Mike Holderness
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holdernesseu.bsky.social
Mike Holderness
@holdernesseu.bsky.social
Among the things I edit is www.londonfreelance.org

Photo © @rosesrebellion.bsky.social
Reposted by Mike Holderness
#USA: Trump’s attempt to dismiss the murder of Jamal Khashoggi as something that ‘happens’ and to shield the Saudi Crown Prince from responsibility is an alarming distortion of established facts and a profound insult to our profession. #Noimpunity
'Things happen' - Trump defends Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing
The US president's claims that the crown prince "knew nothing" contradict the CIA's own assessment.
www.bbc.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
Remember: they used thousands of academic books too! If you’re a scholar, check for your books too. This isn’t just novelists and pop writers, it’s academic books too!
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
As I told the Columbia Journalism Review, this swatting incident occurred just before I published an investigative report that unmasked the operators of four major neo-Nazi accounts on X. I don't think the timing was coincidental.

www.cjr.org/analysis/loc...
The dangers facing local reporters who cover extremism.
The extremism beat has gone mainstream—but in local markets, it’s still intensely personal.
www.cjr.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
#Israel: The government seeks to ban foreign media outlets permanently if deemed “a security threat”. We are extremely concerned about this bill which, if approved, would represent the government’s latest attempt to curtail free speech and media freedom. @abellanger.bsky.social
Israel: Government seeks to ban foreign media outlets permanently if deemed “a security threat” / IFJ
Members of the Israeli parliament voted on 10 November in favour of passing a bill that would allow the government to permanently shut down foreign media outlets alleged to “undermine national securit...
www.ifj.org
November 17, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
Can't find out if Cloudflare is down because Cloudflare being down has taken out DownDetector, along with half the internet.
November 18, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
The Daily Express has offered journalists compensation after they claimed the publisher stole their work pressgazette.co.uk/news/express...
Express offers compensation after freelances say work was stolen
First person account of rail journey apparently rewritten using AI.
pressgazette.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
🗞️ We’re excited to announce the shortlist for our 2025 Write to End Violence Against Women Awards!

✍️ Endorsed by @nujofficial.bsky.social, our awards recognise those leading the way with responsible reporting that exposes violence against women and helps shift the attitudes driving it.
November 12, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
NUJ reps at the BBC overwhelmingly passed a motion calling for worker representation on the BBC board, an independently-appointed chair, and sustainable funding through Charter Renewal.

www.nuj.org.uk/resource/bbc...
BBC workers call for board reform and sustainable funding
NUJ members at the BBC have outlined their vision for an impartial, universally available and funded BBC.
www.nuj.org.uk
November 17, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
The Government is wrong to think that reviews of safety in the person's country every few years will mean refugees can be returned at scale. That hasn't happened in Denmark. Brutal dictators tend to hang onto power. It would just move huge amounts of resource away from making our asylum system...
November 16, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
I wonder if the agenda-setting success of the AI CEOs, apart from the money they spend on it, isn't also because a generation that has never understood tech, still doesn't, and is still in power have the impression that they understand this one.
November 15, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
If the UK is on the brink of civil war, as Musk claims, it follows that in 300 years time there will be be a new generation of civil war re-enactment societies.

"Geoff,you defend Laurence Fox. Can you guys shout outside a hostel. Brian, i need you to relentlessly slag off Nish Kumar on Facebook."
November 15, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
November 14, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
Thinking about my own father, who arrived in 1946 with the Free Polish Army - when would Labour have sent him back to communist Poland? How could he have done anything to build a life and have children in the UK if he had had to beg to stay every two years? Disgusting. www.bbc.com/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.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
🗞️ Aspiring journalist?
 Struggling to break into the industry?

Nation.Cymru is offering commissions, mentoring, and internships for new and emerging Welsh journalists.

Get published, get paid, and help shape the future of journalism in Wales.

Find out more below 👇
Nation.Cymru launches scheme to support next generation of Welsh journalists
A new programme designed to open up journalism in Wales to people from working-class and underrepresented backgrounds has been launched by Nation.Cymru. Backed by Creative Wales’ Public Interest Journ...
nation.cymru
November 13, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
“This wasn’t just an attack on me, it was an attack on the freedoms of ordinary Americans and citizens worldwide." - Sami Hamdi, back on British soil. #pressfreedom
British journalist returns to London after two weeks in ICE detention
A BRITISH journalist and vocal advocate for Palestinian rights touched down at Heathrow airport today after being detained for more than two weeks by US immigration authorities.Sami Hamdi was held by…
buff.ly
November 14, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
Website: Here is the description of this page that we would like to show up on search results

Google: But what if instead we wrote something else
November 14, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
‘House Republicans then released a massive tranche of documents to counter what they said was a Democratic effort to "cherry-pick" documents.’

If 1 email says I killed Elvis, 1 million saying other stuff don’t change that. But mentioning the 1 is ‘cherry-picking’?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
What we know about the latest Epstein emails referencing Trump
In emails released by Democrats, Epstein says Trump
www.bbc.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
QANON CULTIST IN 2017: "In this 1,879 page thread I will unravel the byzantine system of codewords and phrases the global elite use to mask their pedophile cabal."

JEFFREY EPSTEIN WRITING AN EMAIL AT THE SAME TIME: "helo its me jeff had fun cmmitting sex crimes wit u lst weeknd"
pretty funny in retrospect that QAnon hinged on the idea that powerful elites at the highest levels of government were smart enough to talk in code when sending emails to each other about their despicable crimes
November 12, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.
November 12, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
"The GEMA legal adviser Kai Welp said the organisation now hoped to negotiate with OpenAI on how rights holders could be compensated" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
ChatGPT violated copyright law by ‘learning’ from song lyrics, German court rules
OpenAI ordered to pay undisclosed damages for training its language models on artists’ work without permission
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
If The Times had written 1m more on Universal Credit with no requirements to work they would be correct – because 1m people have been moved from the old Working Tax Credits and Employment Support Allowance to UC.

1m more "on benefits" is WRONG
@geraldinescott.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
We thank Grahame Morris MP for his speech in Parliament calling for the BBC to investigate and handle any errors proportionately, with regard to due process and without “political interference”.
November 12, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
Breaking: Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, express regret kansasreflector.com/2025/11/11/m...
Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, express regret • Kansas Reflector
A handful of county-level officials who were involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor.
kansasreflector.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Mike Holderness
Spotted in London...
November 11, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Freelance Nov25: Children should not be harmed by adults - Mark Rylance on Remembrance Day

www.londonfreelance.org/fl/2511mark-...
Children should not be harmed by adults - Mark Rylance writes | The Freelance
An enquiry of the character Thomas Cromwell
www.londonfreelance.org
November 11, 2025 at 7:29 PM