Michael Shaw
@mrmichaelshaw.bsky.social
Education technologist. Londoner. Former journalist. Rants here entirely personal.
I find it astonishing the BBC will tear itself up over a moment in a montage - not a scene critical to the documentary's (balanced) argument.
Meanwhile another channel can broadcast a fabricated claim that stirs up hatred against a vulnerable group with zero censure.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
Meanwhile another channel can broadcast a fabricated claim that stirs up hatred against a vulnerable group with zero censure.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
A national newspaper journalist went on a British TV channel to claim police stats showed asylum-seekers committed 44% of sex crimes in Dorset.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
I find it astonishing the BBC will tear itself up over a moment in a montage - not a scene critical to the documentary's (balanced) argument.
Meanwhile another channel can broadcast a fabricated claim that stirs up hatred against a vulnerable group with zero censure.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
Meanwhile another channel can broadcast a fabricated claim that stirs up hatred against a vulnerable group with zero censure.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
In case anyone thinks I'm imagining this.
November 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM
In case anyone thinks I'm imagining this.
Indeed. You have to be really down the far-right rabbit hole of blaming asylum-seekers for everything to be unable to pause and say “Wait - that makes no logical sense given what a tiny proportion of Dorset’s population are asylum-seekers.”
November 9, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Indeed. You have to be really down the far-right rabbit hole of blaming asylum-seekers for everything to be unable to pause and say “Wait - that makes no logical sense given what a tiny proportion of Dorset’s population are asylum-seekers.”
Yeah - and Grok continues to double down on it.
I wondered if the correction notes had sunk in, so just checked again.
No, the AI for X continues to promote a hate-mongering falsehood as fact.
I wondered if the correction notes had sunk in, so just checked again.
No, the AI for X continues to promote a hate-mongering falsehood as fact.
November 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Yeah - and Grok continues to double down on it.
I wondered if the correction notes had sunk in, so just checked again.
No, the AI for X continues to promote a hate-mongering falsehood as fact.
I wondered if the correction notes had sunk in, so just checked again.
No, the AI for X continues to promote a hate-mongering falsehood as fact.
I’ve done that but am, sadly, not holding my breath.
November 9, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I’ve done that but am, sadly, not holding my breath.
November 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Nothing specific in this FOI - the only Dorset police one referencing asylum-seekers specifically looks at Bibby Stockholm and highlighted just ONE person.
(Weirdly, Grok is still pretending that FOI supports the 44% claim)
(Weirdly, Grok is still pretending that FOI supports the 44% claim)
November 9, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Nothing specific in this FOI - the only Dorset police one referencing asylum-seekers specifically looks at Bibby Stockholm and highlighted just ONE person.
(Weirdly, Grok is still pretending that FOI supports the 44% claim)
(Weirdly, Grok is still pretending that FOI supports the 44% claim)
Yeah - I also remember having positive feelings about her writing for some stuff she did back then. Allison’s swing to the hard right is even more extreme than the transformation of Melanie Phillips. On a par with Matt Goodwin’s, in fact.
November 9, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Yeah - I also remember having positive feelings about her writing for some stuff she did back then. Allison’s swing to the hard right is even more extreme than the transformation of Melanie Phillips. On a par with Matt Goodwin’s, in fact.
A fabulous debunking, as always.
This was the false story on GB News / X that made me furious this week, by the way.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
This was the false story on GB News / X that made me furious this week, by the way.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
A national newspaper journalist went on a British TV channel to claim police stats showed asylum-seekers committed 44% of sex crimes in Dorset.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
November 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM
A fabulous debunking, as always.
This was the false story on GB News / X that made me furious this week, by the way.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
This was the false story on GB News / X that made me furious this week, by the way.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
Also: everyone should stand AT LEAST ONE METRE back from luggage carousels until they are getting their own suitcases as this obviously improves everyone’s lines of sight you selfish, spatially-unaware wankers.
November 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Also: everyone should stand AT LEAST ONE METRE back from luggage carousels until they are getting their own suitcases as this obviously improves everyone’s lines of sight you selfish, spatially-unaware wankers.
I think the most appalling thing GB News did this week was to broadcast this false and hatemongering claim about asylum-seekers committing sex attacks in Dorset.
Ofcom needs to act.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
Ofcom needs to act.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
A national newspaper journalist went on a British TV channel to claim police stats showed asylum-seekers committed 44% of sex crimes in Dorset.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
November 8, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I think the most appalling thing GB News did this week was to broadcast this false and hatemongering claim about asylum-seekers committing sex attacks in Dorset.
Ofcom needs to act.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
Ofcom needs to act.
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
If you’re going to attack other news channels for accuracy is @gbnewsonline.bsky.social going to apologise for broadcasting patently false and hatemongering claims about asylum-seekers this week?
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
A national newspaper journalist went on a British TV channel to claim police stats showed asylum-seekers committed 44% of sex crimes in Dorset.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
November 8, 2025 at 10:53 AM
If you’re going to attack other news channels for accuracy is @gbnewsonline.bsky.social going to apologise for broadcasting patently false and hatemongering claims about asylum-seekers this week?
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
bsky.app/profile/mrmi...
Anyway if we lived in a rational world the Telegraph would sack Allison Pearson for persistently promoting hatemongering claims like this and Ofcom would be clamping down on GB News.
/ rant ends
/ rant ends
November 8, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Anyway if we lived in a rational world the Telegraph would sack Allison Pearson for persistently promoting hatemongering claims like this and Ofcom would be clamping down on GB News.
/ rant ends
/ rant ends
If someone was stupid enough to read the 51 asylum-seekers as the cases *by* asylum seekers and the 116 as the total sexual offences in Dorset they'd get a % that was...
44%.
So I'd bet that's what happened.
44%.
So I'd bet that's what happened.
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
If someone was stupid enough to read the 51 asylum-seekers as the cases *by* asylum seekers and the 116 as the total sexual offences in Dorset they'd get a % that was...
44%.
So I'd bet that's what happened.
44%.
So I'd bet that's what happened.
They had a relevant finding for Dorset.
In Bournemouth 51 asylum seekers (or people who gave hotels where they stayed as addresses) were responsible for *116* offences.
Remember that these offences were not just sexual assaults.
In Bournemouth 51 asylum seekers (or people who gave hotels where they stayed as addresses) were responsible for *116* offences.
Remember that these offences were not just sexual assaults.
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
They had a relevant finding for Dorset.
In Bournemouth 51 asylum seekers (or people who gave hotels where they stayed as addresses) were responsible for *116* offences.
Remember that these offences were not just sexual assaults.
In Bournemouth 51 asylum seekers (or people who gave hotels where they stayed as addresses) were responsible for *116* offences.
Remember that these offences were not just sexual assaults.
The Mail got figures for
- a 3 year period
- of all crimes (so not just sex offences but also theft & drug offences)
- by people who gave their addresses as hotels used for accommodating asylum-seekers
- a 3 year period
- of all crimes (so not just sex offences but also theft & drug offences)
- by people who gave their addresses as hotels used for accommodating asylum-seekers
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
The Mail got figures for
- a 3 year period
- of all crimes (so not just sex offences but also theft & drug offences)
- by people who gave their addresses as hotels used for accommodating asylum-seekers
- a 3 year period
- of all crimes (so not just sex offences but also theft & drug offences)
- by people who gave their addresses as hotels used for accommodating asylum-seekers
So where did the "116 cases" and the "44%" come from?
My theory is a different FOI done several months before by The Daily Mail - which doesn't support the claim but looks like the source of some embarrassingly bad maths.
My theory is a different FOI done several months before by The Daily Mail - which doesn't support the claim but looks like the source of some embarrassingly bad maths.
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
So where did the "116 cases" and the "44%" come from?
My theory is a different FOI done several months before by The Daily Mail - which doesn't support the claim but looks like the source of some embarrassingly bad maths.
My theory is a different FOI done several months before by The Daily Mail - which doesn't support the claim but looks like the source of some embarrassingly bad maths.
Even in this smaller 8.2% figure only a fraction of that could possibly have been by asylum-seekers.
It was a figure for all foreign nationals and the nationalities included many who do not apply to be refugees (including people from Poland and New Zealand).
It was a figure for all foreign nationals and the nationalities included many who do not apply to be refugees (including people from Poland and New Zealand).
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Even in this smaller 8.2% figure only a fraction of that could possibly have been by asylum-seekers.
It was a figure for all foreign nationals and the nationalities included many who do not apply to be refugees (including people from Poland and New Zealand).
It was a figure for all foreign nationals and the nationalities included many who do not apply to be refugees (including people from Poland and New Zealand).
One of the reasons why this claim is clearly untrue is that Dorset police HAD actually replied to an FOI only last month on the nationalities of those convicted of sex offences.
This showed only 8.2% of the cases (186 out of 2261) were by foreign nationals.
www.dorset.police.uk/foi-ai/dorse...
This showed only 8.2% of the cases (186 out of 2261) were by foreign nationals.
www.dorset.police.uk/foi-ai/dorse...
Sexual offences by nationality
FOI Sexual offences by nationality Request Number 25/3692 Date of release 02/10/2025
www.dorset.police.uk
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
One of the reasons why this claim is clearly untrue is that Dorset police HAD actually replied to an FOI only last month on the nationalities of those convicted of sex offences.
This showed only 8.2% of the cases (186 out of 2261) were by foreign nationals.
www.dorset.police.uk/foi-ai/dorse...
This showed only 8.2% of the cases (186 out of 2261) were by foreign nationals.
www.dorset.police.uk/foi-ai/dorse...
This claim went viral on right-wing Twitter being shared by prominent accounts including Tommy Robinson's to millions of followers.
Grok treated it as a news story (and true) while it was repeated by multiple accounts
Grok treated it as a news story (and true) while it was repeated by multiple accounts
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
This claim went viral on right-wing Twitter being shared by prominent accounts including Tommy Robinson's to millions of followers.
Grok treated it as a news story (and true) while it was repeated by multiple accounts
Grok treated it as a news story (and true) while it was repeated by multiple accounts
The person who made the claim was The Telegraph's Alison Pearson, appearing on Patrick Christys GB News show on Thursday night.
Here's a transcript of what they said.
Here's a transcript of what they said.
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
The person who made the claim was The Telegraph's Alison Pearson, appearing on Patrick Christys GB News show on Thursday night.
Here's a transcript of what they said.
Here's a transcript of what they said.