Bill Thompson

Wait… people who work at Palantir call themselves Hobbits not Uruk-hai? Are they ashamed of something?

This is nothing. Just send Mahmood out again to announce some more anti-refugee policies and you can easily find your way to fifth place.

*He's speaking Viktor-Orban, the favorite dialect of the European ethnonational-right, in which the European Union is a decliing maelstrom of sexual violence committed by Moslem rape-gangs

Resist ‘dangerous and socially unacceptable’ age checks for social media, scientists warn Computer scientists are campaigning against the global march toward age checks online.

A large number of privacy and infosec researchers have published a detailed letter calling for a moratorium on laws requiring age assurance technologies until there is a scientific consensus on the risk/benefit tradeoff of using them

www.politico.eu/article/age-...

Have fun typing "the government should regulate corporate platforms, not punish users" ten million times in this designed-to-catch-you-out "consultation" that they will not listen to, but do it anyway because they need to get the message.

Reform win a seat: The true Volk have spoken and we all must listen.

Greens win a seat: Early reports that Muslims may have ‘voted’ (an ancient Islamic practice designed to steal elections). How severely should the franchise be limited in response?

I do struggle to understand Shabana Mahmood: if this was what she came into politics to do, why was it the Labour Party that attracted her? Throughout most of the last 20 years, the Conservatives would've been a much more obvious fit.

If it's not, why's she doing it so zealously?

In fact, the extract from the Home Secretary's comments suggests that her rationale is wholly dishonest - the settlement changes concern people who are here legally, not illegally

And don’t forget bsky.app/profile/bbcr... to tell you what you’re listening to

Plans to make refugee a status of perpetual limbo will do nothing to stop people who need help seeking it nor make it possible for them to rebuild their lives and contribute. I call for humane and effective asylum reforms because I am true Labour, not blue Labour. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The culture war against trans people has unsurprisingly in US turned into criminalising them. Kansas has invalidated identity documents without time to replace them for trans people - driving licence, voting ID etc. This should be a real moment for anti-trans Brits to take a big step back...

Can I have a nerdy joke? “That’s one database that should never be normalised”.
Thank you. I’ll be going now.

Since the recent, massive revelations of the Epstein Files, there has been a concerted effort to rapidly change Prince Andrew's moniker to the common Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor. But this isn't coming from the public.

This year… Rosie O’Donnell

It never ceases to confound me just how many folks think the point of essays is to provide teachers with essays. That teachers just like, collect them, or need them for sustenance or something. Rather than the point of them being the *actual fucking act of learning how to think about shit*

If only there was an alternative SOU like Channel 4 does the alternative Queen/King Speech

Oh yes! And West Wing was soft core porn for politicos.

I love being validated by a machine. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy

Where is the social internet taking us? Report: An emerging crisis for the giant social platforms - toxic and polarised online environments, but enormous potential to transform our world in positive ways.

We did some work on this for the day job - www.bbc.co.uk/rd/articles/...

Stilton to give it that transgressive vibe

Inspired by tante.cc/2026/02/20/a... response to pluralistic.net/2026/02/19/n... Torment Nexus concept from Alex Blechman, @alexblechman.bsky.social and thanks to Emily Bender @emilybender.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/emil...

Having been shocked that TormentNEXUS(tm) created the torment nexus featured in major SF publication 'Don't Create the Torment Nexus' we're pleased to release TormentFluxus, an open source, free to use implementation of the core Torment Nexus protocols.

Indeed. And of course I’m a shareholder in the Farmer’s Arms community pub in Muker.

A traditional pub. A wooden table. A full Pint of Ghost Ship (empty by now) and a laptop whose screen shows a photo of a table in Les Deux Magots from 2008 with coffee, Brie baguette and a Patti Smith photo. Layers upon layers of

Sunday. #AmEditing with help from Ghost Ship, in The Geldart, one of the finest pubs in Cambridge or indeed elsewhere. I’ve been drinking in this pub for 44 years now. And counting. @adnamssouthwold.bsky.social

They should bring back the Jenny Laird Award and add it to the Oscars while they’re at it.

”My bone chair is made from over 200 human bones, but it you think about it, a human is also made from over 200 human bones…”

This started as a single tip about one building but on a hunch we got @pollysmythe.bsky.social to chase around London and check all the Aziz family’s properties. Sometimes she got there just before the eviction notices. The scale of the clearout is enormous – and we don't think we found all of it.

Excellent news. And good luck!

Well, hello world!

State of the Future is a new think tank (from @gavinfreeguard.com) for public servants and others who believe data, digital, openness and innovation can deliver better policy, better services and better outcomes for people.

sotf.org.uk

(Quiet news day to soft launch, eh?)

These people just won’t ever make space for the next generation. Ever.