questions around the remote language testing of immigrants

Earlier in the year, the UK government introduced a new system to test the English of people applying for visas to enter the country - and at the time, a Minister claimed the Home Office’s remote language-testing plans offered ‘significant benefits’:

Mike Tapp says new system for assessing visa applicants’ language skills could deliver ‘strengthened identity management and security and much greater visibility and control over the service for the department’ The Home Office has insisted that its proposals to introduce remote language assessments for visa applicants seeking the right to live and work in the UK have the potential to offer “significant benefits” to the department.

Currently, the Home Office’s UK Visas and Immigration section allows a range of providers to offer Secure English Language Tests in the UK and international locations. But under a procurement exercise that closed to bidders earlier this week, the department is seeking a supplier for “fully remote” English-language testing

But the language-testing industry is not happy about this, with providers waring the government that "Online English tests for migrants risk criminal abuse":

At the moment, migrants who want to study or work in the UK need to show they can speak English to internationally recognised standards by taking tests at one of more than 1,300 test centres around the world. But in November last year, the Home Office launched a tender, external for "fully remote" English tests to run for five years from December 2026 at the earliest.

It said the new system would see "customers" - meaning migrants applying for visas - choose where to take their test, providing secure conditions were met. From January, those tests were made tougher, with migrants told they needed to demonstrate the equivalent of A-level English to be considered for a skilled work visa and other categories.

Two-thirds of the current, in-person English tests are overseen by a consortium called International English Language Testing System (IELTS). It is comprised of the British Council, the UK's national cultural and educational organisation; Cambridge University Press and Assessments; and IDP, a large Australian education company.

The letter said applicants could cheat in a variety of ways, including using impersonators, working with an accomplice via screen–sharing or earpieces, or getting help from AI chatbots. The letter added that the current system would not allow test providers to act without "sufficient security and consistency". "This is particularly important, given the politically charged nature of the debate around migration and the need for more, not less, control and certainty over who is allowed to come to the UK."

Last August, the Australian government banned remote or at-home tests to assess the language competency of migrants.

In the latest issue of the E L Gazette, Mark Rendell, CEO of International House Trust, says that IELTS was right to walk away – the Home Office is making a huge mistake:

The Home Office’s decision to continue its pursuit towards the introduction of a single Home Office English Language Test (HOELT) to be delivered remotely and unsupervised for high stakes immigration purposes is surprising and deeply unsettling.

Fraudsters and bad actors will already be hatching ways to defraud the country. Options for deception are varied including impersonation, screen sharing, hidden devices, earpieces, chatbots, AI assistance, camera blind spots, HDMI splitters, browser extensions and ‘disrupted’ internet connections to circumvent security defences. Would-be migrants will be allowed to sit these life-changing tests in unsupervised locations of their choosing, rather than under direct invigilation having passed robust digital and human security checks...

The largest current Secure English Language Test is IELTS, and it has just been announced that IELTS is withdrawing from the tender to deliver the HOELT test because its creators do not believe that such a test of national significance can be delivered in a secure and fair way using a fully remote format.

There have been several cases recently where high stakes remote tests have been withdrawn from the market following concerns about widespread cheating including ACCA, the accountancy exam, and LSAT, the equivalent exam for the legal profession. Australian immigration authorities also recently announced that they had considered and rejected the adoption of remote language assessment...

Testing systems only have value if they are trusted and deliver accurate and fair results. It would be a great shame if the UK’s hard-earned reputation for world class standards was tarnished by the crash in public confidence and unwelcome press headlines that are likely to follow the introduction of fully remote assessment for high stakes purposes.

And indeed, there has already been a lot of negative press reaction, including: Migrants can cheat Labour’s online language tests (Telegraph); English lessons shouldn’t be an immigration test – why the UK’s new policy risks deepening exclusion - University of South Wales; Fury as migrants will no longer have to take English test in person in £816m deal | UK | News | Express.co.uk

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liberal democracy needs to create narratives

This week Slovenia’s ruling liberals defeated populists in a photo-finish election: 

Golob sought to frame the election in an interview with POLITICO as a choice between liberal democratic values and Janša’s Hungary-style illiberalism. 

What is Illiberal democracy?

Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, gave an oft-cited speech in 2014 where he proclaimed Hungary an illiberal democracy, stating that "a democracy does not necessarily have to be liberal" and that "the new state we are constructing in Hungary is an illiberal state, a non-liberal state." Modern advocates of illiberal democracy insist they are more democratic than others, and generally define themselves as being against liberal democracy, the West, and the United States. Vladimir Putin of Russia is an outspoken critic of liberalism, with him and Orban described as redefining it in ways that suit their agendas by equating it with multiculturalism, immigration, and LGBTQ rights.[21] The election of Donald Trump saw a large increase in scholarly research about illiberalism, what it means, and heavy debates on whether or not America is on the road to fascism.[22]

A question facing liberal democracies is how to counter propaganda/paranoia/conspiracy theories.

There are all sorts of suggested ways ahead, such as we should enjoy culture and the arts, that we should try and counter it with the same, and that we need to use reliable, evidence-based and non-partisan journalism.

One commentator who has suggested many of these strategies is the writer and academic Peter Pomerantsev - and one of his most powerful books has been a look at the propaganda and paranoia of the last two decades. There's a fabulous interview with him on his Nothing is True and Everything is Possible.

Today, liberal democracy is struggling even more.

We have been seeing the emergence of competing visions of international order - with the fracturing of the US-led liberal international order [March 2025]

And this month, the Swedish V-|Dem has published a report saying we are in danger of losing Liberal Democracy;

On March 17th, the Swedish-based Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute released its 2026 annual Democracy Report titled “Unraveling the Democratic Era?” with an aptly themed cover image: a tattered, threadbare American flag with the acronym “S.O.S.” spray-painted across its stripes. “The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history,” the report writes. Within a year of the second Trump Administration, executive aggrandizement has severely weakened checks and balances and displayed astonishing disregard for the rule of law. No longer is the United States a pillar of liberal democracy – rather, for the first time in fifty years, it is slipping towards a democratic grey zone.

The press has covered it as: ‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog.

Since 2012, Lindberg has led his small group of researchers in Sweden to become the world’s leading source for analysis of the health of global democracy. In their latest report, published on Tuesday, they conclude that the US, for the first time in more than half a century, has lost its long-term status as a liberal democracy. The country is now going through a rapid process of what the report’s authors call “autocratisation”.

“For Orbán in Hungary, it took about four years, for Vučić in Serbia, it took eight years, and for Erdoğan in Turkey and Modi in India, it took about 10 years to accomplish the suppression of democratic institutions that Trump has achieved in only one year,” Lindberg says.

US democracy is now back at the worst recorded level since 1965, when US civil rights laws first introduced de facto universal suffrage. All progress made since then has been erased, according to the report.

Worldwide, democracy has receded to its lowest levels since the mid-70s. “The world has never before seen as many countries autocratising at the same time,” Lindberg says.

A record 41% (3.4 billion) of the world’s population currently resides in countries where democracy is deteriorating, the report claims, adding that Washington is leading this global turn away from democracy.

The researchers use 48 different metrics to assess democratic health, such as the freedom of expression and the media, the quality of elections and the observance of the rule of law. The resulting “liberal democracy index” shows that the speed with which US democracy is being dismantled is unprecedented in modern history. The main factor is a “rapid and aggressive concentration of powers in the presidency”, Lindberg says. Congress has been marginalised, jeopardising the “checks and balances” (judicial and legislative constraints on the executive) so crucial to US democracy. At the same time, civil rights have been rapidly declining and freedom of expression is now at its lowest level since the 1940s.

Many commentators would say that liberal democracy needs to create narratives.

Including the idea that Liberal Democracy Needs A Story - by Dan Gardner:

Putin and Xi and Trump have their stories. So do Erdogan, Modi, Orban, and all the other reactionaries who have put freedom into headlong retreat. They are full of passionate intensity, to borrow from Yeats, while the best lack all conviction. But history, as they say, repeats, or at least rhymes. And ours is not the first era in which liberal democracy seemed to be on a terminal decline.

Others agree that democracy needs a narrative on political liberalism:

For the protection and continued existence of democracy in general and throughout the world, it is important to revive a narrative on what constitutes a liberal democracy. Here, it will be vital to reclaim the normative appeal of liberal democracy.

This appeal lies in the fact that individuals in non-liberal societies are always subjected to the prevailing majority doctrine, be it of a religious or other nature. In contrast, liberal democracies allow for a society in which the diversity of human experience, ways of life and life choices is possible without fear of being exposed to social, economic or political repression. Of all the political systems that we know, liberal democracy is the one that comes closest to the thought experiment designed by the liberal philosopher John Rawls referred to as the ‘veil of ignorance’. In this thought experiment, the future members of a society have to decide on a social order but do not know which position they will have in this society – so the best order is one in which everyone is protected against the arbitrary exercise of power by others.

Finally, some would call this The Age of Fortress Liberalism:

Some liberal theorists have tried to find comfort in the fortress mentality. The scholar and former politician Michael Ignatieff argues that liberal societies fight better when they understand that they are in danger. Drawing on the thought of Isaiah Berlin, Ignatieff argues “it will be up to the embattled fortresses of liberal democracy, and the conviction of their peoples, if liberty is to prevail.” Illiberal threats should strengthen liberals’ resolve to make hard choices.

Early liberal theorists grappled with the limits of universalizing their own principles. Baruch Spinoza, in suggesting a liberal ethos of tolerance, demanded liberal societies restrict teachings or religions which “tend to produce obstinacy, hatred, strife or anger.” When Jean-Jacques Rousseau imagined society coming together around a civil religion, he said such a religion would only be intolerant of just one thing: intolerance. When courts restrict democracy in the name of the rule of law or liberals insist on fast-paced assimilation, they draw on a tradition which has recognized that liberalism relies on basic shared principles to work...

The practical strategy of reinventing liberalism as the preserve of besieged, sensible, Europeans is a difficult balancing act, because liberalism has always relied on the promise of future extension to rally its adherents. Similarly, once liberals lose confidence that their vision will inexorably spread by democratic, nonviolent means, they fall into the same “might makes right” logic as the illiberal ideologies in opposition to which they define themselves.

Today, the stronger future project belongs to the populist right, which promises a more homogeneous, child-rearing, religious, and nationalistic Europe. While these politicians have their own foibles, their adherents share a confidence that Europe’s mainstream has sorely lacked for almost a decade. Even if largely nostalgic, the populist vision of the future speaks to the experiences of Europeans today. For those outside the establishment, it is easier to believe in than in a fortress under siege.

To be sure, there are attempts to replace the liberal siege mentality with something more expansive and forward-looking: efforts like the “abundance” idea and its adaptations in Europe, or the effort to make affordability the central promise of a populist left. But so far, these movements have not had large electoral breakthroughs, in part because they have not gone beyond the fortress liberals on fundamental questions. On defense, immigration, and the threat of the far-right, abundance liberals and populist leftists remain cadets within the fortress.

The rise of fortress liberalism makes clear that European leaders still imagine their present challenges as temporary. Our leaders and our societies have not yet internalized the possibility of a return to the constant warring or the ceaseless inter-ethnic violence that defined pre-twentieth century Europe. In the minds of the world’s most powerful liberals, their task is to survive the siege day-to-day, whatever adaptations that requires. Retreating to the fortress has deprived them of any vision of what to create next, should “normalcy” return. Practicing this lost art of imagination may make for a stronger defense than Europe’s liberals have yet been able to muster.

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shattering paradise - or, the difference between an 'economic migrant' and an 'expat'

As Gaby Hinsliff writing in today's Guardian suggests, influencers have sold the world a fantasy Dubai – and now it’s gone in a puff of missile smoke:

The city was portrayed as an aspirational place to live, but now those who moved there are realising the precarity that comes with being an economic migrant.

Who could have guessed that living a few hundred miles as the drone flies from Tehran might have risks? Certainly not the anonymous hedge funder who fumed to the Financial Times that “the trade was not that you were getting exposed to geopolitics”.

But if it’s hard to sympathise with the super-rich, as they discover that there are some things money can’t buy, then they are not the only Britons trapped in the Gulf. The deal Dubai offered economic migrants – which is what Britons seeking a better life in the Gulf are, much as some will hate the label – was a kind of real-life Truman Show: a sunny, shiny, sterilised low-crime haven for anyone itching to get rich or stay that way, sustained by stiff penalties for anyone publicly shattering its illusions.

Today's London Standard points out that influencers in Dubai have been warned they face prison for posting material about the conflict with Iran.

And earlier in the week, the Daily Mail's Guy Adams looked at The inside story of how the hollow Dubai dream has come crashing down... as expats are sent mysterious menacing warnings from the UAE government which hint all might not be as well as it seems.

Here we are looking at the world of the 'expat' - and a decade ago, the BBC was considering the difference between an expat and an immigrant:

The word expat is loaded. It carries many connotations, preconceptions and assumptions about class, education and privilege — just as the terms foreign worker, immigrant and migrant call to mind a different set of assumptions.

But what makes one person an expat, and another a foreign worker or migrant? Often the former is used to describe educated, rich professionals working abroad, while those in less privileged positions — for example, a maid in the Gulf states or a construction worker in Asia — are deemed foreign workers or migrant workers. The classification matters, because such language can in some cases be used as a political tool or to dehumanise — as the debate around the word “migrant” suggests.

It's not just 'semantics', it's also a question of law: Expat vs Immigrant vs Migrant vs Refugee vs Asylee Defined | American Visa Law Group

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world book day - today!

Last month, it was National Storytelling Week in the UK, when we were encouraged to read, read, read!

Today it's World Book Day 2026! With all sorts of stuff to encourage us to read.

The BBC had a whole World Book Day 2026 - Live Lesson for most of the day.

Even the UK government is getting quite enthusiastic: World Book Day 2026: from one day to everyday reading – Teaching

And across the media, we have been getting lots of fun things around reading...

In Yorkshire on World Book Day 2026 -York children show off their costumes from favourite book characters, when going to school.

Although not everyone's in favour, asking if it's extra stress or a bit of fun? Teachers and parents discuss World Book Day.

Footballers are getting in on the act, as the Premier League supports the Foundation for World Book Day.

It seems that every organisation is jumping in, from Seven international trade book recommendations from the Chartered Institute team to 10 great books about global justice.

What would you recommend?!

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rage-bait

Did you know that the Oxford Word of the Year 2025 was rage bait?

Do you know what rage-baiting is all about?

In a very long entry, Wikipedia tells us:

In internet slang, rage-baiting (also ragebaiting, rage-farming, or rage-seeding) is the manipulative tactic of eliciting outrage with the goal of increasing internet traffic, online engagement, and revenue, as well as attracting new subscribers, followers, or supporters.[1][2][3] This manipulation occurs through offensive or inflammatory headlines, memes, tropes, or comments that provoke users to respond in kind.[4][5][6][7]

For the most up-to-date and colloquial definitions, we can go to Urban Dictionary: rage bait

But what's the effect been? Here's a video looking at How Ragebait RUINED the Internet

And why is it happening? Here's a BBC report on What is rage-baiting and why is it profitable?

It's still very much in the news today.

From Maynooth University this week: The problems with coining terms like 'rage bait' and 'brain rot'

From Brussels two days ago: Rage-bait: Meet the influencers calling Brussels the 'worst city in Europe' just for views

And from Fordham University yesterday: When is Rage Bait Too Much?

Finally, is there the same use and interest in your own country?

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academic freedom in the united states

This blog has looked at press freedom around the world - but what about academic freedom?

In the United States, they seem quite determined in banning books: the school curriculum and critical race theory.

Here's a report from the latest Philosophy Now magazine in their News: February/March 2026:

Philosophy Professor Banned from Teaching Plato’s Symposium

More than 200 courses at Texas A&M University have been flagged or cancelled as part of a review called by the system board into course content related to race and gender, according to academics who contacted Inside Higher Education and other publications. The scope of the review has extended well beyond contemporary material. Alongside feminist writers and queer filmmakers, foundational figures in Western philosophy have been targeted.

Philosophy professor Martin Peterson, scheduled to teach his usual course on Contemporary Moral Problems, was instructed by university leadership to remove several passages by Plato from his syllabus. In an email from department chair Kristi Sweet, Peterson was given a choice: either eliminate “modules on race and gender ideology, and the Plato readings that may include these,” or else be reassigned to a different course. This effectively banned him from teaching Plato’s Symposium, a canonical Socratic dialogue focused on the nature of love that also discusses issues relating to patriarchy, masculinity and the human condition. Peterson objected strongly, and as the dispute escalated he wrote: “Your decision to bar a philosophy professor from teaching Plato is unprecedented … You are making Texas A&M famous – but not for the right reasons.” Despite his protest, Peterson ultimately agreed to revise the syllabus, replacing the censored material with lectures on free speech and academic freedom. Rather than ignoring the incident, Peterson plans to incorporate it directly into his course material: “I’m thinking of using this as a case study and assign some of the texts written by journalists covering the story to discuss,” he explained. “I want [students] to know what is being censored.”

And here's the reaction from the press at the time:

Professor Replaces Banned Plato Texts With Article on Censorship

Texas A&M Removes Plato from Introductory Philosophy Class

Is Plato woke? Texas A&M professor speaks out after being banned from teaching the Greek philosopher | WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR

A&M demands prof remove sexual orientation and race from his philosophy class - Dallas Voice

There's an intensifying kind of threat to academic freedom: Watchful students serving as informants

Here's an interview with the professor - and a comment that follows:

I taught Philosophy for forty years before my retirement; and Professor Peterson has, ostensibly been charged with "corrupting the youth" as was one of the charges levied against Socrates. Thankfully, he is not likely to be silenced in in the same way as Socrates. And I applaud the good professor's sense of Socratic restraint in his apologia. The real harm is done to his students, who have been denied the chance to have him guide them to favoring philos over eros, as Socrates argues in his speech. I taught The Symposium many times, and can say that my students' reading it--and in open dialogue about the many perspectives on love that it poses--was one of the most transformative classroom experiences for students that I can recall. I can only hope that Professor Peterson's accusers will come out of their cave, and see the light.

INTERVIEW: Texas professor censored over Plato curriculum speaks out | The College Fix

What about academic freedom generally in the United States?

Examining threats to academic freedom in America and the world | Harvard Kennedy School

University of North Carolina moves to define academic freedom

40 strikes on academic freedom in 2025: Is US higher ed losing its nerve? - The Times of India

Explained: Why US universities are rejecting Trump’s controversial higher education compact

How University Governing Boards Can Protect the Independence of Colleges and Universities - Center for American Progress

5 growing threats to academic freedom - Yahoo News UK

And elsewhere?

Academic Freedom Index

How to protect your university against authoritarianism | THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect

Academic freedom under threat for more than 50% of world’s population - Index on Censorship

The UK ranks sixty-fourth in global academic freedom ranking, marking steady decline - Committee For Academic Freedom

But perhaps we should define the term first!

Academic freedom - Wikipedia

Committee For Academic Freedom - Homepage

What Is Academic Freedom — and Why It Matters Beyond the University - YouTube

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trurl's electronic bard vs chatgpt

BBC Radio 4 does a 'bedtime story' most evenings - and this week, it's been The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem - Trurl's Electronic Bard.

As the BBC blurb says: Stanislav Lem's comic parables The Cyberiad, first published in the 60s, anticipate nanotechnology, our ambivalent relationship with the internet and debates around AI and creativity.

Published 60 years ago, The Cyberiad is indeed very relevant to today's 'debates'...

Especially in the last couple of years, there's been a lot of commentary:

Stanisław Lem’s The Cyberiad: I started on the part of the work called “The First Sally (A) or Trurl’s Electronic Bard,” and it hit me! The Electronic Bard is basically Lem’s prediction, from 1965, of ChatGPT. The Twenty-Third Sally, or How ChatGPT, The Electronic Bard, Created a Cacophony of Digital Storytelling in a Literature Class

"Have it compose a poem--a poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic, timeless, full of love, treachery, retribution, quiet heroism in the face of certain doom! Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and every word beginning with the letter s!" The Lippard Blog: Trurl's Electronic Bard vs. ChatGPT

The science-fiction writer didn’t live to see ChatGPT, but he foresaw so much of its promise and peril. Thinking About A.I. with Stanisław Lem | The New Yorker

Rather creepily, one of Google's AI things is named after the story - as discussed on this Google Group's pages: Trurl's electronic bard

And here's a service which calls itself a Google bard ai detector AI Detector – Trusted AI Checker for ChatGPT, GPT5 & Gemini | JustDone AI

And to finish this bit, here's the full story - in digital format of course: Trurls-Electronic-Bard.pdf

AI news: Artificial Intelligence absorbs of Shakespeare’s sonnets to create original poem | Science | News | Express.co.uk [from 2020]

Finally, though, today's news from the BBC shows that it's not just poetry that AI is producing but pop divas: Sienna Rose: AI suspicions surround mysterious singer - BBC News

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the return of the erasmus student scheme - and the esl/esol/tefl industry

Before Brexit, the UK benefitted from the Erasmus programme which enabled higher education students to study or work abroad as part of their degree, as well as staff to teach or train in over 30 European countries - which included places outside the EU.

The UK left the EU in 2016 and seemed to think the Erasmus project wasn't that important: U.K. Mourns the End of Erasmus Program in Wake of Brexit - The New York Times 

Here's a view from 2021:

The UK government’s decision not to participate in the Erasmus scheme is short-sighted and will undoubtedly have negative economic, political, cultural and linguistic consequences for a country trying to reposition itself globally. On the plus side, it is great news for the students of Northern Ireland that the Irish government in Dublin has committed to subsidise the Erasmus Year for Northern Irish students at an expense of more than 2 Million Euros. You cannot put a price on what this offers in terms of ‘soft power’ influence. The Conservative government in Westminster could learn a lot from their Irish neighbours.

Why Jettison Erasmus? The negative consequences for the UK of walking away

Before Christmas, it was announced that the UK will rejoin Erasmus student scheme in 2027 and in the latest EL Gazette, we get the view from the world of esl/esol/tefl:

The Erasmus scheme, known officially as Erasmus+, will be reopened to those involved in education, training, culture and sport from 2027...

“It’s incredible news – we are delighted that this opportunity is returning for our members as well as millions of people in the UK and the EU,” said Annie Wright, joint acting chief executive of English UK...

David Hughes, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the announcement was “brilliant news” for staff and students of all ages in further education colleges...

Alex Stanley, vice president for higher education of the National Union of Students said: “In the time we have not been in Erasmus, the number of UK students studying in the EU, and vice versa, has plummeted. This announcement will expand opportunity through universities and vocational courses, strengthen ties with our European neighbours, and allow a generation of students the chance to study abroad at a much more affordable rate.”

Return of Erasmus a boost for UK ELT - E L Gazette

And English UK certainly thinks that "The return of Erasmus+ will boost UK ELT".

Finally, here's the official government page: The Erasmus+ programme - GOV.UK

Sounds good! UK to re-join Erasmus+ – here are six benefits of the European exchange scheme

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classical dance from africa

'Western classical' (or 'art') music forms are associated with 'the West', but there are some fabulous examples of these coming out of other parts of the world. It does depend on your taste in music, but, before the political mess really started in Venezuela, there was a wonderful project happening there and the recycled orchestra of Cateura Paraguay is another great piece of inspiration.

On the BBC World Service today and on their excellent set of podcast documentaries, we can hear about the Kibera ballerinas: just listen to the first five minutes to get a sense of what this extraordinary project is all about...

[Or, if you prefer to get your BBC podcasts this way: Kibera Ballerinas - The Documentary Podcast - Apple Podcasts]

This is all about their latest piece: Dancing Through the Dust: Ballerinas turn one of the Kenya's Largest Slum into a Stage for a Christmas Show - with more pictures here: In Pics: Christmas ballet performance in Nairobi's Kibera slum-Xinhua

Here's a video of their work:

Ballet in Kibera, Kenya #UniteFor Community - YouTube

To finish, here's something from professional dancers in Senegal:

DANCING AT DUSK - A moment with Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring - YouTube

This Breathtaking Film Captures 38 African Dancers Performing Pina Bausch's Rite of Spring

Brought to the stage in Paris:

Pina Bausch's The Rite of Spring | The evolution of an epic - YouTube

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parodying websites

Parody is often linked to dissent and satire, as well as irony - and today it is very much part of the current issues around populism, culture wars and woke.

One example of parody would be the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

And in the news, we have: Comedy duo create Band Aid parody, Spicy Burlesque Parody 'The Empire Strips Back' and Die Hard musical parody showing at Norwich Puppet Theatre.

And back to the politics, it is suggested that 2025 was the year the far-right became a parody of itself.

This also brings us to the world of the parody website - for example: The Onion and ClickHole - Because All Content Deserves To Go Viral.

Whereas website spoofing might be legally questionable, as the Spoof website service suggests, it can actually work as a piece of political activism. In many countries, you can legally make a parody website:  Under US law a parody often counts as fair use, but it must be a “true parody” — that is one that seeks to comment on or criticize the original, not just a work that modifies the original to be funny.

The latest parody website parodies the United States' most prestigious performing arts venue, formerly known as The Kennedy Center - YouTube. The actual website is currently offering a Queue-it system because it is unable to manage the traffic wanting to enter it...

From the 'Trump-Kennedy Center', we do get this press release: Kennedy Center Board elects President Donald J. Trump as Board Chair | Kennedy Center Or as the USA Today news website asks: Did Trump rename the Kennedy Center after himself? Yes, that and more. Which has meant that artists cancel Kennedy Center shows after the Trump name change.

Also in today's news, we learn that a South Park writer has already purchased ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ website domain to troll the president:

A former South Park writer bought two website domain names in order to troll Donald Trump after predicting the president’s move to rename the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Toby Morton saw that the writing was on the wall before the writing was on the wall, and purchased TrumpKennedyCenter.org and TrumpKennedyCenter.com back in August.

Earlier this month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the world-famous performing arts center would be renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center after a unanimous – but potentially illegal – vote from the institution’s new board, made up of members hand picked by the president. The move has already prompted public protests, as well as multiple artists to pull out of performances scheduled at the center in the coming weeks and a lawsuit that claims that the name change is unlawful as it can only be approved by Congress.

Morton, who has credits with the satirical cartoon and Mad TV, is known to have bought political domains in order to turn them into satirical. He told The Washington Post that he had purchased the Kennedy Center names after guessing the president’s plans.

And here is HOME | Trump Kennedy Center... [which does say at the bottom of the home page: 'THIS WEBSITE IS PARODY']

It's all a bit of a mess, with suggestions that Trump's White House, Kennedy Center moves could hurt the GOP in 2026, in that Trump’s ‘Marie Antoinette thing’ could cost Republicans in midterms.

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6-7 or parasocial or enshittification - what makes a good word of the year?

How do we add new vocabulary in English dictionaries? 

The problem is that the UK does not have an official language - nor does it have an official dictionary.

So, it's really a matter of choice as to what is put into dictionaries - or, rather, a matter of choice of those out there who are using the English language.

Looking at the online dictionary.com, it asks and answers the question: How Does A Word Get Into The Dictionary?

This is one of the most common questions we get—and it’s a great one.

The answer involves one of the most misunderstood things about dictionaries, so let’s set the record straight: a word doesn’t become a “real word” when it’s added to the dictionary. It’s actually the other way around: we add words to the dictionary because they’re real—because they’re really used by real people in the real world.

In other words, our lexicographers add a word to the dictionary when they determine that:

• It’s a word that’s used by a lot of people.
• It’s used by those people in largely the same way.
• It’s likely to stick around.
• And it’s useful for a general audience.

All four of these points are important. Our lexicographers look for use not just by one person, but by a lot of people. Of course, many words have different shades of meaning for different people. But to be added to the dictionary, a word must have a shared meaning (that is, it must communicate a widely agreed-upon meaning from one person to the next). If everyone used a word in a completely different way, we wouldn’t be able to give it a definition, right?

But what about how dictionaries claiming that x is 'word of the year'?

It's probably about marketing: getting the name of the dictionary out there. And it works! 

The Daily Mail says the internet is divided as Dictionary.com unveils its 2025 word of the year - or as The Independent tells us, ‘6-7’ is named 2025 Word of the Year: Here’s what it means...

Alternatively, as reported in the E L Gazette, the Cambridge Dictionary names parasocial as the Word of the Year.

This social media and Gen Z/Alpha derived vocabulary was critiqued in last year's choice, as reported in the Guardian: ‘What many of us feel’: why ‘enshittification’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year:

“The gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.”

Take your pick!

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how good is grokipedia?

HOW GOOD IS WIKIPEDIA?

This is from a blog post from two years ago: Jay Doubleyou: Search results for wikipedia

Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet | WIRED [2020]

“Wikipedia Is Good for You!?” by James Purdy | Thematic Reading Anthology

Opinion | Science shows Wikipedia is the best part of the Internet - The Washington Post [2016]

Wikipedia is 20, and its reputation has never been higher | Economist

Is Wikipedia a good source? When to use the online encyclopedia – and when to avoid it [2023]

Is Wikipedia a good source? When to use the online encyclopedia – and when to avoid it

In some countries, students are told not to use it - but perhaps they need to learn how to use it instead:

Students are told not to use Wikipedia for research. But it’s a trustworthy source [2021]

5 Reasons to Actually Encourage Middle and High School Students to Use Wikipedia | Edutopia [2021]

What about today?

As this entry on the website says at Wikipedia: Don't cite Wikipedia on Wikipedia - Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is not an acceptable source for citations elsewhere on Wikipedia. As a user-generated source, it can be edited by anyone at any time, and any information it contains at a particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or simply incorrect.

This piece from this year from the website The Online Reputation and Wikipedia Blog asks Is Wikipedia Reliable in 2025:

Wikipedia is a great starting point for online research. It has a very good reputation and consistently ranks at the top of Google search results and has information on almost every topic. But is Wikipedia a reliable source? The answer as to whether it is trustworthy is both yes and no.

Sometimes, Wikipedia can be an accurate source of information. It is updated regularly and contains a wealth of knowledge from various sources (these are two of the main reasons it ranks so high in search). Articles that have many editors who are clearly experts and that include solid citations and references are usually quite reliable. Articles with less oversight tend to be less reliable.

Wikipedia is an open-source encyclopedia. This means anyone can edit its pages, which leads to wild inconsistencies across its pages. With 45,175,790 registered Wikipedia users, there is always the potential for bias or inaccuracies.

Therefore, when reading information on Wikipedia, it’s important to take the time to verify the accuracy of the information by looking for other sources that corroborate the facts.

So, Wikipedia is a good starting-off point.

But what about its 'politics'?

It's a long-standing point as to what might be the Ideological bias on Wikipedia - Wikipedia

One of the founders says it is biased: Wikipedia co-founder says online encyclopedia has been completely corrupted by woke ideology | Daily Mail Online

The other says not: Wikipedia is not woke, insists founder Jimmy Wales

On the right they say: How Wikipedia became Wokepedia - spiked

And on the left they say: Wikipedia’s Deep Ties to Big Tech | Institute for New Economic Thinking

Here's an excellent piece from the Manhattan Institute which says it's OK but could do better with regard to any political bias: Is Wikipedia Politically Biased?

And a piece from today's Le Monde very much looks at the current situation: Wikipedia, under fire from conservatives and shaken by AI:

Nearing its 25th anniversary, the online encyclopedia faces multiple challenges: accusations of 'woke' bias, threats to contributors, AI-generated content and declining readership. Despite these issues, Wikipedia remains resilient. But for how long?

Wikipedia is "controlled by far-left activists." "Stop donating to Wokepedia until they restore balance to their editing authority." "I will give them a billion dollars if they change their name to Dickipedia." These are just a few of the increasingly virulent messages posted online by Elon Musk, the world's richest man.

On October 27, Musk took things a step further by launching his own encyclopedia, Grokipedia, which he claimed would represent "truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." More than 885,000 articles, all generated by artificial intelligence (AI), make up what he called a site "10X better" than Wikipedia....

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES - AND ARE THEY ANY GOOD?

There are indeed other places to go, as detailed in this blog piece from 2021: Jay Doubleyou: alternative wikipedias

Although the best are probably here: 5 Terrifying Bastardizations of the Wikipedia Model | Cracked.com

Now we have Grokipedia. which according to it:  

Grokipedia is an open source, comprehensive collection of all knowledge.

And according to Grokipedia - Wikipedia:

Grokipedia is an AI-generated online encyclopedia developed by xAI. The site was launched on October 27, 2025, as version 0.1. Entries in Grokipedia are created and edited by the Grok large language model (LLM). Many articles are derived from Wikipedia, with some copied nearly verbatim at launch.

A problem seems to be its sources.

The Guardian [liberal/left] has said: In Grok we don’t trust: academics assess Elon Musk’s AI-powered encyclopedia | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian

“Chatroom contributions are given equal status with serious academic work,” Richard Evans, an expert on the Third Reich, told the Guardian, after being invited to test out Grokipedia. “AI just hoovers up everything.”

The problem, said David Larsson Heidenblad, the deputy director of the Lund Centre for the History of Knowledge in Sweden, was a clash of knowledge cultures.“We live in a moment where there is a growing belief that algorithmic aggregation is more trustworthy than human-to-human insight. The Silicon Valley mindset is very different from the traditional scholarly approach. Its knowledge culture is very iterative where making mistakes is a feature, not a bug. By contrast, the academic world is about building trust over time and scholarship over long periods during which the illusion that you know everything cracks. Those are real knowledge processes.”

Andrew Dudfield, the head of AI at Full Fact, a UK-based factchecking organisation, said: “We really have to consider whether an AI-generated encyclopedia – a facsimile of reality, run through a filter – is a better proposition than any of the previous things that we have. It doesn’t display the same transparency but it is asking for the same trust. It is not clear how far the human hand is involved, how far it is AI=generated and what content the AI was trained on. It is hard to place trust in something when you can’t see how those choices are made.”

The Financial Times says Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is a major own goal | Financial Times:

Musk, who has called Wikipedia, on which Grokipedia is modelled, “Wokepedia” and has described the site as “an extension of legacy media propaganda”, demonstrates a facile understanding of human knowledge. After all, even our best approximations of what is true are constantly shifting, as new facts and developments emerge, and as the values that shape our understanding change...

Go and have a poke around in it and you will see what I mean. You will find Tommy Robinson described as a “citizen journalist” in glowing terms in the very first sentence of his entry. You will see Elon Musk’s 20lb weight loss highlighted in his entry as if that were important information, and you will find out that can be attributed to intermittent fasting (rather than to Mounjaro). You will read Kremlin talking points in the first paragraph of the entry on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, like the idea that the former is “denazifying” the latter. You might also be somewhat mystified — given its purported role in propagating legacy media propaganda — to find that, often, “content is adapted from Wikipedia”.

Instead of setting up a serious challenger to Wikipedia, Musk has scored a major own goal. Grokipedia demonstrates that, while humans might be highly imperfect, biased and tribal beings, they are still better than AI at getting to the truth (even when a majority of them have “liberal” biases) and it shows that, in a world in which stores of trust are so depleted, in which it’s so hard to know what’s real and what is fake, a site like Wikipedia is more important than ever.

Even Grok, the xAI chatbot the new site is named after, told me that “while Grokipedia improves on specific Wikipedia flaws — like verbose, overly critical entries on conservative topics — its AI gatekeeping creates a centralised ‘Musk’s truth’ filter, lacking Wikipedia’s distributed checks”, and that “it trades one set of biases for another, often with less accountability.”

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how government policies on migration impact language schools in the uk

It seems rather too easy for governments to bring down 'migration' numbers by bringing down the number of foreign students - and this is having an effect.

In May of this year, the future of English language schools were in limbo after Starmer's visa crackdown:

English language schools fear they will go bust following the Government’s visa crackdown. Monday’s immigration white paper called for a review of short-term student visas, a route allowing those 16 and over to study an English language course in the UK for a duration longer than six months but no more than 11 months, over discrepancies in rejection rates. The review has left uncertainty for the ELS sector over fears it could be scrapped or severely restricted.

At the time, the UK government put together a press release, that its immigration white paper is to reduce migration and strengthen border - and at the same time it put together its evidence for the policy in its Student route evaluation (wave 2):

In May 2024, the Government introduced several policy changes designed to limit the number of student arrivals in the UK. The Home Office is keen to build an evidence base on the Student route to inform future policy and underpin assessments of economic impact.

This was the response from the ELT/ESOL sector: Breaking: UK Graduate Route reduced to 18 months under immigration white paper and Why ESOL Funding Must Address UK's Language Learning Crisis

With more from the wider press: Skilled visa rules, deportations and higher fees: what’s in the immigration white paper | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian

The latest news this week in the E L Gazette looks at how UK political shifts are impacting the English Language sector:

At the Labour Party conference, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a plan to consult on new, tougher conditions for migrants seeking permanent residency, including learning English to a high standard. This proposal is expected to sharply increase demand for ESOL courses and accredited language testing, as failure to meet these standards may mean migrants are not automatically entitled to remain in the UK...

Speaking to The Times last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves also advocated for an “ambitious” youth migration deal with the European Union (EU) to boost the economy. The scheme could allow EU nationals aged 18 to 30 to stay for two or three years, a move seen as a major opportunity for the ELT sector.

So, is this 'good news' for the ELT/ESOL sector?

Here's more analysis from the wider media: Migrants told to learn English, avoid crime, and volunteer to stay in Britain, Home Secretary to say | LBC

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nigeria making an impact on america

Nigerians are doing well - especially in the United States:

... it is not just in music and entertainment that Nigerians are, for want of a better word, tearing up the dance floor. The runaway success of the country’s diaspora has been documented. For example, in the United States, Nigerian-Americans are among the most successful immigrant groups, topping the charts in a wide array of fields. According to the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute (MPI), Nigerians in the United States are the most educated immigrant group, with 61 percent holding at least a bachelor’s degree, “compared with 31 percent of the total foreign-born population and 32 percent of the US-born population.”  

This, however, has created The Nigerian Conundrum:

Accordingly, the Nigerian conundrum consists precisely in the discrepancy between the demonstrated success of Nigerians, resulting in an unmistakable cultural confidence, and the country’s notorious political sclerosis. Nigerian entertainers may be redefining the global soundscape, giving American entertainment a run for its money; yet, Nigeria as a country cannot seem to get out of its own way. Not only is it one of the world’s most corrupt countries, ranking 150 out of 180 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2022, it is, perhaps deservedly, a global byword for dysfunction and infrastructural decay.

Nevertheless, despite its political troubles, culturally Nigeria makes a huge impact - including on the United States - with the Nigerian prom dresses that have the wow factor for US teenagers:

Anita Konneh,17, from Worcester in Massachusetts, ordered her dress from Keerah's Fashion Cave Photo: Tom Boakye

When Brianna made a TikTok video of herself in her African prom gown, she did not expect the reaction she got - it went viral and her post now has more than 1.1 million views. This reflects a growing interest that has driven demand for custom-made outfits with bold designs and unique embellishments. What began as a TikTok and Instagram trend - with people like Brianna flaunting their garments - has led to a booming business that links fashion designers in Africa to young people outside the continent.

The average price for an African-made prom dress ranges from $600 to $1,000 (£440 to £740), depending on the complexity of the design, fabric choice and added details. Custom luxury pieces can exceed $1,500. This may sound expensive but is much cheaper than having a garment custom made in the US - where the cost starts at around $3,500 and can go much higher depending on the designer and materials.

The BBC spoke to five fashion designers in Nigeria and Ghana who, in all, fulfilled more than 2,800 orders for prom dresses during the 2025 season, most of them bound for the US...

However, it's not all good news for the Nigerian economy: the US funding cuts have affected aid groups in Nigeria; when exporting to America under the new tariff regime, Nigeria now requires $80 Prepaid Duty each time; and Nigeria has been hit by US cuts to visa duration.

And yet, Nigeria tops South Africa as the Continent’s biggest economy - and culturally, the impact of Nigeria continues to grow, as Nigeria is the country that loves to overachieve.

And the cultural impact on the United States is particularly impressive, with Nigerian filmmakers at the Sundance film festival and Nigerian’s Afrobeat heavyweights at the Grammy awards.

Let's see how this develops!

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to debunk: "to disprove a myth that is a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim"

'to debunk' is an interesting verb:

to show that something is less important, less good, or less true than it has been made to appear: "debunk a myth": "The writer's aim was to debunk the myth that had grown up around the actress." DEBUNK | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

If you debunk a widely held belief, you show that it is false. If you debunk something that is widely admired, you show that it is not as good as people think it is. DEBUNK definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

To debunk something is to take the bunk out of it—that bunk being “nonsense.” (Bunk is short for the synonymous bunkum, which has political origins.) Debunk has been in use since at least the 1920s, and it contrasts with synonyms like disprove and rebut by suggesting that something is not merely untrue but is also a sham—a trick meant to deceive. One can simply disprove a myth, but if it is debunked, the implication is that the myth was a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim. DEBUNK Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

There's a lot of grossly exaggerated [over-the-top, blown out of all proportion, bigger than it really is] and foolish [very silly, not at all smart] claims being made...

In politics: 'All of us have a responsibility to debunk myths targeting refugees' | The National and Seven common tropes used to deny Gaza’s famine, debunked by an expert | The Telegraph

When it comes to conspiracy theories: 4 Ways Oncologists Use Social Media to Debunk Myths and Dispel Misinformation and Moon landing conspiracy theories, debunked | Royal Museums Greenwich

Even in sport: Debunking Outlandish Stances on Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence

The scientist, researcher and writer Emma Monk has been debunking since the Covid pandemic:  I now split my time between working as a Research Scientist in the Biotech industry and debunking spurious misinformation online.  Science — Emma Monk

For example, from 2022, she was interviewed by the BBC: Social media and some news outlets have spread claims this week that only around 17,000 people have actually died of Covid. We debunk. More or Less - BBC Sounds

Last year, four years on from Brexit, she debunked the myths around what happened since then in several iconic industries: How fishing was gutted by Brexit, Brexit and farming and It's time to face the music - four years on from Brexit - West Country Voices.

And lately, she's been looking at the hottest topic there is at the moment: immigration: Are small boat migrants really 24 times more likely to go to prison? Spoiler alert: no. But here’s how the media got suckered by bad data and worse assumptions. - West Country Voices

Here she is being interviewed this week by Ian Winwood in The New World: Emma Monk, the one-woman debunking machine:

On the last day of July, Emma Monk happened upon a story which claimed that asylum seekers are 24 times more likely to end up in prison than people who are born in Britain. Arching a quizzical eyebrow in the direction of this (ahem) arresting figure, Monk, a 46-year-old scientist from the New Forest, ran the numbers. Mining data and government statistics, with empirical certainty, she discovered the claim was hokum...

And for more:

Jay Doubleyou: brexit: and fishing rights... and selling fish

Jay Doubleyou: comparing: all sorts of categories

Jay Doubleyou: russia, ukraine and the war on culture

Jay Doubleyou: the psychology of lies and why we fall for them

Jay Doubleyou: fake news

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teaching english in russia... teaching english in ukraine

Teaching English in Russia used to be quite lucrative , with one English tutor back in 2020 saying they made up to $10,000 a month...

It's not quite so easy today, with rather dramatic news last summer that the American Robert Woodland teaching English in Russia was handed a 12-year jail term over drug charges - and last month it was reported that Russia has tortured an American teacher due to his nationality: he was accused of allegedly fighting for Ukraine.

And it's becoming more difficult to teach freely, with the Kremlin’s campaign to make education more ‘patriotic’ reaching English language classes with a new ‘Glorious Russia’ textbook, also last year.

Here's an interesting view from an American teacher of English at an official government school in Moscow, where she felt she was an Employee of the State, Enemy of the State:

I taught English as a Foreign Language in Moscow between 2019 and 2022, through mass student protests, increasing restrictions on freedom of speech, and, finally, a total break with Western institutions after February of last year. I taught a chilling set of classes only hours after Russia began bombing Kyiv. And as the government cracked down on connections with perceived enemies of the state, banned Facebook, Instagram, and the BBC, my students did not know how they should relate to me—the “enemy”—nor I them.

And last month, Moscow’s British Council ban has made living and studying abroad more difficult for Russians:

Russia on Thursday declared the British Council an “undesirable organization,” a move that is likely to make it more difficult for Russian citizens to study and live abroad. The British Council is one of the organizers of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), one of the world’s most widely used academic English exams for non-native speakers. By outlawing the British Council as “undesirable,” any cooperation with the organization is now illegal in Russia. Experts warn that this may also imply the British Council-administered IELTS test.

On the other hand, teaching English in Ukraine has been facilitated by the government there, with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and Cambridge signing an agreement on English language cooperation

And there are plenty of stories of individuals helping out - for example, a retired Michigan teacher who packed up his life and moved to war-torn Ukraine.

Because there's a real push now when it comes to teaching English in Ukraine - as language schools and tutors cope with high demand.

This demand is also political - with English as our ‘intellectual weapon’, says one Ukrainian military teacher:

“Commanders and personnel there wanted to implement English courses because a year ago, it was obvious that Ukraine would get military aid, weapons and support from our Western allies.”

And the government is pushing for English language proficiency:

Ukraine is implementing comprehensive measures to promote English proficiency, providing free language courses and integrating the language into the entire education system starting from kindergarten.

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real-world language learning

LEARN ENGLISH IN THE UK! 

Now that the UK and Germany have committed to a school group travel arrangement after English UK secured visa-free travel for German school groups, there are now more opportunities for face-to-face learning in an English-speaking environment.

But how important is so-called real-world language learning?

LEARNING A LANGUAGE AS A LIFE-LEARNING SKILL:

A new campaign has been launched to make it a reality for young people:

The core message of the campaign is to create FOMO (fear of missing out) among young people, especially Gen Z. It positions language travel not merely as academic study, but as a transformative life experience. This includes making memories, building global friendships, and experiencing diverse cultures first-hand, directly contrasting with online-only learning. The strategy involves a global movement primarily on TikTok and Instagram, platforms where the target demographic is most active. The goal is to make language and educational travel a trending topic, drawing inspiration from successful destination campaigns.

The organisation ALTO is a global platform for leaders and decision makers within the language and educational travel industry - and ALTO launched its student social media campaign earlier in the year.

Here's more from the study travel industry, as ALTO launches its campaign:

Industry association ALTO has launched a new global social media campaign inviting students to share their experiences of studying abroad and inspire a new generation of language travellers. The ALTO #PassportToPeople campaign was described as a "a global call to celebrate real-life language and educational travel".

ALTO Where Leaders Meet said, “Aimed at encouraging language learning, international friendships, and meaningful cultural exchange, the campaign is designed to inspire a new generation to embrace the life-changing power of travel and studying abroad.”

The association is asking students to capture and share their personal moments, and to post brief, compelling videos or photos on TikTok or Instragram with the #PassportToPeople hashtag to “contribute to a collective story of connection, courage, and cultural discovery”.

REAL-WORLD LANGUAGE LEARNING:

The idea behind getting young people to the UK to learn English and getting them to personalise and directly share their learning experiences is that it's not only more fun but more effective to interact.

As one blogger says, real-life learning is about connecting language to the world:

As a passionate advocate for learner-centred language teaching approaches, I firmly believe that connecting language learning to real-world topics and contexts is the key to learner engagement and fostering life-long learning. If we can show our students how the language they are learning connects to their own everyday lives, and not only that, but also give them opportunities to discuss important topics that they care about, we are setting them on the path towards making English a natural part of their daily life.

The Oxford Uni Press agrees that it's all about bridging the gap - and how real-world connections make learning more meaningful - although this piece is about pushing a new book...

And interestingly, the 'unreal' world of AI is suggesting why real-world applications matter in language education

But to finish, here's another teaching blog looking at how to use real-life scenarios for language learning:

From birth, we naturally absorb the language around us, using it to express thoughts and interact with others. This process, called language acquisition, occurs in real-life situations where understanding is essential. Similarly, you can use real-life scenarios for language learning. Because, when learners engage with the language in authentic, meaningful contexts, it helps them understand and remember it better. This approach builds a stronger vocabulary and grammar foundation. Which helps you to transition from theoretical knowledge to practical, everyday use, making the language feel more intuitive. In this article, we’ll dive into how you can use real-life scenarios to learn a foreign language and boost your confidence while travelling or moving abroad. Let’s get started!

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managed dystopia

The writer of 'Trainspotting' has just given The Interview - Celebrities: 9. Irvine Welsh: The Next Chapter - BBC iPlayer [See from 2:30 minutes, 7.30, 13:30 and 19:00 - and at 14:25 he talks about 'managing dystopia']

This is managed dystopia.

Or, from George Carlin - The American Dream.

Taking us from America to Russia to Ukraine, here's a piece by Paul Mason in the latest The New World

It started on the eve of independence day. In an hour-long phone call with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin told the US president that Russia had played a major role in America’s war of independence, offered to send him a movie about traditional values, chatted about mutually beneficial business ventures… and then flatly insisted that “Russia would strive to achieve its goals” in Ukraine. That night Russian forces staged the biggest strike of the war so far, launching 539 long-range drones and seven ballistic missiles at Kyiv.

This is what's happening in Russia now, in its war on culture:

• Russia’s ‘guardian of traditional values’ How the Kremlin plans to sell Putin to voters in his fifth presidential campaign — Meduza
• ‘It could undermine the traditional family’ Insiders say the Kremlin is keeping an anti-domestic violence law in limbo on purpose. Here’s why. — Meduza
• Russia bans distribution permits for films that discredit ‘traditional values’ — Meduza
• ‘Thrown to the wolves’ How a Texas man moved his family to Russia to escape ‘DEI’ — and ended up on the front lines in Ukraine — Meduza

As predicted in science fiction:

• ‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe’: what Blade Runner 2049’s dystopia tells us about 2017 | Blade Runner 2049 | The Guardian
• Blade Runner 2049 review – a gigantic spectacle of pure hallucinatory craziness | Blade Runner 2049 | The Guardian

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