crazywithak

Little golden birdies

[crazywithak @crazywithak]

Ban cars in cities. Ban short-haul flights. Grow trees anywhere you can. I’m serious. Phone me to hear my serious voice.

[Professor Benjamin Zephaniah @BZephaniah]

Don’t wait.

Don’t wait to live,
to love,
to notice the small things—

Because one day
you’re fine…

And the next—
everything changes.

I asked, “Why me?”
They said, “Bad luck.”

No reason.
No warning.

Just one moment—
splitting life in two:
before…
and after.
@richardsudan

[crazywithak @crazywithak]

@staticnz Seems to work now. Nice job!

[crazywithak @crazywithak]

@staticnz I'm getting this too. Android version 12, OnePlus 7.

[HTTP 404 @http4O4]

Power Station https://t.co/tLpKgHvUR0

[Rupert Read 🌍 🔥 @GreenRupertRead]

WATCH: Michael Sheen narrates our powerful new Climate Majority Project short film, You Told Us To Talk About The Weather. Have you seen it?

https://t.co/eeHfUsTCL0

[Cory Doctorow NO LONGER ON TWIT TER @doctorow]

I'm about to sign off for the year - actually, I was ready to do it yesterday, but then I happened upon a brief piece of writing that was so perfect that I decided I'd do one more edition of Pluralistic for 2025.

1/

[Michael Spicer @MrMichaelSpicer]

the room next door - Exploring Africa

[crazywithak @crazywithak]

@Microids_off Bonjour. How do I select the PS4 version? Thanks.

[GO GREEN @ECOWARRIORSS]

"Very idea that humans might become so voracious as to empty the seas of fish seemed absurd only a few short years ago. Today scientific evidence points to a brutal reality from which there is no escape. In barely a generation, humans have exhausted most prolific creatures on the planet"

[GO GREEN @ECOWARRIORSS]

Aker BioMarine from Norway, is responsible for roughly 70% of krill catch
Boycott this company and demand an end to Krill fishing that will starve whales and marine life and fuel global warming

[Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 @MrMatthewTodd]

FARMING UK:

The UK must radically transform the way it produces and consumes food if it is to avoid a cycle of escalating crises, a major report has warned.

The Roadmap for Resilience: A UK Food Plan for 2050 argues that urgent reform is essential to reboot the economy, reduce pressure on the NHS and prevent repeated shocks from rising food prices, supply chain disruption and climate disasters. #NetZero #EdMiliband

[The Night Warrior @WarriorNight007]

@atensnut This is perhaps the best thing produced by the internet in recent history.

[lights out for migrating birds @lightsout4bird]

LISTERS: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching
#documentary
#birdwatching
#birding
Two brothers learn about competitive birdwatching by becoming birdwatchers-spending a year living in a used minivan, traveling the country to compete in a 'Big Year'.
https://t.co/vy16o3WxWe

[Media Tell The Truth XR @TTTMediaXR]

This is the #1 climatologist in the world: James Hansen.

He’s spent 50 years studying what humans are doing to the climate.

He's gone out on a limb time and time again - and been proven right.

His message? It’s far worse than they’re telling you. 🧵

[crazywithak @crazywithak]

@caitoz I love this! So I hope you don't find this mashup with a karaoke version of Baz Luhrmann's 'Sunscreen' disrespectful :) https://t.co/7WnGVFw0hf

[Denis Grachev / RetroSouls @RetroSouls]

Cubix for #zxspectrum

A masterpiece from @ssmirnov_dev

There is also some other great games at:
https://t.co/b9z4oeanse

Don't foget to vote!

[Richard Murphy @RichardJMurphy]

There’s a persistent myth that our government is somehow at the mercy of the financial markets and that it has to dance to their tune. This is most definitely doing the rounds this week, mainly as a result of Labour's mismanagement of its own party, and Rachel Reeves' subsequent very public tears.

It’s a myth I have been challenging for years, so let me summarise why.

1. The government creates the money

The UK government is the monopoly issuer of the pound. It spends all of that money into existence. Every pound of government spending creates a matching financial asset for someone else. It is only afterwards that the government issues bonds, not because it needs the money, but to provide a safe place for savers to deposit their funds when banks cannot provide this service.

This point is critical. The government does not need the markets to ‘fund’ its spending. It is simply swapping one form of money (reserves) for another (gilts). Bizarrely, it pays interest to those to whom it provides this service.

2. Gilts are a choice, not a necessity

The sale of government bonds, gilts in the UK, is presented as if the government is dependent on the markets to keep spending. This is nonsense. The government issues gilts largely because:

It wants to drain reserves from the banking system to help the Bank of England hit its (currently too high) interest rate target.

It wants to give pension funds and insurance companies a safe deposit facility to underpin their promises to those who use their services.

It believes it must maintain an outdated and now unnecessary City-based financial architecture.

None of this means it needs the markets to spend. If no one bought gilts, the government could continue to spend. In fact, as quantitative easing and now quantitative tightening prove, there is no relationship between bond issues and Bank of England market interventions and the capacity of the government to spend: the evidence is all there for anyone to see.

3. The central bank is always the buyer of last resort

When financial markets are in turmoil, as happened in the mini-budget fiasco under Liz Truss,  the Bank of England steps in. Its role is to stabilise prices and yields. This is not optional. It is a fundamental part of having a sovereign currency and a central bank that acts as the lender of last resort. This means the financial markets are, in fact, dependent on the government and its central bank. Not the other way around.

4. Interest rates are a policy choice

People say, “but the markets set interest rates, and so they can discipline the government.” Again, this misunderstands monetary operations. The Bank of England sets the base rate. It can cap or control longer-term rates by buying or selling bonds as it chooses. The so-called market rates are policy-contingent. When push comes to shove, the central bank can always enforce the interest rate it wants.

5. What markets really influence is ideology

So why the obsession with ‘market confidence’? The reality is, politicians and economists often invoke markets to justify austerity. It is easier to say “the markets demand it” than to admit their own ideological choice, which would otherwise be unpalatable to the electorate. Financial markets do, in that case, play a political role, but they do not hold the government hostage. They operate within the monetary framework that the government and its central bank set. We could just as easily choose to run the economy with other priorities, but it does not suit neoliberal politicians to do so. That is because they view politics as the City does, at cost to us all.

Summary

I keep returning to this issue because it is so fundamental: the UK government is a currency creator, not a currency user. It is not like a household. It does not need to beg or borrow from the markets to spend. Financial markets are accommodated by the government, not the other way around.

Understanding this changes everything. It means that economic policy decisions — on public services, investment, climate action, and inequality — are political choices, not technical constraints imposed by bond traders. That is why misinformation on this issue matters so much, and the fact that it is so widespread shows just how strong are the forces that wish to deny that democratic choices can still be made in the UK.

[UN Biodiversity @UNBiodiversity]

Our survival depends on #biodiversity.

Yet, human activity is driving nature loss at unprecedented rates.

Urgent action is needed—across food systems, finance, and ecosystem restoration—to reverse this trend and secure a healthy, thriving planet for all.

@UNEP

[Jenny Lindsay @msjlindsay]

Alrighty. A fairly furious piece, (link below) with spankings for many. Necessarily cathartic, but a full-stop to this week. On 'The Fretting Middlings' wing of the genderist project. Phew. As ever, puppies & lollipops for paid subscribers; eternal gratitude for all free ones! x