Philosopher writing on science, religion, SFF, @SFWA, Codex, lute videos, Wonderstruck forthc. w @PrincetonUP
newsletter: https://t.co/D09RfzT6dl
Any pronouns
Sep 21, 2018 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Damn right @BritishInEurope - It's just not right to put the lives of 5+ million people on the negotiation table, to be haggled over like chattel, together with aviation, borders and trade. We, @The3Million too, deserve respect. 1/
They should've done this from the beginning, ringfenced our rights from the beginning. Just take people off the negotiating table from the start.
Negotiating over people's lives is something you do in wartime, not in a peacetime (albeit tricky) negotiation. 2/
Sep 21, 2018 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Thread on the backstop and why it may be more feasible than thought before.
With Chequers dead, it's clear now UK must choose between
-No deal (economic suicide)
-Remain in EU (tories would sooner drop dead)
-Backstop (special arrangement for N Ireland)
-Stay in SM/CU 1/
I'd love to have Remain or Stay in SM and CU. But let's look a bit more closely at the backstop option. A timely reminder that the Cabinet has AGREED to the backstop. It is necessary for the Good Friday Agreement 2/ bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
Sep 18, 2018 • 24 tweets • 5 min read
You know what is so very depressing about the MAC report about immigration and its impact? The wide disparity between their recommendations and the evidence they find about freedom of movement. It's pure ideology. 1/
Read here for the report gov.uk/government/pub…
And see here an illuminating thread by @The3Million that summarizes some main points.
Little reflective thread. My friend @HaseltonMarlies has been making these poignant, bleak photos of everyday scenes in the UK before it leaves the EU in her #LastMonthsBeforeBrexit series. I've been thinking of where we are now... 1/
I was devastated on 24 June 2016, although I worried Leave might win. In the course of the day I wrote "the UK voted to wreck itself economically to get rid of foreigners". Goodness did I get a lot of grief about that. Lots of people unfriended me, and I unfriended lots others 2/
Sep 17, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Katie Hopkins filing for insolvency after being sued for libel. If the whole case demonstrates one thing, it's that the bar for a "journalist" to be noteworthy is stunningly low if you write offensive, politically incorrect things. 1/
Let's review the glaring lack of originality in her tweets.
Ginger babies are like babies, but "that much harder to love".
Telling fat people how to dress: "skinny jeans are only for skinny people" it got 780 likes, but just sounds like that bitchy girl in high school 2/
Sep 16, 2018 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Some quick thoughts on why @UKLabour should support a people's vote. This article is not a big headline but still pretty significant as it gives insight into how Brexiters are thinking. No matter what deal is struck, they can always unpick after 1/
theguardian.com/politics/2018/…
So let's recap:
* A deal that is as good as EU membership does not exist. It isn't there. It isn't happening. The government's own projections indicate that even full EEA membership will come with substantial loss of GDP. 2/
Sep 14, 2018 • 25 tweets • 6 min read
Brexit seems to be the solution to all our economic woes (short thread)
E.g., Hannan thinks that Brexit will be great because house prices will crash by 1/3. That will be great for first-time buyers, right?
Problem is last time house prices crashed (2008) home ownership in younger people did not increase. It decreased by quite a bit as can be seen in this graph. 2/
Sep 12, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
We are expected to believe that the UK will all of a sudden become compassionate and reasonable when dealing with settled status applications (*applications* note, not registrations, so liable to rejection). 1/
Now we know the HO as being fickle, unreliable, by design. They currently deny path to citizenship (through permanent residency) of people who have been in UK for decades, worked there, even married to British citizens! 2/
Sep 11, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
What's the deal with Theresa May's silence about chequers?
Here's a speculation. By basically not talking about it, she hopes it will be adopted by default.
If ERG can't agree and don't publish their plan, we face a choice between chequers and no deal 1/
If the ERG proposals would be published, then the choice becomes ERG vs Chequers. Since ERG proposals are very likely going to violate the Good Friday Agreement and won't maintain health, safety standards and consumer protections Labour would vote it down 2/
Sep 10, 2018 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Surreal. Government's response to @Suewilson91's claim that EU ref was not a fair or free vote: " At the time the decision to give article 50 notice was taken, it was a matter of public record that campaigners may have breached campaign finance requirements," 1/
Suppose a student of mine is awarded a degree even though he cheated on his exam, and this has now been definitely confirmed. Oh, but it's all fine, I say, he can keep his degree. It's fine because you see, I *expected* of this student that he would cheat! 2/
Sep 7, 2018 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
So let me get this straight: Jacob Rees-Mogg, apparently so appealing that he's a plausible candidate for PM wrote in a letter to @Andrew_Adonis that ‘I do not believe there should be any special terms for EU migrants,’ 1/
And Rees-Mogg also wrote, 'Once we have left the EU there will be no legal basis to treat them differently from migrants from non-EU countries'. Now what would concretely happen if this were actual UK policy (e.g., in the absence of a deal) 2/
Aug 30, 2018 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
Ouch. Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta said, about May's visit to Kenya that he was “honoured our invitation to come and see for yourself our country and continent that has changed in the last nearly four decades since a UK prime minister visited” 1/
I don't see many upsides to Brexit. But here is potentially one: the UK's now feeling so insecure they can apparently be bothered in visiting an African country for the first time in 40 years, and acknowledge its bright future and shared values. 2/
Aug 27, 2018 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Short thread: Just heard John McCain's farewell letter to America, read by a close friend here.
Read the full text here: theatlantic.com/politics/archi… 1/
Against the white nationalism that now so dominates US he said "We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. 2/
Aug 25, 2018 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
A show of strength means devising a satnav system essentially replicating the EU's Galileo project. Let me get this straight... 1/
telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/2…
A show of strength, is that essentially pouring millions of ££ into a replication of a system that already exists but that you've excluded yourself from? To me it sounds rather pathetic 2/
Aug 25, 2018 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Brief thread: I've been thinking, it has become increasingly clear that net migration from the EU now already is at sustainable levels. So why this banging on about sustainable levels, arbitrarily set in the 10,000s? Just a brief recap 1/
If EU migration ends or is drastically reduced, the @dailytelegraph says that women (yeah...) would have to quit their jobs to care for their ageing parents due to lack of EU carers 2/ telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/…
Let's look at some things that DO cause social unrest according to research 1/
Probably the most comprehensive study on social unrest in Europe, studying the period 1919-2008 this paper finds a link between austerity and social unrest. 2/
Let's analyse that claim 1/
We don't know what Brexit will look like, but every possible outcome will be worse than the status quo, even according to the government's own projections.
That means concretely a decrease in standard of living even in best case scenario. 2/
Aug 19, 2018 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
Raab said "The first priority of the UK in negotiating our withdrawal from the EU was to reach agreement on the rights of our citizens."
A brief reminder about how much of a priority we were. 1/
theguardian.com/politics/2016/…
"That includes the 3.5 million EU citizens that live in the UK and are valued members of their communities and play an integral part in the life of this country."
It depends what you mean with "valued". As long as we can be milked for taxes? 2/
Politicians blaming the EU for the Genoa bridge collapse is like Brexit in miniature.
Old, tired infrastructure that national government has not bothered to invest in, but instead of taking responsibility politicians blame Brussels.
In the UK, that game will soon be over.
Of course, they'll go on for a bit saying "Brussels is punishing us!" when things go pear-shaped (thereby blissfully ignoring the fact that they also said "We hold all the cards", "they need us more than we need them etc". 2/
Aug 16, 2018 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
My FB feed and twitter feed filled with EU citizens, packing up and leaving the UK with a heavy heart. These are: academics, entrepreneurs, teachers, several NHS workers
Meanwhile Twitter Brexiters: There are still over 100,000 coming! Our environment isn't hostile enough! 1/
Those people made this country richer not just in crass economic terms, doing jobs that UK citizens aren't willing to do (e.g., being a nurse), bringing their education, language skills etc. They also made the country richer in cultural and social terms. 2/
Aug 7, 2018 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
I've been struck by this article on how lack of EU carers forcing women to care for elderly people after #Brexit is a feature, not a bug of Brexit.
Brexit is the project on putting people in their place. 1/
newstatesman.com/politics/femin…
First and foremost, Brexit is the project of putting EU citizens who come here in their place.
How dare you come here taking jobs without having to jump through our visa hoops?
How dare you come here on equal terms with British workers? 2/
