Facial recognition to be 'rolled out' across UK after human rights challenge fails Minister says 'law abiding citizens have nothing to fear' after judges rule in favour of police use of live facial recognition technology in London.

FFS, headlong into all the dystopias.

Like, AI literacy in any form will not protect black and disabled folks from the algorithmic bias, and the violence that emerges from it, of spicy autocomplete. Full stop. No amount of AI literacy can protect us in the deployment of the system because it is tracking the wrong problem.

🔥🔥🔥

Register of Interests for Lord Watson of Wyre Forest - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament Lord Watson of Wyre Forest's full title is The Lord Watson of Wyre Forest. His name is Thomas Anthony Watson, and he is currently on leave of absence from the House of Lords.

See also Labour lord Tom Watson, advisory board member for Palantir and Lodestone, Bristol based Palantir lobbyists

members.parliament.uk/member/1463/...

Unaccountable thuggery from Manchester Police

1/ Saturday saw Greater Manchester Police deliberately target anti-fascist protesters. Whilst facilitating racists Britain First.

We have reports of multiple incidents of unprovoked violence, deliberately not wearing ID, snatching masks without warning.

Bristol Uni pays private security firm to 'spy' on student protests Bristol is among 12 UK universities using Horus Security to monitor protest groups, raising fears of growing campus surveillance

University of Bristol is one of at least 12 British universities to pay private surveillance firm, Horus Security, to spy on campus protest activity

thebristolcable.org/2026/04/univ...

There are three disabled servants from the tomb of the viziers Khety and Baqt in Beni Hassan. The tomb dates to the First Intermediate Period. One servant has a spinal curvature and is the very last in line but damage has erased the central part of the paint. Few anatomical details have been rendered on the representation, but we can still see that the bump was rendered by an elevation of the right arm as well as a lower-than-average head. Preceding him is a man with clubbed foot, and a man with dwarfism. Each man has an inscription above him: “dwarf person,” “disabled” [i.e. lower limb impairment] and the word jw above the person with a spinal disability, which is a hapax. Egyptologist P. E. Newberry considered that it could be the name of the man, while for A. Erman and H. Grapow, the word designates infirmity: “a physically disabled man.” Find the full Ancient Egypt and Disability zine free here : https://linktr.ee/disabilityark #disabilitystudies #ancientegypt #egyptology #egypt #disability

Find the full Ancient Egypt and Disability zine free here : linktr.ee/disabilityark
#disabilitystudies #ancientegypt #egyptology #egypt #disability

Government must do far more to co-produce mental health reforms, minister is told by disabled campaigners The government has been told to do far more to place people with learning difficulties and autistic people at the heart of its controversial Mental Health Act reforms. A disabled-led network of org…

The government has been told to do far more to place people with learning difficulties and autistic people at the heart of its controversial Mental Health Act reforms.
#MentalHealthAct
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/government-m...

Starmer:
"No one told me when I visited the Palantir tech-fascism factory with Peter the Palantir tech-fascism lobbyist that it was a tech-fascism factory and Peter is a Palantir tech-fascism lobbyist. Not even Tom Watson the Palantir tech-fascism lobbyist."

I really wish more people had paid attention when several observers tried to warn about the technofascist and eugenicist tendencies of thiel and karp and that group, for rolling up on two decades, now.

And i *Really* wish the media & political actors would take the threat of them seriously, today 😕

Jfc

Palantir put out the most cartoonishly evil statement possible. They’re so arrogant and self-confident they don’t seem to believe their fascistic plans can be opposed.

We must get rid of Palantir altogether.

twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...

‘Intrusive’ Motability app is ‘worse than having a computer virus’ An “absolutely awful” mobile phone app that helps the Motability scheme monitor the driving behaviour of increasing numbers of disabled people is securing overwhelmingly poor reviews from its custo…

Disabled drivers describe stress of mandatory 'Drive Smart' app as being “worse than having spyware on your phone”

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/intrusive-mo...

Via @johnpring.bsky.social

#AutomatedSurveillance

The "Soylent Green, everyone's doing it" argument.

A bold poster with a black background and layered brushstroke shapes in purple, olive yellow, and teal. Text reads: "NeuroHub Community Journal — A calling for submissions — Visual Artists. A journal created by and for neurodivergent people. Our May 2026 Journal is open for submissions of visual art from neurodivergent people (you don't need to be a professional artist — all welcome!) Submissions include: Illustration, Photography, Mixed Media, Collage, zines and visual narrative, Illustration and digital art. Deadline for submissions: 30th April 2026. Journal will be published May 2026." The NeuroHub Community Ltd logo — a colourful phoenix in purple, gold, and pink — appears in the bottom right corner. Footer reads: "NeuroHub Community Journal — Founded by David Gray-Hammond."

🎨 Calling neurodivergent visual artists!
@neurohubcomjournal.bsky.social founded by @neurohubcommunity.org is open for submissions for our May 2026 edition.
A space built by and for neurodivergent people — your art belongs here.All welcome!
⏰ Deadline: 30th April 2026
👉 forms.gle/P43gHF42fbTS28vw5

Palantir in the NHS - my latest about questions of efficacy and ethics
bmj.com/cgi/content/...

Archive Social Media Plan B

Unite Community logo DPAC logo Background image of Bristol Civil Justice Centre Vigil, coffee and discussion Wednesday 6th May 9am - 1pm Bristol Civil Justice Centre BS1 6GR If this affects you, please come along! Join Andy Mitchell outside Bristol Civil Justice Centre before he takes Somerset Council to judicial review over their discriminatory Council Tax reduction scheme for disabled people migrating to Universal Credit. Following the vigil (9-10.30am) there’s a room booked at nearby Tony Benn House for tea, coffee, and a discussion on disability/social security cuts. Case information: https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/another-legal-challenge-to-uc-migration-council-tax-hikes contact: dpacsouthwest@gmail.com

#CouncilTaxReduction
#ManagedMigration

Please support this important court case

Court Vigil, Coffee and Discussion

📢Wednesday 6th May 2026
📢9am to 1pm
📢Bristol Justice Centre
BS1 6GR

Migrants are making false domestic abuse allegations to stay in the UK, BBC investigation finds In the third part of an undercover investigation, the BBC reveals how rules aimed at protecting abuse victims are being exploited.

So this is genuinely the extent of the BBC’s front-page “investigation”: they spoke to one alleged crook and recorded him boasting, one victim of apparently unrelated abuse, one non-immigration lawyer who “thinks” there’s a problem, and Jess Phillips. It’d be laughable if it weren’t so serious 7/

Queer asylum seekers in the UK system face danger and abuse - study - University of Birmingham LGBTQI+ forced migrants seeking asylum in the UK face dangerous living conditions, homophobic abuse from Home Office contractors and sexual harassment.

Queer SEREDA report, Uni of Birmingham:

LGBTQI+ forced migrants seeking asylum in the UK face dangerous living conditions, homophobic abuse from Home Office and sexual harassment.

www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2024/qu...

#BBCinTheBin

The struggles of LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees It’s important to recognise the experiences of LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees, and the work being done to create a more humane and inclusive asylum system.

Also, a reminder, LGBTQIA+ individuals seeking asylum, particularly as the primary reason, already face severe discrimination and disbelief from the Home Office. By failing to report this properly, and with context, the BBC has guaranteed that to get worse. 7/
www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-ment...

Group of Labour MPs proposes new policies to beat rightwing populism Policies include a Swiss-style EU deal, lower electricity prices and reduced dependence on the US

Not to make people's lives better, to keep Labour in power

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The Fabian Society:
Making things worse since 1884.

This weekend I gave a presentation to a group of mostly college-aged folks and had a little line at the beginning of my slides that described it as an "AI-free presentation made by a human, for humans" and I had to pause for clapping at that part

you love to see it

🚨New article🚨

What if the misguided construction of 'right-wing populism' has prevented us from holding the elite accountable and rejuvenate democracy?

This is what @alexyates2000.bsky.social and I explore in our new article: 'There is no such thing as ‘right-wing populism’'

1/
shorturl.at/jptiu

Meanwhile

"Child poverty has risen significantly in the last few years and is projected to reach its highest recorded level at 33 per cent by the end of this decade if current policies remain in place (...) the longer-term implications might even be more harmful."
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Starmer accused of ‘corrosive complacency’ on UK defence by former Nato chief Lord George Robertson, author of British military review, says premier is not willing to make the necessary investment

Lord Robertson will accuse "non-military experts in the Treasury" of "vandalism", adding:
"We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget."

Labour Lord just doing a George Osborne, making social security the Whipping Boy. Killing being more important than nurturing to this class.

"Child poverty has risen significantly in the last few years and is projected to reach its highest recorded level at 33 per cent by the end of this decade if current policies remain in place (...) the longer-term implications might even be more harmful."

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

More than a fifth of UK’s ‘austerity children’ scarred by poverty, study says Researchers say hardship is a direct legacy of welfare benefit cuts imposed by Tory governments in recent years

More than a fifth of all “austerity generation” British children have been scarred by poverty for at least half their childhood, a new study shows.

This is the legacy of the Tory governments who proudly gutted the safety net by tens of billions. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

We can’t afford Life cause we gotta spend it on Death