@owling.bsky.social
Reposted
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Reposted
will admit i don't fully understand this but POETRY OUTFOXES AI is the best case for preserving English degrees i have ever heard. 'all the teenage girls who were really into Sylvia Plath at one point vs tech bros' is the battle for civilisation we deserve
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 1:05 PM
will admit i don't fully understand this but POETRY OUTFOXES AI is the best case for preserving English degrees i have ever heard. 'all the teenage girls who were really into Sylvia Plath at one point vs tech bros' is the battle for civilisation we deserve
Reposted
BBC News bulletins leading on the story of an Algerian man being mistakenly released by the prison service.
Funnily enough I don't remember these cases ever leading the bulletins when an average of ten prisoners were mistakenly released a month in the final year of the last Government
Funnily enough I don't remember these cases ever leading the bulletins when an average of ten prisoners were mistakenly released a month in the final year of the last Government
November 5, 2025 at 2:55 PM
BBC News bulletins leading on the story of an Algerian man being mistakenly released by the prison service.
Funnily enough I don't remember these cases ever leading the bulletins when an average of ten prisoners were mistakenly released a month in the final year of the last Government
Funnily enough I don't remember these cases ever leading the bulletins when an average of ten prisoners were mistakenly released a month in the final year of the last Government
Reposted
you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you
October 15, 2025 at 4:10 PM
you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you
Reposted
Who benefits from the abolition of stamp duty land tax?
The first answer: people buying very expensive homes. Average saving for someone buying a £10m+ home is £1.7m. Average saving for someone buying a £250k-£500k home is £5k.
The first answer: people buying very expensive homes. Average saving for someone buying a £10m+ home is £1.7m. Average saving for someone buying a £250k-£500k home is £5k.
October 9, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Who benefits from the abolition of stamp duty land tax?
The first answer: people buying very expensive homes. Average saving for someone buying a £10m+ home is £1.7m. Average saving for someone buying a £250k-£500k home is £5k.
The first answer: people buying very expensive homes. Average saving for someone buying a £10m+ home is £1.7m. Average saving for someone buying a £250k-£500k home is £5k.
Reposted
Thanks to London’s bold action, almost 10 million people are now breathing cleaner air.
That means fewer children will grow up with stunted lungs and fewer people will have to suffer from asthma, dementia and heart disease.
That means fewer children will grow up with stunted lungs and fewer people will have to suffer from asthma, dementia and heart disease.
London hits clean air milestone 184 years early - ULEZ makes 'big difference'
A professor has branded the success a 'truly remarkable turnaround for the city's air quality'
www.mylondon.news
October 9, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Thanks to London’s bold action, almost 10 million people are now breathing cleaner air.
That means fewer children will grow up with stunted lungs and fewer people will have to suffer from asthma, dementia and heart disease.
That means fewer children will grow up with stunted lungs and fewer people will have to suffer from asthma, dementia and heart disease.
Reposted
So interesting that GB News is sticking with female archbishop story longer than BBC/Sky, going through her tweets live on air, starting to cancel her for being woke.
They keep talking about the Christian public taking it badly, fits with the growing US-style religious vibe of the British right?
They keep talking about the Christian public taking it badly, fits with the growing US-style religious vibe of the British right?
October 3, 2025 at 9:22 AM
So interesting that GB News is sticking with female archbishop story longer than BBC/Sky, going through her tweets live on air, starting to cancel her for being woke.
They keep talking about the Christian public taking it badly, fits with the growing US-style religious vibe of the British right?
They keep talking about the Christian public taking it badly, fits with the growing US-style religious vibe of the British right?
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When someone told me that (among other books) The Diary of Anne Frank had been pulled out of libraries and classrooms in Florida it seemed insane enough that I had to confirm it for myself. And, yeah, we as a country continue to suck.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘State-driven censorship’: new wave of book bans hits Florida school districts
Hundreds of titles are being pulled from library and classroom shelves in the Republican-dominated state
www.theguardian.com
August 25, 2025 at 2:36 PM
When someone told me that (among other books) The Diary of Anne Frank had been pulled out of libraries and classrooms in Florida it seemed insane enough that I had to confirm it for myself. And, yeah, we as a country continue to suck.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
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Funny they don't seem so bothered by Jenrick's three homes (including a grade 1 listed manor) plus his forth home in his constituency rented at taxpayer expense.
Wonder why.
Wonder why.
Daily Telegraph today refers to A Rayner’s property “empire”. Whatever you think of her housing arrangements, I don’t think constituency house (bought for 375k in 2016), house in Hove, plus use of ministerial flat in London is an “empire”. Duke of Westminster wont fear a rival!
August 24, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Funny they don't seem so bothered by Jenrick's three homes (including a grade 1 listed manor) plus his forth home in his constituency rented at taxpayer expense.
Wonder why.
Wonder why.
Reposted
A genome sequence and single-cell atlas of a marine worm species point towards bursts of gene emergence, duplication and loss as the drivers of lineage-specific body traits
go.nature.com/4oAI2nf
go.nature.com/4oAI2nf
The perplexing body plan of arrow worms decoded
A genome sequence and single-cell atlas of a marine worm species point towards bursts of gene emergence, duplication and loss as the drivers of lineage-specific body traits.
go.nature.com
August 13, 2025 at 4:04 PM
A genome sequence and single-cell atlas of a marine worm species point towards bursts of gene emergence, duplication and loss as the drivers of lineage-specific body traits
go.nature.com/4oAI2nf
go.nature.com/4oAI2nf
Reposted
After nearly twenty years in the making, our attempt at understanding what makes the chaetognath phylum so unique has finally been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1
with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1
The genomic origin of the unique chaetognath body plan - Nature
Genomic, single-cell transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses show that chaetognaths, following extensive gene loss in the gnathiferan lineage, relied on newly evolved genes and lineage-specific tandem ...
www.nature.com
August 13, 2025 at 4:38 PM
After nearly twenty years in the making, our attempt at understanding what makes the chaetognath phylum so unique has finally been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1
with #LauraPiovani @dariagavr.bsky.social @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @chemamd.bsky.social and others /1
Reposted
DC statehood shows Dem weakness goes back a while.
Occasional lip service, but barely even that, and effectively took the stance that hundreds of thousands of US citizens should be disenfranchised because it’s unfair that they’d elect Dem Senators, which would make the Senate less disproportionate.
Occasional lip service, but barely even that, and effectively took the stance that hundreds of thousands of US citizens should be disenfranchised because it’s unfair that they’d elect Dem Senators, which would make the Senate less disproportionate.
August 11, 2025 at 4:35 AM
DC statehood shows Dem weakness goes back a while.
Occasional lip service, but barely even that, and effectively took the stance that hundreds of thousands of US citizens should be disenfranchised because it’s unfair that they’d elect Dem Senators, which would make the Senate less disproportionate.
Occasional lip service, but barely even that, and effectively took the stance that hundreds of thousands of US citizens should be disenfranchised because it’s unfair that they’d elect Dem Senators, which would make the Senate less disproportionate.
Reposted
Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out
August 10, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out
Reposted
This is exactly why Dems get their ass handed to them by Trump's world. They have no clue how to leverage social media algos to their advantage.
open.substack.com/pub/weaponiz...
open.substack.com/pub/weaponiz...
Silent Coup: How Trump’s Allies Are Gaming Algorithms To Seize Your Feed
New research unravels the secret tactics behind Stop the Steal and other right-wing disinformation campaigns.
open.substack.com
August 10, 2025 at 3:19 PM
This is exactly why Dems get their ass handed to them by Trump's world. They have no clue how to leverage social media algos to their advantage.
open.substack.com/pub/weaponiz...
open.substack.com/pub/weaponiz...
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It's publication day of my first book: The Tree of Life. The tree of life is a time machine that can take us back 4 billion years to meet our most distant ancestor. It is the magic that lets us tell the origin stories, beginning with this ancient relative, of everything from mushrooms to man.
April 24, 2025 at 11:31 AM
It's publication day of my first book: The Tree of Life. The tree of life is a time machine that can take us back 4 billion years to meet our most distant ancestor. It is the magic that lets us tell the origin stories, beginning with this ancient relative, of everything from mushrooms to man.
Reposted
Every single thing that everybody suddenly wants to do in Greenland - mine for minerals! use shipping lanes! set up bases! - can be done right now, while Greenland is part of Denmark. The discussion of "occupying" Greenland is just a pointless piece of aggression towards an ally.
January 9, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Every single thing that everybody suddenly wants to do in Greenland - mine for minerals! use shipping lanes! set up bases! - can be done right now, while Greenland is part of Denmark. The discussion of "occupying" Greenland is just a pointless piece of aggression towards an ally.
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The problem as I see it is that the UK's combination of parliamentary sovereignty, no entrenched constitutional rights, and executive dominance where there's a majority makes it v hard to protect minority rights where it's popular to remove them. The ECHR gives at least some protection.
November 17, 2024 at 3:31 PM
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Siri tell me a policy a Tory Government would never introduce
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
'London-style' buses to be delivered nationwide with £1bn boost
The Department for Transport (DfT) said funding would be allocated based on levels of deprivation and population.
www.bbc.com
November 17, 2024 at 10:05 AM
Siri tell me a policy a Tory Government would never introduce
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
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A trip through the Gulf has really highlighted to me how limited third-wave coffee culture is. Yes—we can now buy wonderful espresso & pour overs. But I don't think I've ever seen Omari-style coffee: light & flavoured with saffron and rose water anywhere else.
November 15, 2024 at 9:32 AM
A trip through the Gulf has really highlighted to me how limited third-wave coffee culture is. Yes—we can now buy wonderful espresso & pour overs. But I don't think I've ever seen Omari-style coffee: light & flavoured with saffron and rose water anywhere else.
Reposted
Thinking of my homeboy Edward Jenner tonight...
The father of vaccination, he had his statue removed from Trafalgar Square after pressure from anti-vaxxers.
We should return it to let the world know the UK isn't following the US back to polio, diptheria and measles.
The father of vaccination, he had his statue removed from Trafalgar Square after pressure from anti-vaxxers.
We should return it to let the world know the UK isn't following the US back to polio, diptheria and measles.
November 14, 2024 at 10:11 PM
Thinking of my homeboy Edward Jenner tonight...
The father of vaccination, he had his statue removed from Trafalgar Square after pressure from anti-vaxxers.
We should return it to let the world know the UK isn't following the US back to polio, diptheria and measles.
The father of vaccination, he had his statue removed from Trafalgar Square after pressure from anti-vaxxers.
We should return it to let the world know the UK isn't following the US back to polio, diptheria and measles.
Reposted
New research from the IFS showing the closure of youth centres during the 2010s was shortsighted. For every £1 saved, the costs to affected users, crime victims and public spending in the police and the criminal justice system amount to £2.85
ifs.org.uk/publications...
ifs.org.uk/publications...
The effects of youth clubs on education and crime | Institute for Fiscal Studies
Using quasi-experimental variation from austerity-related cuts, I provide the first causal estimates of youth clubs' effects on education and crime.
ifs.org.uk
November 14, 2024 at 9:13 AM
New research from the IFS showing the closure of youth centres during the 2010s was shortsighted. For every £1 saved, the costs to affected users, crime victims and public spending in the police and the criminal justice system amount to £2.85
ifs.org.uk/publications...
ifs.org.uk/publications...