Shamira A. Meghani
@drmeghani.bsky.social
Assistant Prof in Dept of English Studies, Durham University ~ postcolonial, anti-colonial & diaspora, queer, trans & feminist, lit & film ~ Vegan (since 2001!); as low-carbon as I can; often angry, ever hopeful. non-binary (they/them)
There's a common reactionary anti AI claim that the shift to agentic AI is because it increases token use and it's dead wrong. It's much dumber than that. If you ask an LLM what time it is, it can't tell you. If you give the LLM access to the time command that you could have run yourself, it can.
Have just listened to Bregman’s excellent first lecture (questions still going) and am deeply disappointed (but sadly not surprised) that the BBC has censored this year’s Reith Lecturer! Short🧵below.
Rutger Bregman@rutgerbregman.com · 11mo agoI 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
I share this with respect for the many excellent journalists at the BBC. And with the hope that transparency helps strengthen, not weaken, our democratic culture. /5
It’s especially ironic because the lecture is exactly about the ‘paralyzing cowardice’ of today’s elites. About universities, corporations and media networks bending the knee to authoritarianism. /4
This has happened against my wishes, and I’m genuinely dismayed by it. Not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us. /3
This sentence was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre. I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC. /2
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
Hopefully you’ve all read this excellent piece by Peter Coviello, about why you should never talk to the New York Times, or in general any media with a preconceived agenda. But also see his “Is there God after Prince?”, written just after Prince’s passing… lareviewofbooks.org/article/is-t...
Is There God After Prince? | Los Angeles Review of Books
lareviewofbooks.org
Dominique Baker@bakerdphd.bsky.social · 11mo agoWhat an amazing essay from the former chair of Africana Studies at Bowdoin. I'll share a few sections in the reply but seriously, read the whole thing. It's all insightful and beautifully written. lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
My old pal Pete Coviello — one of the best writers and thinkers I've ever known — wrote the piece of the moment lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
"A publicly accessible tool that invents false criminal allegations about a sitting US senator represents a catastrophic failure of oversight and ethical responsibility.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Experts find flaws in hundreds of tests that check AI safety and effectiveness
Scientists say almost all have weaknesses in at least one area that can ‘undermine validity of resulting claims’
theguardian.com
@zackpolanski gives a masterclass in how to deal with the bad faith questioning and constant attempts at interrupting of Trevor Phillips. Phillips' gotchas all fall flat as Zack walks all over him.
Farrukh@implausibleblog.bsky.social · 11mo agoZack Polanski, "I'm not alone in my disillusionment with Labour" "The two child benefit cap, the disability cuts, the genocide in Gaza" "Keir Starmer is not a man I would be willing to work with"
Just read a passage in a book that describes elderly people as time machines: able to recall the past whilst being reminders to younger people of the future that awaits them. I think that’s a pretty magical understanding of age.
I knew @northumbriauni.bsky.social had taken away staff desks in NBS this summer, making them essentially hotdesk. Now the employer has informed staff that they are gutting their pensions, too. If there was EVER a time to join @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social, NOW is the time!
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Brittany Trang@brittanytrang.com · 11mo agoA Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫
Around 10,000 university workers being made redundant this year. Labour policies are definitely cutting through in higher education …
I absolutely love this vision of change and change-making as well as Polanski’s rethinking of the transatlantic ‘special relationship’.
A Whitehall source said: “Unfortunately this looks like the EHRC deflecting – they still haven’t sent ministers the information requested in order to assess the draft code. The EHRC should be cracking on with their job, not giving lectures on timing while government still awaits their material” 🔥
EHRC drops interim trans advice and urges ministers to act fast to approve its guidance
Equalities watchdog removes interim response to supreme court ruling on legal definition of a woman from its website
theguardian.com
Many of the 90 bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities under the ceasefire deal showed signs of torture and execution, including blindfolds, cuffed hands and bullet wounds in the head, according to doctors’ accounts.
Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors
Almost all had been blindfolded and had gunshot wounds between the eyes, says medic at Nasser hospital in Gaza
theguardian.com
Men like Piers Morgan have found women in trans women who it is socially acceptable to abuse. Every time they do this stuff they are telling you how they'd treat cis women if they could get away with it.
The grand tradition of lying to strangers asking you survey questions
“I’m old enough to remember when mainstream British politicians, who should know better, stirred up racial hatred as a path to power. You’re old enough to remember too because it was last Tuesday. And it was Robert Jenrick” Cathartic anger at flag-flying racism. www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
Stewart Lee: The thugs have taken my flag. So I’ve taken theirs
What do you do with a lot of cheap banners hanging from motorway bridges once you’ve torn them down?
thenerve.news
"A message of neighbourly solidarity is thriving in Birmingham against a backdrop of racist intimidation" #antifa #StGeorge #racism #flags www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘Brummies united against racism’: poster campaign takes on the far right
A message of neighbourly solidarity is thriving in Birmingham against a backdrop of racist intimidation
theguardian.com
it appears that @bsky.app have suspended the account of @jessiegender because a trans person saying "I wish ill on JK Rowling" is against the rules, so let me say with my loud cis voice that I too wish ill on all perpetrators of hate speech against trans people reinstate Jessie, this is ridiculous
Excited to learn that R Derek Black has a new book out! There was a minor media blitz about Black a few years ago because they'd come out against white supremacy after growing up deeply embedded in the white nationalist movement. Rare Youtube algorithm win. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnzB...
They Were the Poster Child for the KKK; Now They Advocate for Antiracism | Amanpour and Company
In a new memoir, “The Klansman’s Son," R. Derek Black writes about their upbringing and personal transformation – from a committed white supremacist since ch...
youtube.com
My friend Nader was killed at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site. I want those responsible for his murder held to account. Silence over these crimes is complicity, and silence today means they will happen again tomorrow.
Those who weaponise aid and kill under its cover must face justice
My friend Nader was killed at a GHF site. I want those responsible for his murder held to account.
aljazeera.com
