Oliver
@fromoliver.bsky.social
Optimistic catastrophist. Procrastivist. Research comms & impact. Writes books, takes photos. https://oliverfrancis.net/
Oh, I do hope they go for the zero self-awareness option of Popular Alliance.
Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana’s Your Party reveals shortlist for official name
Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana’s Your Party reveals shortlist for official name
Leftwing party asks members to pick between Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance and For The Many
The leftwing party formed by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana has revealed a shortlist of names for its members to pick from: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance and For The Many.
Ahead of its first conference in Liverpool this weekend, the party is asking its 50,000 members to choose what it should be called, with the result to be announced by Corbyn on Sunday. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Oh, I do hope they go for the zero self-awareness option of Popular Alliance.
Reposted by Oliver
Depressingly well-made point.
November 28, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Depressingly well-made point.
Reposted by Oliver
Springer-Nature statement
“Whilst the details of peer review are confidential, we can confirm that the article underwent two rounds of review from two independent peer reviewers, supporting an accept decision.”
How am I now expected to believe that two people looked at the paper twice and DGAF?
“Whilst the details of peer review are confidential, we can confirm that the article underwent two rounds of review from two independent peer reviewers, supporting an accept decision.”
How am I now expected to believe that two people looked at the paper twice and DGAF?
Riding the Autism Bicycle to Retraction Town
Does anyone *really* know their Factor Fexcectorn?
nobreakthroughs.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Springer-Nature statement
“Whilst the details of peer review are confidential, we can confirm that the article underwent two rounds of review from two independent peer reviewers, supporting an accept decision.”
How am I now expected to believe that two people looked at the paper twice and DGAF?
“Whilst the details of peer review are confidential, we can confirm that the article underwent two rounds of review from two independent peer reviewers, supporting an accept decision.”
How am I now expected to believe that two people looked at the paper twice and DGAF?
Reposted by Oliver
I applied for a new passport on Tuesday afternoon and received it 15 minutes ago. No fast track, just the standard service. Can we put whoever runs the Passport Office in charge of literally everything?
November 28, 2025 at 1:36 PM
I applied for a new passport on Tuesday afternoon and received it 15 minutes ago. No fast track, just the standard service. Can we put whoever runs the Passport Office in charge of literally everything?
Sobering read for a Friday
www.vox.com/the-highligh...
www.vox.com/the-highligh...
The most likely AI apocalypse
How artificial intelligence could be leading most humans into an inescapable trap.
www.vox.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Sobering read for a Friday
www.vox.com/the-highligh...
www.vox.com/the-highligh...
Reposted by Oliver
I think it was @mrdavidwhitley.bsky.social who said that running a B&B was clearly one of those 'seems like fun, is pure hell' businesses, and one way you can tell he is right is how relatively cheap this literal mansion (with a working B&B attached) is.
Make sure that you don't try out looking at what you could get in France.
I have finally abandoned the idea, but my word.
www.leggettprestige.com/luxury-prope...
I have finally abandoned the idea, but my word.
www.leggettprestige.com/luxury-prope...
House for sale in Huismes - Indre-et-Loire - Stunning Manor house with converted outbuildings, an active B&B / gite business on the Loire à Vélo route France REF: A39452CFI37 | [13179]
If the idea of running a boutique B&B business appeals, look no further!
With a combination of seven profitable letting rooms and self-catering suites, retai...
www.leggettprestige.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I think it was @mrdavidwhitley.bsky.social who said that running a B&B was clearly one of those 'seems like fun, is pure hell' businesses, and one way you can tell he is right is how relatively cheap this literal mansion (with a working B&B attached) is.
Reposted by Oliver
The text of the article isn’t any better. It’s a canned description of some machine learning method, and takes forever to deliver standard boring points. Probable AI slop.
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 27, 2025 at 9:20 PM
The text of the article isn’t any better. It’s a canned description of some machine learning method, and takes forever to deliver standard boring points. Probable AI slop.
It's the OBR's web editor I feel sorry for today.
November 26, 2025 at 4:57 PM
It's the OBR's web editor I feel sorry for today.
Reposted by Oliver
When can you declare an emergency over?
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
November 25, 2025 at 4:23 PM
When can you declare an emergency over?
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
Reposted by Oliver
The 80's were 20 years ago. Just like the 2000's were also 20 years ago. I don't see why this is so hard to understand.
November 25, 2025 at 4:51 AM
The 80's were 20 years ago. Just like the 2000's were also 20 years ago. I don't see why this is so hard to understand.
Reposted by Oliver
narrator: 50 years ago...
me: [nods] in 1945
narrator: in 1975...
me: what
me: [nods] in 1945
narrator: in 1975...
me: what
November 25, 2025 at 2:11 AM
narrator: 50 years ago...
me: [nods] in 1945
narrator: in 1975...
me: what
me: [nods] in 1945
narrator: in 1975...
me: what
I think Boy 2 wants to remake The Wicker Man.
November 23, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I think Boy 2 wants to remake The Wicker Man.
Even by the Imperial War Museum shop's standard of ahistorical kitsch, this is quite an achievement.
November 22, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Even by the Imperial War Museum shop's standard of ahistorical kitsch, this is quite an achievement.
Reposted by Oliver
may Andrew Wakefield be paid back exactly what he has put into the world... multiplied by seven
November 20, 2025 at 11:25 PM
may Andrew Wakefield be paid back exactly what he has put into the world... multiplied by seven
Reposted by Oliver
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Only 3 days left on BBC Sounds to catch @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social last ever edition of Sound of Cinema. A love letter to the movies and to the joy of looking deeper, of complexity.
There are fewer and fewer programmes of this depth on R3 so grab it while you can.
Only 3 days left on BBC Sounds to catch @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social last ever edition of Sound of Cinema. A love letter to the movies and to the joy of looking deeper, of complexity.
There are fewer and fewer programmes of this depth on R3 so grab it while you can.
Sound of Cinema - A place for ideas - BBC Sounds
Matthew Sweet's weekly look at music for the screen.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 10:42 AM
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Only 3 days left on BBC Sounds to catch @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social last ever edition of Sound of Cinema. A love letter to the movies and to the joy of looking deeper, of complexity.
There are fewer and fewer programmes of this depth on R3 so grab it while you can.
Only 3 days left on BBC Sounds to catch @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social last ever edition of Sound of Cinema. A love letter to the movies and to the joy of looking deeper, of complexity.
There are fewer and fewer programmes of this depth on R3 so grab it while you can.
Oh, belatedly learned that @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social has left Sound of Cinema and I feel kind of bereft. Nobody speaks about film and music - and film music - quite as well as him.
November 21, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Oh, belatedly learned that @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social has left Sound of Cinema and I feel kind of bereft. Nobody speaks about film and music - and film music - quite as well as him.
Reposted by Oliver
I'm not saying the Trump Administration is stacked with Soviet assets.
I'm just wondering, if they *were* Soviet assets, what would they be doing differently?
I'm just wondering, if they *were* Soviet assets, what would they be doing differently?
November 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I'm not saying the Trump Administration is stacked with Soviet assets.
I'm just wondering, if they *were* Soviet assets, what would they be doing differently?
I'm just wondering, if they *were* Soviet assets, what would they be doing differently?
Pretty much the only celebrity Apprentice I've heard of is the one who's a celebrity because he was on the Apprentice. Barrel, scraping etc.
November 21, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Pretty much the only celebrity Apprentice I've heard of is the one who's a celebrity because he was on the Apprentice. Barrel, scraping etc.
Reposted by Oliver
“Residential buildings, greenhouses, sheds, factories, you name it—it needs to be flat. That’s the order”
Chapter & verse on the physical destruction of Gaza
Chapter & verse on the physical destruction of Gaza
The flattening of structures is where the various drivers of Israel’s Gaza onslaught meet: ostensible military aims, a messianic ideology that wants Jewish settlement in the Strip, and the desire for revenge after 7th Oct
My piece in @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/middle...
My piece in @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/middle...
‘The directive was nothing left’: How Gaza’s cities were destroyed
Israel has razed large parts of the Gaza Strip since the war began in October 2023. The evidence points to systemic destruction
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 4:38 PM
“Residential buildings, greenhouses, sheds, factories, you name it—it needs to be flat. That’s the order”
Chapter & verse on the physical destruction of Gaza
Chapter & verse on the physical destruction of Gaza
Reposted by Oliver
Is it milk?
A handy guide to measuring like a Brit.
A handy guide to measuring like a Brit.
November 18, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Is it milk?
A handy guide to measuring like a Brit.
A handy guide to measuring like a Brit.
Saw Nuremberg. I've thought for a while that one day someone might make an interesting, intellectually honest film about the Nuremberg psychiatrists that doesn't decend into clunking cliche. Still think that.
November 16, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Saw Nuremberg. I've thought for a while that one day someone might make an interesting, intellectually honest film about the Nuremberg psychiatrists that doesn't decend into clunking cliche. Still think that.
Reposted by Oliver
Fascinating that the cause of collapse of both major parties has not just been basically identical (cost of living and service failings creating unpopularity, chasing radical right tail on immigration fuelling in-bloc schism), but that doubling down has persisted long after failure became clear.
November 16, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Fascinating that the cause of collapse of both major parties has not just been basically identical (cost of living and service failings creating unpopularity, chasing radical right tail on immigration fuelling in-bloc schism), but that doubling down has persisted long after failure became clear.
Someone should lose their job over the failure to use the phrase 'budgie smugglers' in this headline.
A man was found with two heavily sedated orange-fronted parakeets in his underwear as he crossed the border from Mexico in October, U.S. prosecutors said. He was indicted on a federal smuggling charge on Friday.
Man Who Stuffed Parakeets in His Pants Faces Smuggling Charge
The man was found with the heavily sedated birds in his underwear as he crossed the border from Mexico in late October, federal prosecutors said.
nyti.ms
November 15, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Someone should lose their job over the failure to use the phrase 'budgie smugglers' in this headline.
Reposted by Oliver
Labour's fear of Reform, 'the election is tomorrow' attitude means that they are completely incapable of going 'okay, but what are *actually* the consequences of refugee and asylum policy that people don't like?'
This is as bad as anything proposed by Reform.
Leaving refugees in permanent limbo and unable to build a new life in the UK would be a complete abdication of our humanitarian responsibilities
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Leaving refugees in permanent limbo and unable to build a new life in the UK would be a complete abdication of our humanitarian responsibilities
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Labour's fear of Reform, 'the election is tomorrow' attitude means that they are completely incapable of going 'okay, but what are *actually* the consequences of refugee and asylum policy that people don't like?'
Reposted by Oliver
Maybe nothing sums up the cultural vapidity of Tech like the fact they sprinted past doing Torment Nexus stuff that's *like* a Black Mirror episode, and straight to shit that's explicitly *from* Black Mirror episodes, promoted with ads which are lit, shot and set-designed like Black Mirror episodes.
November 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Maybe nothing sums up the cultural vapidity of Tech like the fact they sprinted past doing Torment Nexus stuff that's *like* a Black Mirror episode, and straight to shit that's explicitly *from* Black Mirror episodes, promoted with ads which are lit, shot and set-designed like Black Mirror episodes.