Clive Mitchell
@clivemitchell1.bsky.social
Out of hours: masters swimmer, pond tenderer, step-grandad, and words. Occasionally, planes.
In hours: freelance charity governance & operations. https://www.cranfieldtrust.org/ volunteer. Facilitator.
Staffordshire, UK.
In hours: freelance charity governance & operations. https://www.cranfieldtrust.org/ volunteer. Facilitator.
Staffordshire, UK.
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out.
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
January 22, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out.
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Tory MP Simon Hoare has given a very vivid quote about Donald Trump's comments on Nato allies, which could actually be used in many contexts about the US president:
"Frankly Trump makes my flesh creep and my stomach turn. Where are his advisors? Where is his nurse? Where is his sense of shame?"
"Frankly Trump makes my flesh creep and my stomach turn. Where are his advisors? Where is his nurse? Where is his sense of shame?"
January 23, 2026 at 10:39 AM
Tory MP Simon Hoare has given a very vivid quote about Donald Trump's comments on Nato allies, which could actually be used in many contexts about the US president:
"Frankly Trump makes my flesh creep and my stomach turn. Where are his advisors? Where is his nurse? Where is his sense of shame?"
"Frankly Trump makes my flesh creep and my stomach turn. Where are his advisors? Where is his nurse? Where is his sense of shame?"
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Only three places left on the upcoming @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social flexible online course Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Starts on Monday, but may fill up before then. Do join us.
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/poli...
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/poli...
Political Philosophy: An Introduction
Political philosophy contains some of the greatest writings in the Western intellectual tradition. This online course introduces you to the central questions concerning the state, by means of classica...
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk
January 22, 2026 at 10:38 AM
Only three places left on the upcoming @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social flexible online course Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Starts on Monday, but may fill up before then. Do join us.
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/poli...
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/poli...
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
just to add that I don't think Trump is playing some kind of cunning 3D chess, chucking dead cats on to the table to distract from Epstein or whatever. He's just a capricious chaos goblin with the attention span of a particularly inattentive goldfish.
January 22, 2026 at 10:18 AM
just to add that I don't think Trump is playing some kind of cunning 3D chess, chucking dead cats on to the table to distract from Epstein or whatever. He's just a capricious chaos goblin with the attention span of a particularly inattentive goldfish.
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
"Mr. President you mentioned Iceland several times today and from a geopolitical standpoint taking Iceland with Greenland actually makes a lot of sense, right?"
"It's pretty much one big piece of ice broken in half so I think we should take both bc the Vikings owned it and they went extinct, so.."
"It's pretty much one big piece of ice broken in half so I think we should take both bc the Vikings owned it and they went extinct, so.."
All it takes for Trump to change his mind is for some journalist to ask him whether he really means it.
The problem with Trump is that journalists have incredible policy formation power now that a single leading question can give him an idea, which then becomes policy instantly in a live interview
The problem with Trump is that journalists have incredible policy formation power now that a single leading question can give him an idea, which then becomes policy instantly in a live interview
It is very naive to think that the tensions over Greenland have been reduced, along with the threat it represents, after Trump's speech.
Latching on to a single phrase, glossing over the rest of it, is sticking ones head in the sand.
Hoping it just goes over isn't a strategy.
Latching on to a single phrase, glossing over the rest of it, is sticking ones head in the sand.
Hoping it just goes over isn't a strategy.
January 21, 2026 at 4:56 PM
"Mr. President you mentioned Iceland several times today and from a geopolitical standpoint taking Iceland with Greenland actually makes a lot of sense, right?"
"It's pretty much one big piece of ice broken in half so I think we should take both bc the Vikings owned it and they went extinct, so.."
"It's pretty much one big piece of ice broken in half so I think we should take both bc the Vikings owned it and they went extinct, so.."
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
I can’t wait to watch these! Knowing Andy, they’re going to be great.
I just created a series of seven deep-dive videos about AI, which I've posted to youtube and now here. 😊
Targeted to laypeople, they explore how LLMs work, what they can do, and what impacts they have on learning, well-being, disinformation, the workplace, the economy, and the environment.
Targeted to laypeople, they explore how LLMs work, what they can do, and what impacts they have on learning, well-being, disinformation, the workplace, the economy, and the environment.
Part 1: How do LLMs work?
YouTube video by Andrew Perfors
www.youtube.com
January 22, 2026 at 4:33 AM
I can’t wait to watch these! Knowing Andy, they’re going to be great.
Difficult to see what Trump *himself* gets from Greenland. It's not a riviera for new Trump towers. Suspect the drivers are the hegemonic hawks in the WH, who've sold it to Trump as a Big Beautiful Win. My hope: the whole thing gets drawn out and fractious, and Trump soon loses interest.
Can't see negotiations for Greenland going well. Trump gave no indication he's open to anything other than acquiring it & ominously described it as core national interest. Likely that talks will collapse, he goes through with tariffs & Europeans respond. He's then liable to use Ukraine as leverage.
January 21, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Difficult to see what Trump *himself* gets from Greenland. It's not a riviera for new Trump towers. Suspect the drivers are the hegemonic hawks in the WH, who've sold it to Trump as a Big Beautiful Win. My hope: the whole thing gets drawn out and fractious, and Trump soon loses interest.
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
I feel like we should all take a moment to remember that Ukrainians are still dying and this guy is just spitting bilge about fucking Greenland being "unprotected" from Russia.
January 21, 2026 at 3:03 PM
I feel like we should all take a moment to remember that Ukrainians are still dying and this guy is just spitting bilge about fucking Greenland being "unprotected" from Russia.
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
"Al Gore's here, stand up Al, terrible man, low IQ guy, not the worst VP though, Kamala, anyone remember her? I beat her 3 times, nobody talks about that, why don't they talk about that?"
January 21, 2026 at 2:17 PM
"Al Gore's here, stand up Al, terrible man, low IQ guy, not the worst VP though, Kamala, anyone remember her? I beat her 3 times, nobody talks about that, why don't they talk about that?"
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
tiny Denmark may have been overwhelmed by the Wehrmacht in under 6 hours in 1940, but the Danish Resistance heroically saved over 90% of Denmark's Jews, and that is a greater victory than any this monster will ever know
Trump: "No nation is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the US. We're a great power. Much greater than people even understand. I think they found that out 2 weeks ago in Venezuela. We saw this in World War 2 when Denmark fell to Germany after just 6 hours of fighting."
January 21, 2026 at 2:12 PM
tiny Denmark may have been overwhelmed by the Wehrmacht in under 6 hours in 1940, but the Danish Resistance heroically saved over 90% of Denmark's Jews, and that is a greater victory than any this monster will ever know
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Fact-check, even though it is no longer my job: China is the world leader in wind power
Trump: "There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place. And they are losers. One thing I've noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses, and the worse that country is doing. I haven't been able to find any wind farms in China."
January 21, 2026 at 2:37 PM
Fact-check, even though it is no longer my job: China is the world leader in wind power
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Say what you will about Hitler, at least he knew which countries he was invading.
January 21, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Say what you will about Hitler, at least he knew which countries he was invading.
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Something I don't say all that often but this column in the Tel is really worth a read, both for what it says and as a sign of where the UK right are on Trump
www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
January 21, 2026 at 7:41 AM
Something I don't say all that often but this column in the Tel is really worth a read, both for what it says and as a sign of where the UK right are on Trump
www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Nice little structural ambiguity for the #linguistics feed
Yesterday it was cows using tools, today its penguins using satellite imagery.
January 21, 2026 at 7:24 AM
Nice little structural ambiguity for the #linguistics feed
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Ryanair preparing to give Elon Musk a poor customer experience
January 20, 2026 at 11:53 PM
Ryanair preparing to give Elon Musk a poor customer experience
Gorgeous.
Love Lufthansa's regular livery too.
Love Lufthansa's regular livery too.
The Lufthansa 100th anniversary livery 787 is now in service. Follow the inaugural passenger flight from Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro at www.flightradar24.com/DLH500/3dfd8...
January 20, 2026 at 10:21 PM
Gorgeous.
Love Lufthansa's regular livery too.
Love Lufthansa's regular livery too.
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
What's remarkable is not just that Trump is so loathsome and narcissistic that he doesn't care when an innocent woman is killed in a protest unless and until he finds out that her dad was a fan of his ... it's that he's so disregulated he *can't help but say so out loud*.
Trump: "ICE is gonna be too rough with somebody. They're gonna make a mistake sometimes. I felt horribly when I was told the young woman had the tragedy. But when I learned her father is - I hope he still is, but I don't know - was a tremendous Trump fan. It's terrible. It's so sad. It just happens"
January 20, 2026 at 8:12 PM
What's remarkable is not just that Trump is so loathsome and narcissistic that he doesn't care when an innocent woman is killed in a protest unless and until he finds out that her dad was a fan of his ... it's that he's so disregulated he *can't help but say so out loud*.
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
"Look, I get it, he's mental but what the fuck do you want me to do?"
- Labour +45%
- Labour +45%
January 20, 2026 at 10:31 AM
"Look, I get it, he's mental but what the fuck do you want me to do?"
- Labour +45%
- Labour +45%
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
If I was Starmer I wouldn't be making dull speeches, I would simply paint a stick of dynamite brown and put it in a box labelled FANCY CIGARS and hand it to Trump, and while he was still dazed from the explosion I'd quickly make America British again
January 19, 2026 at 7:09 PM
If I was Starmer I wouldn't be making dull speeches, I would simply paint a stick of dynamite brown and put it in a box labelled FANCY CIGARS and hand it to Trump, and while he was still dazed from the explosion I'd quickly make America British again
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Ah we see your Blue Monday and raise you a Moo Blunday
January 19, 2026 at 10:59 AM
Ah we see your Blue Monday and raise you a Moo Blunday
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Good morning from Copenhagen
Graffiti on a wall seen just now
“Hey shithead. You may have nukes. But we will always have Nuuk.”
Graffiti on a wall seen just now
“Hey shithead. You may have nukes. But we will always have Nuuk.”
January 19, 2026 at 8:39 AM
Good morning from Copenhagen
Graffiti on a wall seen just now
“Hey shithead. You may have nukes. But we will always have Nuuk.”
Graffiti on a wall seen just now
“Hey shithead. You may have nukes. But we will always have Nuuk.”
Reposted by Clive Mitchell
Indeed, and it's tough to find any analogy to stress how absurd Trump's whole idea is. We can already use Greenland for any military purpose we want! Greenland is already defended by NATO, which includes us!
The only possible threat to any of that is... an inexplicably belligerent U.S. President.
The only possible threat to any of that is... an inexplicably belligerent U.S. President.
January 19, 2026 at 4:56 AM
Indeed, and it's tough to find any analogy to stress how absurd Trump's whole idea is. We can already use Greenland for any military purpose we want! Greenland is already defended by NATO, which includes us!
The only possible threat to any of that is... an inexplicably belligerent U.S. President.
The only possible threat to any of that is... an inexplicably belligerent U.S. President.