In case you've seen the story about “grok now only generates images for paid users”, it's untrue. Apparently everyone just reported it because… it was what grok told them 🤦🏼 www.theverge.com/news/859309/...

spitfirenews.com/p/grok-deepf... Some really horrific details in here, though sadly not surprised.

Canadian radio doco about the current techno fascism with @quinnslobodian.com and others, including myself (for about 15 seconds). www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/...

And a theater major will allow you to perform humanness in a way that will be increasingly valuable as back-office work is automated away.

Useful thread.

Incredibly important new study from Cal Horton @fiercemum.bsky.social - the first to look at England's post-Cass child/adolescent gender clinics. Dr Horton found patients and families are being actively harmed, with one young person describing appointments as "the worst thing I’ve ever experienced”.

Terrible situation other ways too. You increasingly get professional award winners who know the right people and the tricks for how to repeatedly get funding; they create feudal academic fifedoms that demand loyalty; they then produce dull research due to how totalitarian and nepotistic they are.

Zohran is already making Regular People's lives harder...

Can anyone explain why a man who was sacked, just a few months ago, for sending messages like these, is now being treated as some kind of all-seeing political sage?

From a new search function to filters for characteristics such as ethnicity, location and disability status, we've made improvements to our evidence hub on health inequalities. Explore data, insights and analysis on the building blocks of health, faster⬇️

direct.mit.edu/octo/article... Pondering this piece from Hal Foster on Jameson's legacy, particularly the final thoughts on neoliberalism and nihilism.

www.e-flux.com/journal/159/... Found this an interesting intervention.

As @annieknk.bsky.social said: Phyllis Schlafly was a lean-in bossbabe

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwRA... Finally finished watching this. Really thoughtful exchanges in the Q&A section.

Really to happy to hear from the publisher today that our book on inclusive, neurodiversity-affirmative education is a "hot new release" in education, according to Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/new-relea... Flyer attached for a discount if you buy direct from the publisher - valid through January.

Pondering some of the arguments here which connect to some thoughts I have been having myself in relation to ongoing research...

www.vashtimedia.com/hunger-strik... Really worth reading.

Been trying to engage with G. Rose's work more in recent years and have found a lot to reflect on and wrestle with in her writings on fascism.

alan sokal became a folk hero for scientists when he published a gibberish paper in a non-peer reviewed humanities journal to prove the humanities lack discipline or whatever and now science journals are publishing ai slop after ai slop and the technofetishists are insisting we must use more slop

What if a psychiatric hospital eliminated locks & restraints, shared governance with its patients & opened its grounds as a public park? It happened in Italy in the 1960s & the doctors & patients wrote this book together. #OpenAccess & FREE to download. tinyurl.com/yxn4mb9z

Look forward to checking this out.

academicthoughtsinprogress.substack.com/p/greetings-... Decided to create a new Substack for posting work in progress thoughts on a couple of research projects. Feel free to subscribe.

Now's that what I call spin...

A talk I gave earlier this year has, unfortunately, become relevant again this week so I've published it here. open.substack.com/pub/neurodiv...

Politicians love "independent" reviews as it let's them claim they are implementing 'evidence-based policy' and shirk responsibility for policy decisions. The policy decision though is often evident in the non-independent selection of the 'independent' experts, "policy-based 'independent' reviews".

Make no mistake: this isn’t being done in good faith - it’s purely about saving money and moving the goalposts to save money. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

One of the people leading this likely farce is Simon Wessley whose previous work includes a reasonably well debunked study of ME which was used to make it harder for sufferers to get support or recognition. Streeting knows exactly what outcome he wants from this meassociation.org.uk/2018/02/gove....

Considering Streeting's well stated belief autism, ADHD etc, along with mental health issues, are "overdiagnosed", I won't hold my breath for this doing anything other than being used to cut support, along with opportunities for diagnosis, for people who need it. #r4today www.bbc.com/news/article...

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/alarm-over-g... Concerning...

Wes Streeting insists that NHS health records are not for sale. But handing them to a company like Palantir shatters any chance of public trust ⬇️ https://goodlaw.social/658abc

Wes Streeting is a one-man stigma producing machine. Denying support for trans folks, now seeking to limit who has mental health care. Why don't we, y'know, invest in housing, communuties, young people, food, art, nature, regulate social media, consider the impact of covid, long covid & deprivation

🚨 NEURODIVERSITY IS MORE THAN... symposium 📅 4 March 2026, 9-5pm GMT, online. Free to attend, all welcome! Sign up below: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/neurodiver...

We were thrilled to meet Warda at the Critical Neurodiversity Studies conference last summer and are just as excited for this new, important book.

It's a lazy populist dogwhistle that reinforces ideas of scrounging and undeserving claimants. Many disability benefits are totally unrelated to work status, but do have the effect of making paid employment possible. They also add to human dignity & alleviate suffering - surely worth something too?

Wes Streeting accuses welfare state disabilty benefits of 'trapping people, not just in poverty, but out of work.' But where is the recognition that disability benefits are often what makes it possible for people with higher living and transport costs to work? www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The price of food alone is 35% higher than just five years ago. And as temperatures drop, the coming months will be harsher than ever for people already living on the sharpest edge. This winter, thousands of people will walk through the doors of a food bank for the very first time.

So happy HHS is focused on making healthcare accessible and affordable for everyone and not getting bogged down in culture war issues the right invented.

WOW! Autism Society of America, The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, the Autism Science Foundation, the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network and Autism Speaks put out a statement denouncing the CDC changing its website on vaccines autisticadvocacy.org/2025/11/lead...

“Embarrassing” and “horrifying”: CDC workers describe the new vaccines and autism page

Same in the UK

Sadly, I now await the already-launched Trump admin attacks on the Nat'l Academies to amp up. Setting the record straight means RFK Jr.'s bunk claims get elevated/legitimated. No choice--public responsibility to correct the record--but I expect to see RFK Jr./HHS respond w/ smearing & other tactics.

The National Academies statement says: “…based on our body of work on this topic and the overwhelming scientific consensus, we support the statement that vaccines do not cause autism.” 2/2

NEW: The National Academies release statement saying the revised language on @CDCgov web page on links between vaccines and autism, which cited some of the academies work, did not provide the full context. 1/2 www.nationalacademies.org/news/stateme...

🧵 The summer of 2025 has been AI's "cruel summer"—wrongful deaths, dangerous therapy chatbots, medical misinformation, facial recognition failures. These aren't isolated glitches but predictable harms from systems deployed without adequate oversight. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... An interesting read from Alondra Nelson regarding A.I. research.

Lancaster University UCU members have beaten back compulsory redundancies. After weeks of pressure management has agreed to halt all forced job cuts until July 2026. This is a victory for jobs and every branch fighting cuts across the sector. We are the university. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Incredible article, dissembling the Governments floored Welfare plans by leading Psychotherapist and Activist @shrinkatlarge.bsky.social substack.com/inbox/post/1...

🚨BREAKING: The government has announced they plan to use PFI 2.0 to fund NHS neighbourhood health centres. This will see cash that should go toward treating patients being paid out to private finance investors. Email your MP now to oppose this plan: weownit.org.uk/act-now/no-pfi

www.newstatesman.com/culture/book... Good review of recently published biography of Alex Karp.