Alison Clapham
@alisonclapham.bsky.social
Screenwriter - comedy/drama, training videos and marketing animations. Writer on The Impact.
Science PhD, loves nature and art.
Science PhD, loves nature and art.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
“this £85 billion represents a direct transfer of value from the public to private owners — a sum extracted while storm overflows proliferated, leakage targets were missed, and river health declined”
July 21, 2025 at 7:29 AM
“this £85 billion represents a direct transfer of value from the public to private owners — a sum extracted while storm overflows proliferated, leakage targets were missed, and river health declined”
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Hundreds of scientists are set to take part in the first performance of a new Scottish country dance inspired by the ripples in spacetime whose existence was first theorised by Albert Einstein.
More: gla.ac/3ICip4Q
#GR24Amaldi16 #GravitationalWaves #Glasgow
@uofgravity.bsky.social
More: gla.ac/3ICip4Q
#GR24Amaldi16 #GravitationalWaves #Glasgow
@uofgravity.bsky.social
July 11, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Hundreds of scientists are set to take part in the first performance of a new Scottish country dance inspired by the ripples in spacetime whose existence was first theorised by Albert Einstein.
More: gla.ac/3ICip4Q
#GR24Amaldi16 #GravitationalWaves #Glasgow
@uofgravity.bsky.social
More: gla.ac/3ICip4Q
#GR24Amaldi16 #GravitationalWaves #Glasgow
@uofgravity.bsky.social
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Like the OP above I’m quick to block anti-copyright extremists. It makes me incredibly angry that they think their desire to just have stuff for free completely overrides creative workers’ rights to earn a living from their labour, to protect the integrity of their work, & to care for their families
June 26, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Like the OP above I’m quick to block anti-copyright extremists. It makes me incredibly angry that they think their desire to just have stuff for free completely overrides creative workers’ rights to earn a living from their labour, to protect the integrity of their work, & to care for their families
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Any report that treats Unbound’s folding as a natural part of the to-and-fro of regular business in the chancy world of the creative industries is missing the story.
June 17, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Any report that treats Unbound’s folding as a natural part of the to-and-fro of regular business in the chancy world of the creative industries is missing the story.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Anyway, like and subscribe, etc. open.substack.com/pub/franklin...
June 20, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Anyway, like and subscribe, etc. open.substack.com/pub/franklin...
Reposted by Alison Clapham
This is not just an American story. It’s a preview.
And the question for every other democracy is simple:
Do you adapt now, or do nothing and slide into authoritarianism?
And the question for every other democracy is simple:
Do you adapt now, or do nothing and slide into authoritarianism?
June 7, 2025 at 8:42 PM
This is not just an American story. It’s a preview.
And the question for every other democracy is simple:
Do you adapt now, or do nothing and slide into authoritarianism?
And the question for every other democracy is simple:
Do you adapt now, or do nothing and slide into authoritarianism?
Reposted by Alison Clapham
The conditions that have led to what’s happening in the US today exist in democracies around the world.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
June 7, 2025 at 8:39 PM
The conditions that have led to what’s happening in the US today exist in democracies around the world.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Thing is, it feels on Bluesky like EVERYONE knows about this Unbound scandal now. But they don't. In the grand scheme of things - the grand scheme of UK book lovers, even - what this publisher has done to its authors is still relatively little-known. Coverage like this is an important step.
I was invited onto BBC Radio 4's You And Yours today to talk about Unbound, who owe me and their other authors around £650,000 in total, which is not even taking into account the readers they have refused to refund. You can listen to it here (begins around 19 mins in): www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
You and Yours - Fried Chicken, Contested Wills and Unbound Authors - BBC Sounds
How fried chicken is going upmarket.
www.bbc.co.uk
June 4, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Thing is, it feels on Bluesky like EVERYONE knows about this Unbound scandal now. But they don't. In the grand scheme of things - the grand scheme of UK book lovers, even - what this publisher has done to its authors is still relatively little-known. Coverage like this is an important step.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
It’s like Zuckerberg insisting that each piece of work he steals has no value on its own. Yeah, if you’re a billionaire, you can’t see the tapestry of £50 payments that make up a creative’s annual income. It’s still real money. Don’t be a dick.
May 30, 2025 at 9:25 AM
It’s like Zuckerberg insisting that each piece of work he steals has no value on its own. Yeah, if you’re a billionaire, you can’t see the tapestry of £50 payments that make up a creative’s annual income. It’s still real money. Don’t be a dick.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Also, these are small print run books in the main. Nobody is going to be looking at a shortfall of six figures or even five figures. Most of us are now down a few month’s bills or so. But we’re authors, we survive on marginal incomes. That money is our livelihoods.
May 30, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Also, these are small print run books in the main. Nobody is going to be looking at a shortfall of six figures or even five figures. Most of us are now down a few month’s bills or so. But we’re authors, we survive on marginal incomes. That money is our livelihoods.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
>> I’ll probably regret posting this. I’ve been advised not to speak publicly.
Fuck that. You stole money off me and off people I like and people who trusted me, and who trusted you.
I’m glad it’s a game for you, that the creative industries are full of people who can work for nothing.
I can’t.
Fuck that. You stole money off me and off people I like and people who trusted me, and who trusted you.
I’m glad it’s a game for you, that the creative industries are full of people who can work for nothing.
I can’t.
May 30, 2025 at 9:19 AM
>> I’ll probably regret posting this. I’ve been advised not to speak publicly.
Fuck that. You stole money off me and off people I like and people who trusted me, and who trusted you.
I’m glad it’s a game for you, that the creative industries are full of people who can work for nothing.
I can’t.
Fuck that. You stole money off me and off people I like and people who trusted me, and who trusted you.
I’m glad it’s a game for you, that the creative industries are full of people who can work for nothing.
I can’t.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
>> This doesn’t work. It doesn’t calm us down. Because the idea of not being paid, or not taking money owed, appears to be a noble option for these people. Something they can choose to do, out of some sort of moral stance. Money’s a game.
Most working people don’t get that option. >>
Most working people don’t get that option. >>
May 30, 2025 at 9:17 AM
>> This doesn’t work. It doesn’t calm us down. Because the idea of not being paid, or not taking money owed, appears to be a noble option for these people. Something they can choose to do, out of some sort of moral stance. Money’s a game.
Most working people don’t get that option. >>
Most working people don’t get that option. >>
Reposted by Alison Clapham
When you receive the email you’ve been dreading, about how your outstanding royalties will now *not* be honoured by your ex-publisher’s new shiny identity, they try to reassure you by saying this person or that person on the board is “working for free” and “not taking a salary”… >>
May 30, 2025 at 9:15 AM
When you receive the email you’ve been dreading, about how your outstanding royalties will now *not* be honoured by your ex-publisher’s new shiny identity, they try to reassure you by saying this person or that person on the board is “working for free” and “not taking a salary”… >>
Reposted by Alison Clapham
If this publisher - formerly Unbound, now Boundless - gave me all the money they actually owed me, it would amount to over £20,000. Now, I suspect there will be nothing. Not for me and not for the large number of other authors who have received promise after promise that Unbound have reneged on.
May 30, 2025 at 2:15 PM
If this publisher - formerly Unbound, now Boundless - gave me all the money they actually owed me, it would amount to over £20,000. Now, I suspect there will be nothing. Not for me and not for the large number of other authors who have received promise after promise that Unbound have reneged on.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
So there you have it. My ex-publishers who last year stopped paying me for the seven books I'd written for them, have today gone back on their promise that some of the money that they owe me and their other authors would come through. I should have guessed.. www.thebookseller.com/news/unbound...
Unbound authors will not receive unpaid royalty payments until new publisher Boundless 'is cash stable'
As founder John Mitchinson leaves, Unbound authors learn they will not receive historic royalty payments for sales of their books unless Boundless "survives and thrives".
www.thebookseller.com
May 30, 2025 at 2:12 PM
So there you have it. My ex-publishers who last year stopped paying me for the seven books I'd written for them, have today gone back on their promise that some of the money that they owe me and their other authors would come through. I should have guessed.. www.thebookseller.com/news/unbound...
Reposted by Alison Clapham
This is incredible. The biggest, worst theft I’ve seen so far.
Making any money as a writer is almost impossible these days, but if someone’s dipping into your earnings like this - and almost no writers earn at this level - that’s basically a heist.
Making any money as a writer is almost impossible these days, but if someone’s dipping into your earnings like this - and almost no writers earn at this level - that’s basically a heist.
They owe me about £75,000 and never made a single one of their scheduled repayments.
My US books are all a sublicense of my Unbound deal, so all US royalties went to them, for them to take a cut and then deliver the rest to me. They collected 18 months from Penguin Random House and gave me $0.
My US books are all a sublicense of my Unbound deal, so all US royalties went to them, for them to take a cut and then deliver the rest to me. They collected 18 months from Penguin Random House and gave me $0.
June 1, 2025 at 9:34 AM
This is incredible. The biggest, worst theft I’ve seen so far.
Making any money as a writer is almost impossible these days, but if someone’s dipping into your earnings like this - and almost no writers earn at this level - that’s basically a heist.
Making any money as a writer is almost impossible these days, but if someone’s dipping into your earnings like this - and almost no writers earn at this level - that’s basically a heist.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Wild camping on Dartmoor is legal, supreme court rules
Wild camping on Dartmoor is legal, supreme court rules
Case came to supreme court after court of appeal determined the term ‘open-air recreation’ included camping
Wild camping will be allowed on Dartmoor after the supreme court ruled that a multimillionaire landowner was wrong to ban it on his land.
Dartmoor was – until the legal action – the only place in England where wild camping without the permission of the landowner was enshrined in law. In Scotland, people have enjoyed this right since 2003. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
May 21, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Wild camping on Dartmoor is legal, supreme court rules
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Sir Elton John describes govt as "absolute losers" and says he feels "incredibly betrayed" over plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws - telling @bbclaurak.bsky.social if plans go ahead to allow AI firms to use artists' content without paying they would be committing theft.
May 18, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Sir Elton John describes govt as "absolute losers" and says he feels "incredibly betrayed" over plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws - telling @bbclaurak.bsky.social if plans go ahead to allow AI firms to use artists' content without paying they would be committing theft.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
If a loved one ends up in care then you want them to receive the best available... the one thing you do not lie awake at night worrying about is where those care workers were born.
Why the Labour Party is targeting these vital members of our community is genuinely beyond my understanding.
Why the Labour Party is targeting these vital members of our community is genuinely beyond my understanding.
May 12, 2025 at 7:35 AM
If a loved one ends up in care then you want them to receive the best available... the one thing you do not lie awake at night worrying about is where those care workers were born.
Why the Labour Party is targeting these vital members of our community is genuinely beyond my understanding.
Why the Labour Party is targeting these vital members of our community is genuinely beyond my understanding.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Labour has a whopping great majority and four years left to turn this country around.
They should be setting the agenda, not chasing about trying to placate voters of a party with five MPs who will never vote for them anyway.
It's not only disappointing... it's embarrassing
They should be setting the agenda, not chasing about trying to placate voters of a party with five MPs who will never vote for them anyway.
It's not only disappointing... it's embarrassing
May 12, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Labour has a whopping great majority and four years left to turn this country around.
They should be setting the agenda, not chasing about trying to placate voters of a party with five MPs who will never vote for them anyway.
It's not only disappointing... it's embarrassing
They should be setting the agenda, not chasing about trying to placate voters of a party with five MPs who will never vote for them anyway.
It's not only disappointing... it's embarrassing
Reposted by Alison Clapham
A company that supplied hundreds of millions of pounds of unusable COVID tests saw their profits surge to £178 million after lobbying a Conservative peer for contracts
Their turnover jumped by 6800% after supplying tests which were later deemed “unfit for public use”
bylinetimes.com/2025/04/28/v...
Their turnover jumped by 6800% after supplying tests which were later deemed “unfit for public use”
bylinetimes.com/2025/04/28/v...
Company That Supplied Hundreds of Millions of Pounds of Unusable COVID Tests Saw Profits Skyrocket to £178 Million After Lobbying Conservative Peer for Contract
Primer Design’s turnover jumped by 6,800% after supplying tests that were later deemed “unfit for public use”
bylinetimes.com
April 28, 2025 at 10:04 AM
A company that supplied hundreds of millions of pounds of unusable COVID tests saw their profits surge to £178 million after lobbying a Conservative peer for contracts
Their turnover jumped by 6800% after supplying tests which were later deemed “unfit for public use”
bylinetimes.com/2025/04/28/v...
Their turnover jumped by 6800% after supplying tests which were later deemed “unfit for public use”
bylinetimes.com/2025/04/28/v...
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of £7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didn’t want to license our work fairly as it was “too expensive”
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Theft is not a valid alternative.
April 3, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of £7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didn’t want to license our work fairly as it was “too expensive”
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
The thing about all these pieces complaining about Marine Le Pen's conviction is that not a single one of them bothers to explain why someone found guilty of embezzling millions of Euros from public funds should be allowed to get away with it
April 1, 2025 at 8:22 AM
The thing about all these pieces complaining about Marine Le Pen's conviction is that not a single one of them bothers to explain why someone found guilty of embezzling millions of Euros from public funds should be allowed to get away with it
Reposted by Alison Clapham
Corruption; fraud, embezzlement, theft - none of these are good for freedom. Wake up fourth estate - your job is to hold the powerful to account not to work for them by suggesting that the application of the law is “a political stitch up”. Crooks are not the victims here; we, the public are.
April 1, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Corruption; fraud, embezzlement, theft - none of these are good for freedom. Wake up fourth estate - your job is to hold the powerful to account not to work for them by suggesting that the application of the law is “a political stitch up”. Crooks are not the victims here; we, the public are.
Reposted by Alison Clapham
It’s all so deeply childish… tearing up agreements, rejecting teamwork, going back on your word, flouncing out of international trade, cooperation and human rights frameworks… Basically having a series of prejudice-soaked, foot-stamping tantrums at the world, rather than collaborating on solutions.
March 18, 2025 at 8:10 AM
It’s all so deeply childish… tearing up agreements, rejecting teamwork, going back on your word, flouncing out of international trade, cooperation and human rights frameworks… Basically having a series of prejudice-soaked, foot-stamping tantrums at the world, rather than collaborating on solutions.