AE O'Donnell
@ayenomaybe.bsky.social
they/them
“In love and madness, words fail – but I keep trying” La Marr Jurelle Bruce
part-time PhD student - how do Mad People challenge epistemic injustice?
“In love and madness, words fail – but I keep trying” La Marr Jurelle Bruce
part-time PhD student - how do Mad People challenge epistemic injustice?
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Kneecap is not the story.
Genocide in Gaza is.
Genocide in Gaza is.
June 26, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Kneecap is not the story.
Genocide in Gaza is.
Genocide in Gaza is.
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Rally in the sun 😎 @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social hearing speakers on why £140m cuts unnecessary and demanding uni senior management rule out comp redundancies. We don't want to, but we'll be back out on strike in Sept unless @edinburghuni.bsky.social management see sense #StopTheCuts
June 20, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Rally in the sun 😎 @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social hearing speakers on why £140m cuts unnecessary and demanding uni senior management rule out comp redundancies. We don't want to, but we'll be back out on strike in Sept unless @edinburghuni.bsky.social management see sense #StopTheCuts
My third year undergraduate project in 1986/7 was about spirulina, protein-rich blue-green algae.
June 7, 2025 at 3:50 PM
My third year undergraduate project in 1986/7 was about spirulina, protein-rich blue-green algae.
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
We were hoping that this letter to @bsky.app could first be shared by a Gazan, but we were too worried that doing so would get their account deleted so we are sharing first.
You can sign on to the letter about the unfair treatment of Gazans on Bluesky here:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
You can sign on to the letter about the unfair treatment of Gazans on Bluesky here:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
![[CLICK here if you would like your name added to this letter]
النسخة العربية من هذه الرسالة متاحة أدناه.
Open Letter to the Bluesky Team About Their Treatment of Palestinians in Gaza
The signatories of this letter are all members of the Bluesky community, many of us have actively participated on the platform since its inception. We came to Bluesky because it was a breath of fresh air, a place that felt different from many of the other social media platforms. The lack of a central algorithm, the ability to build and use custom feeds, and the lack of penalty for link promotion contributed to an environment that allowed diverse and interesting voices to find their footing and community on Bluesky. While some of the signatories of this letter have had no issues with speaking their mind publicly on Bluesky, unfortunately that is not true for all the signatories because many are Palestinians currently living in Gaza.
These Palestinians are journalists, artists, engineers, teachers, grandmas, entrepreneurs, a man who owned an ice cream shop, a pediatrician who has been featured on CBS Morning News, aid workers, architects, waiters, pharmacists, students–and perhaps most essential to the backbone of Bluesky, posters. All of these people provide unique and interesting voices to the Bluesky community. However, unlike the other signatories of this letter, these Bluesky community members have struggled to keep their accounts on the platform. Most of them have lost multiple accounts and/or have had their accounts labeled as spam. Some cannot even make an account without it immediately being removed from the platform.
Gazans undertake immense efforts to simply be on Bluesky. Sometimes, they walk for miles just to have access to the internet. They scale rooftops where they are exposed to potential military attacks just for the opportunity to get better cell signals–one signatory of this letter tragically lost her brother this way. They use what little money they have to pay …](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:squcwsoa45f5ibxykhzpnvnc/bafkreifkdvretowrpktkbdr3uq4abhyqv5v5ngzbrmrvkjotzthx7xatay@jpeg)
![End IP bans on any account from Gaza and allow them to make new accounts where they can comply with Bluesky rules and continue to be valued members of the community.
We understand that even if all these changes are made, many Gazans may still violate Bluesky rules in the future, but we hope that Bluesky will abandon their punitive approach to these violations and instead embrace an attitude of education, cooperation and community care– one that works to ensure people in Gaza can participate in a way that keeps their voices heard.
We also call on the Bluesky community to help and support these accounts however they can. We want to continue to build a healthy community with better community members and this cannot be done if Gazans continue to be shunned. We can use this as an opportunity to show how to protect all vulnerable groups in the future.
We hope that Bluesky does not follow the path of other social media platforms and instead forges ahead with a different philosophy. After all, that is the reason so many of its users are there. Bluesky's ethos of "No Caesars” should apply to all members of its community.
[To add your name to the list of signatories, click here.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:squcwsoa45f5ibxykhzpnvnc/bafkreiafdk7hh2kurcncuymod3iftzk3jp35icckd4lvicash3zvkdoq5y@jpeg)
May 24, 2025 at 6:46 PM
We were hoping that this letter to @bsky.app could first be shared by a Gazan, but we were too worried that doing so would get their account deleted so we are sharing first.
You can sign on to the letter about the unfair treatment of Gazans on Bluesky here:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
You can sign on to the letter about the unfair treatment of Gazans on Bluesky here:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Yet another new "over-diagnosis" book, "No More Normal" by psychiatrist Alastair Santhouse, has just been promoted by the Times. Three of these have come out and been pushed by the reactionary press in recent weeks now - just as this discourse is used to justify disability welfare cuts.
March 30, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Yet another new "over-diagnosis" book, "No More Normal" by psychiatrist Alastair Santhouse, has just been promoted by the Times. Three of these have come out and been pushed by the reactionary press in recent weeks now - just as this discourse is used to justify disability welfare cuts.
Tomorrow Friday 28th March at 2pm outside the Main Library on George Square 🇵🇸
March 27, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Tomorrow Friday 28th March at 2pm outside the Main Library on George Square 🇵🇸
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
#WelfareNotWarefare
List of actions so far for the National Day of Action on Wednesday 26th March 2025
More to be announced 📢
List of actions so far for the National Day of Action on Wednesday 26th March 2025
More to be announced 📢
March 21, 2025 at 4:00 PM
#WelfareNotWarefare
List of actions so far for the National Day of Action on Wednesday 26th March 2025
More to be announced 📢
List of actions so far for the National Day of Action on Wednesday 26th March 2025
More to be announced 📢
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Protesters outside the constituency office of @ianmurraymp.bsky.social were keen to tell him what they think of the UK Government’s plans to wipe £5billion off the benefits bill. He wasn’t there but we had asked him about the proposed cuts earlier…
March 21, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Protesters outside the constituency office of @ianmurraymp.bsky.social were keen to tell him what they think of the UK Government’s plans to wipe £5billion off the benefits bill. He wasn’t there but we had asked him about the proposed cuts earlier…
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
I wrote a thing about the phd - yes, still doing it. Just started my 5th year (part-time). blogs.ed.ac.uk/odone/2025/0...
This is what my thesis will look like… – Learning to Challenge Epistemic Injustice
blogs.ed.ac.uk
February 15, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I wrote a thing about the phd - yes, still doing it. Just started my 5th year (part-time). blogs.ed.ac.uk/odone/2025/0...
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Given it's Valentine's Day, think about the people who can't afford to date or have sex because our benefits system is so bad:
lgbtqwelfare.stir.ac.uk/2024/08/09/l...
lgbtqwelfare.stir.ac.uk/2024/08/09/l...
Let's talk about sex | Welfare Access, Assets And Debts Of LGBT+ People In Great Britain
We are now, after some delays, moving towards the end of this amazing project. For a project about sexual identity, we have not actually talked at all about sex at all. This is understandable from the...
lgbtqwelfare.stir.ac.uk
February 14, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Given it's Valentine's Day, think about the people who can't afford to date or have sex because our benefits system is so bad:
lgbtqwelfare.stir.ac.uk/2024/08/09/l...
lgbtqwelfare.stir.ac.uk/2024/08/09/l...
Management Is Manufacturing a ‘Financial Crisis’ to Impose Staff Cuts www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/3fzpaa5...
No Compulsory Redundancies at The University Of Edinburgh! — UCU Edinburgh
Financial mismanagement at the University of Edinburgh continues. On 11 February 2025, Peter Mathieson wrote to all staff threatening “restructuring, possible closures of programmes or even Schools, m...
www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk
February 14, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Management Is Manufacturing a ‘Financial Crisis’ to Impose Staff Cuts www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/3fzpaa5...
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
BBC coverage of Edinburgh university principal announcing that "nothing is off the table". Includes Jo Grady quote on the need to avoid compulsory redundancies "... Management now needs to change course and guarantee workers will not be forced out the door." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Edinburgh University warns staff over funds gap
Staff are told significant measures would be taken to fix the budget gap and
www.bbc.co.uk
February 12, 2025 at 3:26 PM
BBC coverage of Edinburgh university principal announcing that "nothing is off the table". Includes Jo Grady quote on the need to avoid compulsory redundancies "... Management now needs to change course and guarantee workers will not be forced out the door." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
This week's real DWP scandal, as set out by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee:
• Benefit claimants received £4bn less than they were entitled to in 23-24.
• Underpayments have increased by half a billion in the past 12 months.
• PAC warns the DWP to be less defensive
• Benefit claimants received £4bn less than they were entitled to in 23-24.
• Underpayments have increased by half a billion in the past 12 months.
• PAC warns the DWP to be less defensive
February 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
This week's real DWP scandal, as set out by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee:
• Benefit claimants received £4bn less than they were entitled to in 23-24.
• Underpayments have increased by half a billion in the past 12 months.
• PAC warns the DWP to be less defensive
• Benefit claimants received £4bn less than they were entitled to in 23-24.
• Underpayments have increased by half a billion in the past 12 months.
• PAC warns the DWP to be less defensive
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Cat begged to be let out, so I opened the door. She came straight back in and then before I could shut the door, she ran out again! "It's just a wee bit windy" she says as I dragged her inside and now she's sulking because I have yet again ruined her life.
January 24, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Cat begged to be let out, so I opened the door. She came straight back in and then before I could shut the door, she ran out again! "It's just a wee bit windy" she says as I dragged her inside and now she's sulking because I have yet again ruined her life.
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
Nation Urged To Put All Heavy Items They Own On Ground To Prevent Ireland Being Blown Closer To England
Nation Urged To Put All Heavy Items They Own On Ground To Prevent Ireland Being Blown Closer To England
IRISH RESIDENTS are being asked by Met Éireann to assess their preparedness for the oncoming storm Eówyn, with people urged to place all heavy items on the ground to aid in preventing Ireland shifting...
waterfordwhispersnews.com
January 23, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Nation Urged To Put All Heavy Items They Own On Ground To Prevent Ireland Being Blown Closer To England
Reposted by AE O'Donnell
"the crisis team will never not recommend a warm bath and a hot beverage, and unruly behaviour will be punished with a personality disorder diagnosis."
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Nobody could help me with my psychosis. Then I was sent to jail for holding up a shop with a toy gun
I didn’t remember committing my crime but I knew I had fallen through the cracks of the system. Could prison really be my salvation?
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2025 at 11:12 AM
"the crisis team will never not recommend a warm bath and a hot beverage, and unruly behaviour will be punished with a personality disorder diagnosis."
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Had forgotten I had an account here! Easing away from the bad places with no confidence that I won't be easing away from this place in due course. 🤨
January 10, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Had forgotten I had an account here! Easing away from the bad places with no confidence that I won't be easing away from this place in due course. 🤨
Our neighbour gave us the cat bed his cat wouldn't use. Didn't think Mia would be interested but I was wrong. She purred and kneaded and then slept in it for a while this morning. No idea if she will do it again but still! Here's a photo of the cuteness.
October 24, 2023 at 10:10 AM
Our neighbour gave us the cat bed his cat wouldn't use. Didn't think Mia would be interested but I was wrong. She purred and kneaded and then slept in it for a while this morning. No idea if she will do it again but still! Here's a photo of the cuteness.
The perfect paw! Missus Princess Pussy Paws herself.
October 17, 2023 at 8:05 AM
The perfect paw! Missus Princess Pussy Paws herself.
Dreich day, put the heating on, and feeling cosy. Doing phd work today - think I am back in the swing of it. Mia (rhymes with Mariah) is supervising.
October 8, 2023 at 11:55 AM
Dreich day, put the heating on, and feeling cosy. Doing phd work today - think I am back in the swing of it. Mia (rhymes with Mariah) is supervising.