Happy Birthday to the extraordinary Dame Janet Baker, who turns 93 today! We were delighted to hear Dame Janet speak at our Honorary Awards Ceremony last December, when she received an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Music.
Lucy Seton-Watson
@lucysetonw.bsky.social
Native Londoner, long-time Cairene, now living DK. Citizen of Nowhere par excellence. Live by the written word. Lifelong close reader: originally Greek/Latin, then Wittgenstein, then medieval ceremonial architecture in Mamluk Cairo, now back to Eng Lit.
HG Wells is alleged to have remarked "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race”. You could see this shocking chart as an index of civilisation. A country which gets this issue so badly wrong is likely to fail in many other ways.
Kevin Wilson@kwilsonhfx.bsky.social · 3w agoShocking.
It's worse than that. Philp isn't dumb, he's ambitious and a coward. So he says stuff he knows isn't true to try and further his career. He along with many others has driven the right down a cul-de-sac and they're all sat there lying and exaggerating to each other.
Tom Roberts@tpgroberts.bsky.social · 2d agoNot to be glib, but the genuine problem with a lot of the right these days is that they are just dumb? There's just no intellectual apparatus or appetite to build one! It is just pretending to misunderstand things so you can be racist all the way down.
Couldn't lay into it on the radio tonight, but if anyone was still unaware of my stance on 'The Great #ADHD Myth?', please see following links podcasts.apple.com/u... theneuroscienceofeve... theneuroscienceofeve...
Some Questions for Channel 4 and its ADHD Documentary
Podcast Episode · The Incomplete Shambles Podcast · August 14 · 1h 2m
podcasts.apple.com
UK - along with Australia and Canada - says it is "shameful" that Israel has closed without explanation its criminal investigation into the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza
This is a cracking piece by the estimable @drdeanburnett.bsky.social - do #follow him for the best commentary on such things.
Dr Dean Burnett@drdeanburnett.bsky.social · 5d agoA Review of the Guardian’s Review of Channel 4’s ‘The Great ADHD Myth?’ theneuroscienceofeve... I reviewed the Guardian's review of The Great ADHD Myth, and found it... well, lacking doesn't really do it justice. #ADHD #Channel4 #Guardian #Neurodivergence
A Review of the Guardian’s Review of Channel 4’s ‘The Great ADHD Myth?’ theneuroscienceofeve... I reviewed the Guardian's review of The Great ADHD Myth, and found it... well, lacking doesn't really do it justice. #ADHD #Channel4 #Guardian #Neurodivergence
I've just seen yet another claim that plagiarism is common in academia (this time from Nathan Cofnas). In my experience, this claim is absolutely untrue, and it's both misleading and damaging to suggest otherwise. Short 🧵
"Not just those who pose an immediate threat. There are people there who don’t deserve to live . . . They are not even people.” as.ft.com/r/24f6ccb3-2...
Far-right Israeli minister advocates killing ‘30 to 40’ Gazans each night
Itamar Ben-Gvir also calls for re-establishment of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave
as.ft.com
(One of our online friends is getting two kittens. Any help is appreciated, even just a repost ❤️)
Elle@elle1968.bsky.social · last wk.I have made a wish list on Amazon. I don't expect anything from anyone, but appreciate any help. These are all items that I would buy over time for the boys (I have food and litter for them now.) I love you all ♥️♥️♥️ www.amazon.ca/registries/g...
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Far-right Israeli minister advocates killing ‘30 to 40’ Gazans each night
Far-right Israeli minister advocates killing ‘30 to 40’ Gazans each night
Itamar Ben-Gvir also calls for re-establishment of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave
giftarticle.ft.com
Without getting too preachy about this, "suicidal empathy" is pretty much the core idea of Christianity: a religion built around a Christ who submits to death on a cross, because of his love for others.
'The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism'. It really amazes me how Arendt and Sartre so accurately discribed what we're now seeing on the right - it really is the same impulses repeated and the same tactics.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · last wk."This is not generosity. It is suicidal empathy" writes Robert Jenrick (Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08...) quotes in para 3 of the BBC report, with a link. "Suicidal empathy" is also the core phrase Elon Musk wants to popularise to promote remigration, political violence + civil war
Another gift link. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... How Burnham can curb Britain’s tax-dodging shops
How Burnham can curb Britain’s tax-dodging shops
The prime minister is missing a simple trick in his campaign to revive high streets: enforcing the basic laws of doing business
giftarticle.ft.com
Jim Waterson@jim.londoncentric.media · last wk.Being able to write this is one of the coolest things I’ve got to do in a long time! There may even be some free clicks left on this link - indulge your inner dodgy shop owner.
Two married professors and their son are being held in ICE detention, despite being legal permanent residents and having no criminal records. All, apparently, because their mom/MIL was a translator for the Iranian hostage takers in 1979, before they were even born. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
thenation.com
Not to be some wild-eyed innocent, but I think it should be slightly bigger news that The Lancet have crunched the numbers and found that Musk's USAID cuts will kill 14 million people. And that's just by 2030. That's 9,600 people a day, every day, until the next world cup rolls around.
Jørgen Heszlein@heszlein.bsky.social · 2w agoNew estimate of Elon Musk’s death toll just dropped www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Gaza’s archives have been destroyed. The Omari mosque’s library & cultural centre, whose thousands of ancient documents had survived the Crusades, have reportedly been lost. The Al Qarara museum was bombed from the air and then bulldozed. A people’s entire past has been deliberately eradicated. 📚📜
Ukrainian cathedrals, Gaza’s archives, Iranian squares – modern war is systematically erasing human history | Simon Jenkins
It is not enough now for war to kill, it must eradicate a people’s cherished and precious heritage too, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
theguardian.com
This has been bugging me for days. There have always been scammers and fantasists who exploit the weaknesses of certain institutions at certain times. It’s a Type of Guy. Arday has more in common with Stephen Glass or Elizabeth Holmes or Salt Path lady than with other black academics.
Charlotte Lydia Riley@lottelydia.bsky.social · 2w agoQuite weird to hear BBC News describe Jason Arday as “the black professor accused of plagiarism”. Is every story about a white professor going to include the relevant adjective?
"The gloves must come into direct contact with the skin and are not effective through clothing or hair, the user manual states. The manual says no more than 2 gloves should be applied to a subject at one time & they should not be used for more than 15 seconds in many instances." Oh Jesus. Oh fuck.
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million on electrical shock gloves for agents | CNN
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers may soon be equipped with gloves that deliver electrical shocks, which the manufacturer says are intended to de-escalate encounters with individ...
cnn.com
get ready for a lot of "preexisting heart condition" in the future
Erin Fogg says Free Link@criminalerin.bsky.social · 2w ago"The gloves must come into direct contact with the skin and are not effective through clothing or hair, the user manual states. The manual says no more than 2 gloves should be applied to a subject at one time & they should not be used for more than 15 seconds in many instances." Oh Jesus. Oh fuck.
How Israel is making southern Lebanon ‘unliveable’ ft.trib.al/Z0oEo3i #FTEdit
If this is true, the wickedness of Israeli actions, my god. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Israel deliberately starting wildfires in southern Lebanon, firefighters say
First responders, residents and environmental groups say military dropping flares to destroy forests and crops
theguardian.com
