"Keir Starmer said that the sky didn't fall in when we introduced votes at 16 in Wales and Scotland.

And I say to you, Sir Keir, that when you introduced PR, the sky didn't fall in there either."

Our CEO Emma Harrison speaking at @labour4pr.bsky.social rally at #LabourConference2025 💯🔥

Seeing talk on here about class makes me wish people could at least acknowledge the Marxian point that class is not just another form of identity politics, but is about one's relationship to the means of production - eg I'm now bourgeois whatever my upbringing, prejudices etc.

Major Labels End Internet Archive 'Great 78 Project' Copyright Suit The major record labels have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the Internet Archive over its Great 78 Project.

"...they thought attacking @archive.org would be an easy way to hide their unfair and extractive practices from working musicians.” www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/09/16/g...

The commons is now in conference recess until 13th October.

Of the 307 divisions held so far this session, 150 would have changed result if seats matched votes. That is, ~49% of the time, opposition MPs represented more people but the government won anyway.

@makevotesmatter.bsky.social

A Make Votes Matter branded graphic: "On International Day of Democracy, I'm calling for Proportional Representation".

Britain's democracy is in crisis. Our First Past the Post voting system increasingly delivers results that have little to do with what the country wants.

This #DemocracyDay, I'm calling for a fair system where every vote counts._

It's time for Proportional Representation. #PRnow

In other words, what's happening now is unprecedented in universal franchise Westminster elections. First past the post breaks down entirely in these circumstances. Voters already know this - support for reform to the Westminster electoral system is higher now than it has ever been before

Over the past 10 years, the UK has had:

- 6 Prime Ministers
- 8 Chancellors of the Exchequer
- 9 Foreign Secretaries
- 10 Home Secretaries

Tell us again how First Past the Post leads to stable and effective governments.

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

Not only can women write SciFi, it was a woman who invented the damn genre.

Often think about that.

BTW slightly off-topic: the first known author was also a woman - Enheduanna. A Mesopotamian priestess and poet who lived around 23rd Century BC.

#BookSky #WritingCommunity

New Sunday Times profile in which I succeed, like a fencer in a 2hr marathon match, in fending off Qs abt my personal life & consistently turning focus back to my work & ideas.

(Contra the interviewer's claim, many ppl do know me! They're called friends, & you know who you are ❤️)

archive.is/BtZD0

Airbnb Host Accused of Using AI to Fake $16K in Damage A woman booked an Airbnb for two and a half months, left after seven weeks, and thought that was the end of it...

"[Airbnb] warned the [host accused of using AI to fake $16K in damage] that another incident could get him kicked off the platform."

www.vice.com/en/article/a...

We have today been present in Chester, engaging with the public and making the case for a fairer and more proportional voting system. #Chester #PRnow #ProportionalRepresentation

What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry. Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto. It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.

Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

The briefest and most brilliant of careers. I will poison a pigeon in the park in his honour.

RIP Tom Lehrer - the day he announced his items were public domain on a website, we mirrored it. Thank you for your service

archive.org/details/toml...

carriereichardt.com/mosaic-house

FCC to Appoint a Babysitter to Make Sure CBS Isn't Anti-Trump FCC commissioner Brendan Carr says CBS will have a

The Republican party has whittled the Constitution down to just the 2nd Amendment.

gizmodo.com/fcc-to-appoi...

Parliamentary democracy works on the principle that ministers are accountable to MPs, and must retain their confidence in order to govern.

It becomes a total farce if a refusal to vote as the leadership instructs is treated as a disciplinary offence, punishable by expulsion and deselection.

Keir Starmer to young people:

More broadly, this weird sect of mainstream right-adjacent in Britain is a bit of a curiosity. Even the nuttier wing of the OVP aren't this weird. How much is down to the historic two-party system pushing the freaks in with the normals, giving them outsized influence and relevance?

Could a combination of voter education and deals between candidates help address the misuse of 2nd votes?

​English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill​: Guidance

🗳️ The supplementary vote electoral system is returning for Mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners.

This is part of the ​government's English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, published yesterday.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

So, I don’t know if this is already common knowledge, but you know how youtube doesn’t let you just listen on your phone with the screen off? Like they make you pay for their premium service to do that?

Yeah, youtube videos embedded on bluesky still play in the app with the screen off ☺️

Calm Down—Your Phone Isn’t Listening to Your Conversations. It’s Just Tracking Everything You Type, Every App You Use, Every Website You Visit, and Everywhere You Go in the Physical World It’s a universal modern-life experience to talk about something and immediately see an ad that seems like it must be a result of that conversation....

"In reality, they already know all those things because they know what news sources you read, the contents of your emails, what WebMD pages you’ve visited, and how long you’ve spent at which church, synagogue, mosque, or ethical humanist center."

@salvador-dali.bsky.social

1 woman and 2 man in front of the Make Votes Matter gazebo in Broad Street Reading in the middle of the day. Landscape mode.

1 woman and 2 man in front of the Make Votes Matter gazebo in Broad Street Reading in the middle of the day. Portrait mode.

2 woman and a man in front of the Make Votes Matter gazebo in Broad Street Reading early in the day.

Spent yesterday having fun conversations with passers by in Broad Street Reading discussing the problems with our democracy and voting in particular at the @mvmreading.bsky.social gazebo. Lots of interest. #PRnow

It has been one year since the most disproportionate General Election in history. We are engaging with the Warrington public on the very worrying state of British Democracy. #PRnow

Well done to everyone taking part in the Democracy Action Weekend ☀️

The movement for Proportional Representation is gaining momentum.

Up and down the country, people want their votes to matter and Westminster to reflect the views of the public. #PRnow

I have been involved in two events this weekend for the Make Votes Matter Action Weekend, in Warrington and today's Northern Rally in Manchester. Had some good interactions with members of the public and the campaign for equal votes is one I am so proud to be involved in. #PRnow