AI isn't dangerous because it's alive, it's dangerous because the most powerful people on the planet are all lying to you and saying it is when it's a barely functional chatbot that isn't allowed to disagree with you because you might stop paying for it

“UK screen industry ‘on the brink of collapse’ as 74% of workers consider leaving” - This collapse has been shouted from the rooftops by thousands of freelancers for years. @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social shrug & the industry’s leaders are nowhere. When will we act for a sustainable equitable future? When?

17-02-26 Dear BBC licence payers, are we ALL writing "BBC license fee" now? The BBC will probably be spelling it like that soon grr. Stop sucking up to that fat lizard-eyed jaffa fuck in the White House. JAMES BOND HAS A LICENCE TO KILL. Also I am in the off licence 🍺🍺 😫 Yours, A STATE PENSIONER

“…they don’t know why.” It’s a complete fucking mystery isn’t it, bellends.

Hey! While you’re second screening that HETV show that isn’t holding your attention, why not read my thoughts on how HETV is… serving us ‘junk stories’ that… don’t hold your attention…

Oh hey! Is there a new adaptation of the famously simple and unproblematic potboiler sub-dom rom-com “””””””””””Wuthering Heights”””””””” out in cinemas?!?! Weird that no-one’s mentioned it???

So when thousands of women (and children) were being duplicated--including in non-consensual AI porn--it was no big deal. But it took "only a 15-sec clip" of these two famous white men to draw outrage and fear. Gotcha. Cool cool.

Hey! While you’re second screening that HETV show that isn’t holding your attention, why not read my thoughts on how HETV is… serving us ‘junk stories’ that… don’t hold your attention…

A giant loss: Robert Duvall is gone. An extraordinary artist who was fluent in every dialect of film acting, from ice-cold underplayer (The Godfather) to expert naturalist (Tender Mercies, The Apostle) to balls-to-the-wall maniac (Apocalypse Now). One of our all-timers. Plunge into that filmography.

Blimey. Looks like Matt Goodwin, who seems to think the Handmaid's Tale is an instruction manual, is in the pay of an Orban think tank, funded by Russian oil money.

Emerald Fennell is adapting all four tomes of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China for the big screen. Featuring a diverse cast, including Jacob Elordi as the General Secretary and Margot Robbie as Peng Liyuan, the four-part series will show an erotic side to socialism with chinese characteristics

I'm writing a book. Every working day begins with me rewriting what I wrote the day before, and the day before that. If your reaction to that is "AI could save you that trouble," I know you're not a writer. Computer programs can't sleep on it, can't dream an idea, can't suddenly realize something.

One thing you see in both the smug dope from the Plain Dealer and the Cruise/Pitt clip is profound resentment at the idea that creative work is a skill with human variables--experience, instinct, practice, imagination. There is real anger at the very idea that non-technological human talent matters.

BBC headline utterly failing. ‘The saga of a £165m rail line that keeps causing travel chaos’ It’s not the rail line that “keeps causing travel chaos” its the shifting climate with more prolonged and intense rainfall and more frequent storms leading to landslips and the sea wall being washed out.

I've been chewing on some thoughts about the 'nutritional value' of the stories we're being fed by HETV. Feels to me like we're 'eating' a lot of 'junk stories'... Grab a cup of tea and a (healthy) biscuit and let me know your thoughts... LONG🧵

I've been chewing on some thoughts about the 'nutritional value' of the stories we're being fed by HETV. Feels to me like we're 'eating' a lot of 'junk stories'... Grab a cup of tea and a (healthy) biscuit and let me know your thoughts... LONG🧵

Wuthering Heights (2026) goes into the collection of recent films etc that have one big thematic thing that the creator has to absolutely *nail* to make everything make sense and then they decide not to, but apparently I’m not meant to care because aren’t we all having a marvellous pretty time?

Just to reiterate that all you need to know about UK class system is that Lord of the Flies is read as a comment about human nature and not about how inept and bullying public school boys can be.

Dude regularly works for Disney, DreamWorks, Netflix and CN so speculate away. But this sucks no matter which studio is doing it, and gross to think some major movie this year is running with a plagiarized image from ChatGPT.

I have no problem with anyone making a nuclear holocaust film for the modern age. I do have a problem with them calling it Threads. Threads is a film made in 1984 that still speaks to this day. There can only ever be one. Make your film… but find your own story and call it something else.

With a crushing sense of inevitability. Thousands - literally thousands - arrested, people imprisoned for months. All for - optics?

Wow! Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report. This is a *big* legal win. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

It’s Joe Don Baker’s birthday. Why not watch Edge of Darkness on BBC iPlayer? You won’t regret it. youtu.be/-kH9hXB8MEA?...

Honestly, the list of things that a Culture Secretary could get involved in, if we had one, is *HUGE*.

“You can’t have a reasonable discussion about AI” just sounds like a reboot of the “civility in politics” discourse. If I sound shrill about AI, it’s because it’s putting thousands like me out of work, sucking up all the water and filling the net with child porn. No, I fucking won’t be civil.

After *inhaling* the sublime, gentle and kind #SmallProphets, I am now *inhaling* the sublime, gentle and kind music of @cinderwellmusic.bsky.social who also scored the show. Simply gorgeous. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMoz...

Don’t the anti-immigration lot ever get tired of all the energy they spend on it? Every society has blamed immigration for everything, throughout history. And we’ll probably keep doing it forever. Just an endless, unimaginative cycle of getting fired up and spun off into the walls.

You can joke about Pam Bondi’s ridiculous unprofessionalism all you want, but I’m deeply shocked by it: She acts as if she fears absolutely no consequences, convinced that there will be no more political power transfers. — This should shake everyone to their core.

Because none of that stuff -- other than voting -- is a right guaranteed to all citizens in the United States Constitution. You useless, hollow shitheel hack of a lying politician.

I know I say this every six months, but if you can’t imagine how working from home might make some people more productive, you have basically never progressed from being a schoolboy, and do not understand that a lot of workers derive motivation from something other than the fear of punishment.

Reform is threatening Bangor University over a student society’s decision. The society isn’t Bangor University—but this is a neat preview of how a Reform government would work: public money for supporters only. Trump-style politics, UK edition. Authoritarian reflex is already working just fine.👇

God Farage is a bore. He voted against improving workers’ rights. He doesn’t want us to have control over our lives. He demands that we live within the stifling confines of his stale old prejudices and resentments. Fewer rights. Less protection. More exploitation. That’s his plan for the rest of us.

Not a new thought but: The amount of unpaid work a freelance writer expected to do to get a TV show commissioned (or even glanced at) is just unsustainable if you don’t come from a wealthy background or have pre-existing financial security. We’re missing out on brilliant stories & brilliant people

Places are booking now for all our retreats. We also offer the barn, our micro-retreat centre in the beautiful Dyfi biosphere, for self-led artist residencies at affordable rates. Find out more here. emergence-uk.org/the-barn/

And in high summer, btw 16-25 July, our Nature Quest. This is for you if you are facing a turning point in life and want to mark it by undertaking a rite of passage ritual of 4 days and nights alone in beautiful nature fasting. We love offering this powerful work. emergence-uk.org/summer-solst...

In early September 6-11 we're fulfilling a long-held dream of offering our first retreat spent in company of one of the most beloved poem cycles of all time, TS Eliot's 'Four Quartets'. Immerse yourself in words of meaning, hope, life and death. Not to be missed. emergence-uk.org/four-quartet...

Paired with 'Spring Forward' is our autumnal offering of 'Fall Back' from 22-25 October, marking the shift into the regenerative darker days of winter. Taking stock, going inwards, warm fires, good food. A chance to settle into rest and rejuvenation. emergence-uk.org/fall-back-20...

This year we're delighted to be offering two retreats for writers in a collegial and supportive gathering to 'Write Here Write Now'. With mentoring on hand from @philralph.bsky.social, award winning screenwriter and playwright. Dates are 12-17 March and 4-9 October. emergence-uk.org/write-here-w...

Our first retreat from March 12th to 15th is 'Shake It Off', an opportunity to learn and practice TRE (Tension & Trauma Release Exercises). This wonderful work will help you reconnect to health and potency, alleviate stress and support the nervous system. emergence-uk.org/shake-it-off...

All our retreats for 2026 are now open for bookings. From calming spaces to write and learn body work, to deep dives into beloved poems and our nature connection work, we hope there's something here to support and nourish you in these days of change. 👇🧵 emergence-uk.org/upcoming-eve...

If you used AI to write it, I don’t want to read it. Simple as that.

If you follow me, and you’re a decent sort (or an indecent sort with a sense of humour or a good heart), and a follow back is something you enjoy… just ask. 🙂 👍

Reform's leader in Wales and man of the people Dan Thomas explains no one knows where he actually lives because he has so many houses

It only took them 12 months to build massive concentration camps all over the USA. You’d think there would be more uproar, but no. No one cares unless it’s in their backyard.

Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) is a miracle of a film. Such a beautifully shot view of London with superb performances from Finch, Head and Jackson and a brief glance of Daniel Day Lewis.

the fake conspiracies are a distraction from the real conspiracies... this is what I found again and again while researching Doppelganger. And Bannon is doing it in overdrive these days.

The endless column inches, YouTube videos, podcasts and more given over to the largely non-existent rightwards shift of young men is exhausting. A small fraction are getting radicalised by the online right. But most young men vote left and liberal! Even more so than millennials did at their age!

Wipe us out. And kill the stragglers with tech. Not really sure what my sector did wrong, but happy to take the whipping we’re apparently due.

go off jack white