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Simon Wheeler

@simonwheeler.bsky.social

Health information specialist working for leading UK #dementia charity | Loves good science that changes lives | Interested in history, international relations and conflict (previous career). Sorry, I only engage with real people and block uncivil replies.

678 Posts1370 Follower868 Folgt
Robert Saunders@robertsaunders.bsky.social · 4d ago

90 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵)

You cannot conduct a fair match when one side is playing with a ball and the other with bombs and, if democracy is to survive, it must be conducted according to definite and recognised rule. One of them is that no political party should resort to any weapon other than reason and argument. The introduction of private armies, as I see it, strikes at the root of democracy. I know it is contended that the Blackshirts are not armed and, therefore, are not an army, but I do not think that argument can be upheld. … Uniformed men in military formation suggest, and are meant to suggest, the idea of force. It is no argument to reply that at this or that demonstration no force is intended. It is an inescapable fact that a uniform in politics symbolises force, to be used either now or in the future.
Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 2d ago

Politico: "The latest Private Eye pulls various data together to suggest the Rachel Reeves agricultural inheritance tax changes might be having the intended impact: pushing tax-avoiders out of farmland and making it more affordable for real farmers." (Cont.)

Wonder Why🦆Ducky🦆@duck-flying.bsky.social · 5d ago

Australians will be able to switch off social media algorithms under planned legislation If tech firms such as Meta, Google and TikTok did not give the option to turn off algorithms, they should face "substantial" penalties www.bbc.com/news/article...

Australians will be able to switch off social media algorithms under planned legislation

Firms like Meta, Google and TikTok should face "substantial" penalties if they don't give the option, minister says.

bbc.com

Will Jennings📉🗳️@drjennings.bsky.social · last wk.

This sounds as inappropriate as anything I have ever heard in UK higher education. Perhaps we need to shut down Cambridge until we find out what the hell is going on there...

Rhys Kaminski-Jones@rhyskamjones.bsky.social · last wk.

According to the FT, Orr is acting as a live-in-landlord-cum-cult-leader to Cambridge students including those under his own supervision, whilst receiving formal complaints about his behaviour, and boasting publicly how the university is a recruiting ground for the party he might be doing crime for

in North Cambridge, and a daughter. The outbuildings and at least two other flats on the same road, which are owned by the family, are home to a select group of postgraduate students from a range of faculties including divinity. In a podcast interview in December 2024, Orr described having “10 students living with us. They’re mainly PhD students or postdoctoral fellows.” He explained that they always gather for Sunday lunch and often for dinner. “That’s amazingly stimulating,” he said. “They’re . . . the cream of their generation in their respective subjects.” The residents pay rent and do chores. Helen has fashioned a small chapel from a shipping container, in which she holds morning prayers.
Tom Hannen@tomhannen.ft.com · last wk.

Morrisons UK are now hawking Perlz chewable nicotine in-store. Literally a salesman handing out free samples! Absolutely unacceptable, given they’ve already been rapped for tobacco advertising already.

Simon Wheeler@simonwheeler.bsky.social · 2w ago

It sometimes feels like the culture wars started with Brexit and social media and got worse over the last decade. So reviewing the history of how Section 28 came to be back in the 80s was very revealing. So many of the tropes are identical to those with see today with anti-woke hate. Fascinating.

Section 28 – Anatomy of a Moral Panic — Origin Story

Hello and welcome to a bonus episode of Origin Story. This time we tell the story of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, the legislation that prohibited local councils from funding the “promo...

overcast.fm

Simon Wheeler@simonwheeler.bsky.social · 2w ago

I can understand the commercial basis for this. Robin Hood is a timeless tale of good vs evil, social justice vigilante and heroism. Almost everyone knows this so the market is there already. 9/10 English people let alone worldwide don’t know who Wat Tyler is, nor do they particularly care (sadly!)

Dave Bradley@boxdaveb.bsky.social · 2w ago

I’m excited to see Paul Greengrass's film The Uprising. I believe it to be about Wat Tyler and the historically significant 1381 Peasants’ Revolt. The film’s international marketing team has bizarrely and anachronistically renamed it The Rise of Robin Hood🤦‍♂️ www.theguardian.com/film/2026/au...

The Lewy Body Society@lewybodysociety.bsky.social · 2w ago

URGENT: Please email your MP before Sept 2 to ask them to support amendments to the Health Bill? We have a once-in-a-decade opportunity to ensure that millions of unpaid carers across the country gain stronger legal protections and meaningful support from the NHS in England through the Health Bill.

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