Thirteen
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abitof.bsky.social
Thirteen
@abitof.bsky.social
Lithuanian Londoner in Scotland. 🇱🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Pinned
Good morning from Ozzy.
Reposted by Thirteen
1945 the British made sure that Germanys public broadcasting system would never be taken over by an authoritarian leader again by creating a complicated federal system.
They didn’t see to that at home which has left the BBC vulnerable.
This needs to change now.
November 11, 2025 at 7:40 AM
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You still have to read as far as the title, Elon. You know, to make sure you are listening to the book you intended to.
November 11, 2025 at 9:28 AM
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Trump's White House & fawning hacks here don't really care about the 0.001% that the BBC gets wrong. They care about all the stuff it gets right.
November 11, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Thirteen
apparently the unprecedented wealth and inflcuence big tech is amassing at the cost of the most marginalised is not enough. big tech ceos are not that different from drug cartels

www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
EU set to water down landmark AI Act after pressure from big tech
European Commission proposes pauses to provisions in digital rule book amid concerns over implications for EU competitiveness
www.irishtimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:29 PM
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the @ec.europa.eu's President von der Leyen is uncritically echoing AI hype & corporate PR, particularly that “AI would approach human reasoning in 2026”. we find this unacceptable & ask the Commission President to retract it. please sign this open letter if you agree
November 10, 2025 at 2:46 PM
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Ok folks, yes: this bubble is crazy. But before you call it GFC 2.0 perhaps look at the total size of this debt vs how much was outstanding in mortgages circa 2006. It's not even close in scope
This is insane. This is *literally* doing the same mechanics of the housing crisis and 2008 recession but to create debt to finance construction of AI data centers

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
November 10, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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What you’re witnessing is a populist assault on the BBC.

This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.

iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
November 10, 2025 at 10:52 AM
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A very useful analysis that give the bigger picture.
👇👇
The BBC is in a fight for its survival
The BBC only has itself to blame for its handling of a serious error in a documentary on Trump. But its demise—as the US media landscape shows—would l...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
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Not a moment too soon. Several years too late.
Political Editor New Statesman “SCOOP: Tim Davie is about to announce his resignation as Director General of the BBC, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
November 9, 2025 at 5:56 PM
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This is the most abysmal, pathetic thing. The BBC head resigning because the corporation is not supine *enough* to the far-right.
🔴 Breaking I Davie faced mounting criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by Donald Trump

➡️ Read more: trib.al/I0iw7aP
November 9, 2025 at 6:16 PM
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Oh hell yes, good kid
November 9, 2025 at 2:21 PM
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this
Altman has been quite clear about his strategy.

From the 2008 crash he learned that if you bind enough of the economy to your business you can do whatever you like; government will decide the rules no longer apply.

What he's selling is unaccountabilty.
I honestly don’t get the value of this company. They hoover up energy and water. Their product constantly gets things wrong and, in extreme cases, coaches people into suicide.

And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.

What does OpenAI offer the world?
November 9, 2025 at 9:52 AM
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Lawyers Are Using AI to Slop-ify Their Legal Briefs, and It’s Getting Bad gizmodo.com/lawyers-are-...
Lawyers Are Using AI to Slop-ify Their Legal Briefs, and It's Getting Bad
There's a growing movement within the legal community to track the AI fumbles of their peers.
gizmodo.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:41 AM
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Campaign group Restore Nature with @davegoulson.bsky.social are fighting to protect Todrig from turning into an ecological desert in the form of a spruce plantation– Scot Forestry didn’t even think it deemed an environmental impact assessment . Beggars belief .
November 8, 2025 at 8:21 PM
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what good is AI accessibility if it is access to turd
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 PM
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Losing a loved one is hard. Coping with grief is harder for some than others.

In a compassionate society, a grieving person with mental health struggles who hasn’t paid a household bill would be helped, not convicted of a crime

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/t...
Grieving daughter convicted over unpaid TV Licence
A grieving woman with mental health problems is the latest case to emerge from the Single Justice Procedure
www.standard.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Thirteen
To be honest one of the scariest things you'll read this year. A prison system permanently on the brink because it will never be a priority for scarce public resources, but politicians will not admit that.
New post just out:

Why the criminal justice system should be top of No. 10's "shit list".

No part of the public sector is more broken or brings with it greater political risk. As we saw these past two weeks.

It desperately needs a new approach.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/f...
Flashing Red
Why the criminal justice system should be top of No. 10's "shit list"
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:18 PM
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Putting this together was actually a HUGE amount of fun.

Feel free to share it - here or on whatever platform and with whichever friend or family member you think would enjoy our vibe and the gorgeous community we have become.
November 7, 2025 at 3:17 PM
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The arrival of at least one Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun, brings the likelihood of enhanced geomagnetic activity over the next few nights.

Aurora sightings are possible in northern areas of the UK with a lower chance of glimpses as far south as the Midlands.
November 7, 2025 at 4:29 PM
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This photo is incredible. It's like a portrait of his soul.
November 6, 2025 at 6:23 PM
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Scared about kill switches in buses Norway bought from China?

How about trains in Poland with something similar but even more malevolent 👇
jonworth.eu/newags-digit...

Ah no, not China, so doesn't generate the same fuss 🤷‍♂️
NEWAG's digital sabotage of Koleje Dolnośląskie (Dolny Śląsk) trains - what were they thinking? - Jon Worth
In the past couple of days, my Mastodon feed has been full of astonishment about how three Polish IT specialists discovered digital sabotage attempts in trains built by manufacturer NEWAG. The origina...
jonworth.eu
November 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
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While we are on the subject the world could really use a highly accessible book for political, historical and culturally interested non-lawyers about the different legal traditions within the UK, the philosophies they are rooted in and the consequences they have for politics& society.
Also, for those at the back, “we just have a different legal tradition”- people: tell that to the Scots. Who is “we” in this scenario?
November 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
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Yes NATO is crucial. Yes the EU lacks power. But it is so reductive to think that peace comes only from who has the most rockets, while forgetting why countries would use these rockets in the first place. Centuries of Europeans killing each other, not trusting each other. All that stuff runs deep &/
November 6, 2025 at 7:54 AM