New episode today: Would less liberty be better for us? My guest Sarah Conly says absolutely yes: we need the state to make harmful choices illegal. She's a formidable proponent of paternalism and we have a cracking conversation for you: linktr.ee/surprisinget...

Jesus, now even Outlook has introduced an AI function to summarise emails. Can't we just be left to read the actual goddam email in peace -- rather than communicate through robots?

The one thing that's not saving me time is Adobe reader incessantly popping up with the view that "this document seems long: save time with a summary". Can we just not have tech companies continually trying to get people not to actually... read, and engage properly with ideas?

Launch day is finally here! New podcast all about surprising ideas on #ethics and political values. Tune in for philosophers' hottest takes! 3 launch eps to choose from here: surprisingethics.buzzsprout.com

The trailer has now launched!! Check out this 1 minute into to Surprising Ethics, a new podcast about philosophers' most surprising ethical ideas: surprisingethics.buzzsprout.com

Brand new podcast launching soon! Bringing you the most surprising ideas in ethics and political philosophy. With short episodes by me, Dr William Gildea, and long-form interviews with philosophers on their contributions.

Let’s try another method. Phase out zoos. There is no ‘gentle’ death for a healthy animal that doesn’t want to die.

Pets to be fed whole to zoo animals. For "animal welfare" reasons. The predators "need" this, apparently. What about the needs/welfare of the pets slaughtered? It's shocking zookeepers could be so inconsistent. There's no ethics without consistency. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

This kind of action is just so *absurdly* piecemeal. Why should anyone be able to shoot a bear in the face for fun? Maybe the bill is better than nothing but come on.

🗳️ UK to lower voting age in national elections. Our colleague, Dr Isabella Trifan says, "This is a step forward—not because 16-year-olds pay taxes, but because they’re citizens affected by policy and as capable of voting as many adults are.” #PoliSky #YouthVote #Democracy #VotingRights #EssexGov

Every time I go to the watch mender's/key cutter's I get a new story about how amazing/underappreciated animals are. Today's: "This swan flaps her wings at me in my kitchen to ask for bread. I give it once she beats her wings. Then she cuts it up for her little ones". Heartwarming

Interesting - Guardian reports some UK farms will be taken entirely out of food production under plans to make space for nature. Environment secretary added this is so “you maintain outputs, or even increase outputs while increasing the space for nature" by increasing productivity on the best land

Dear Bluesky, is 'Surprising Ethics' a decent name for a podcast? I am launching on September 4th and this is the provisional name. Any better way to convey the idea of an ethics/political philosohpy podcast that promises a surprise in each episode? Pls let me know, thank you!!

It is terrifying to suppose that anyone believes the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were morally justified. But there are few limits to the things people will believe when their in-out group sense is aggressive enough.

Just learned that AI can't divide one number by another. Can anyone explain why, to an AI novice? Isn't this the sort of thing it should do easily? (Any calculator can do it...).

Zero mention of the ethical implications of killing octopuses, despite widespread opposition to octopus farming. Great joined-up thinking from the Guardian

Far-right candidate for Romanian president George Simion went on TV in France, said some silly things and spoke Fran-Romanian (finishing sentences in Romanian). Then his opponent in Sunday's election met Macron, changed the conversation to French, and spoke....French

Good to see Vox covering the issue of invertebrate sentience and welfare. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Just opened a pdf of a chapter of Rawls' A Theory of Justice. Adobe gives me a pop-up, saying: "this document seems long. Save time by reading a summary". Jesus.

I got a letter in the Guardian in print! On cloning dogs

I just got a letter published in the Guardian :) Extract: That Luiz Hoinkis chose to clone his dog may seem to be a sign of his sincere love for animals. But his decision and the growing pet‑cloning industry that makes it possible may instead be an indication.... www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

AI suggestions under Facebook posts have to be some of the almost pointless and annoying things anyone didn't ask for

When we advised the UK government about 🐙🦑🦀🦞🦐 sentience in 2021, we also highlighted the worst welfare risks they face and what it would take to address them. Not much has changed yet, so we've published an updated review (open access) with all the latest evidence: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Pleased to support this. World Bank plans to double its agribusiness investments to $9 billion annually by 2030. Join us on 24th April as allies in 11 countries and 5 continents across the globe ask the World Bank: Is financing factory farming worth it? #StopFinancingFactoryFarming #WorldBank

'Creating Carnists': interesting new article in Philosophers' Imprint about raising kids as non-meat-eaters. Open access: journals.publishing.umich.edu/phimp/articl...

Can we finally stop culturally worshipping the US now?

Trump claims it's unfair that other countries sell more to the US than vice versa. But he also thinks that big US corporations selling more than competitors is great - and that their resulting hordes of wealth should be celebrated, admired, and protected.

An emotional day - I can announce I'll be the first director of The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience at the LSE, supported by a £4m grant from the Jeremy Coller Foundation. Our mission: to develop better policies, laws and ways of caring for animals. (1/2) www.lse.ac.uk/News/Latest-...

Soon green traffic lights will be accompanied by a horn so that drivers can text and check Insta whilst sitting at traffic lights

Summary of our world?

'Very traumatic', police say. 'A highly distressing crime that has caused death and serious injury to defenceless animals'. I agree. But are there other killings of defenceless animals that are escaping our attention? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Was emailing myself notes why rabbits have moral rights. Half way through I looked up and saw a rabbit, perhaps lost, next to city train tracks and big motorway. Bit of a sad sight.

Humanity has a culture of using other animals - foxes as coats, cows as dinner, chickens as a nice starter. This affects trillions of animals a year. But do we have a proper moral justification for it? If not, could humanity be making some sort of enormous, awful mistake?

We are indeed not the only type of animal. Design projects "need to think about how it’s affecting other species, or either limiting its impact on other species, or ideally promoting" them. Welcome news that younger designers now often consider this www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Ominous: AI seems to regard us laughing in our podcast recording as a 'pause' and has duly deleted all cases of laughter as needless clutter that wastes listeners' time.

Here's an alternative solution to bird flu: stop farming billions of chickens a month for no particularly good reason

Adobe has become so annoying. Endless unsolicited offers to provide AI summaries of papers (often my own), plus a blue "FREE TRIAL" box that flashes on and off as you scroll. Thank the Lord there's a partial solution in CTRL+H

You can trust the Daily Star to cherry pick some data and then announce the decline of veganism. That some categories of plant based replacements have dropped in sales bc cost of living doesn't mean vegan food down. There is... other... vegan food

I'm sad to learn of the death of Evelyn Pluhar a few years ago, a philosopher, theorist of animal rights, and author of Beyond Prejudice. Today I finally started writing to her to make contact and have a chat to learn from her, as her writing struck a chord. V sad to learn I won't be able to do that

No, consciousness is not self-awareness/self-consciousness. Being aware is one thing, being aware of your awareness is quite another. Over-intellectualising consciousness risks denying that many conscious humans and other beings are conscious

So lucky to have been able to present my work just now to such nice and insightful colleagues at the CRÉ!

Interesting new paper on the condundrum of whether having a child is morally the same as over-emitting, given the consequences for the climate can be similar. Helpful stuff! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Us prepping for the soon-to-exist Ethics for the Everyday podcast. It's more work than we thought, but we promise we will exist soon!!!

When it comes to animals, the term "invasive species" and its corresponding narrative seems ethically uninformed and inconsistent, and in the hands of some, aggressive, emotional and hypocritical. Am I wrong? Is there anything to be said for its ethical basis?

I wrote this on why the #RSPCA should stop certifying meat products and pivot to a bolder strategy in the new year theecologist.org/2025/jan/08/...

500 pages of notes and still no finished paper!

It is with enormous sadness that I have resigned from my role as president of the RSPCA . I would like to register my respect and admiration for all the staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to protect animals from cruelty . Thank you . www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

It’s International Animal Rights Day, but do animals have any moral rights? Seems so, as most animals are capable of good and bad experiences. They have a conscious window onto the world through which pains and joys arise. It also matters to them what they experience. So it should matter to us too

Today is International Animal Rights Day. It’s also Human Rights Day, celebrating the day in 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the UDHR. In 1998, Sheffield animal rights group Uncaged started to observe the 10th Dec as a day for animals to make a link between human and nonhuman rights.