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@voidstarconst.bsky.social
Controlling the means of production of capital returns (London, UK)
305 followers312 following689 posts
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As an immigrant, there are two UK home biases that stand out: The media being absolutely awful, in a way that doesn’t happen elsewhere because… my best bet is its owner and staff actually being capable of feeling shame? And then there is foreign languages
Yes, people in this country do not really have any idea quite how, uh, remarkable and distinctive the British media are
Whisper it, but a more meritocratic capitalism has drained the pool of capable public servants in a way that simply didn’t happen back in the days of sclerotic dynasties
I think learning that the opinion-makers we had come to rely on were of below average intelligence (and largely only concerned about their cocktail party friends) was also pretty significant.
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This is kind of wonderful, Alison Brown wrangled a handful of pretty decent old bluegrass guys to play “Old Town Road”. Nas X’s impact… immeasurable youtu.be/a_GCX5IoCds
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Replying to @rmcunliffe.bsky.social
"You've worked hard all your life accruing all that wealth via soaring house prices and nice defined-benefit pensions, and we think it's wrong for the state to touch it via inheritance tax. But it's totally fine for the government to deny your 24-year-old kid support based off of it"
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This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
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Replying to @flyingrodent.bsky.social
Remember the deal was: you give up collective bargaining and provisions to protect you in unemployment or ill health, and you gain cheap goods, social mobility and a house? And now nothing works, everything is expensive, the public realm is visibly degraded and about ten guys own the whole world.
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Replying to @petefrasermusic.bsky.social
…would call ‘do-gooders’ - a hugely revealing insult if ever there was one. But it’s just not in the arsenal any more, because the mainstream British right wing has an unearned victimhood complex visible from the moon. Never has the world witnessed such a gaggle of whinging, self-pitying arseholes.
Remember the McDonalds interview guy? He was wrong on so many counts but this was an important aspect of life he understood very clearly
Yes it is superior, but as someone hailing from the backwaters I feel I have to at least explain the ignorant reaction: the cosmopolitan way of life is not an option available to all, not without cost or risk
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I did not ask for this gift of prophecy (or basic observation).
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I'm sorry but "a huge number of NYC cabs now are remaindered EVs running grey market software written by some dude in a garage" is the most cyberpunk thing I've ever heard
I asked a driver how they service them since they’re no longer made. He said they have a guy they go to for all the software updates and all that. Even though, it has many missing typical car elements. (Like cruise control or power windows even I believe).
One of the weirdest culture shock moments I’ve had was, after a long time in London, visiting Vienna and being waited on by actual grownups and not just minimum wage 20-somethings swarming to the big city
creating "community" isn't just about happening to have four walls and a roof, it's also about having the sort of society where, for example, wages in hospitality are high enough that people consider staying in those jobs for a long while, as opposed to doing it for a bit then escaping
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You know who wasn't hounded to suicide for dodgy academic research? ANDREW FUCKING WAKEFIELD.
Fucking Christ alive. This is fucking horrific. Like the dude was obviously a fabulist and probably a plagiarist but SO ARE ALL FUCKING ACADEMICS. He was also still a vulnerable, autistic Black man and the entire campaign against him was motivated by racism. All these things can be true.
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I’d be more interested in knowing the total amount of gold than the weight of the heaviest individual bar, but then English is not my first language
Police found gold bars weighing as much as 74kg stashed at the home of Indonesia’s most senior anti-corruption prosecutor. If authorities thought they could go after him with impunity, they were soon disabused of the idea