Starmanjack43

I suppose this is the point when I should say again that:

the amount of money the videogames industry brings into the UK economy every year is *more than double* the value of the fishing and steel industries *combined*

what this country is really good at is producing culture

Funny how when it comes to AI people are all "adapt or be left behind" but when it comes to remote work the same people insist that things must go back to how they were at all cost.

It's not about "listen to Reform voters!" It's about British politics currently being three cheeks of one mutant backside focused on dehumanising and scapegoating. And frankly, just because Farage isn't PM, doesn't mean he hasn't won. He conducts the band without being accountable, he's *laughing*!

Really? At the moment, three of the major parties spend all their time telling us that migrants, trans people and the disabled are a) scroungers, b) predators or c) both. It's all over the TV, papers and political discourse. Is anyone listening to reasonable concerns about constant dehumanisation?

I'm convinced that those investigating the politics, psychology, sociology and theology of fear will be the ones to crack this current era. But that's the humanities and we don't listen to the humanities any more.

Weaponising fear so that everyone's in a heightened state of alert is a low-level mass traumatising strategy that makes it a) easier to dehumanise others and b) find solace in someone who promises security. We all know that, but so many of us just go along with it anyway.

In the current media landscape, where great writers are losing their jobs and thoughtful criticism is losing ground to ragebait and the anger economy of social media, people forget that the best and easiest thing you can do is just share links to good pieces of work. Flood the place with quality.

the intensity of my anger at those who would criminalize the homeless — a population literally created by the greed and callousness of the ruling class — is very hard to contain. it was you who dismantled the safety net. if you don’t like the results, put it back

It's not about the facts of the matter though, it's about winding people up into a populist frenzy. And the major parties are chasing the votes of the people getting wound up by this sort of story. Farage must be laughing, he's driving the conversation without having to be accountable for anything.

To be fair, he might have just decided to sell Alaska back to Putin.

Ah, yes, but if we called them race riots the media and politicians wouldn't be able to legitimise them by talking about "legitimate concerns". And without that, it might be harder to demonise migrants and the disabled and trans people and Palestinians and...

Alongside that, I always find it grimly ironic that, when they hold these protests and spout their hate, they're waving the flag of a mixed heritage middle easterner.

The BBC News website has pages & pages of coverage related to farmers protesting inheritance tax, including events where only a few hundred turn out.

In London yesterday 100,000 people marched for trans rights, and nothing.

Imagine if it was 100,000 anti immigrant activists, they'd cover that.

#BookSky

And then Mar-a-Lago gets smacked by a hurricane and Trump starts demanding to know why he wasn't warned. Then everyone scrambles to restart the programme to placate the king.

Playing into the hands of Reform is exactly what Labour want to do. British politics is currently three cheeks of the same mutated backside and the most vulnerable are paying for it.

Happy National Library Week! If you don't have a library card, go get one. If you have one, use it!

Public goods thrive when everybody uses them. That's why they push kids to charter, home, and private schools, why they sow doubt and fear of libraries and our collections.

Use it or lose it!

One man, plus enablers in government, plus millions of voters cheering him on because he goes after the people they hate. This mess doesn't magically get fixed once Trump's gone.

Putting aside everything else, I can't be the only one who looks at that picture and sees Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Bodysnatchers?

Video Shows Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Under Gunfire Barrage, With Ambulance Lights On

“There is no God but God, Muhammad is his messenger,” the paramedic is heard saying. He asks God for forgiveness and says he knows he is going to die.

“Forgive me, mother. This is the path I chose — to help people,” he said. “Allahu akbar,” God is great, he says.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/w...

Devastating

Wait till they find out that there's at least one famous Kryptonian living alongside them pretending to be an American. They'll have him in prison in El Salvador before you can say "Mxyzptlk".

every time someone shits on kids today or does generations discourse it’s this kind of thing that makes me want to shove them down a flight of stairs.

this is awesome. and when they need bail money, i hope everyone’s there for them.

The worst thing about these companies stealing restaurant meals, blending them together and selling the Slop Jugs is that MANY people across the world, across politics and across professions LOVE the slop jugs

They're slurping it down folks, they're absolutely chuggin

It's running down their chins

Today’s spiciest opinion is that anyone who retails a ‘One Coat’ paint product should be obliged to provide a tradesman to apply the second (and often third) coats that are invariably actually required.

I'm thinking "vanished" might be doing a lot of heavy lifting here...

I’m enormously grateful to you for donating to this. The #Curae matters so much because it’s a unique initiative for a radically under- represented group of people. It has twice not been awarded funding, but we continue as volunteers: all raised goes directly to three bursaries & we can change lives

I know I've spent a lot of time on here complaining about the US's slide into fascism, but my government's raiding churches to arrest protestors. Starmer's Labour are an utter betrayal.

Record 4.5m children in poverty in UK as cuts condemned as ‘morally repugnant’ Data published on day after Labour announces cuts that analysts say will hit children and disabled people hardest

Campaigners have said it is “morally repugnant” that vulnerable people are bearing the brunt of spending cuts after official figures showed a record 4.5 million children are living in poverty in the UK.

Campaigners are right.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...