This week's piece is all about monsters and their creators, from Mary Shelley to Anthropic weknow0.co.uk?p=2698

MAY EVENT: @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social are very excited to welcome Hugo Award winning author Ray Nayler as our next guest on Friday 8th May. This event will be held over Zoom - free for members, £6 for non-members. Tickets and further info here: eventbrite.com/e/1987709792...

MAY EVENT: We are very excited to welcome Hugo Award winning author Ray Nayler as our next guest on Friday 8th May. This event will be held over Zoom - free for members, £6 for non-members. Tickets and further info here: eventbrite.com/e/1987709792497

My review of Claire North's Slow Gods, a polycrisis in the form of wonderful rich space opera weknow0.co.uk?p=2969

Great session with Oliver Bettis at @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social last night, despite a few technical difficulties. A very engaged discussion about the choices facing us on climate action and how to discuss them constructively from different perspectives

We'll be talking about terraforming with Oliver Bettis in Birmingham this Friday night at 8pm. Hope you'll be able to join us weknow0.co.uk?p=3028

On 10 April @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social welcome Oliver Bettis, ESG actuary and co-author of Climate Scorpion and Parasol Lost. Come and discuss the real terraforming going on and its risks at @inthewarehouse.bsky.social or via Zoom. Tickets on the door or via eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985958692911

Calling it a cost-of-living crisis is a bit like calling the Black Death a labour market crisis weknow0.co.uk?p=3008

APRIL EVENT: We are looking forward to welcoming environmental, social and governance actuary Oliver Bettis as our guest on Fri 10th April. Come and join us @inthewarehouse.bsky.social, B'ham Friends of the Earth or via Zoom. Tickets on the door or via Eventbrite: eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985958692911

On 10 April @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social welcome Oliver Bettis, ESG actuary and co-author of Climate Scorpion and Parasol Lost. Come and discuss the real terraforming going on and its risks at @inthewarehouse.bsky.social or via Zoom. Tickets on the door or via eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985958692911

My visit to @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social last night: little-bits.paulmorriss.com/2026/03/firs...

Palantir’s technologies are used by the powerful to attack the powerless. This company should not be involved in our public services. Sign this petition if you agree act.globaljustice.org.uk/get-palantir...

This is what you expect from a Milo Minderbender presidency. It has been clear since the 1960s that the US requires enormous strength of purpose from its executive to hold its industrial-military complex in check. That is why so many of them have been so keen to install a Trump weknow0.co.uk?p=2997

Mega-donors can pour millions of pounds into our political parties and drown out the influence of ordinary voters. We need a donation cap now. Please sign our letter. secure.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/page/187342/...

As the Module 3 report from the Covid Inquiry is launched, a reflection on the absolute refusal to accept the existence of any small coin acting under gravity when it comes to the nation's mental health weknow0.co.uk?p=2976

Great event on Friday...and not just because we were forced to hold it in Kilder over the road. Thanks to @aychao.com for welcoming us into her world!

My moment of peak Birmingham with Big Special. Warning it's a bit sweary, and even more so if you click any of the links. But then, it is only swearing weknow0.co.uk?p=2945

MARCH EVENT: We are very excited to welcome bestselling fantasy author @aychao.com as our guest on Fri 13th March. Come and join us at @inthewarehouse.bsky.social, Birmingham Friends of the Earth, or online via Zoom. Tickets available on the door or via Eventbrite: eventbrite.co.uk/e/1984229713487

We need infuriatingly slow, inclusive and deliberative decision-making, involving people taking their responsibilties more seriously than being a human-in-the-loop would ever allow. Our decision-making systems need more grit and less oil. AI is all oil weknow0.co.uk?p=2937

On Friday 13 March @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social are delighted to welcome Alice Chao, No1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Shanghai Immortal. 7.45 for 8pm start at the FoE Warehouse, 54-57 Allison Street, Birmingham B5 5TH. This is our last meeting at 2019 prices so we hope to see you there!

This week's post starts with The Actuary on data versus stories, listens to the FT's latest push for economic growth as a universal panacea, this time for HE, before noting the market impact of a bit of SF on the Global Intelligence Crisis of June 2028 weknow0.co.uk?p=2925

My review of Bletchley Park Museum, or the Museum of Path Dependence as I am calling it weknow0.co.uk?p=2900

Elections should represent what people want and need, not those with the loudest voices or deepest pockets. A National Commission is how we'll get the change we need. Could you add your name? www.open-britain.co.uk/ncer

BREAKING NEWS: We have just had it confirmed that Alastair Reynolds will be in Birmingham tonight and has very kindly volunteered to give a short talk before the Book Auction. Entry is still free. Usual place at the FoE Warehouse on Allison St, 7.45 for 8pm. Hope to see you there!

Politics is a bit depressing this week, so I thought instead I would focus on the asymmetry of our attitudes towards different high octane liquids weknow0.co.uk?p=2879

First Past the Post can no longer deliver real mandates - only chaos. 60% of Brits want it scrapped. Yet the Representation of the People Bill won’t even touch our voting system, which leaves millions unrepresented. Tell Keir Starmer to change this. actionnetwork.org/petitions/th...

if our rulers' Mandates of Heaven are dependent on eternal economic growth and they, rightly, think it is not possible in our current non-AI-enhanced world but, wrongly, think it is possible in a future AI-enhanced world, then that is the way they are going to demand we go weknow0.co.uk?p=2866

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

The Snow Globe may be shaken but it's still safe from the rest of us weknow0.co.uk?p=2858

Come and join us and Jaine Fenn on 13 February at @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social ! Details below

FEBRUARY EVENT: We are very excited to welcome our first guest of 2026, award-winning SFF author @jainefenn.bsky.social on 13th Feb. Come and join us at The Warehouse, Birmingham Friends of the Earth, or online via Zoom. Tickets available on the door or via Eventbrite (link to be provided soon).

The world may be wrestling with the problem of a mad king, but it turns out we have lost something more important. My bit on the latest joint report from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the University of Exeter about the fight to maintain planetary climate solvency weknow0.co.uk?p=2849

For those fans of Manchester United's way of running things who seem to be running things at the moment, there seems to be a hell of a lot of catharsis around at the moment. Evidence suggests that it is unlikely to achieve much weknow0.co.uk?p=2830

Happy new year! Let's start with something uncontroversial like, I don't know, getting rid of traditional exams? weknow0.co.uk?p=2785

A List of Predictions Made in 1926 About 2026 🧵

I had a lovely time giving a talk and Q & A to several generations of devoted SFF fans in Birmingham @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social, who turned out to be just as interested in Chinese #horror as they were in scifi. Thank you for having me there! 7/

Merry Christmas everyone! See you in 2026. Here's a bit of antiphrasis for you weknow0.co.uk?p=2595

General Ripper, The Doomsday Machine and our governance arrangements weknow0.co.uk?p=2796

A crypto investor just donated £9 million to the Reform Party. Right now, billionaires can pour unlimited money into our elections, effectively buying our democracy. Think that's wrong? Add your name to call for a cap on donations today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ta...

@stereolabgroop.bsky.social great show in Wolverhampton tonight!

The world of education needs to ask itself some questions, because looking in the rear view mirror and trying to extrapolate what we see into the future is not going to work for us any more weknow0.co.uk?p=2780

As the year draws to a close, I thought I would thank @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy for his impact on this blog this year by introducing Enshittification to a much smaller audience weknow0.co.uk?p=2765

Can change come from within Russia? Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina talks to Oliver Bullough at Hay Festival Winter Weekend.

About inquiries and yesterday's Budget pantomime. To be read to the accompaniment of Status Quo singing Again and Again weknow0.co.uk?p=2739

Professionals, who have for years given terse responses to their juniors' queries about the unintelligible instructions they have been given, will spend hours on prompt engineering so that Metal Mickey on their laptop can give them responses closer to what they were looking for weknow0.co.uk?p=2725

COVER REVEAL - Congratulations to #BSFG Committee member @theresaderwin.bsky.social on her forthcoming novel, GOD’S VENGEANCE

@stewarthotston.com braved Storm Claudia last night at @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social to take us through the Arcology of Project Hanuman, different interpretations of quantum mechanics, Watchdogs and some amazing LARPs! Great night

We are going to do what we are going to do. The economics is just the fig leaf we use to rationalise what may otherwise appear unfair, cruel and hope-denying policies. The financial constraints are a convenient fiction for a government which lacks any guiding principles weknow0.co.uk?p=2707

NEW The letter the BBC could send back to Trump A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim By me. Enjoy. emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...