Oxford's traffic filters switch on today. Oxford Liveable Streets' Siobhann Mansel-Pleydell looks at which one will be better for Oxford and commuters, the congestion charge or the traffic filters? oxfordclarion.uk/traffic-filt...

Traffic Filters vs Congestion Charge : Contest or Evolution?

The Oxford Traffic Filters switch on this morning, and we've just got used to the congestion charge. Oxfordshire Liveable Streets are a not-for-profit organisation working alongside residents across O...

oxfordclarion.uk

BREAKING: 94 year old Jewish human rights barrister, Margaret Owen arrested under the Terrorism Act outside Andy Burnham’s Labour Party conference. UK taxpayers are funding these arrests while masked men terrorise the streets in coastal towns. Lift The Ban on Palestine Action.

This is a lovely story from the Clarion. I visited the old Jesus College barge last summer for a meal - it’s now the floating restaurant Peggy Jean at Richmond Green in London.

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 23h ago

🚨Clarion weekend read🚨 After a meticulous restoration and a challenging tow up the Thames, Eddy, the oldest surviving Oxford college barge, is back on the city’s waterways and in search of a permanent home. We spoke to its owner, Bruce Heagerty. oxfordclarion.uk/all-hands-to...

Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.

cllrdrnathanley.substack.com/p/the-roofs-...

The roofs won’t be enough

“Just put them on roofs instead” is the most comfortable argument in British politics. It is also the one that quietly hands the bill to our children.

cllrdrnathanley.substack.com

“Sir Archy Mac Sarcasm is a pseudonym.” Cataloguers, huh?! 😀

after consideration, I have produced this necessary reference guide, perhaps @sundersays.bsky.social may be interested. If someone wants to provide funding after the fact, I can promise it won't constitute a donation in kind to Reform.

I have no real understanding of the dynamics of film funding but £3.5K to close off a picturesque street in Oxford for a day seems, well, quite cheap?

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 5d ago

City centre streets have been closed this week for Apple TV, understood to be filming a new series of spy thriller 'Slow Horses', based on novels by Oxford writer Mick Herron. OCC charges up to £3,500+VAT per day for 'premium filming locations'. Filming continues today on New College Lane.

This actually reminds me quite a lot of how long it took to get Raise the Colours thugs arrested and banned from Oxford. Eventually they were, but it took a lot of complaints and repeated collection of evidence of law-breaking.

Rosamundi@rosamundi.bsky.social · 6d ago

This is terrorism and treating that thug Danny Tommo with kid gloves has led to this.

Great news, and looking forward to a book historian becoming Chief Exec of the UK Space Agency sometime soon in this brave new world!

British Library@britishlibrary.bsky.social · 6d ago

We’re delighted to announce Dr Paul Bate as the British Library’s new Chief Executive Joining us from the UK Space Agency, Paul brings experience supporting world-class research communities. We look forward to welcoming his expertise at the Library. Read the full announcement here link.bl.uk/fc6

An effective ban on disabled people leaving Britain? You read that right, and we will not settle for it | Frances Ryan

An effective ban on disabled people leaving Britain? You read that right, and we will not settle for it | Frances Ryan

This scandal shows there are many who don’t expect us to live rich lives – and that paternalism lives on in disability services, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan

theguardian.com

if you EVER get called for a meeting and they say “don’t bring a union rep” bring a union rep

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2w ago

'The University and College Union (UCU)’s Edinburgh branch said staff had been called into “informal meetings at less than 24 hours' notice” and told not to bring union representatives.'

It's all on you, members of the British public, to solve the climate crisis, and I'm giving you 43p each to do so.

I'm going to write an article with the headline: "Is Betteridge's Law Valid?"

The arts industry in the UK: we contribute so much money to the economy but we are dying, please help Lisa Nandy: Village Parish Council: we held a pretend referendum Lisa Nandy: I'm listening

This is a really grim thread from Paul. Good work. Whilst people are wringing hands about bikes and ebikes, it is a sobering reminder what the real danger on UK roads is.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin.bsky.social · 2w ago

I did have a look at recent pedestrian deaths last night and it is shocking. It is almost invisible - many of the deaths don't even get reported in the local news. Here are a few of the recent ones:

📢Oxfordshire Residents📢 We are hosting our flagship event, ‘Travel, Flying and the Climate Crisis’ in Oxford next month. Our panel will discuss airport expansion, human influence on climate change and flight-free travel inspiration! Free tickets: tickettailor.com/events/fligh...

Occasionally DJT’s ramblings get so weird they sound like the 18th century: imagine these in descending size & ostentatiousness of font: A Report on Weapons Most Exquisite & Elite Delivered Daily to The American Forces In the Middle East & Beyond from Defense Company Factories Working Day & Night

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Trump: "I’ve just received a Report that the United States is producing more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History."

Who called it the "Hair & Barber Council" when THE STYLE COUNCIL was right there?

Vikki Slade MP@vikkislademp.bsky.social · 2w ago

Of course People always need their haircut but the population hasn’t grown sufficiently for these barbers to be making full-time living and paying their taxes based on the customers using their businesses. I am doing this with the support of the Hair & Barber Council

Betteridge’s Second Law.

Ian Betteridge@ianbetteridge.com · 2w ago

Anyone with the wherewithall to donate £36m to a political party should not be allowed to donate a single penny to a political party.

"England's schools consistently outperform Finland's ones" is another one of those public policy things where people's priors are massively out of date, isn't it?

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3w ago

New PISA data out England is now top ten in all three areas (reading, maths, science) and the second highest performing country outside of east Asia (after Estonia). This is a huge public policy success.

If every statement about Extinction Rebellion had opened with "Climate change is the single biggest issue facing humanity, and we understand why people have legitimate concerns the world isn't doing enough to tackle it…" this approach might be *faintly* defensible. But they didn't, and it isn't.

Scornflake Ghhhoul@scornflakegrrrl.bsky.social · 3w ago

They’re just pouring more fuel onto the fire. Why are the racists consistently called legitimate, whilst in a world that’s burning people who protest over climate change and genocide are not being afforded even a smidgeon of the same grace?

'[Those] who man the lifeboat do not ask credentials from the crew of a sinking ship; they launch their boats, risk their lives in the raging waves, and sometimes perish, all to save men whom they do not even know. And what need to know them? 'They are human beings" (Peter Kropotkin). 🌻

Life-Boats and Anarchy

lifeboatmagazinearchive.rnli.org

Dr Jo Kershaw@mthrjo.bsky.social · 3w ago

The RNLI have some of the best people in Britain volunteering for them. They put their lives on the line when they are called on and they will rescue anyone who needs them. Because every life matters, and offering help is the right thing to do. You can donate here: rnli.org

Ok I can share—today MSLIS student Nadja Robot donated a teletype machine to @skeuomorphpress.org’s Undead Media Lab But this is not just any teletype—it’s the one Michael S. Hart used to digitize the Declaration of Independence & Alice in Wonderland—the 1st texts in what became Project Gutenberg

Ryan Cordell@ryancordell.org · last mo.

So @drtlwagner.bsky.social & I got our first “um, I have this thing to donate to the Undead Media Lab if you want it?!?” email today & it’s a doozy. Can’t wait to share with y’all but keeping things vague for now

‘Tobacco and raw milk sidelined in plans for healthy living’

David Higham@oldtrotter.bsky.social · last mo.

"There is now a collective effort to make it as difficult as possible for people to use a car". Wonder why that might be?

“People are discovering that, as everything is already decided for you by a computer or algorithm, being able to make or own something physically is good. And it is very satisfying to repeat a task to perfection. It is meditative as a job...” – Eryn Lawley, bookbinder apprentice

AI-proof? Younger workers desert the digital world for traditional crafts

In a disrupted job market people are turning to heritage crafts such as bookbinding, metalwork and boatbuilding

theguardian.com

Defund Thames Valley Police

Cllr Emily Kerr 💚@emilykerr36.bsky.social · last mo.

What you might miss from this new article on Oxfordshires innovative new Quiet Lanes policy, given the rest of the framing, is the last line: “majority of consultation responses have been positive” www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2650003...

Finance workers at Oxford University Press are to strike over a plan to offshore work to India. Sharon Graham, secretary of the Unite union, called it “a classic case of an employer prioritising greed over its hardworking staff”. www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/...

@betteridgeslaw.bsky.social

Good Law Project@goodlawproject.org · last mo.

Is the largest ever settlement against big tech going to force them to take their social responsibility seriously? https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/meta-instagram-facebook-court-case-settlement-b3039672.html

I like to think that in the next century, people will look back at the idea of humans driving road vehicles with the same disgust as we do today about tobacco or lead water pipes.