Bob Tivey

Ad hoc tweeting on fairly random topics including The Archers, political economy, electricity, cricket, rugby (especially Glawster)

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@MichaelLCrick @BarryHavenhand Pitt (and other men) may have been Younger but Crick’s comment is about the claim to be, “the youngest-ever woman cabinet minister”.

[Henrik Dahl @SociologenHD]

As a Danish and European politician, I am not accustomed to deliberate public falsehood as a political method. But it is probably something we will have to get used to.

Take, for example, Jeff Landry’s blatant falsehood that Donald Trump was the first major politician to truly place Greenland on the world map.

If we confine ourselves to this century alone, Colin Powell was co-signatory of the Igaliku Agreement in 2004 while serving as Secretary of State. John Negroponte, then Deputy Secretary of State, represented the United States when the Ilulissat Declaration was signed in 2008. John Kerry visited Greenland in 2016 while serving as Secretary of State. And Antony Blinken visited the island in 2021.

Greenland was also visited by Angela Merkel in 2007, when the purpose was to study climate change.

And the island has continuously received visits from American politicians who genuinely take an interest in Arctic affairs. The foremost among them is undoubtedly Lisa Murkowski.

So Greenland has long been on the world map - partly because of climate change, and partly because of the question of Arctic security. And Greenland has continuously been integrated into Arctic cooperation, not least as a consequence of the Igaliku Agreement.

There was a time when I read a great deal of Jürgen Habermas and believed that the norm of truth was an unbreakable norm among civilized people. I believed that, as Habermas put it, the better argument exercised a kind of “forceless force.”

What we lack today is a new Habermas for the twenty-first century - someone capable of describing the performative role of the lie.

Because the reality is this: to someone who knows nothing about Greenland, Jeff Landry’s statements sound perfectly plausible. But they are simply a fabrication. A good story. Something designed to generate support without any ambition toward truth. Harry Frankfurt argued that this is the very essence of what he called “bullshit.”

We no longer merely disagree about values. Increasingly, we disagree about reality itself.

Jeff Landry is part of the post-truth culture that permeates American politics. But it is also something we in Europe will increasingly have to adapt to, simply because of the influence the United States possesses.

It is difficult to say where this post-truth strategy will lead the Western world. But I will be honest: I have reached an age where I preferred the world shaped by the ideals of the Enlightenment - by truth as a moral norm and obligation.

That world is gone. Perhaps permanently. I understand that. But I cannot pretend to admire the replacement.

[Simon Schama @simon_schama]

So encouraged to read this moving, bravely reasoned statement of impassioned solidarity from Muslim friends and co-citizens . Exactly what is needed right now. Thank you so much. Be assured that we Jews would feel and speak the same way in the face of virulent Islamophobia.

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@SenMarkKelly @anneapplebaum I am reminded of the the Delphic oracle’s prophesy when Croesus, king of Lydia, sought advice about a possible war with Persia.

She said that a great empire would fall. Croesus started a war with the Persians, but it was Croesus & the Lydian empire that fell.

[Maggie Alphonsi MBE @MaggieAlphonsi]

Happy International Women’s Day!

Today we celebrate the achievements of women around the world, but we must never forget those trailblazers who fought hard to make it possible for others and those that still continue to fight for their rights to have their voices heard. Thank you also to the male allies who support and champion the achievements of women too.

This week I had the pleasure of delivering International Women’s Day virtual and in-person talks to Center Parcs, Network Rail, BP and IG Group….thank you all for giving me the opportunity to share my story and talk about inclusive leadership to your colleagues.

#IWD

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:

“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

“There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

“If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That’s why you should always have a nutrition choice!

“Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.”

[Simon Schama @simon_schama]

bravo Sir Ian 👏

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

Bruce Springsteen on Trump: “I couldn't care less what he thinks about me. He's the living personification of what the 25th Amendment and impeachment were for. If Congress had any guts, he'd be consigned to the trash heap of history."

RETWEET if you stand with @Springsteen!

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@AnnieChave I am shocked, shocked to find that ...

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@simon_schama Simon, I enjoy, and normally agree with, all your posts, but this is on the BBC site that I can see. I don't know if it isn't visible on a US BBC site 🤔. And I think there've been some earlier posts too.
https://t.co/m219TKil1e

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@TollytB @MaggieAlphonsi The Ryder Cup team did v well to win in the US, but Team of the Year playing one match??!?*🤔

[John Fingleton @JohnFingleton1]

Britain needs nuclear power. Our nuclear projects are the most expensive in the world and among the slowest. Regulators and industry are paralysed by risk aversion. This can change. For Britain to prosper, it must.

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister appointed me to lead a Taskforce to set out a path to getting affordable, fast nuclear power Britain.

Our final report today sets out 47 recommendations, among them:

- Creating a one-stop shop for nuclear approvals, to end the regulatory merry-go-round that delays projects at the moment.
- Simplifying environmental rules to avoid extreme outcomes like Hinkley Point C spending £700m on systems to protect one salmon every ten years, while enhancing nuclear's impact on nature.
- Limiting the ability of spurious legal challenges to delay nuclear projects, which adds huge cost and delay throughout the supply chain.
- Approving fleets of reactors, so that Britain’s nuclear industry can benefit from certainty and economies of scale.
- Directing regulators to factor in cost to their behaviour, and changing their culture to allow building cheaply, quickly and safely.
- Changing the culture of the nuclear industry to end gold-plating and focus on efficient, safe delivery.

If the government adopts our report in full, it will send a signal to investors that it is serious about pro-growth reform and taking on vested interests for the public good.

A thriving British nuclear industry producing abundant, affordable energy would be good for jobs, good for manufacturing, good for the climate, and good for the cost of living. And it could enable Britain to become an AI and technology superpower.

Britain can be a world leader in this new Industrial Revolution, but only if it has the energy to power it.

Our report is bold, but balanced. Our recommendations, taken together and properly implemented, will forge a clear path for stronger economic growth through improved productivity and innovation. This is a prize worth fighting for.

https://t.co/9wPTtkTDMU

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@TheHungarianFor @Keir_Starmer Tough to blame Starmer for what happened in 2023 ...

Whose estimates are these anyway?

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@MichaelLCrick We have had the same experience at our Leisure Centre in Carterton, run 'Better' (sic!)
I suspect the problem is a not very good IT system simply adopted wholesale from another organisation without the necessary user checks to correct idiocies like this.

[Chris Grey 🇺🇦 @chrisgreybrexit]

There is another country. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog discussing the thuggery, sanctimony and hypocrisy of the last fortnight, and how Starmer should lead in articulating an alternative version of patriotism to that of the far-right: https://t.co/YSOYilHPry

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@AnnieChave @Erraticscc @WandSCC Hope the Erratics had another good game today.

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre

[Henry Moeran @henrymoeranBBC]

16,404 in at The Oval for the women’s fixture at The Hundred, beating the previous record of 15,687.

Spectacular numbers.

#BBCCricket

[Bob Tivey @MuddiedWater]

@simon_schama Arezzo

[Michael Crick @MichaelLCrick]

Very sad news. My mother played Lehrer's songs to me when I was a small boy; & I sang them to my 2 daughters. One of them learnt The Elements off by heart when still at school. 'We'll All Go Together When We Go' was my favourite. Only now we won't, as Tom has preceded us!