Paul McLauchlan

[Armando Iannucci @Aiannucci]

Agreed, truth shouldn’t be suppressed. Which is why it’s best not to dump it in a landfill site, pour over it a slurry of half-truths, misinformation, insults, blatant lies, random speculation and conspiracy, and then above that stinking mess type the word ‘True.’

[Brendan May @bmay]

No idea how yesterday happened. None at all.

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

@OliverFindlay Get shot of her and give the job to Clive Myrie instead.

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

@1jcmaxwell On your way out, if you want to kill somebody, it would help me a lot.

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

@LukePlissken @JayBauman1

[Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz]

Israel Supporters Are Some Of The Worst People In The World

Yesterday I shared a tweet about how Doctors Without Borders are now encountering children as young as five in Gaza who say they want to die because of the horrific things they have experienced during Israel’s ongoing genocidal onslaught.

It’s just about the most awful thing you can imagine, tiny children being so traumatized that they consciously don’t want to go on living. It boggles the mind to even contemplate it. But almost as soon as I shared my post, I got a response from an Israel supporter saying, “Gazans support Hamas. Hamas conducts Islamic extremist terror. Gazans should reconsider their support for Hamas.”

Later I got another response from an account with a bunch of flag emojis next to its name saying, “Before shedding tears for the people of Gaza, remember that they created Hamas, elected it, supported it, supplied it, worked for it, hid it, sheltered it, filled its ranks and celebrated all its atrocities.”

I received another response from an anonymous account saying “FAFO”, an acronym for “Fuck Around, Find Out”. Used here, it means that those small children who want to die because of the horrors they have experienced actually deserve it, because they are Gazan. Which is also essentially what the other two responders were saying as well.

This happens all the time. The other day I shared a report from an American doctor saying that IDF snipers have been picking off Gazan children with single shots to the head, and I again received a comment from someone saying “Fuck around and find out.”

They’re essentially standing over a pile of child corpses and puffing their chests like a guy who just won a pub brawl.

It might seem kind of petty to focus on individual comments from random social media accounts, but this happens so often, and I see other people talking about it too — I just saw a screenshot of a guy saying “fuck around and find out” in response to that gut-wrenching photo of a dead Palestinian girl ripped apart by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah earlier this month. So this is definitely a symptom of something profoundly ugly lurking in the underbelly of our society that’s worth drawing some attention to.

If you don’t interact with many Zionists in your day to day life or don’t have a large enough profile to be constantly swarmed by Israel apologists you might be unaware that this is happening, but the vitriol I’ve been seeing from Israel supporters on social media platforms since October 7 has been one of the most shocking and disturbing things I’ve ever witnessed.

Every single day these last four and a half months I’ve been inundated with comments from Israel supporters excusing the most monstrous acts imaginable in the most monstrous ways imaginable. People calling for the total destruction of Gaza. People saying the Gazans deserve what is happening to them. Saying the sickest shit you can possibly think of in response to news of terrible things happening to innocent children.

Over the years I’ve butted heads with pretty much every political faction in the English-speaking world at one point or another, and I can honestly say that Israel supporters are by far the absolute worst. No political faction I have ever interacted with is as immoral and dishonest, or so frequently says things that are so jaw-droppingly disgusting I am sure I must be misinterpreting it at first. I’ve never tangled with a more odious group of people.

And to be clear I’m not talking about a faction of just Israelis or Jews here; a huge percentage of these awful comments come from Christian Zionists and American rightists, with a decent smattering of Hindu nationalists from India who’ll support any excuse to cheerlead the killing of Muslims. The only unifying feature I’m seeing in the faction I’m talking about is that they support Israel and its actions in Gaza. What I’m saying here will be spun as antisemitic by Israel supporters no matter how I put it because Israel supporters are manipulative liars, but to be clear this is not about Jews at all.

There’s something seriously, seriously wrong with these people. They have no interest in truth or morality; all they care about is supporting their favorite ethnostate and murdering Palestinians. I guess when you’re already able to numb your heart and your mind enough to support an apartheid state that whose existence requires nonstop violence and abuse, when that state ramps up its atrocities to historic levels you’re not going to have enough of a conscience to see anything wrong with it.

Anyway that’s my rant for today. Just had to get that out. I don’t know what to do about any of this, but it’s probably worth bringing some consciousness to.

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

.@cdl_concerts Beyond disappointed with the horrendous customer service offered on the back of one of your events. Incorrect information given regarding the time when doors opened completely ruined my father's birthday gift and now he's being told that there's nothing you can do.

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

@DominicTarason

[Caroline Lucas @CarolineLucas]

So morally bankrupt & unworkable Rwanda Bill passes 2nd Reading 313 to 269 - helped by plenty of Tories who “reluctantly” said they could support the “principles” of the Bill. But the principles are precisely overriding the courts & disregarding the law. Shame on them

[The Cultural Tutor @culturaltutor]

12 Reasons Why Cities Need More Trees:

1. Temperature Control

One large tree is equivalent to 10 air conditioning units, and the shade they provide can reduce street temperature by more than 30%.

2. Noise Reduction

Trees can reduce loudness by up to 50%. In urban areas filled with the sound of cars, construction, sirens, aeroplanes, and music, trees are essentially the best way to block noise and keep cities — along with the homes and workplaces in them — quieter.

3. Air Purity

Trees remove an astonishing amount of harmful pollutants and toxins from the air. In urban areas air quality is often disastrously bad — with severe consequences for our health. Trees make the air we breathe much cleaner.

4. Oxygen

And, while absorbing all those pollutants, trees also put more oxygen back into the urban environment. Oxygen levels are significantly lower in cities compared to the countryside; trees help to solve that problem.

5. Water Management

Trees do more than just shelter us and our buildings from rain — which is, in fact, extremely important. They also absorb huge quantities of water, reduce run-off, neutralise the severity of flooding, and make flooding more unlikely altogether. Not to forget that their roots absorb pollutants and prevent them from feeding back into a city's water supply.

6. Psychological Health

Studies have proven what we instinctively know to be true: that human beings are significantly happier when surrounded by nature rather than sterile urban environments. Our emotions, behaviour, and thoughts are shaped by the places we spend time — and trees have a profoundly positive effect on our psychology. The consequential benefits of being happier and more peaceful — as individuals and as a society — are immense.

7. Physical Health

Beyond all the other ways in which trees improve air quality and the urban environment, much to the benefit of our health, they also encourage people to go outside. Cycling, running, and walking are all more common in urban areas with plenty of trees. A knock-on effect of people spending more time outdoors is also social integration and stronger communities.

8. Privacy

A simple point, but not inconsequential, is that trees provide privacy.

9. Economics

The total economic benefit of urban trees is hard to calculate. There are costs, of course, including the repair of infrastructure damaged by roots and maintaining the trees themselves. But the total economic benefit — a consequence of everything else in this list and more — far outweighs the expenditure. Trees make cities wealthier.

10. Wildlife

Trees are miniature cities all of their own, serving as a habitat for hundreds of different species, including birds and mammals and insects.

11. Light Pollution

Trees don't only block the light shining down, therefore keeping us and our cities cooler — they also disrupt light shining up, from street lighting, cars, houses, and billboards. Skies are clearer in cities with more trees.

12. Aesthetics

And, finally, trees are beautiful. They break up the potential monotony of urban environments — the sharp geometry, the greyscale roads and buildings, the endless rows of cars — with their trunks, boughs, canopies, and flowers.

Just think: the gold and red of falling leaves in autumn, the white and pink blossom of spring, the vast green canopies of summer, and the branches lined with hoar-frost in winter. Every single tree is a myriad of intricacy and texture, of colour and scent, of dappled light on the pavement, mottled bark, knotted roots, of clustered leaves and delicate petals and stern boughs.

Few streets would not be improved by the kaleidoscopic aesthetic delights of a tree, not to mention the many different species of tree, all over the world, whether willow, oak, lime, cherry, aspen, maple, birch, horse chestnut, dogwood, hornbeam, ash, sycamore... the list goes on.

There are some drawbacks to urban trees, most of them context-specific, and they are not — of course — universally appropriate. But it seems fair to say that many cities would benefit from at least a few more trees here and there.

[António Guterres @antonioguterres]

July has already seen:

The hottest three-week period ever recorded.

The three hottest days on record.

The highest-ever ocean temperatures for this time of year.

It is still possible to avoid the very worst of climate change, but only with dramatic, immediate #ClimateAction.

[Edgar McGregor @edgarrmcgregor]

🧵Since it is becoming hard to track, here is a thread of the simply astounding weather records planet Earth has started shattering in recent weeks:

1. Dramatic flood events have begun striking various countries around the world simultaneously this week.
https://t.co/BLiyOyxHHp

[Brian Cox @ProfBrianCox]

Brexit is now, in a majority of voters minds, linked with high interest rates, trade friction, travel friction and general incompetence. The reality may be more complex, but that doesn’t matter - it’s about perception, and the perception is that Brexit is not only a failure but a liability. And there is more pain to come. This is why in my view, coupled with demographic change, it is inevitable that we will soon begin the process of rejoining the single market and customs union no matter what Labour or the Conservatives say at the next election. This irresistible pressure will probably split the Conservative Party, which is ironic because Cameron’s only strategic aim in calling the referendum in the first place was to placate fringe elements of the Party. Thanks Dave! https://t.co/WuIz8UIyxp

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

@Joshstrangehill THIS MATCH WILL
DETERMINE ONCE AND FOR
ALL WHICH NATION IS THE
GREATEST ON EARTH

[HSA Chair @HsaChair]

If the Police do not prosecute the Avon Vale fox killers I would be up to fund raise for a private prosecution. Who would support me? @rupertevelyn @domdyer70 @ChrisGPackham @DrBrianMay

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

@charlottechurch Gutted that there's no Glasgow show. 😔 The 2017 gig was the greatest.

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

@galgani64 @BeerBellyGump @Sam68108048 @samanthadone @RussInCheshire Pikchurs.

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

@scotiatravel1 @TonyBingGaming @MCU_Direct Just as long as it happens! I love Daniel Radcliffe to bits, but no thanks. He can be Quentin Quire or Beak.

[Paul McLauchlan @astro_pol]

Not to diminish the suffering of the people of Ukraine, but it must be heartbreaking for Syrians to see the universal support given to others that was never given to them.

[Sara Sidner @sarasidnerCNN]

This piece is worth a read by ⁦@arwaCNN⁩ who has covered just about every war over 2 decades.
At the #Ukraine-Poland border, she sees refugees welcomed with open arms. A stark contrast from the way Syrians were treated in the 2015 #refugee crisis https://t.co/4fRXoHLUea