Owen Espley (he/him)
@owenespley.bsky.social
Supporting communities to resist data centres @globalactionplan.bsky.social
Previously: #MakeAmazonPay @WaronWant #McStrike #McTax
Opinions & errors: my own (not GAP's!)
Previously: #MakeAmazonPay @WaronWant #McStrike #McTax
Opinions & errors: my own (not GAP's!)
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
Looking at USPS only through a profit lens misses rural economic opportunities
Looking at USPS only through a profit lens misses rural economic opportunities
"We need to rethink the Postal Service as a public good and fund it appropriately so that it can support rural economies," Elena Patel said.
federalnewsnetwork.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Looking at USPS only through a profit lens misses rural economic opportunities
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
Amazon warehouse workers from Coventry, United Kingdom, joined Unifor organizers on Feb. 5 at the union’s national office in Toronto to exchange lessons, strategies, and hard-won insights from efforts to organize one of the world’s largest employers.
buff.ly/m33btTA
#canlab
buff.ly/m33btTA
#canlab
U.K. Amazon workers meet with Unifor to share organizing strategies
Amazon warehouse workers from Coventry, United Kingdom, joined Unifor organizers on Feb. 5 at the union’s national office in Toronto to exchange lessons, strategies, and hard-won insights from…
www.unifor.org
February 11, 2026 at 9:49 PM
Amazon warehouse workers from Coventry, United Kingdom, joined Unifor organizers on Feb. 5 at the union’s national office in Toronto to exchange lessons, strategies, and hard-won insights from efforts to organize one of the world’s largest employers.
buff.ly/m33btTA
#canlab
buff.ly/m33btTA
#canlab
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
Was lovely to chat with the 7am podcast team about why a huge clean export project flipped to powering data centres
It's all part of the bigger story of tech eating up the resources of climate action, diverted away from eliminating fossil fuels and towards fuelling a growth-obsessed hype industry.
It's all part of the bigger story of tech eating up the resources of climate action, diverted away from eliminating fossil fuels and towards fuelling a growth-obsessed hype industry.
How AI is draining Australia’s green power
In 2019, a new venture in the Australian outback looked set to export our solar power to the world – upending our neighbours’ reliance on fossil fuels.
Backed by the billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes ...
7ampodcast.com.au
January 27, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Was lovely to chat with the 7am podcast team about why a huge clean export project flipped to powering data centres
It's all part of the bigger story of tech eating up the resources of climate action, diverted away from eliminating fossil fuels and towards fuelling a growth-obsessed hype industry.
It's all part of the bigger story of tech eating up the resources of climate action, diverted away from eliminating fossil fuels and towards fuelling a growth-obsessed hype industry.
Using obscure process to exclude local voices, no transparency over energy and water use, and a major end client who doesn't reveal themselves: is this really how we build a sustainable future? #StopDirtytDatacentres thehaveringdaily.co.uk/2026/01/26/r...
Residents Warn 28-Day Consultation Is ‘Nowhere Near Enough’ for Huge Data Centre Plans On Greenbelt Land In Havering.
Residents fighting the proposed East Havering Data Centre are stepping up pressure on Havering Council, demanding the maximum possible consultation period for a development they say is too big, too…
thehaveringdaily.co.uk
January 27, 2026 at 6:29 AM
Using obscure process to exclude local voices, no transparency over energy and water use, and a major end client who doesn't reveal themselves: is this really how we build a sustainable future? #StopDirtytDatacentres thehaveringdaily.co.uk/2026/01/26/r...
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
Major news yesterday for our legal challenge against the UK Government - the government has admitted that its decision to force through the construction of a new hyperscale data centre in Buckinghamshire contained a “serious logical error”.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Government admits its approval for Buckinghamshire AI datacentre should be quashed
Campaigners hail U-turn during legal challenge over proposed centre an ‘embarrassing climbdown’
www.theguardian.com
January 23, 2026 at 10:23 AM
Major news yesterday for our legal challenge against the UK Government - the government has admitted that its decision to force through the construction of a new hyperscale data centre in Buckinghamshire contained a “serious logical error”.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
They want us to shut up, while the machine crushes us all. It’s time to say “SHUT DOWN the machine!”
Join us as we make it clear. We want ICE out of our communities. #ICEOUT
Join us as we make it clear. We want ICE out of our communities. #ICEOUT
January 23, 2026 at 10:25 PM
They want us to shut up, while the machine crushes us all. It’s time to say “SHUT DOWN the machine!”
Join us as we make it clear. We want ICE out of our communities. #ICEOUT
Join us as we make it clear. We want ICE out of our communities. #ICEOUT
1/3 Went to the royal courts today to challenge the government's rush to build hyperscale data centres without adequate consideration of their immense environmental impact. #StopDirtyDataCentres @globalactionplan.bsky.social @foxglovelegal.bsky.social
January 22, 2026 at 4:50 PM
1/3 Went to the royal courts today to challenge the government's rush to build hyperscale data centres without adequate consideration of their immense environmental impact. #StopDirtyDataCentres @globalactionplan.bsky.social @foxglovelegal.bsky.social
Data centres: move fast & lie about your green credentials: "We were not told that El Paso Electric would be building a power plant powered by fossil fuels..we were told that Meta is going green and would rely on renewable energy.” insideclimatenews.org/news/2101202...
insideclimatenews.org
January 22, 2026 at 7:31 AM
Data centres: move fast & lie about your green credentials: "We were not told that El Paso Electric would be building a power plant powered by fossil fuels..we were told that Meta is going green and would rely on renewable energy.” insideclimatenews.org/news/2101202...
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
@microsoft.com’s new plan to convince communities to welcome data centers includes groundbreaking new ideas like *checks notes* paying its taxes and electric bills. 🥴 🧵
January 15, 2026 at 9:47 PM
@microsoft.com’s new plan to convince communities to welcome data centers includes groundbreaking new ideas like *checks notes* paying its taxes and electric bills. 🥴 🧵
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
Global public service unions @psiglobalunion.bsky.social condemns the actions of the US against Venezuela
A threat to workers and people, inteenational law, human rights, stability and peace in the region
@epsu.bsky.social
@labourstart.bsky.social
@strikemap.org
@ituc.bsky.social
A threat to workers and people, inteenational law, human rights, stability and peace in the region
@epsu.bsky.social
@labourstart.bsky.social
@strikemap.org
@ituc.bsky.social
PSI condemns US military aggression and violation of Venezuela's sovereignty
Public Services International (PSI) strongly condemns the US military intervention against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that occurred in the early hours today.
publicservices.international
January 4, 2026 at 4:01 AM
Global public service unions @psiglobalunion.bsky.social condemns the actions of the US against Venezuela
A threat to workers and people, inteenational law, human rights, stability and peace in the region
@epsu.bsky.social
@labourstart.bsky.social
@strikemap.org
@ituc.bsky.social
A threat to workers and people, inteenational law, human rights, stability and peace in the region
@epsu.bsky.social
@labourstart.bsky.social
@strikemap.org
@ituc.bsky.social
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
"Workers said that unchecked algorithmic control by platform companies has pushed them into deep economic insecurity, shifting all risks onto workers while companies continue to profit."
India's Gig Workers Strike for Dignity and Protection
Nationwide flash strike by 40,000 app-based delivery workers demands an end to exploitative algorithms and calls for a national policy to ensure fair wages, safety, and social security.
buff.ly
January 5, 2026 at 11:25 AM
"Workers said that unchecked algorithmic control by platform companies has pushed them into deep economic insecurity, shifting all risks onto workers while companies continue to profit."
"The spectre of democracy may still be hovering over our heads if only we... look up, to engage in the slow, difficult, democratic labour that the algorithmic feed was designed to obliterate: critical evaluation of views and arguments thrown at us" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
.
.
I’m watching myself on YouTube saying things I would never say. This is the deepfake menace we must confront | Yanis Varoufakis
These inventions trigger rage, but also optimism. Maybe they will make people think more critically about debate and democracy, says Yanis Varoufakis
www.theguardian.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:28 AM
"The spectre of democracy may still be hovering over our heads if only we... look up, to engage in the slow, difficult, democratic labour that the algorithmic feed was designed to obliterate: critical evaluation of views and arguments thrown at us" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
.
.
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
"We're in the oil business" - Trump
January 3, 2026 at 5:25 PM
"We're in the oil business" - Trump
About time the judiciary stood up to lawfare...
Goodness me, these judicial comments are astonishingly damming of the Campaign Against Antisemitism. news.sky.com/story/regina...
Reginald D Hunter: Summons against comic by Campaign Against Antisemitism quashed for seeking to have him 'cancelled'
The judge said the CAA "misled" him over comments Hunter made to Heidi Bachram on X, and failed to inform him of a previous compliance probe.
news.sky.com
December 23, 2025 at 10:13 PM
About time the judiciary stood up to lawfare...
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
@bma.org.uk Residents have rejected Wes Streeting's offer, and will be back on the picket lines from 17 December.
We've worked with the BMA to map all the strikes, including days & times for you to join your nearest picket line: bit.ly/BMADecemberPickets
#StrikeMap #DoctorStrike #NHS
We've worked with the BMA to map all the strikes, including days & times for you to join your nearest picket line: bit.ly/BMADecemberPickets
#StrikeMap #DoctorStrike #NHS
December 15, 2025 at 4:23 PM
@bma.org.uk Residents have rejected Wes Streeting's offer, and will be back on the picket lines from 17 December.
We've worked with the BMA to map all the strikes, including days & times for you to join your nearest picket line: bit.ly/BMADecemberPickets
#StrikeMap #DoctorStrike #NHS
We've worked with the BMA to map all the strikes, including days & times for you to join your nearest picket line: bit.ly/BMADecemberPickets
#StrikeMap #DoctorStrike #NHS
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
Must read article on how"the EU’s 'simplification' drive is turning into a bonanza for corporate lobbyists" #deregulation #corporatecapture
www.euractiv.com/news/counter...
www.euractiv.com/news/counter...
Counterinsurgency: How Europe’s business lobby retook the Berlaymont | Euractiv
The EU’s 'simplification' drive is turning into a bonanza for corporate lobbyists
www.euractiv.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Must read article on how"the EU’s 'simplification' drive is turning into a bonanza for corporate lobbyists" #deregulation #corporatecapture
www.euractiv.com/news/counter...
www.euractiv.com/news/counter...
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
A thoughtful article by a student journalist offering a compassionate view of why boys end up pulled into the harmful incel culture – and what families can do to help them out again.
@eastangliabylines.co.uk
@eastangliabylines.co.uk
Loneliness, algorithms and incel culture: how boys get drawn in
Boys aren’t seeking out incel culture; algorithms, loneliness and confusion pull them in long before they understand it
eastangliabylines.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 8:52 PM
A thoughtful article by a student journalist offering a compassionate view of why boys end up pulled into the harmful incel culture – and what families can do to help them out again.
@eastangliabylines.co.uk
@eastangliabylines.co.uk
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
Minister defends 'pragmatic' U-turn on workers' rights.
It was a manifesto pledge
Why no 'pragmatic' U-turn' on nationalising water, energy, rail rolling stock companies and freight; ending privatisation of the NHS and social care; taxing the super rich?
It was a manifesto pledge
Why no 'pragmatic' U-turn' on nationalising water, energy, rail rolling stock companies and freight; ending privatisation of the NHS and social care; taxing the super rich?
Minister defends 'pragmatic' U-turn on workers' rights
Bridget Phillipson told the BBC the climbdown would enable wider benefits to be delivered quickly.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Minister defends 'pragmatic' U-turn on workers' rights.
It was a manifesto pledge
Why no 'pragmatic' U-turn' on nationalising water, energy, rail rolling stock companies and freight; ending privatisation of the NHS and social care; taxing the super rich?
It was a manifesto pledge
Why no 'pragmatic' U-turn' on nationalising water, energy, rail rolling stock companies and freight; ending privatisation of the NHS and social care; taxing the super rich?
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
Last night, hundreds of Amazon workers in Frankenthal, Germany, walked off the job for the first time. They defied intimidation from management – and joined trade union ver.di and the growing global movement to #MakeAmazonPay.
UNI Europa stood with them on the picket lines.
UNI Europa stood with them on the picket lines.
November 29, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Last night, hundreds of Amazon workers in Frankenthal, Germany, walked off the job for the first time. They defied intimidation from management – and joined trade union ver.di and the growing global movement to #MakeAmazonPay.
UNI Europa stood with them on the picket lines.
UNI Europa stood with them on the picket lines.
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
The UK government is being sued by a billionaire Russian oligarch in a secret corporate court.
The Govt has confirmed its a respondent in two active Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) cases, including one from Russian billionaire oligarch Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (h/t Global Justice Now)
The Govt has confirmed its a respondent in two active Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) cases, including one from Russian billionaire oligarch Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (h/t Global Justice Now)
November 19, 2025 at 1:54 PM
The UK government is being sued by a billionaire Russian oligarch in a secret corporate court.
The Govt has confirmed its a respondent in two active Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) cases, including one from Russian billionaire oligarch Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (h/t Global Justice Now)
The Govt has confirmed its a respondent in two active Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) cases, including one from Russian billionaire oligarch Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (h/t Global Justice Now)
Big tech's colonisation of the world continues...
🪚 The digital omnibus proposed by the Commission today is an unprecedented rollback of digital rights.
In secretive meetings, the Commission has given privileged access to tech lobbyists to shape its proposals.
👉 corporateeurope.org/en/2025/11/p...
In secretive meetings, the Commission has given privileged access to tech lobbyists to shape its proposals.
👉 corporateeurope.org/en/2025/11/p...
Preparing a roll-back of digital rights: Commission's secretive meetings with industry | Corporate Europe Observatory
The European Commission is undertaking an unprecedented roll-back of digital rights. In secretive meetings, the Commission has given privileged access to tech lobbyists to shape its proposals, in viol...
corporateeurope.org
November 19, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Big tech's colonisation of the world continues...
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
"10a labs", a 'security research' firm employed by the big AI companies has begun collecting information and attacking organised opposition to data centres, framing them as "NIMBYS" and wildly exaggerating claims.
www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/grou...
www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/grou...
![Data Center Watch has published a report claiming that $64 billion worth of American data center projects were ‘threatened’ because of grassroots opposition.
Data Center Watch picture
A map produced by Data Center Watch tracking opposition to data centers in America
– Data Center Watch
The organization is backed by 10a Labs, an intelligence company specializing in AI security. Led by Robert McKenzie, a former adjunct professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, it provides “intelligence collection, investigative research, and analysis for AI unicorns, Fortune 10 companies, and US tech leaders.”
The report claimed that $18bn worth of projects were ‘blocked’ and a further $46bn more were ‘delayed’ in the two years prior to March 2025.
It primarily attributed this opposition to local concern, identifying several “common themes” of opposition, such as “higher utility bills, water consumption, noise, impact on property value, and green space preservation.”
However, the report’s claims should be read with close attention to its definitions. For instance, ‘blocked’ projects include cases where a “company submits a new proposal with similar characteristics in a different but nearby location after withdrawing a previous project.”
Two examples, which amount to $14.5bn out of the total $18bn, fit this criterion.
The first is attributable to Tract, a company specializing in ‘master-planned’ data center parks, which withdrew a $14bn, 1,000-acre project located in Maricopa County, Arizona, in May 2024. Tract then announced in August of the same year that they had acquired a land parcel - double the size of the original project - within the same county for a data center park.
Whether Tract had already intended to develop a second facility prior to the withdrawal of the first is unclear. Grant von Rooyen, Tract’s CEO, previously told DCD that the company “very rarely [goes] into a market with only one solution… [Tract] will ultimately have multiple s…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:66lbtw2porscqpmair6mir37/bafkreihtwegmocoffjawkkb5v5gtnkxsca76piog2t6mexzippglpwjnza@jpeg)
May 20, 2025 at 1:02 PM
"10a labs", a 'security research' firm employed by the big AI companies has begun collecting information and attacking organised opposition to data centres, framing them as "NIMBYS" and wildly exaggerating claims.
www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/grou...
www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/grou...
Reposted by Owen Espley (he/him)
This is an incredible effort among Amazon employees to pressure their employer:
"We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth."
www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter?...
"We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth."
www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter?...
AI Open Letter — AECJ
Sign our open letter below to tell Amazon leadership that we need a more responsible rollout of AI. Every single signature makes our message stronger.
www.amazonclimatejustice.org
October 30, 2025 at 8:47 PM
This is an incredible effort among Amazon employees to pressure their employer:
"We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth."
www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter?...
"We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth."
www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter?...
One reason business opposed to min wages argue for youth-rates, is they help keep everyone's wages down... if your employer can have a younger worker do the same for less, you're less able to push for higher wages #NMW #NoYouthRates #SameWorkSamePay
🔴Nigel Farage Says Minimum Wage Should Be Cut for Young People
The Reform leader said cutting the minimum wage for young people would boost business, as he attacked plans to raise taxes on the wealthy
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
The Reform leader said cutting the minimum wage for young people would boost business, as he attacked plans to raise taxes on the wealthy
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
Nigel Farage Says Minimum Wage Should Be Cut for Young People
The Reform leader said cutting the minimum wage for young people would boost business, as he attacked plans to raise taxes on the wealthy
bylinetimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:48 PM
One reason business opposed to min wages argue for youth-rates, is they help keep everyone's wages down... if your employer can have a younger worker do the same for less, you're less able to push for higher wages #NMW #NoYouthRates #SameWorkSamePay