I love how Bluesky’s definition of “trending video” is just “5 people liked this, nobody commented.”

Reminder that the Tories believe any non-British person who commits more than a minor parking or traffic offence should be automatically deported. They “believe in second chances”, apparently, but only for literal Nazis.

Kemi Badenoch defends selection of man jailed for harassing Jewish MP in council election – as it happened

Conservative leader tells press she stands by decision to select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a candidate for local election in Somerset

theguardian.com

I love it. Myth is anything that happened before you were born.

CSketch@csketch.bsky.social · yesterday

Oh my god I think I found the video.

I, for one, refuse to be a slave to the rhythm; work to the rhythm; live to the rhythm.

Rogs@stev.bsky.social · 23h ago

There’s powerful themes and rhythms dominating our world rn

Correct, the point isn’t to make them feel shame. The point is to reinforce the group norms.

Betsy Humphrey@betsyvt.bsky.social · yesterday

They may be shameless, but shunning, booing and not accepting them into public spaces is the correct response.

It’ll never catch on. Important to remember: the world is divided into two groups 1. People who deserve our respect even if they are vile, immoral or actively seek to harm others but *something something* debate. 2. Those Others, who are not People and therefore are free to be despised or abused.

As a general rule: explaining something you know well to smart people who ask good questions but do not know the topic well is a really useful exercise. If nothing else, they tend to ask interesting questions which you hadn’t considered.

Something new from the AI/academia interface: just got a citation alert pointing to a book that appears to be AI generated and only available through a link on a single Youtube video by an account with three followers to a payment processor I've never heard of for sixty dollars.

Well yes, it *is* a mystery as to why trust in government is at historic lows.

Jon Owen@anotherjon.bsky.social · 2d ago

"I'm getting fed up with getting pulled by you guys, so this one will result in a complaint," says the driver with 59 points on his licence. 59 points, and still driving, and he didn't go to prison. The system is broken. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Always fascinating to see which social norms people are eager to see enforced and those they are happy to let whither.

Ben Goldacre@bengoldacre.bsky.social · 2d ago

Sad to see people posting on social media negatively about Rod Liddle, who died yesterday. If I have disagreed with you very strongly in life - and you die - I hope I'll be either silent, or kind.

This Rod Liddle? Credit for image and alt text: @snig.bsky.social

Ben Goldacre@bengoldacre.bsky.social · 2d ago

Sad to see people posting on social media negatively about Rod Liddle, who died yesterday. If I have disagreed with you very strongly in life - and you die - I hope I'll be either silent, or kind.

Film and TV is just as bad. You regularly get people dying from falling asleep at the wheel after a 20 hour day in a week of 20 hour days.

vageneregime💣🪖💄💅@vageneregime.bsky.social · 2d ago

💯 and can confirm this is now expected behavior. In tech in general. Doesn't even have to be a start up. Or a tech firm. This shit is even expected in tech departments of various industries. Think manufacturing, distribution businesses with in house tech teams. We're expected to sacrifice all.

This is disgusting behaviour from new hires. Like most CEOs Dario Amodei works solely for the company’s mission and doesn’t take any money from the company. This “mission first” approach explains why CEO pay is at historic lows and falling at the moment as companies fight for the lowest paid CEO

Max P III@blackballer.bsky.social · 2d ago

Its embarrassing how many grown ass adults live in these fantasies where people work for some nonsense like the artificial cultures oligarchs manufacture over survival.

Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.

Gregk is wrong: modern right wing politics is outright hostility to everything and anything. All they do is oppose stuff, people and ideas, it’s not even tedious contrarianism anymore, just base nihilism.

Gregk Foley@gregk.co.uk · 2d ago

It's amazing how much of right-wing politics is just an outright hostility to any idea of the collective or interconnectedness, and how much of our politics has been locked around satisfying people who are fundamentally hostile to the concept of society as a consequence. It's pathetic!

See, now I wanna do an AI Orangutan that says “we’re going let our parents die in their own filth because we knew they’re far too tough to ever need another persons’s help. Dignity is dying alone and in pain, like True American Soldiers.” Just to see what happens.

Screamer Jim@screamerjim.bsky.social · 6d ago

Thank you Mr. Orangutan

The “in private” phrase is the most telling there - it’s important to remember that, for the politics and media class, decorum must be maintained because the people you are actively criticising are real people the know and have socialised with, whereas the groups they attack are faceless nonentities

Elizabeth Taylor@elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 2d ago

So let me get this straight - in the eyes of gender critical activists, a trans woman using a toilet/changing room, like we do in every liberal democracy in the industrialised world are irredeemable predators, but an (alleged) domestic abuser who is also homophobic and misogynistic is somehow ok?

Country and Western concert.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d ago

PENTAGON: Anyone got any ideas? @cnn.com www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/p...

I think this makes sense given the conservative right’s paedophilia problem.

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d ago

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

I think, as a general rule, we should start routinely ignoring any commentator who obviously spends a lot of time on Twitter. It is so obviously cooking brains it’s just not worth the time to parse whatever new nonsense they’re trying to spread. They don’t need to be on here, just not there.

Rose Schmits@roseschmits.bsky.social · 3d ago

What’s going on here of course is Lewis Goodall still spending a lot of time on Twitter Not even kidding thats whats happening to the British media class innit

I'm not against a written constitution per se - it could be helpful in clarifying how our constitutional law works - but I am increasingly of the view that its a side show*. What matters most are norms - and our focus should be on re-establishing and strengthening them.

Jennifer Williams@jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 4d ago

Bluesky catnip: written constitution talk plus detailed devolution things as.ft.com/r/a78e8a40-2...

What’s going on here of course is Lewis Goodall still spending a lot of time on Twitter Not even kidding thats whats happening to the British media class innit

Myr@radiatzim.bsky.social · 3d ago

yes! And unwavering contrarianism to anything perceived as left at that. I, credulously, hoped for his discussion to maybe go into improved ventilation, more targeted or localised approaches, boosters, etc etc but then the lab leak stuff started and I was like oh that’s what’s going on here.

I’ve been pointing this out for a while: these guys are all authoritarian conservatives. All the problems stem from authoritarian conservatives. In some ways it’s fortunate they al hate each other as we’d be in a lot more trouble if they got together and organised.

Bjørn Ihler@bjornih.bsky.social · 5d ago

I often wonder why people (in particular politicians) tend to position Islamic inspired extremism on the opposite end of some sort of spectrum from far-right extremism - when reality is that there's more that unites them than divides them. On that and more here: revontulet.co/insights/pre...

One reason why inter-railing in Italy is such a delight is it is so hard to eat badly. For good and for ill, the meals I think about the most are in London, New York, Paris, but Italy is the master for “I had a meal in a small cafe in a tiny town/in a train carriage/a garage. It was 7/10.”

This is a reasonable mistake to make I think as maps that label countries correctly are quite difficult to obtain.

Still amazed that anyone is taking this nonsense from Reform seriously. It’s beyond embarrassing.

Lizzie Dearden@lizziedearden.bsky.social · last wk.

The Metropolitan Police have announced they're taking no further action against Zack Polanski over the Nigel Farage guillotine t-shirt Instagram post, although the man who wore it has been referred to Avon and Somerset Police Key points from their statement 🧵

I’m sorry, but are we really taking it seriously that Reform called the police because someone wore a satirical T-Shirt? Isn’t that just embarrassing?

Why do people believe conspiracy theories? Research points to unmet needs for certainty, control, and belonging. My own research suggests that perceived victimhood is another key factor. medium.com/@m.j.faccian...

What Makes Someone Believe a Conspiracy Theory?

A massive new meta-analysis concludes that certainty, security, and belonging play a major role, and my own research finds that perceived…

medium.com