Donald Smith 💙

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.....
I can't top that.

[Donald Smith 💙 @dhlsmith]

@petitecycliste @DemocraticWins He has burst a blood vessel in one of his eyes. Medical explanation

[Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦 @DeborahMeaden]

Jeez… if we don’t wake up
To this we deserve everything we get… when I say we….

[Anders Åslund @anders_aslund]

My understanding of the Trump-Musk conflict:
1. Musk considers that he bought Trump's presidency & that Trump should behave as his obedient servant.
2. Trump acknowledges that Musk bought him & allowed dozens of regulatory concerns to lapse & $20 billion of gov contracts. /1

[Donald Smith 💙 @dhlsmith]

😅😅😅

[Tarmo 🇨🇿 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @TarmoFella]

How Zelensky's meeting with Trump at the Pope's funeral ended.

[Donald Smith 💙 @dhlsmith]

This is rather good...(And be sure to read it all....👍😊) 👇

[Hanif Kureishi @Hanifkureishi]

THE FUCK-IT MANIFESTO

Yesterday, Isabella and I went down to Hammersmith to give notice of our forthcoming marriage, a legal requirement, where we were separated and asked a series of questions to ensure that we actually knew each other and had, indeed, met before.

Seated in a tiny, airless room, confronted by an earnest bureaucrat behind a glass partition, I was asked an easy question to kick things off: “What is your prospective wife’s date of birth?” I had no idea and replied, “I have three children, and I don’t know their dates of birth either.”

Next, they asked, “What is her phone number?” Again, I shook my head in despair. Her email? Not a clue. They asked for her full name. I sighed, “I never asked.”

Finally, they handed me a sheet of paper and a pen and asked me to sign the document. My head sank. “I’m paraplegic; I can’t use my hands.”

The following day, recounting this tribulation to Carlo, it occurred to us that we should write a self-help book. But instead of the usual instruction about achievement and success, its topic would be failure: the often unrecognised pleasure of letting yourself and others down, and what fun it is to fuck things up.

Most of us have already practised this form of passive-aggressive resistance, usually with our parents, partners, or while in bad jobs. The point of our new book would be to encourage more failure—this underestimated indulgence—seeing it as a form of triumph.

I was a librarian at school. It was a good gig because when it was cold, you didn’t have to go outside. A book that made a strong impression on me one lunchtime was Alan Sillitoe’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.

In a foot race, the protagonist, Colin Smith, a long-distance runner in juvenile detention, deliberately stops just before the finish line, allowing his rival to win. This is an act of defiance against the authorities. By losing the race, Smith asserts his independence and rejects the governor’s values, remaining true to himself.

As human beings, we have no choice but to work in teams; we are as dependent on others as they are on us. We are therefore in a delicious position to fail them and cause suffering. Our failure would be their failure. Telling your father that you’ve flunked your exams, are no longer pursuing a law degree, and have decided to become an experimental electronic musician can be a compelling source of jouissance. Life is filled with these moments—expectations not met, hopes dashed if not destroyed—and we should learn to savour them.

You will never, I hope, forget the times you have let down a sexual partner, leaving yourself embarrassed and ashamed, and them unsatisfied and frustrated, if not furious. These memories will come back to you years later as blissful recollections, as victories to bask in.

In China, “lying flat” is a form of protest where young people reject the relentless pressures of work, competition, and consumerism by opting out of the rat race and activity, simply “lying flat” in bed all day.

The philosopher Slavoj Žižek describes this as “Bartleby politics,” after the titular character of Herman Melville’s short masterpiece Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street. Bartleby’s defining characteristic emerges when he begins to respond to requests to work with the phrase, “I would prefer not to.”

This docile defiance escalates until he stops performing tasks, refuses to leave the office, and ultimately declines all offers of help or employment.

If achieving expertise in any field requires 10,000 hours of practice, those who spend all their lives watching porn and playing video games are already some of failure’s highest achievers. These heroes require our acknowledgment, succour, and welfare handouts.

Entire businesses, if not institutions, are fired by the fuel of failure: the psychotherapy industry, for instance, is propped up by losers interminably complaining on a couch about their lack and their losses. The comedy trade, from Charlie Chaplin to the BBC’s Alma’s Not Normal, is a litany of mortification, falling over, and general idiocy. The German word schadenfreude—pleasure in others’ misfortune—is, of course, a form of projection, allowing us to enjoy our own inadequacy on the site of others.

America is a case in point. Under Biden, the economy was humming along, unemployment was low, as was inflation; the country was relatively peaceable, and the billionaire class were richer than ever before. Everything was almost all right. Appointing Trump, a failure in every aspect of his business life—a man clearly an idiot—proves the glorious human instinct for failure hasn’t diminished, but is alive in the most successful country in history.

The film Amadeus brilliantly centres not on Mozart but on his rival Salieri, whose sense of failure embodies the universal fear that no matter how hard we strive, there will always be someone more talented, more beloved, or more successful than ourselves.

Some of the world’s greatest works are about losers. To pick a few: Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, A Fan’s Notes by Frederick Exley, Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov, or indeed Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.

In a world obsessed with winning, the true rebels are those who find joy in losing. So don’t let the fear of disaster ruin your life; embrace it fully and throw yourself into every available calamity and misadventure. I am taking it for granted that my forthcoming marriage will be an utter catastrophe. Remember, success is fleeting, while failure is perennial—our enduring, constant companion.

------

If you want to support my writing, please do consider becoming a subscriber, the button is my X page.

[Andrei Illarionov @AnIllarionov]

President Trump must learn basic lessons of today

President Trump: President Zelenskyy and Crooked Joe Biden did an absolutely horrible job in allowing this travesty to begin.
https://t.co/d3bVsH8PfZ

President Trump must learn basic lessons of today:

1. This is not a “war between Russia and Ukraine”.
This is Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
And a part of Putin’s Global War against Europe, USA, Free World.

2. This is Putin’s war.
Please, try to remember and repeat in all your future speeches and tweets:
THIS IS PUTIN’S WAR.

3. You might call it “Biden’s war” prior to Jan 20, 2025.
Since Jan 20, 2025, it is Trump’s war.

4. To stop Putin’s aggression against Ukraine was a candidate Trump’s promise.
In 24 hours. Even before Jan 20, 2025.
US President Trump failed to deliver on his promise. For almost 3 months after Jan 20, 2025.

5. Putin is not a legitimate Russian President. At least since 2012.
Putin is a criminal, aggressor, murderer.

6. Putin does not respect Trump. Putin is not afraid of Trump.
It is Trump who is afraid of Putin. Even to call him who he is.

7. Blaming victim of aggression for allowing aggression is amoral and abhorrent.

8. The “horrible war” is allowed to continue after Jan 20, 2025, because President Trump failed to deliver on his campaign promise “Peace through strength”.

9. Instead, President Trump has chosen a different path – “Peace through capitulation”.
Of him personally, Ukraine, USA, Free World.

10. There is a still way to stop this war.
To do exactly what candidate Trump promised during his campaign:
- to give Ukraine “a lot” in miliary aid,
- to give Ukraine all necessary anti-air and anti-missile defense,
- to give Ukraine long-range missile to deprive aggressor from impunity,
- to invite Ukraine into Military Alliance of Free Nations,
- to allow Ukraine to regain its WMD lost due to US pressure,
- to warn Putin what he must do in 24 hours, if he doesn’t want to see “those powerful machines” Trump, while he was a US presidential candidate, promised to send to Russia’s coasts, Moscow, Sochi,
- if Putin does not comply, to fulfil your promises.

[Donald Smith 💙 @dhlsmith]

😂😂😂🐧🐧

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

Penguins' reaction to winning a trade war against Donald Trump

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Bucha. Never forget. Never forgive. Impunity for invasion and war crimes cannot exist in a world worth living in. This is what the appeasers and deal-makers still want for the rest of Ukraine so they can close their eyes and call it peace.

[Donald Smith 💙 @dhlsmith]

😂😂😂

[Stephen King @StephenKing]

CNBC is calling the recent stock market drop the Tesla Chainsaw Massacre.
😂

[. @jdpoc]

Tories Bad Enoch: "SCRAPPING THE RWANDA PLAN WILL LEAD TO EVEN MORE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND SMALL BOAT CROSSINGS !!!"

Labour : Scraps Rwanda Plan. Works WITH French allies instead of insulting them. Puts the right resources in the right places.

Small boat crossings DOWN 41%.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

I hope it began with "thank you"! Thank you Ukraine for defending Europe and the Western values of freedom. Thank you Ukrainians for valiantly fighting the war against Russia that NATO was created for. Thank you, Zelenskyy for staying & never giving in--not to Putin or to Trump.

[Professor Christopher Painter @PrfChrisPainter]

Declarations from @BorisJohnson and @trussliz during the presidential campaign that the re-election of Trump would be good for Ukraine provide an immediate insight into why their wretchedly poor judgement made them such terrible Prime Ministers.

[Peter Ricketts @LordRickettsP]

The last 48 hours have shown Starmer in a new light - calm and decisive, convening effectively and setting out a plan of action. It felt that Britain was back in its old role of leadership on European security. Many pitfalls between here and lasting peace. But bravo team UK.

[Lionel Barber @lionelbarber]

This picture tells a thousand words about what most Brits, including The Daily Mail, thought about the Zelensky ambush in the Oval Office.

[Rory Stewart @RoryStewartUK]

Was it for this that the US spent 80 years building power and alliances? Not to be a force for good. But instead to impoverish neighbours, threaten those it protected, rob minerals from war-torn countries, and break its promises to 100s of millions of the poorest in the world? 🧵

[. @jdpoc]

Labour's Yvette Cooper, the 1st British Home Secretary in 5 years to meet her counterpart Bruno Retailleau, at the French Coast.

'Small Boat' arrivals already DOWN 41% on the SAME PERIOD last year, under the Tories.

Quietly getting the job done.

The grownups are in charge.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Now Zelensky and Ukrainians are being lectured and tone policed by MAGA sycophants. Imagine being told you were rude by people who fawn over the most egregiously insulting politician in the world. At least we now see why they can't comprehend dignity in others.

[Victoria @victoriaslog]

In this chaotic madhouse of recent events, what upsets me most isn’t even what Trump says or does — I wasn’t surprised.

What really gets to me is that Moscow managed to turn the international community against Ukrainians and vice versa while also pinning the blame on one of the strongest and most capable leaders in Ukraine’s history.

Before you start attacking Ukrainians, remember: they’ve spent centuries fighting for the simple right to EXIST. Have a little more understanding for those battling not just for their country’s survival, but for something much bigger.

[Jesse Singal @jessesingal]

If Trump would grant Volodymyr Zelensky (head of a country invaded by Russia, w/countless dead soldiers and civilians) a fraction of the grace and open-mindedness he has granted Andrew Tate (accused rapist/sex trafficker), that would be good

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Zelensky is a wartime leader watching his people suffer and die under Russian attacks every day. To be lectured and lied to by Trump and Vance, as they defend the war criminal dictator committing these atrocities, is unimaginable agony. An everlasting shame for America.