Wrote about this a few years ago and Stephen is absolutely right – but another impact that came up for me was that, by suggesting the harms are an issue of age, it's much easier for Big Tech to avoid regulation/put the onus on users to navigate unsafe content by denying it's unsafe for *everyone*

i'm so glad that we are heroin or some other drug and not y'know people

Why do we keep dreaming about our teeth falling out? theneuroscienceofeve... Dean Burnett explores the scientific reasons for a persistent and recurring stress dream #Brains #Teeth #Dreams #Stress #Wellbeing

How to defeat Vladimir Putin… www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is a really interesting issue (which, FWIW, I've also tried to write about badreason99.blogspot.com/2019/09/immi...). The thing is (and I realize some of you will demur 😜) Ian Dale is not a complete idiot, and the way he thinks (or refuses to) is *extremely* common.

A slightly longer history of everyone who ever lived:

I wrote something that is occassionally a little critical of the tiny cohort of dodgy blokes who are pushing AI. I thought I'd get a lot of pushback, but it seems many agree.

72% of Germans say the AfD is a danger for democracy. That is almost all current non-AfD voters (AfD polls at exactly 26%). (ZDF Politbarometer)

Utterly the wrong call. Weak. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"This may be music to the ears of the Labour Party members who have a vote in a leadership election, but it is needlessly insulting to the millions of people who voted for national sovereignty, and it is irrelevant to the practical question of how to lower the barriers to cross-Channel trade." FFS!

I see Simon Heffer, in Michael Gove's Spectator, is once again repeating his lie that Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech wasn't about race.. I debated Heffer recently (at the Oxford Litfest) - here's what I said. archive.ph/bqKZF

www.theguardian.com/society/2026... By @iansample.bsky.social Provides some hard data for the screening debate. But "lives saved" is a somewhat meaningless measure. We need QALYs or similar. 🧪

Turned on the Today programme for perhaps the first time this year. Instantly presented with three minutes of Chris Mason: glib, inane, uninformative, utterly banal. Turned it off again.

BBC Projected National Share of the vote via @patrick-pme.bsky.social, and change from last year Reform 26% -4 Green 18% +7 Labour 17% -3 Conservative 17% +2 Lib Dems 16% -1

Self-described genius makes elementary logical mistake based on a false premise.

Hello, immigrant here (with a blue passport now, alas). Married to another immigrant with indefinite leave to remain. Both have paid tax for over two decades. Two children who shortly will pay tax and support UK pensions. Who wouldn't agree that we are part of the problem that needs to be fixed.

The issue here is: A Labour govt has ignored pleas of British citizens, new borns to dying elderly, who did not know border rules it introduced in Feb without a proper campaign at airports, or airline booking sites. People have missed funerals; visits to dying www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

To rest my eyes in shades of green

"Yorkshire is in the north east" 😱 Blocks, unfollows, reports, burns my copy of the FT ..

And finally... Roots: Rainbow carrots and radishes, and normal white parsnips. The radishes have been in a bit and already started to grow. Was planning more rows but I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.

"So what (in my perception) has opened up is a credibility gulf in which Israel’s leaders and institutions can no longer be believed or trusted by people in the West."

@lisaocarroll.bsky.social Sorry, just sent you an email from which I now see I've somehow deleted some lines 🫣. Should have said: "Kind regards, Mike" at the end, and then "--" and then the auto-generated signature.

Potatoes in: Pentland, Cara, Casablanca, and Purple Rain.

Happy 56th anniversary, this unimprovable newspaper headline

Dear god, they've got Chris Philp on now 😱 #bbclaurak

I have to say that I thought that @darrenpjones.bsky.social acquitted himself rather well on #bbclaurak today.

www.sciencenews.org/article/anci... 🧪

Legumes in!

open.substack.com/pub/davidaar... By @davidsonofaaron.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/... By @iandunt.bsky.social

What's that thing android phones sometimes do? It rings. You get red and green buttons. You hit the green button to answer and the buttons disappear from your phone never to reappear, but the call is not answered and the phone just goes on ringing, but because there are no buttons, you can't answer?

Im literally learning in real time and sharing it with everyone as im going through the journey. This is literally what I do everyday. It's a new rabbit hole I will never leave. Im just adding it to my network of holes

Gosh! Well done Manchester! #UC

Brassicas (sort of) in: kale, rocket, mustard + lollo rossa and spinach. No point in trying to grow cabbage I've decided. The local lepidoptera eat them all before we get chance to.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🧪

A reminder of the days when nations did absolutely dumb shit... thank God that's behind us eh www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...

What's the weirdest planet in the solar system? I bet your answer is different than mine! Here's what I think: www.scientificamerican.com/article/what... 🔭 🧪

Yeah, here's a link to the proper science behind this article:

This by @hannahdevlin.bsky.social BTW who I see is also on here now - if you wish to follow her.

www.theguardian.com/science/2026... 🧪

Science doesn't care what RFK believes.

@matthewcobb.bsky.social Matthew! p184/5 AMiMfDNAttB:C "the base ratio (A+T):(G+C) was constant in the RNA ...". I'm puzzled! 1st, if we were talking DS RNA, it would be (A+U):(G+C). 2nd, unless the "microorganisms" were viruses, we'd be talking SS RNA and the pairings wouldn't make sense. 🤔

I reckon that several things may be true here. For e.g. it's probably true that none of the drugs currently on offer will actually help actual patients much. It's also probably true that the *relative* success of some of the newer drugs may be "a breakthrough" in that it gives us vital information.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Srsly. Not much we can do, except cross our fingers.

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to burst out laughing.

Another splendid article on Orbán's debacle: (Also I learned a new word: "plushie" - AmEng foroft toy it seems; presumably from the German "Plüschtier"? Perhaps the young people now use this here in the UK? But I'd not heard it before 🙂.)