Eleven dead, at an adult education centre, including the shooter, a 35-ish white man with no previous criminal record, but a history of school failure, unemployment and solitariness. Thank God he wasn’t a Muslim. (As many of his victims were.) But we need the police to look into his computer before we can surmise his motivation for sure.
This is extraordinary in Sweden. We thought it was reasonably safe here. We’re also currently getting bombs going off all over Sweden – gangland, apparently. No-one hurt.
I’m about to be interviewed by a ‘free’ Russian documentary maker (Redaktsiya) on ‘imperialism’. I guess the subject is more relevant now than it has been for many years, with both Putin and Trump reopening that can of worms.
Next day: more info: https://www.thelocal.se/20250205/orebro-campus-shooter-named-in-swedish-media. And more: https://www.thelocal.se/20250206/multiple-nationalities-among-victims-in-swedish-mass-shooting-police. So it does look like an anti-immigrant motive.
Porter’s Pensées 
A shooter apparently targets migrants in Sweden. Certainly extreme; perhaps, we will find out, the result of mental illness; but all too much of a piece with the mood in some Western countries.
Kemi Badenoch, floundering at PMQs has decided to stay afloat by clinging on to a piece of Reform UK driftwood. Her plan to deter long-term migrants from accessing any benefits could have inequitable consequences if ever implemented.
Meanwhile, Labour MPs from Red Wall seats threatened by Reform demand tougher action on migrants, including high-profile deportations and offshore asylum claim processing. Morgan McSweeney seems to share their preoccupation.
It seems both the left and the mainstream right want to fight on ground chosen by their populist opponents.
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