Tl;dr: everything & everyone about this story is pretty repulsive, except for the fact that the UK repatriated one of its citizens from unjust detention.

I‘m sorry, but this has been the point from the very start. The tech-bros behind AI have always been misogynists looking for a female-coded machine slave to serve & validate them.

“Recovering her story is important because it allows her scientific contributions to be appropriately recognised. Perhaps more importantly, her story reminds us that women have belonged in quantum physics from the beginning.” 🧪

Universities embracing generative AI be like:

Everyone you see here risks arrest for participating in this peaceful march. Under a new Georgian Dream law adopted on Dec 12, citizens must notify police 5 days in advance of any protest—even on a sidewalk. Police then have 3 days to respond and may dictate a different place, route, or time. 1/n

Salman Rushdie is right, isn't he? Obsessively policing vocabulary, especially, is not a serious way to win arguments outside of your own bubble.

Kyiv did not sleep once again last night. On the last weekend of the year, the capital should have smelled of mulled wine, cinnamon, chocolate and joy. Instead, our city was filled with smoke, gunpowder, explosions, screams, and curses. The Russian attack lasted twelve hours.

This is Kyiv this morning. Russia yet again demonstrates its aspirations for peace by bombing apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure.

A reality in which no one, Jewish or Palestinian, can say with certainty that they are safe is a reality that cannot continue. All of us deserve better. (2/2)

I'm in the North of Israel today. It's a beautiful sunny weekend, the hills are green from the recent rain & people - Jewish, Arab, Druze - are out with their families enjoying the views. This is so jarring to what the reality of life in this land *could be*.

George Michael died on Christmas Day in 2016. He will be remembered for his incredible songwriting talent, his gorgeous vocals and for the greatest non-apology video of all time, following his arrest for cottaging.

I'm celebrating #DuvetKnowItsChristmas in unparalleled luxury this year - an actual bed in an actual bedroom in an otherwise empty apartment! What might just qualify it for inclusion is that said apartment is in Haifa. I feel a 2,500 mile commute cancels out the cosy surroundings.

This is the 15th year of #DuvetKnowItsChristmas, which is preposterous. Rules: if you find yourself dealing with unusual / claustrophobic / gaudy sleeping arrangements this Christmas Eve, share a picture with the world. Use the hashtag (with capitalisation) and cc me if you can be bothered.

A fatal chintz overdose, Colours that clash, Precarious wall plates that threaten to smash But without all these things, Yuletide isn’t the same Your old bedspread shouldn’t inspire such shame... #DuvetKnowItsChristmas? Of course we do, right? Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight.

Twas the night before Christmas, and throughout the land The sleeping arrangements were carefully planned Down in the kitchen, a picturesque scene A mattress, a pillow, a washing machine

Am I happy or sad that Paddington has replace Charon in our mythology? We're going to start burying people with a pot of marmalade on each eye

💔 Toretsk. Another ghost town in Donbas that no longer exists. The war brought the most terrible destruction of cities in Europe since World War II.

So many people on the left reacting to this by having a moan about FPTP rather than noticing the quite large shrinkage of Reform’s share. Beating Reform is what matters, no? Well if it does you probably want to vote Labour.

Apart from the obvious, two things stand out to me: the brother who knew about the plot but said nothing, & the mention of "our" children. Palestinian children are not Tunisian children. That (widespread) attitude makes a mockery of any professed support for Palestinian national self-determination.

In case you have a little time to read something interesting today.

Well, happy anniversary to one of the finest of festive exchanges

Strangulation is a massive predictor of escalating violence. It's also a precursor to, or an actual method of, a large proportion of femicide events. The thought that it used to be seen as a legitimate sex act/kink until so recently is horrific. I'm so glad the CPS took the new law seriously.

This 1974 photo shows, with startling immediacy, a group of freshly-excavated 2,000 year-old Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, China, with their original vibrant colours. Once exposed to air & sunlight during excavation, the colours started to disappear almost immediately www.snopes.com/fact-check/t...

Labour has begun a generational overhaul of children's social care, but we know care leavers need help right now. We're stepping in to back them with better physical and mental health support. Breaking down barriers to opportunity, for all. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

No one really thought that one french guy was the only guy, did they? Not when there was a whole website devoted to ‘Without Her Knowledge’. I’d like to think the publicity round this and the Pelicot case means no man will ever be able to claim ‘I didn’t know’ as a defence in future. 🤮

Bit late for that. Christopher Hitchens already had himself waterboarded to say whether it hurts twenty years ago.

IDK you guys, I'm beginning to think that maybe the collapse of Oslo was... Not good, actually

"...the more time passes, the more of a feminist I become." Grace Paley in 1998, aged 76. All of which is to say feminism is much older, stronger, and wiser than any of this shit.

Some much-needed good news, including • renewables overtake coal as source of electricity globally • new oceans protections pledged in the High Seas Treaty • landmark litigation to facilitate accountability for climate breakdown • indigenous wins at COP 🌱❣️🌊 www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

not that the present economic picture is rosy, but i do think that popular culture — and specifically nostalgia bait television — is a big part of the reason that our public memory of the 1970s, 1980s and even 1990s seems to miss the real economic pain that marked each of those decades.

I had never even heard a hint that generational upward mobility had been higher in the UK than in the US for decades, until seeing that second chart.

Nice! (Not the Tate brothers)

What sits behind ALL this is the inescapable fact that a huge chunk of the lobby has been out to get this gov't from Day 1, not because of anything it did (this is no defence of a gov't that is doing lots wrong and deserves criticism), but because ONLY THEIR CHAPS have a right to be in office. Ever.

Entertaining as this spat is, it contains not-a-flicker of recognition as to WHY this might be happening. For 16 months, a tax-exile-oligarch-owned, mostly right-wing press, has abused the privilege of these exclusive private sessions, to misrepresent the gov't on every issue. This is the FO stage.

Seen as a whole, the 145 sabotage cases leave no room for doubt: Russia is at war with Europe.

Absolutely fascinating thread. (I predict that the lessons of this research will be learned too late, & there will be a last-minute scramble for labour that will echo the 19th-century scramble for colonial possessions - except this time it will be attraction, not invasion)

There's a long history of regarding Labour governments as sell-outs to the right - and that view was just as strong during and after the Attlee governments. Here's a 1951 cartoon of Attlee and co. as Tories in top hats, being pelted by the left.

Evergreen

There is violence against women and girls in every country on Earth. There is sexual assault against women and girls in every country on Earth. There is a gender pay gap in every country on Earth. Where is this culture that does respect women, exactly, Kemi?

It's hard to find the words for how disgusting this is. It completely silences girls' experiences of male violence. It fails to recognise the importance of education for prevention. It ignores the drivers of men's violence. And it's racist. Oh and for good measure, which party cut police numbers?

They literally couldn’t be bothered to even show up to discuss the VAWG strategy today. bsky.app/profile/sara...

Dog-whistle and factually incorrect. Ladies, raise your hand if you were sexually assaulted by a boy at school? I’d wager this or a family member is most women’s first experience of sexual violence

Best thing I've heard all month, this. The lobby is an antiquated system that's long outlived its fitness to the media landscape.

My dad went from stage 4 metastatic kidney cancer to dormant (you're never considered in remission after stage 4) thanks to immune therapy. It's the closest thing to a miracle I've seen in my lifetime.

A lot of people in Rachel’s replies very into being able to chant a phrase with no thought or consideration, hm, these guys seem super concerned about others and empathic

The antisemitism on Twitter is viscerally unpleasant and often tinged with violence. The antisemitism on here (see Rachel's replies) is more profoundly and personally depressing.

Inflation is now falling decisively. The rate of price rises was down 0.4pp in November at 3.2%, a much larger fall than was expected. That being said, the UK remains an inflation outlier compared to other G7 countries.

It's not an "if", it's a "when" - the Macpherson principle has been tacitly deemed not to apply to Jews from the very moment of the report's publication in 1999.

I'll say it again: if any other ethnic or religious minority said "please don't use this particular term or chant, you might not have bad intentions but it is deeply racist and threatening to us", the reaction would be mortified apology. And that's without a mass terror event four days ago