Reform Are Not Your Friends
via Reform Are Not Your Friends
September 28, 2026 at 7:09 AM
That being said I'm in favour of abolishing the Home Office