I'm itching to share the 29(!) variations on 'after life's fitful fever he sleeps well' we've discovered so far as #ShaxEpitaphs, but don't want to try your patience. Just three: AFTER LIFE'S TROUBLED JOURNEY SHE SLEEPS WELL AFTER LIFE'S SCARLET FEVER I SLEEP WELL LIFE'S FITFUL PLAY IS O'ER

What on Earth is this? An "in depth" BBC article about free speech in the UK that only cites examples of right-wing/ 'anti-woke' speech being suppressed. How can you mention Lucy Connolly but completely ignore Palestine Action / Just Stop Oil? Gob-smacking. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Anyone buying into Trump and RFK Jr's bs doesn't give a damn about science. All of this has been repeatedly disproven. It's conspiracy crap designed to blame mums and treat autistic individuals as if we're the problem rather than the way we're treated. #r4today www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

And, predictably enough, #r4today deals with this complicated story of human desperation by inviting a Tory MP along, to declare that we should deport the lot of them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The only subject that causes this holder of indefinite leave to remain to depart from an impeccable standard of English is Nigel *#*#*# Farage.

There should be a high bar for politicians attacking the media, but maybe Ed Davey has half a point here? For example, the first three paragraphs of this BBC story repeat Reform's £243bn figure without saying that the thinktank behind the estimate now disowns it. (This is mentioned in paragraph 35)

The Labour Party has a tradition of antiracism campaigning. It’s supposed to be in the party’s DNA. That they cannot say it’s just straightforwardly wrong to alarm families who choose Britain to live, work and raise children in is a total moral failure.

Retrospectively removing indefinite leave to remain would be immoral and economically damaging. It would tear families apart. Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point. Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.

What's effectively happening here (in the British media at large, too) is the construction of "anti-racism" as somehow a "political alternative" to racism, rather than as a minimal civilisational standard, which in turn (further) vindicates racism as *also* an acceptable political position.

This reads like one of those clever UG essays, that ploughs ahead with a bold argument despite each point hitting an evidentiary dead-end. 1/2

It was amazing to me that the report I heard on this *only* mentioned effects on tech. Especially given the war(s) on universities, and on immigrants, being so visible on other fronts.

I would have probably mentioned that Dyson owns 36,000 acres of farmland in England which was previously liable for zero inheritance tax

Right. My students working two part time jobs and/or having an hour and a half commute to uni because they have to live at home due to the cost of student accommodation lack drive and vigour. Sure thing, Peter. The UK Govt still haven't a clue about the realities of universities today.

And Justin Webb on #r4today cheers on godawful Tory, Nick Timothy, who insists we should just ditch all laws and human rights protections for refugees. “Can’t we just do that?!” Justin wails, like some monstrous toddler who thinks someone is coming for his toys. This isn’t remotely sane any more.

Standing against fascism is now domestic terrorism—by presidential decree. Anyone committed to fighting fascism can now be deemed an enemy of the state, arrested, and held—possibly without full due process—on the claim that they're a "terrorist." Just like that, we lost America.

The prevailing view seems to be that this Starmer response was funny, as he got to talk about paedophilia while standing next to Trump. But note that he’s invoking the priorities of the far right (‘protect our children!’), and passing up an opportunity to defend laws against incitement to violence.

Bit strange to hear the Today programme interviewing the CEO of Newsmax like he's a public intellectual, then interviewing a Labour minister like he's a war criminal

All political tribes can be hypocritical but the right's current level of hypocrisy on free speech is deliberate. It's an assertion of power not a blindspot.

Thank God we don’t have the cancellation of satirical comedy in this country. I can’t wait to see how they deal with the Trump visit on The Mash Report, Mock The Week and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order!

Just think for a minute about this editorial decision: giving 15 prime minutes of their flagship radio news programme to the head of a far right US media organisation, commenting pretty much unchecked on his president and country. #r4today

Reminder: The Trump election campaign spent $215,000,000 on anti-trans adverts alone. More than anything else. Transphobia (or “gender-critical beliefs” as transphobes call it) is CORE to fascism. Transphobia is FRONT & CENTRE of fascism, not adjacent or an add-on. All transphobes are fascists.

THREAD that shows how badly Wes Streeting has got this wrong; There is no “conflict” between cis women’s rights & trans people’s rights. This is a fabrication that Wes Streeting is either dishonest or gullible enough to believe. Empirical evidence Streeting is wrong 1/3 Hasenbush et al (2019)…

There is a serious failure in UK govt, politics & media to take sufficiently seriously what Musk said & meant with "fight back or die" = Violence (interethnic civil war) is inevitable so pre-emptive violence - vs migrants, minorities & political opponents - is necessary to avoid existential erasure

I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday. As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.

We have to differentiate between defending the right of all to disagree and being indifferent to the impact of what is being said - the message from yesterday is not simply free speech is safe but that we need to work harder to counter those who claim division offers anything for our future.

Musk is inciting violence on London's streets.Tommy Robinson is financed by US tech bros. These are all very direct attempts to destabilise the British state. Starmer needs to stand up to this. A government that doesn't defend its country's values against these blatant attacks is not doing its job.

Everyone saying PM shd condemn far right violence in London yday (Shabana Mahmood already has)/ leave X is right. But same for Kemi Badenoch. No Conservative Party can condone thugs attacking police horses & calls for violent uprising. Even Farage has gone up against Yaxley-Lennon ffs.

Foreign billionaires don’t get to incite violence against Britain. We cannot stay silent. 1/5 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Absolutely !!!insane!!! to me that the UK government, lobby and newspapers litigate at length every minor infraction by the BBC, rival newspapers, or what some random columnist has posted. But all of them just carry on not even commenting about this media owner. He’s not hiding, he’s telling you!

Everyone should read this fantastic piece by Amy Remeikis. It's bloody brilliant, and for some inexplicable reason, was pulled online.

As ever, I'd urge caution over any speculation regarding the motives of the Kirk killer as not enough information is available. That said, this is a very interesting and frankly terrifying video about Groypers

WwwwwWooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I imagine Keir Starmer and his pals will also point to today as a reason to adopt ever-more racist policies, but many more trans people and allies protesting is of course *not* a reason to stop the EHRC's transphobic guidance.

Am I the only one who can’t understand why the Mandelson emails became the deal-breaker? The birthday letter, released first, tells us all we need to know. It says: ‘I know who you are, I know what you do, and I admire you for it.’ I’m yet to hear anyone asking Starmer or Mandelson about it.

Oop.

I’d like to think that dozens of U.K. journalists are desperately researching online right-wing culture about now, but sadly I don’t think they even know enough to do that. Or care. We still don’t know what happened. We need to find out. The truth is already being obscured.

As part its coverage of the Kirk assassination, #r4today, Webb is having a chat with a journalist. They mention Trump's blaming of the left, without qualification, and then move on to discuss the suspected killer without a word on his background (which seems to be RW). They're not even subtle!

Charlie Kirk's shooter's shell casings don't suggest "trans ideology," as the WSJ initially reported. Here's what they do mean. www.huffpost.com/entry/charli...

Well, well! Look who's brightened my day. It's Fraser Nelson and the Times! I would never have predicted that in a million years. youtube.com/shorts/Afl1y...

You what now? Who gets to define 'hobbyist'? The REF 'funds' research. Anti-intellectual, utilitarian, ignorant approach from the UUK president.

I wrote about what I think is a genuinely revealing document of elite depravity and impunity. It is shocking and sickening. But it's also a crucial moment. We're about to see what happens when conspiracy theorists actually get what they asked for but it turns out not to be what they want.

"There was the time he resigned over secret dealings with a millionaire, and then of course the time he resigned over his secret dealings with a millionaire. Now he has resigned over his secret dealings with a millionaire. It is hard to know what will cause his next downfall."

Again, I really do have concerns about exactly how Justin Webb is acquiring his knowledge of US politics or what prompted him to make this exact point.

Thank Dang they invited Gabriel Gatehouse on, otherwise it would just be Justin’s hagiography of Kirk that folks would be hearing! #r4today

We don’t yet know who killed Kirk or why. Not that you’d know it from the endless numbers of accounts on X with huge follower numbers, including British politicians, making as yet unknowable claims about the motivations behind the murder. Exhibit A. Extraordinary stuff.

Gary’s tirelessly spoken up for the people of Gaza, asylum seekers, migrants & against racism.Many in the media and beyond have tried to turn him into a hate figure. They assumed they were on the right side of those issues.Tonight the public voted him Best Presenter ending Ant & Dec’s 23 yr record.

"Fuck Palestine" says Glinner, in case there was any lingering doubt about who you were aligning yourself with if you support this amoral shell of a man.

This is outstanding. ‘So there we have it. One Irish person is charged with ‘terrorism’ in a UK court for speaking out against violence, while another Irish person is being held up as a victim of unfree speech for speaking out in favour of violence.’

📢NEW POST!📢 This year I had the thrill of collaborating with Chris Hoban, a brilliant composer, arranger, songwriter & performer. In this post I explain what we got up to👇 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... #EarlyModern 🗃️ #CreativeHistories @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social @uoearchhist.bsky.social

Emma Barnett on #r4today is so incredibly rude 🙄 She knows full well why Linehan was rightly arrested at Heathrow, but tries her best to say that it was just for “sending a few tweets” 🤦🏻‍♂️