Martin Welton
@martwelton.bsky.social
Professor of Theatre and other things
QMUL
QMUL
Reposted by Martin Welton
23,000 people died because Boris Johnson was too busy walking a dog, riding a motorbike and hosting guests as he took four days off at Chevening, instead of addressing warning signs of the pandemic
Why isn't Boris Johnson in jail?
Why isn't Boris Johnson in jail?
November 22, 2025 at 11:14 PM
23,000 people died because Boris Johnson was too busy walking a dog, riding a motorbike and hosting guests as he took four days off at Chevening, instead of addressing warning signs of the pandemic
Why isn't Boris Johnson in jail?
Why isn't Boris Johnson in jail?
Reposted by Martin Welton
Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …
November 10, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …
Reposted by Martin Welton
Reposted by Martin Welton
I think an alternative take on this is that students are being pushed towards business courses by government and societal rhetoric on employability, when they'd rather be doing other things they're more interested in...
'The proportion of business and management students who complete their course has fallen to a record low, with experts warning that universities are prioritising financial gains over quality.' 1/3
Low outcomes for business courses blamed on recruitment pressures
Schools coming under ‘intense pressure’ to enrol students as universities become ever more reliant on cross-subsidy
www.timeshighereducation.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I think an alternative take on this is that students are being pushed towards business courses by government and societal rhetoric on employability, when they'd rather be doing other things they're more interested in...
All power to J. Brave and brilliant.
Proud papa moment: my son J published a letter in the @nytimes.com today (in print tomorrow) on the need to think our definitions of autism.
October 19, 2025 at 10:06 PM
All power to J. Brave and brilliant.
Reposted by Martin Welton
I think this is true in a deep and troubling way. I have been observing this too. I am getting old & maybe I’m wrong, but I really feel basic academic, critical and intellectual, attitudes that were normal and prominent 20 years ago seem to have eroded. I agree, we need to understand how and why.
The scenario in which there are oligarchs powerful enough to succeed at their AI con and force LLMs onto the rest of society is the outright fascist and dystopian scenario. That higher ed has largely capitulated to the scam means it had already been deskilled. We need to understand how and why.
“Ultimately, the collective strategy of AI companies threatens to deskill precisely those people who are essential for society to function(…) automation of knowledge and culture by private companies is a worrying prospect – conjuring dystopian and outright fascistic scenarios.” — @olivia.science
October 18, 2025 at 10:49 PM
I think this is true in a deep and troubling way. I have been observing this too. I am getting old & maybe I’m wrong, but I really feel basic academic, critical and intellectual, attitudes that were normal and prominent 20 years ago seem to have eroded. I agree, we need to understand how and why.
Reposted by Martin Welton
“Uncritical adoption of AI, will inevitably create people without critical thinking, and this may be a feature - not a bug, as it represents an attack on human agency itself.”
collectivefutures.blog/the-infrastr...
collectivefutures.blog/the-infrastr...
The infrastructure of meaninglessness
Listen, there are two realities that we should be aware of. AI exists to make your job obsolete because the alternative is that AI makes managers obsolete.
Let me try to break down this theory, which...
collectivefutures.blog
October 10, 2025 at 6:33 PM
“Uncritical adoption of AI, will inevitably create people without critical thinking, and this may be a feature - not a bug, as it represents an attack on human agency itself.”
collectivefutures.blog/the-infrastr...
collectivefutures.blog/the-infrastr...
At last. Call these fuckers out for what they are. Enough of pandering to ‘understandable concerns’. Nice one Zack Polanski.
Zack Polanski,
"The only way to be morally consistent is to condemn what happened on Oct 7th and to condemn the genocide in Palestine"
"As a Jewish man I feel the genocide very very deeply"
"The only way to be morally consistent is to condemn what happened on Oct 7th and to condemn the genocide in Palestine"
"As a Jewish man I feel the genocide very very deeply"
October 9, 2025 at 11:07 PM
At last. Call these fuckers out for what they are. Enough of pandering to ‘understandable concerns’. Nice one Zack Polanski.
Reposted by Martin Welton
TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it
October 8, 2025 at 9:26 PM
TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it
Reposted by Martin Welton
This is such a nuanced and big-hearted piece on the evolution of autism as a diagnosis, by an anthropologist of mental health who is also the dad of a now-grown daughter on the spectrum. Great reading (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...
Opinion | Autism Has Always Existed. We Haven’t Always Called It Autism.
www.nytimes.com
September 24, 2025 at 5:25 PM
This is such a nuanced and big-hearted piece on the evolution of autism as a diagnosis, by an anthropologist of mental health who is also the dad of a now-grown daughter on the spectrum. Great reading (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...
Reposted by Martin Welton
It's a good job Morgan McSweeney didn't fail to declare a five quid Universal Credit overpayment, because he'd really be in trouble then
September 25, 2025 at 11:21 AM
It's a good job Morgan McSweeney didn't fail to declare a five quid Universal Credit overpayment, because he'd really be in trouble then
Reposted by Martin Welton
Reposted by Martin Welton
Since this is apparently a resigning matter, I’ll just leave this here…
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Nigel Farage uses private company to pay less tax on GB News earnings
Exclusive: Reform leader’s use of personal services firm is a practice criticised across the political spectrum
www.theguardian.com
September 5, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Since this is apparently a resigning matter, I’ll just leave this here…
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
If Rayner’s actions speak of entitlement, how should we interpret someone on an MPs salary neglecting his duties in parliament but promoting the interests of his TV channel in the US, flogging gold bullion, bloviating for the Telegraph, and making use of trust funds and offshore banking?
Nigel Farage says ‘there’s every chance of general election in 2027’
Nigel Farage says ‘there’s every chance of general election in 2027’
Reform UK leader tells party conference that Angela Rayner’s actions ‘scream of entitlement’
*
UK politics live – latest updates
Nigel Farage has said there is every chance of a general election in 2027 as the government is falling apart after Angela Rayner’s resignation.
Speaking at the Reform UK party conference in Birmingham, he said Rayner’s actions “scream of entitlement” and said the Labour government was even worse than the Tories that went before it. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
September 5, 2025 at 5:25 PM
If Rayner’s actions speak of entitlement, how should we interpret someone on an MPs salary neglecting his duties in parliament but promoting the interests of his TV channel in the US, flogging gold bullion, bloviating for the Telegraph, and making use of trust funds and offshore banking?
This charlatan is the poison in our body politic. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Nigel Farage uses private company to pay less tax on GB News earnings
Exclusive: Reform leader’s use of personal services firm is a practice criticised across the political spectrum
www.theguardian.com
September 5, 2025 at 9:04 AM
This charlatan is the poison in our body politic. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Talks about what? Moral turpitude? Spineless handwringing? How to give succour to ethnonationalist racism?
Talks about what? Moral turpitude? Spineless handwringing? How to give succour to ethnonationalist racism?
Israel’s president to visit London next Thursday for expected talks with ministers
Exclusive: Isaac Herzog will make trip just weeks before UK is planning to recognise statehood of Palestine
www.theguardian.com
September 4, 2025 at 3:06 PM
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Talks about what? Moral turpitude? Spineless handwringing? How to give succour to ethnonationalist racism?
Talks about what? Moral turpitude? Spineless handwringing? How to give succour to ethnonationalist racism?
Reposted by Martin Welton
Are you young, highly educated and driven, and want to contribute to our stagnant economy with its aging population and low productivity? Well out you go
September 2, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Are you young, highly educated and driven, and want to contribute to our stagnant economy with its aging population and low productivity? Well out you go
Reposted by Martin Welton
Amazing story: one of the organisers of the group putting Union Flags up around Manchester previously did time for being part of a people smuggling gang.
manchestermill.co.uk/manchester-f...
manchestermill.co.uk/manchester-f...
Manchester’s chief flag-raiser has put his people smuggling days behind him
Flags protesting unchecked immigration have gone up across the city, led by a man caught smuggling migrants into the country in the back of a van
manchestermill.co.uk
August 30, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Amazing story: one of the organisers of the group putting Union Flags up around Manchester previously did time for being part of a people smuggling gang.
manchestermill.co.uk/manchester-f...
manchestermill.co.uk/manchester-f...
Reposted by Martin Welton
This should be headline news - the implications are horrifying …
Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low-likelihood, study finds
Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout
www.theguardian.com
August 29, 2025 at 8:01 AM
This should be headline news - the implications are horrifying …
Reposted by Martin Welton
Reform UK, which has a grand total of four MPs, was just given an uninterrupted platform for an hour and a half on the BBC and Sky News channels, in order to talk about its plans for mass deportations
When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?
When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?
August 26, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reform UK, which has a grand total of four MPs, was just given an uninterrupted platform for an hour and a half on the BBC and Sky News channels, in order to talk about its plans for mass deportations
When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?
When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?
Reposted by Martin Welton
Absolutely brilliant 👇😀😀😀
August 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Absolutely brilliant 👇😀😀😀
Reposted by Martin Welton
wonder if decades of mocking media studies as a Mickey Mouse subject has anything to do with this at all
The House of Lords just released a major report on media literacy. Its core message is that the UK is falling behind, and it’s putting democracy at risk.
committees.parliament.uk/work/9030/me...
committees.parliament.uk/work/9030/me...
Media literacy - Committees - UK Parliament
This inquiry will seek to establish a clear vision for what good media literacy would look like in the UK, and examine the barriers to achieving this vision. The committee will consider the roles and ...
committees.parliament.uk
July 30, 2025 at 8:18 AM
wonder if decades of mocking media studies as a Mickey Mouse subject has anything to do with this at all
Reposted by Martin Welton
South Park is getting canceled after this lmao.
July 24, 2025 at 3:59 AM
South Park is getting canceled after this lmao.
Reposted by Martin Welton
Reposted by Martin Welton
one thing probably worth keeping in mind is that Diane Abbott has a decent claim to the title of ‘most racially abused person in Britain’
July 18, 2025 at 2:30 PM
one thing probably worth keeping in mind is that Diane Abbott has a decent claim to the title of ‘most racially abused person in Britain’