Forgot to post this one

So much truth. And controversial view: for me one of the key differences between radio programmes and podcasts is that radio programmes rarely make me shout GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAID EARLIER IN THE PUB I WASN’T THERE

One of the key things this Labour Government has done is aggressively pursue terrorism charges against (hundreds!) of people who haven't killed or blown up anything or anyone.

happy new year y'all

my wife just gave me a Look because I was laughing so hard at this

NEW When should social media posts have legal consequences? Comparing and contrasting the cases of Lucy Connolly and Alaa Abd El-Fattah By me, at @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...

Calls to strip pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah of his British citizenship pile torment on top of torture. New piece by me on a dangerous and manufactured storm: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

if you can't afford clothes, it's not clothing poverty, it's poverty. If you can't afford sanitary protection, it's not period poverty, it's poverty. Divvying up poverty into little bits hides the fact that poverty is poverty and gives right-wingers an in to say "poor people need to budget better."

Again: they thought they’d win a shattering court victory with the Harry Potter lady’s money, then the public would rise up in gratitude, salute them as heroes and stomp all over transgender people on their behalf. That hasn’t happened, because the public mostly aren’t vicious cranks, like they are.

no jesus christ the solution is to allow everyone to play in their own categories, it is insanely cruel how cis people keep reinventing segregation. trans people should not be punished for being excellent, full stop

If they would rather die, let them do it quickly and decrease the surplus population!

Many episodes available worldwide! Play ‘em to your kids 😁👇

I again urge you to ask which is more likely: that millions of members of the public have gone insane, or that a comparatively tiny number of people at the heart of media and politics - who all know each other and often work together - have driven *themselves and each other* crazy.

I loved this. And I want to note the whole “there were no autistic people before …” discourse has an answer here: just the people were sent away in the incarceration (yes “care homes” like this), and if they fled, they were just abandoned by society, usually to die.

Fewer than 50,000 Christians now live in Palestine under threat from Israel’s illegal occupation and attacks.

your boy has been carol singing and now enjoying the Harveys Christmas ale

Update on My Sousaphone Journey, the beast just had its first public outing doing a little busking for MAP in town with the 12yo

Greta Thunberg arrested for holding a sign opposing genocide. When peaceful protest is a crime, democracy is in deep trouble. Happening under a Labour Government.

Abolish the gambling industry

We have an estate advent calendar where people sign up to decorate their window. This year I have contributed 'Hoji frog at the office Christmas party'

Some great suggestions for Xmas dinner table fun in the replies here

This, very very hard. None of my primary sources are digitised, except the ones I have made so. Many of the finding aids to my sources are not even digitised. AI is so supremely limited.

Erik Satie predicts:

correct

Magnificent!

it was very satisfying to discover what this post is about

may i suggest

Jo Cox was murdered before the vote by a far-right terrorist & this is the language this complete disgrace chooses to use

There are people who have posted about Walliams who still rate Nick Cohen takes

The Mail now publishing completely open fascist activists, and highlighting it on the front page. Do you see anyone up in arms about this, do you see people puking blood with fury about racism in public life? You do not. Shall we learn some lessons from this?

I'm sorry, but 'yer da shouts at hotels' is the best sticker ever made

Imagine Scooby Doo saying "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori". It would be terrible. In fact, I don't think that Scooby Doo should read any war poems out loud. He can respect the fallen in other ways.

I also want to say thank you to the person who introduced me to the French word 'beaucoup' this year. It means a lot.

In 1811-12, the Luddites attempted to resist some of the first waves of machine-industrialisation. They were crushed. 20 years later "pauper apprentices" (= orphan children) were being SOLD to factory-owners as cheap labour. Think on, dear hearts, think on.

The study 'also found that AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand.'

can we talk about how gorgeous ben wishaw is www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

a lot of people I talk to IRL are unaware of the ongoing raids in US cities - please spread the word

Alice Sullivan tells universities to suppress pro-trans research to protect GC staff. However, HER OWN DATA shows pro-trans research is already more suppressed. When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record. www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...

This has been the case since 2008, and probably much longer: everything gets worse, meaner, dumber, nastier and more deliberately cruel, and nobody can explain any of it beyond “Well it’s tricky but our governments are doing their best”. Bedtime stories to absolve this calculated malice, basically.

The Vanity Fair photographer, Christopher Anderson, is one of the most respected portrait photographers currently on earth, with an incredible body of work. Everything he and the creative team did with That Article was intentional. Your reactions were provoked by artists making art. Human artists!

Many people are saying this

The Vanity Fair photographer with a lot more courage than many titans industry and brokers of power

checkmate, argos

Quite possibly the best con law article ever written in the English language. Bravo @jerryedwards.bsky.social

What's the Value of Early Career Arts & Humanities Research? I wrote about this for the @sahavoice.bsky.social blog, drawing on my experience as Director of @sgsah.bsky.social over the past few years saha.scot/the-value-of...

thanks to the @wonkhe.bsky.social team for flagging the debate in the lords on equity in UKRI PhD funding, in which the honourable lord young of acton gets his arse handed to him hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-1...

I see that the government line on the AI consultation is 'no clear consensus', which is what you say when 95% of respondents reject your preferred option

We're super excited to be returning to the Bagpuss Universe for Yaffle Origins. As mega fans of the Oliver Postbox multiverse, we always dreamed of telling the story of Assistant Professor Yaffle getting his first pair of glasses or whatever. Join us on this barren sphere, in this living death.

Nobody in The Moral Maze gets eaten by the Moral Minotaur, which is a fundamental flaw in the programme.