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Rob Spence

@spencro.bsky.social

Former Eng Lit academic. Writings on Ford Madox Ford, Wyndham Lewis, Penelope Fitzgerald, Robert Nye, but mainly Anthony Burgess, a fellow Mancunian.

1983 Posts2062 Follower1651 Folgt
Rob Spence@spencro.bsky.social · 5d ago

This is sad news, of course, and it's true that one of Sir Patrick's best-known roles was as Picard in Star Trek. But it would have been nice to acknowledge in the BBC headline that he was one of the most acclaimed classical actors of his generation, especially in Shakespearean roles.

Headline announcing Patrick Stewart's death, describing him as "Star Trek actor."
Scary Kate Griffowe'en 🎃@griffinkate.bsky.social · 2w ago

eBay users! Don't ignore today's email, even though it looks like a boring standard update to the User Privacy Notice. They want to use your data to train AI models. If you click the link over the words "the right to object", it takes you to a page with a toggle button letting you opt out.

Screenshot from a section of eBay UK's r User Privacy Notice. It reads: AI model training When training, testing, and improving generative AI models, we rely primarily on publicly available data. Some public datasets may incidentally include personal data, and in some cases we may also use certain user personal data, such as information about your use of our Services, including the items you list, sell, view, or buy, where we determine it is necessary and proportionate for a specific use (for example, to train AI models that improve product recommendations). Prior to training, we take steps to mitigate potential privacy impacts, such as de-identifying the data or applying other privacy-preserving techniques. In some jurisdictions, the data used for training as described in this section is not considered personal data; where our AI training does involve personal data as defined under applicable law, including in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, the legal basis of our legitimate interest is set out in section 3.4. See section 6 for more details on your rights. To learn more about specific training use cases and our processing of your personal data for generative AI training purposes, including the right to object to such processing for certain users, visit our Artificial Intelligence at eBay page.
Don Paterson@dharmabam.bsky.social · 2w ago

Very sorry to report that Douglas Dunn has passed away. He was the finest Scottish poet of the post-war period. Dougie was also someone we knew and loved as a dear friend, mentor and teacher, and he will be deeply missed.

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Rob Spence@spencro.bsky.social · last mo.

I'm reading the latest issue of the Literary Review. Fascinated by the splendid names of the reviewers: Peyton Skipwith; Malise Ruthven; Bettina Bidhauer; Jonathan Boff; Zeb Baker-Smith; Fergus Butler-Gallie; Zoe Guttenplan.

Quiet Majority@majorityquiet.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We loved this so much we just had to put English subtitles on it, apologies to the French speakers for our translation. But this is what it would look like here in the UK if Farage or Lowe or another of their ilk got their own way.

Tanita Tikaram@tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 2mo ago

What I love about Western democracy is you can bung a political party £ 36 million earned from criminal activity & most media will continue to point at asylum seekers & migrant care workers with families as the barbarians at the gate we need to defend ourselves from 🙄.

NewsThump@newsthump.com · 2mo ago

Whenever we see someone post that they're stopping their donation to the RNLI, like some right-wing virtue-signalling flex, we can't help but think of this. You can donate to the RNLI here: buff.ly/bsku22S

Only 1.2% of RNLI calls are for asylum seekers in the Channel — red poster arguing that cancelling RNLI donations equates to saying "I hate migrants... I'm willing to jeopardise the lives of the other 98.8% of rescues," followed by the sarcastic "Lovely people, right?"
Phil M 🦻🏼💚 🍉 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸@phillm.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Of the 1,601,645 that live in Lancashire, the 754 refugees being housed equates to 0.047% of the total. Four out of five of them, 80%, are Afghans who assisted British military operations in their home country. Also, Lancashire council don't pay for it, the Home Office does. Performative politics

North West Bylines@northwestbylines.co.uk · 2mo ago

Reform-led Lancashire County Council has decided to stop delivering support to refugees who have been granted legal right to remain | North West Bylines Reports

Rob Spence@spencro.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I am listening to an audiobook read quite well by someone I presume is a professional actor. One of the novel's characters refers to his sister, Niamh. The reader pronounces this "Nee-am." Q: how can he, or his producer, not know how this name is pronounced? He also can't pronounce "harbinger."😡

Tanita Tikaram@tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Home office has this wtf reaction to Dover ‘ The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but we condemn the behaviour in Dover & the travel disruption it has caused. ‘ At next peace ☮️ march pls wear black paramilitary gear, balaclavas & block all roads. No arrests will be made .