Hotblack
@invalid-handle.com
Will talk science, tech, economics, politics
Mainly post stupid puns and captions for pictures
Cares about inequalities and exclusion, particularly around health
Enjoys cricket
Mainly post stupid puns and captions for pictures
Cares about inequalities and exclusion, particularly around health
Enjoys cricket
Pinned
Hotblack
@invalid-handle.com
· Sep 21
An invalid with a handle that was invalid so now has the handle invalid handle
Are there more podcasts from the BBC or from ex BBC journalists about the BBC being in crisis?
November 11, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Are there more podcasts from the BBC or from ex BBC journalists about the BBC being in crisis?
How many people have been searching for “BBC uncensored” and getting results they didn’t expect do you think?
November 11, 2025 at 9:17 AM
How many people have been searching for “BBC uncensored” and getting results they didn’t expect do you think?
Reposted by Hotblack
This does feel like key information tbh. Wonder why budding tyrant Donald Trump would want to muzzle a trusted independent news source 🤔
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
November 11, 2025 at 9:14 AM
This does feel like key information tbh. Wonder why budding tyrant Donald Trump would want to muzzle a trusted independent news source 🤔
Reposted by Hotblack
A study earlier this month found that America’s more fragmented media landscape — particularly the takeoff of cable news — accounts for fully one third of the increase in cultural conflict in the US since the year 2000.
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
A study earlier this month found that America’s more fragmented media landscape — particularly the takeoff of cable news — accounts for fully one third of the increase in cultural conflict in the US since the year 2000.
Reposted by Hotblack
One nice detail that can easily be lost in this graph - even right wingers trust the BBC more than the right wing tabloids
Here’s the same data, but with trust broken down by political views (circles are trust among people on the left, +s the right).
It’s not just that the BBC is widely consumed — it also has solid trust on both left & right, whereas trust in the biggest US media brands is hugely polarised.
It’s not just that the BBC is widely consumed — it also has solid trust on both left & right, whereas trust in the biggest US media brands is hugely polarised.
November 10, 2025 at 5:40 PM
One nice detail that can easily be lost in this graph - even right wingers trust the BBC more than the right wing tabloids
Reposted by Hotblack
NEW: Rachel Reeves signals she intends to remove the two-child cap *in full*
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
November 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
NEW: Rachel Reeves signals she intends to remove the two-child cap *in full*
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
Reposted by Hotblack
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
November 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
Reposted by Hotblack
Surprise replacement as Director General of the BBC
November 10, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Surprise replacement as Director General of the BBC
“Cursed by a legacy of institutions and led by a whimpering class of fearful idiots constantly harassed by a hostile media”
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
“Cursed by a legacy of institutions and led by a whimpering class of fearful idiots constantly harassed by a hostile media”
Reposted by Hotblack
Stephen really does have the best take on this. It’s not clear that the BBC Board or indeed the rest of the News team really understood the message of the previous reviews, which were about getting detail right. Instead they wanted to know what was ‘biased’ or not like they were blotting out stains.
The impossible dream some people on the British right are chasing is that you can have a BBC News operation that retreats from detail and expertise, that takes dictation from the government, but this will only create incompetence and failure when it suits you:
To fix the BBC, focus on competence and cash
Corporation fails to learn from criticism, while politicians have consciously reduced its scope for quality journalism
www.ft.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Stephen really does have the best take on this. It’s not clear that the BBC Board or indeed the rest of the News team really understood the message of the previous reviews, which were about getting detail right. Instead they wanted to know what was ‘biased’ or not like they were blotting out stains.
Reposted by Hotblack
Objectivity, impartiality and balance are all *different things*, and the lazy tendency to treat them as synonyms, and to use partisan balance alone as a proxy for the others, is the root cause of a vast amount of nonsense.
Robbie Gibb once suggested that reporters should reflect if they were getting more retweets from one side than the other - a braindead analysis that ignores that fair and impartial reporting of education might get more Tory retweets than say, criminal justice.
Stephen really does have the best take on this. It’s not clear that the BBC Board or indeed the rest of the News team really understood the message of the previous reviews, which were about getting detail right. Instead they wanted to know what was ‘biased’ or not like they were blotting out stains.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Objectivity, impartiality and balance are all *different things*, and the lazy tendency to treat them as synonyms, and to use partisan balance alone as a proxy for the others, is the root cause of a vast amount of nonsense.
How it started: take back control!
How it’s going: fiscal black hole!
How it’s going: fiscal black hole!
November 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM
How it started: take back control!
How it’s going: fiscal black hole!
How it’s going: fiscal black hole!
Reposted by Hotblack
YIKES
November 10, 2025 at 9:47 AM
YIKES
Reposted by Hotblack
I don't think this is hyperbole btw.
Things are spinning out pretty badly across multiple nations, obviously including the US, at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Twitter and elite whatsapps clearly key drivers.
Things are spinning out pretty badly across multiple nations, obviously including the US, at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Twitter and elite whatsapps clearly key drivers.
twitter being bought and turned into a propaganda machine for fascism, which is directly pumped into every journalist in the world's brain, is one of the worst things to happen in the last few years. we might not survive it.
I'm guessing the BBC 'scandal' has been big on X this week as this was the first I had heard of it...
November 10, 2025 at 8:41 AM
I don't think this is hyperbole btw.
Things are spinning out pretty badly across multiple nations, obviously including the US, at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Twitter and elite whatsapps clearly key drivers.
Things are spinning out pretty badly across multiple nations, obviously including the US, at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Twitter and elite whatsapps clearly key drivers.
Reposted by Hotblack
Indeed. I feel like a lot of the reactions to the BBC exits are repeating the flaws of this era in BBC News, which is to go 'never mind the professionalism, let's focus on the politics'.
'Leave to one side for now the direct allegations about specific failures of BBC coverage' - you can't do that. That's ridiculous.
November 9, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Indeed. I feel like a lot of the reactions to the BBC exits are repeating the flaws of this era in BBC News, which is to go 'never mind the professionalism, let's focus on the politics'.
Reposted by Hotblack
The key is to raise taxes enough to actually be able to do something with it, beyond placating the OBR and bond markets
Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society.
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
If Labour want a fairer society, they must argue for it
Labour must make the political argument: taxes are the critical downpayment we all pay to live in a fairer society.
It now seems all but certain that direct taxes will rise in the forthcoming Budget...
renewal.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:20 AM
The key is to raise taxes enough to actually be able to do something with it, beyond placating the OBR and bond markets
Reposted by Hotblack
If BBC News's rivals who are today damning it for bias were held to similar standards, most of them would be shut down on the spot.
November 10, 2025 at 8:12 AM
If BBC News's rivals who are today damning it for bias were held to similar standards, most of them would be shut down on the spot.
Surprise replacement as Director General of the BBC
November 10, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Surprise replacement as Director General of the BBC
Surprise replacement as Director General of the BBC
November 10, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Surprise replacement as Director General of the BBC
Reposted by Hotblack
I am going to be insufferable if I buy a macro lens
November 10, 2025 at 7:44 AM
I am going to be insufferable if I buy a macro lens
Tonight’s musical selection
Coney Island Baby - Lou Reed
Coney Island Baby - Lou Reed
Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby (Official Audio)
YouTube video by LouReedVEVO
www.youtube.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Tonight’s musical selection
Coney Island Baby - Lou Reed
Coney Island Baby - Lou Reed
Reposted by Hotblack
As part of semianrs on campaigning and media effects this week we rewatched campaign videos from the 2024 GE including this one...I don't expect huge numbers saw the whole thing but it was snipped as shorts and no wonder 18 months on people feel disappointed.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4b5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4b5...
This time, vote Labour. Watch our new party election broadcast
YouTube video by Labour Party
www.youtube.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:57 AM
As part of semianrs on campaigning and media effects this week we rewatched campaign videos from the 2024 GE including this one...I don't expect huge numbers saw the whole thing but it was snipped as shorts and no wonder 18 months on people feel disappointed.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4b5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4b5...
Want some growth on a Sunday lunchtime?
Some policy ideas on how to get it from @timleunig.bsky.social in this episode of the Economics Show
Some policy ideas on how to get it from @timleunig.bsky.social in this episode of the Economics Show
How to kickstart the UK economy. With Tim Leunig — The Economics Show
Many governments in western Europe are grappling with sluggish economic growth and the UK is no exception. From rising unemployment to weak public finances, the UK economy is in the doldrums and there...
overcast.fm
November 9, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Want some growth on a Sunday lunchtime?
Some policy ideas on how to get it from @timleunig.bsky.social in this episode of the Economics Show
Some policy ideas on how to get it from @timleunig.bsky.social in this episode of the Economics Show
Apropos to the day and… well..
Good morning
Good morning
The Velvet Underground, Nico - Sunday Morning
YouTube video by TVUVEVO
m.youtube.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Apropos to the day and… well..
Good morning
Good morning