As former Labour minister Tom Watson joins Palantir, please read this devastating exposé by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social & @lucasamin.bsky.social of how the company, with Peter Mandelson's help, wormed its way into the UK government to sell its dire & dangerous products. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Peter Geoghegan and Lucas Amin · ‘This looks absolutely rubbish’: Palantir and the NHS

A decade ago Palantir was largely unknown in the UK. It now holds public contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds...

lrb.co.uk

Super excited to share our new article which is *finally* out in Journal of Applied Linguistics, 'Tackling linguistic discrimination in higher education' which is co-authored with former students Grace Mai Clark (93% Club) and Shanley Breese (Scottish Society). academic.oup.com/applij/advan...

Tackling linguistic discrimination in higher education: a student-staff collaborative approach

Abstract. The field has long been committed to critically exploring the role of language in systemic inequality and social injustice. More recently, a grow

academic.oup.com

#wato “it’s ok because it was a misunderstanding” is a classic Reform feint. The fact is folk twitched up by all manner of malign forces - including Reform - were prepared to go and turf black and brown people out. The intent remains. Reform are responsible for it - and for the image of Portsmouth.

"Blackshorts" is perfect.

Jane@localnotail.bsky.social · last wk.

Daniel Thomas / Danny Tommo has today marched his private army of blackshorts to Daily Mail HQ to demand a new house for his mum within 48 hrs, after they doorstepped her for a feature on him. Apparently he plans to blockade them + cry at them until they do Bet those lads are glad of the balaclavas

This was the point I emphasised about Palantir when I wrote about tech soverignty - their model is to make bits of the state dependent on them and them jack up the price. samf.substack.com/p/sovereignt...

Sovereignty for sale

Tech monopolies and the future of the nation state

samf.substack.com

Amy Borrett@amyborrett.ft.com · 2w ago

Britain’s state-owned electricity system operator has awarded Palantir a £21mn contract without inviting rival bids, arguing critical processes are too reliant on its tech to run a competitive procurement process Latest for @financialtimes.com: as.ft.com/r/7fe6c0b7-2...

A detail missing from The Times story… the woman who took the photo shared it to a Facebook group called ‘South east patriots’.

Mic Wright@brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Times has run a story this morning about how ‘polite’ the masked men in Dover were to three white ladies on a train. Propaganda in its clumsiest form.

The Times. Explicitly and deliberately, as a matter of editorial policy, promoting violent racist thugs.

The Times and Sunday Times@thetimes.com · 2w ago

Activists who brought Dover to a halt on Saturday refused to remove their balaclavas but were ‘very polite’, say fellow travellers

Appalling. This should be severely punished by UEFA. They should be immediately banned from European Competitions for an indefinite period. No team should be asked to play at this stadium nor should they want to. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Nick Robinson on Today is literally talking about ‘legitimate concerns’ after second night of organised men dressed in black - sorry ‘protesters’ - mobilising en masse in another littoral town. This is how street fascism is normalised

#wato The emphasis on “tone” is so classically liberal naivety - the implication is that if you, an extremist, could just modify the tone then you can happily say the same extreme things and get more people on board. Enabling the extremism.

Never felt so alienated from Scottish football. Trying hard to give a shit, but pfffffttttt. The odds are just so ridiculously stacked *and* the team is so poorly run. Another season of utter dross awaits. Sorta want to get relegated for the full burn required.

London Science Museum cuts links with BP after decades of partnership

London Science Museum cuts links with BP after decades of partnership

Campaigners say ‘seismic shift’ follows years of pressure to sever ties with oil and gas firm The London Science Museum has ended its decades-long partnership with the oil and gas company BP in what has been described as a “seismic shift” for the museum. The Science Museum Group academy, which was established in 2018 to provide training and resources, announced on Friday that it would be ending its partnership with BP. In a statement, the director and chief executive of the Science Museum Group, Sir Ian Blatchford, said the partnership had “drawn to a close at the end of the current contract term”. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

The collapse of a glacier and the truly devastating apocalyptic scenes - horrifyingly caught on film - from Nepal-Tibet tell us squarely, as if we needed telling, that the "slow violent" era of climate change is over. Welcome to the next era. It was always in the post.

The fallout from the collapse of this glacier - a torrent of mud surging down the valley - killed hundreds of people. Gone, in a flash. Those people were wiped out by anthropogenic climate change. Our governments are simply not responding quickly enough to this disaster which is already upon us.

Nahel Belgherze@wxnb.bsky.social · 3w ago

An incredibly well-timed Landsat 9 pass captured the effects of yesterday’s catastrophic glacier collapse near the Nepal–Tibet border. The event was so massive that it was detected by seismometers around the world.

OR: "I am so proud of what Meta has done historically to protect kids that I have had to be dragged to the court at great expense and compelled to shell out $17Bn of our own profits as reparation." www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

This is just lying. The problem is the idiotic, criminal, disastrous war that this paper loudly endorsed, and the people writing this know that very well.

Note the rhetorical sleight here from Data Centre boosterism. We are being given a speculative promissory note - as for the “potential” of AI - by people who expect us to radically deplete our energy and water supplies. Where is the *proof* of these claims? Where is the legislation? #wato

Will the “flagship” show of British News EVER realise how screamingly obsequious and frivolous to the point of ridicule their headlining of the return of a Royal Prince is to the majority of their listeners? WHY is this TOP of the headlines? Is it a high editorial imperative? #r4today

“…introduces the concept of the ‘renewable normal’ to describe a regime of energy transition that promises transformation but delivers continuity…the volume explores how this regime captures hopes for climate solutions while closing down the very possibilities it appears to open.”

Thomas S. Davis@thomassdavis.bsky.social · last mo.

Our book The Renewable Normal, the third After Oil book, is out earlier than expected! If you’re at Petrocultures next week there will be discounted copies (come say hi if you’re in Dresden). Come for the critique of renewability & stay for the theories of hell & fuckedness!

Early signs are we are back to the dull and grindingly indignant era in Scottish football where a steroidally wealthy Celtic just score for fun and win everything. Sigh. Let’s see I suppose but the omens are bad.

It ALL FINE because we here in the UK have TEMPORARILY banned DISPOSABLE BBQS. Phew.

Just remember this message is aimed at your children not theirs.

Sounds to me that Justin Webb needs some actual sociological method training to remove the evident bias in leading with questions based on “suggestions” rather than data. #r4today

BP exiting the North Sea is a big moment in the history of the industry and Scotland’s economy. It’s been a long time coming, and marks an end to over a century of petroleum activities and more than 50 years of North Sea drilling. BP’s exit cannot be explained by short term tax policy changes 🧵

BP puts North Sea business up for sale

Chief executive Meg O’Neill says the business would be ‘better positioned as part of another company’, sparking recriminations over the basin’s high tax regime

thetimes.com

All defenders of my generation hail il massimo. RIP Franco. Too soon.

finally, some actual fightback.....

Fifa World Cup: Uefa to boycott tournament if Gianni Infantino's investment plans go through

Uefa's 55 member associations vote to boycott the World Cup if Fifa proceeds with its plan to sell stakes in its competitions.

bbc.co.uk

🧵UK media has been duped about net-zero (again) The playbook is identical: 1️⃣ Find a big scary number 2️⃣ Speed-dial non-specialist hacks 3️⃣ Do say “serious economic damage” 4️⃣ Don’t say “we pretended gas is free” 5️⃣ That's it! Many papers still fell for it 🤷

I know it's not news Kemi Badenoch is not across the detail, but this is an absolute shocker. She says the UK's net zero plans are 'perversely increasing carbon emissions'. In 2019 when net zero targets were adopted emissions were 45% below 1990 levels. Last year they were 54% below 1990 levels.

Just want Nolan to do the Jimmy Joyce version tbh......

There are people throwing Hitler salutes, recycling Goebbels talking points, holding blackshirt-style protests in military formation and announcing “I’m a Nazi and I love it.” But there are folk on the internet who still think reporting this is reductio ad Hitlerum or an eg of Godwin’s Law.

David Leask@leaskyd.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Scottish far right is copying Nazi playbook, says Hitler expert www.thetimes.com/article/0c0b...