chat is this bad?

This move will actually make China more powerful because new deals will need to be struck for countries previously dependent on Gulf exports as well those dependent on Chinese exports. Not the other way around.

What the FT comments section repeatedly fails to understand is that 33% of the world's fertiliser comes through the Hormuz Strait. That will mean that farmers will not be able to grow food in the Global South, people will starve, and food prices will rapidly globally. www.ft.com/content/3033...

This is exactly why we need to build our campaigns with IMAGINATION at the heart of it. Because when we know another world is possible, we are motivated to build it. The far right uses fear to make quick wins. But hope can really do the same. We are not powerless, we need something to believe in.

Having now watched parts of the 2026 Spring Festival Gala, I now totally understand why people in Europe were raptured by colonialism by World Fairs like the 1851 Great Exhibition. It is incredibly emotionally impactful. It's not just awe & dazzle, but the magic of being part of something bigger.

My latest song obsession is this version of the Mongolian Drinking Song (酒歌) www.youtube.com/watch?v=axjN...

Are you on Upscrolled? They just added a text feature, combining Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter into a great well-moderated and independent-owned platform. Find me there: share.upscrolled.com/en/user/31b1...

Why are all the books on anti-capitalism coming out of the UK still being framed by the limitations of the nation state? How does that even work in relation to globalisation and international institutions? Anti-capitalist futures need you dismantle the infrastructure that makes capitalism the norm.

Has anyone done the maths on this claim? Sure seems like a lot of it depends on the so-called "hidden costs" on the NHS, the same NHS that is currently experiencing a labour shortage

What could the world look like if, after decolonisation, newly independent peoples had been able to choose their own paths? What if the "Third World" wasn't the battlegrounds of the Cold War? What if these newly independent nations were allowed to thrive under their own collective sovereignty?

Clearly just another way of allowing for data sharing and mass surveillance infrastructure, supporting the Digital ID. Also a body to stop protest and political organising across counties. www.ft.com/content/0dee...

When we were young, we ate all the tastiest foods to bring us pleasure. As we age, we avoid the tastiest foods so that we can still experience pleasure. How grateful I am that I have memories of those small tasty pleasures, so much so that I only ever see them through the glaze of nostalgia.

Here's the recording of the @lighthousebks.bsky.social Radical Book Fair event on #WeirdPride, unruliness and 'outsider wisdom' with @acaciathorns.bsky.social and @cjdebarra.bsky.social who both had such excellent responses to my questions: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTW_...

A New Year's invitation to the political Left and anyone else who is dreaming and building a world that is designed for all of us.

The far right can shred us because they stand together, and they are better resourced. They have the media and institutions on their side. We (the left) only have each other, and the only way we can actually build the world we want is through supporting each other & accepting imperfection.

It's so much easier to pick at and tear apart individual people when they have integrity and believe in something better, and make a small mistake. It's much harder to do so when that person is integrated in community which allows people to learn from mistakes. I wish the Left better understood this

I don't have a solution to this. I thought if I lived by those values - of giving and gifting and caring I would be able to show another world was possible. But instead it just resulted in a exploitation and alienation. I had to learn to be selfish, and I know this harms me.

I find the whole defense of Israel's "right to exist" really bizarre because why do any States need to exist at all? And who gave them rights? This all falls back on believing that somehow Laws are Just and not just imaginary inventions without any justification.

MERRY CHIPMAS: I have a new @crikey.com.au piece about how a HUGE solar farm planned in north Aus planned to send power via cable to Singapore - but is now PIvoting To Data Centre As hydrogen projects collapse all over the place, the green export dream is dying... www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/23/d...

One of the greatest flaws of allopathic healing systems is the myth of universality, or at least the reliance on statistical norms which look at what works for "most people" rather than patterns of how bodies work with healing.

Capitalism is designed around untethering connection and community interdependence, and replacing it with a product you can buy. As such Gen AI is designed to do the same, but the grief and isolation that builds the machine seems to be at the heart of those directing and shaping its design.

The most strange thing about AGI is that it seems to be the dream project of people who are profoundly lonely and desperate to invent something that they can connect to. But the process of inventing it results in a product which actually makes people more lonely.

GenAI used to stir up fear and hate through disinformation faces no social media bans, and instead results in increased engagement. Meanwhile reminding people that a genocide is on-going despite the myth of ceasefire is a sure way to be shadowbanned. Is this really the world you want?

This is pretty interesting - Ecosia have now launched "the world's greenest AI". I think it's lacking *a lot*, namely: - Disclosure of energy consumption (absolute, but not even per-query??) - Disclosure of emissions - Still obviously massive problems w/ accuracy blog.ecosia.org/ecosia-ai/

i hope every single person who still buys harry potter merch or engages with that franchise is happy that they're literally making girl guides cry girl guides uk have been forced very much against their will to exclude trans girls. full statement is here: www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-...

We're so disconnected from reality that we are gamifying war, making profit off of it, and then justifying it by claiming it works as defacto polling to understand where conflict is about to happen. This is the real result of securitization policies: futurism.com/future-socie...

"Take away our ability to speak, and we can still think, reason, form beliefs, fall in love, and move about the world; our range of what we can experience and think about remains vast. But take away language from a large language model, and you are left with literally nothing at all"

I spend a lot of time wondering if leaders look at technofacist dystopic fiction, and instead of reading it as a clear warning, think "Yup, that's the kind of world I want to control"...

"In an internal memo from September, CEO Sam Altman said that OpenAI’s “audacious long-term goal is to build 250 gigawatts of capacity by 2033.” If Altman achieves this goal, OpenAI will need almost exactly as much electricity as India’s 1.5 billion people" Great @truthdig.com piece on chips ->

What we are experiencing is the end of performative liberal democracy as part of global politics. The veil of civility has been lifted to expose the entrenched corruption, and there's no going back from here. aje.io/x6b7jn

So I chaired a panel at Edinburgh's Radical Book Fair yesterday, about #WeirdPride and unruliness, with two fantastic queer, neurodivergent, nonbinary writers and activists: @acaciathorns.bsky.social and @cjdebarra.bsky.social. I loved hearing their thoughts on this. www.youtube.com/live/vTW_j-H...

I am so entraced by @kontinentalist.bsky.social way of publishing. It's engaging, told through data visualisation as much as the narrative form. For example, this used gameplay elements: kontinentalist.com/stories/popu...

So Edinburgh Council have decided the HUGE new data centre in South Gyle will not have to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment. This is despite having a power use demand akin to Edinburgh Airport, and that data centres are known to use up clean water supplies. inews.co.uk/news/data-ce...

I think this post by @parismarx.com addresses exactly what Glitch has been highlighting on how important the Online Safety Act actually is - in terms of regulation and preventing harm against marginalised / oppressed people. disconnect.blog/social-media...

The performance continues. The narrative of US vs China is like siblings squabbling than war, but is being used to justify mass military investment. The performance obfuscates us from seeing what is actually happening, and what the actual cost is. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This is from a very prominent conservationist from Kenya

Our horror at the genocide in Gaza, at the mass murder of civilians on Oct 7 2023, and at today's atrocity in Manchester, comes in each case from the same, inherent part of our shared humanity. We need to assert that shared humanity as loudly as possible, and in as many practical ways as we can.

Trump's Deal is cementing the use of ethnic cleansing as suitable grounds for Development (aka corporate land grabs). USAID used to pretend that it was helping people, but now US policy is to openly support genocide to give billionaires land & power - exactly what was was denied to Palestinians.

Spoiler: it's not about growth. It's about SECURITISATION - the political shift which started with 9/11 & is designed around fear and control because it sees all things as threats. Starmer's actions are part of a global trend. Read a critique of the EU equivalent here: www.equinox-eu.com/mff2028/

Can someone please tell me which Edinburgh councillors have shares in Black Sheep Coffee? Because that's what's really overrunning the city, as well as private student housing.

How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart www.theguardian.com/... | Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent

I do miss Old Twitter, mostly for the kinds of connection and community I felt it facilitated at the beginning. But I guess we were all caught in the hype of social media connecting us rather than extracting from us back then. Also miss the international community that it fostered.

I HIGHLY recommend reading this great blog by @superrrnetwork.bsky.social on why they will not be using GenAI. It's such a powerful piece which I feel every organisation should read. It tackles so many of the issues of GenAI in an easy to read and well referenced way. superrr.net/en/blog/abou...

I've been noticing a lot more adverts with ethnically ambiguous People of Colour who look "alternative" invented by AI. They've all been for companies which embody racism. AI blackface for British military intelligence jobs? Or AI blackface for weapons / tech companies? 🤢

It sure looks like every last major tech firm is abandoning past commitments to end their use of fossil fuels. Particularly concerning given how we know that fossil fuel burning power plants are being built NOW with the explicit aim of powering data centers www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/04/i...

Nigel Farage used to be the kind of person that the BBC would invite to speak on panels to be the token fringe person. Now the media actively share whatever nonsense he says as frontpage news. This isn't a coincidence. The more platform you give to the far right, the more they grow.

TBC it's not parody when I put it like that, Labour really genuinely are going with the message that Reform's basic message is correct but trying to say people should vote Labour anyway. I think this is suicidal comms, politically completely inept. bsky.app/profile/kier...

I've spent this evening reading about Queer / Trans "Indian" history - unfortunately it's not as diverse as I'd like - but I hadn't realised how much I needed to read about this. A big part of me yearns to travel to India and visit communities and sites of Queer and Trans importance.

Finding it fascinating to learn that NGOs and charities will do risk assessments before implementing anti-oppressionn changes BUT refuse to do the same when implementing tech changes, like uncritically using AI tools as ways of "cutting costs".

I wish @plutopress.bsky.social made more audiobooks. I keep having chats with disabled folks who want to read more interesting books (like Trans Femme Futures) but can't access them. Read-aloud tech tools aren't the same. What are the barriers? Is it the monopoly of Audible? Costs of production?