Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

But Xitter - srsly?!

also intergenerational

Is there a way (equivalent to threadreaderapp) of saving threads on Bluesky itself?

I'm sorry. As a technology writer, I'm supposed to be telling you that this bet will some day pay off, because one day we will have shoveled so many words into the word-guessing program that it wakes up and learns how to actually do the jobs it is failing spectacularly at today. This is a proposition akin to the idea that if we keep breeding horses to run faster and faster, one of them will give birth to a locomotive. Humans possess intelligence, and machines do not. The difference between a human and a word-guessing program isn't how many words the human knows. I'm sorry. I know that when we talk about "digital sovereignty," we're obliged to talk about how we can build more data-centres that we can fill up with money-losing chips from American silicon monopolists in the hopes of destroying as many jobs as possible while blowing through our clean energy goals and enshittifying as much of our potable water as possible.

Córy Doctorow with another verbal bullseye: pluralistic.net/2026/01/13/n...

I’ll tell you who definitely didn’t give consent - the CHILDREN whose images were turned into pornography on the very platform you’re supporting by still posting on, Joanne!

The whole “Protecting children” schtick is just such gaslighting BS! 😣

Just call it what it is: TRANSPHOBIA!!!

The cartels or other illicit drug orgs didn’t force the US to shove shit into their bodies, that guilt belongs to the billionaires, politicians, and corporations that stripped people of the resources, medical care, and housing and placed them in situations where they’d choose illegal narcotics.

BREAKING: “We have given strident powers to ofcom..from heavy fines all the way through to banning X from our country if deemed appropriate and this government stands full behind ofcom in their ability to do this and they should do so”

Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle

The Cardiff Lions do an annual Drag Rugby charity match for children’s charities and it’s as beautiful as you imagined

Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators. ICE can’t function without help from the private sector. So we should force the private sector to stop helping.

www.thenation.com/article/acti...

Hit them where it hurts them - boycotts can work

EU’s new ‘green tariff’ rules on high-carbon goods come into force The ‘border adjustment mechanism’ aims to create a level playing field while also encouraging decarbonisation

"Many expected the EU to back down on the “green tariff” rules, but the bloc has pressed ahead despite protests from China, the US, Australia and others. Chinese steel could lose its price advantage over European steel."

This is how tariffs should be used.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

We are now at the stage where all those who knew him in the past have warned us that Nigel Farage is unfit to be PM. About the same stage as when those who knew him in the past warned us that Boris Johnson was unfit to be PM.

Statement from Jolyon Maugham KC: Police report | Good Law Project Concerning the report of a potential criminal offence

Police report in respect of the social media activity of Gender Critical commentator Richard Dunstan: a statement from me. goodlaw.social/y7q6

Most people with diabetes have faced shame and judgement

Actor Sam Buchanan speaks to the Big Issue about his journey with type 1 diabetes, including the shame he has felt on film and TV sets.

Crypto Investor Donates £9 Million to Reform UK After Nigel Farage Plugs His Company and Tells Industry 'I Am Your Champion' The Reform leader recently used media interviews to back Christopher Harborne's company while promising to cut taxes and regulations on crypto firms

A Thailand-based crypto investor has handed a record-breaking £9 million to Reform UK, shortly before Nigel Farage used media interviews to plug his crypto firm and promise lower taxes and deregulation on the industry
bylinetimes.com/2025/12/04/c...

I'd find it hard to put aside my distaste for a SWERF, TERF bigot MCing the event. Fortunately I'm nowhere near the venue so it's not an issue.

Histogram showing bimodally distributed support and opposition for LTNs.

Really interesting SD article specifically on the East Oxford LTNs, assessing support and opposition from those who live inside and on the boundary roads. It would also be interesting to see how this now looks given the Congestion Charge.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Woman being arrested, and put in a van by four police officers. It is being filmed by a police officer.

Protesters with signs supporting Palestine Action

Police arrested over 20 people protesting in Oxford against the government’s proscription of Palestine Action as ‘a terrorist organisation’ The protests were part of a day of action, in what Defend our Juries describe as “the most widespread civil disobedience campaign in modern British history.”

Bodleain steps, surely?

Stoked to have been part of making this, and very pleased and big thanks to Roger and the Clarion for featuring it in their excellent newspaper,

The march down the High

Marchers

Banner 'Oxford Stand up to Racism, Refugees Welcome'

Hundreds of Oxford residents marched across Oxford to demonstrate against racism and in solidarity with migrants in an ‘Oxford Unity March and Rally’. Chants included ‘this is what community looks like’ and calls to ‘fight back’ against racism.

But non-fossil and renewable is not necessarily low carbon or sustainable: how much of that energy comes from burning whole trees from virgin old growth forests in the Americas and Eastern Europe, at Drax?

Not everyone is unhappy about the Government's descent into anti-refugee politics

Study Finds Most Americans Can't Find Where They Are Being Deported On Map

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FWIW I asked ChatGPT about this; it's response tl;dr: there isn't a kill switch but doesn't need to be as US can effectively degrade/disable a customer's F35s in other ways chatgpt.com/c/68c73c23-0...