Nigel Castle

Former IT professional with a B.A. and a Grad Dip in Info Management. Into history, philosophy, politics, early music, science fiction, and Oxford commas.

[Nigel Castle @nigel_castle]

Royal Commission into the Killing of Australian Women and Girls - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/8cNNjHxvGD via @Change

[Australia Institute @TheAusInstitute]

✍️ SIGN THE PETITION: https://t.co/lGwBa12tUh

If the petition reaches 20,000 signatures from NSW residents, MPs will debate Truth in Political Advertising laws in Parliament.

[MFWitches @MFWitches]

THESE ARE WAR CRIMES. KILLING CHILDREN ARE WAR CRIMES. KILLING CIVILIANS UNDER A CEASEFIRE ARE WAR CRIMES.

EXPEL THE ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA TODAY. PLEASE RE-TWEET IF YOU AGREE.

@AlboMP
@SenatorWong

[Antony Green - elections @AntonyGreenElec]

Amazing to go from fourth place to victory under preferential voting. That looks like the feat achieved by Independent Lou Nicholson in the Victor Harbor based seat Finniss at the South Australian election. I'll add a link to the tweet in a response.

["Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @BretDevereaux]

Well, I am not sure what my analysis here is worth, but here is my 7,500 word primal scream of a military historian's take on the War in Iran.

My best summary: this war is dumb as hell.

https://t.co/KyKLgCIq3k

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart.

We had a very good month.

Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace.

By mid-February, we had something.

Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green.

That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma.

Here is what they said, in the order they said it.

February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday.

February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive.

I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach.

February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses.

February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters.

Not happy with the pace.

We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway.

Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years.

Not happy with the pace.

February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens.

I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses.

February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications.

February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump.

Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production."

Rejected.

Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman.

The President said they rejected it.

I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed.

February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment.

February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school.

I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that.

February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold.

The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning.

February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse.

February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement.

The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."

[Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue]

Plant-based fashion materials were sold as the future – but many have quietly collapsed under the weight of cost, chemicals and scale. The lesson isn’t to abandon plants, but to stop chasing hype and return to ...
#SustainableFashion #Greenwashing
https://t.co/KvRf2o9eBW

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

As winter arrives, over one million Gazans lack shelter, with 92% of housing destroyed by Israel.

In violation of the ceasefire, Netanyahu continues to restrict the entry of tents and other aid, including food.

The U.S. must demand that Israel allow full humanitarian access NOW

["Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @BretDevereaux]

This is simply and obviously wrong in easily demonstrable ways, from the expansiveness of Roman citizenship to the incorporation of Persian elites under Alexander and the Seleucids (however poorly) to obvious things like the numbers of Scots in key posts in the British Empire.

[nordacious @nordacious]

NAIDOC 2025: A Voice To Parliament Finally Achieved

[Dr Sheep Person Podge @noplaceforsheep]

Hello @AlboMP

It appears Jillian Segal’s definition of anti semitism is at odds with the recent Federal court ruling that criticising Israel is not anti semitic.

We expect you to honour the decision of our own court, & not the demands of Zionists.

[💧Mary Kostakidis @MaryKostakidis]

Israel: a land of Proud Zionists Surrounded by barbarians.
About sums up the racism underpinning the Zionist project and its supporters. You can refer to the Muslim world as barbarian and that’s cool and normal. Who cares how Muslims in Australia feel about their denigration. Palestinians are human animals. Remain proud when killing their children.
When you dehumanize yourself in this way you open the floodgate to what is permissible to all including yourself in future. You kick humanity into a future where any maniac can bomb you and your children because you resist handing over your land though they have put you for generations in an open air prison where your movement and the calories you consume are controlled. Who would the barbarian be in your eyes?
The failure of empathy is humanity’s undoing

[Crikey @crikey_news]

Peter Dutton says we should be better at disagreeing. So we've pulled together Dutton's Guide to Disgareeing Nicely, and he has some great tips! https://t.co/DSSH6ECOWr

[It's Not A Race @ItsNotARace2025]

If you have working eyesight — you may not want to watch until the end. #dutton #gina #nuclear #whatthehelldidijustwatch

[Bruce MacKinnon @CH_Cartoon]

I drew this last November 26th knowing full well no self-respecting family newspaper in the country would be likely to print it. I was right. But given the events of this weekend, I’m gonna to let ‘er rip anyway.

#USA #Canada #tariffs @realDonaldTrump

[MFWitches @MFWitches]

🧙🏽 🍾 ❤️ 🍷 💃🏼 🧙🏼‍♀️ #VILEKYLE ADVERTISER WITHDRAWAL 500 🧙🏽 🤩 🥂 🌟 ♥️ 🥰 🧙🏽

***WE DID IT, WITCHES. WE JUST HIT 500 ADVERTISERS OUT***

We deliberately chose a fairly small charity for our 500th withdrawal today, witches. Partly because the withdrawal of @LapsForLife_Aus is so definite and so beautifully worded. Partly because they were only heard for the first time on the show just *yesterday*, and this fast withdrawal has put far bigger and better-resourced charitable organisations who ignored witches’ pleadings for months (looking clearly at you, @KidsHelplineAU and @blackdoginst) to utter shame.

And partly because they’ve made big, successful companies which aren’t even charities and which openly appeal to women for their income and profit (looking clearly at you, @Modibodi) look glacial in their demonstrated inability to respond quickly and positively to witches calling them out on their hypocrisy.

We’ve made this milestone more quickly than we did with Alan Jones, witches, and we’ll never give up till we get ARN/KiisFM to do something about Kyle.

This piece out last week on Kyle should be all the motivation we all need to keep going, witches. Wanna know what the three little words are they reckon have caused his success to date? They’re “I don’t care”. And you know, when you read this (as well as listen to his show, as we do every fucking week) he really fucking doesn’t:
https://t.co/0EX1eSSffJ

Well, he’s now finding out there are others who can say this, too. WE DON’T CARE, Kyle, that your employer soon won’t even be able to pay your obscene salary because so many advertisers are running away in horror. WE DON’T CARE that we’re continuing to post your disgusting content on our socials, proving you haven’t changed a bit and never will. WE DON’T CARE you’re now radio poison in Melbourne thanks largely to us exposing your filth and hate, and we know for sure (even though you seem not to, yet) that your ratings will never recover and you’ll *never* get an audience in Victoria. And WE DON’T CARE that your plans to dominate radio nationally to satisfy your vomitous megalomaniac tendencies will all come to naught thanks to a group of women you neither rate nor respect.

Yes, we’re the pearl-clutchers. The activists (an accolade, but which Kyle uses as an insult). The woke bitches. The hysterical hags. The over-emotional, ugly, cat-loving whores. You can call us all the names you like, Kyle but it doesn’t change the facts: we have your fucking measure, and one day soon, you’ll be off the air for good while we dance.

HOW DO YOU LIKE THESE FUCKING APPLES, KYLE?

It’s a day to celebrate, witches. And then get back to work. Because as long as he’s on air, our brooms will still be sweeping him out the fucking door.

This campaign is working so well. Yet we won’t stop till advertisers stop funding this foul woman-hating content. Go to https://t.co/igA7ByRwpQ then the #ToYourBrooms link then the #VileKyle FOES tab to find current advertisers. Show them our memes and transcripts (scroll back). If you get replies, it’s crucial to send them to [email protected].

Please also support our work and help get rid of Vile Kyle. It’s like a subscription to the future you want for yourself and those coming after you, and for the price of as little as a cup of coffee (or two) each month:
https://t.co/yZ0i3SfsTs

Let’s fucking go.

#ToYourBrooms

[Firstdog Onthemoon @firstdogonmoon]

omg i know the guardian has left twitter but at least they could post my cartoon about the guardian leaving twitter on twitter! https://t.co/1O0C49743n

[Rose @rose_jlab]

i'm often saying this!!

[David Shoebridge @DavidShoebridge]

Weaponising food, shelter and water against a civilian population is a war crime.

Israel’s exclusion of UNRWA from Gaza weaponises food, shelter and water against Palestinians.

Women, kids, old people will die because of this.

Sanction Israel now.
https://t.co/v7Ed0nNuah