Rob Hattersley

Over 50 Academics Warn That Voting System Is Not Fit For Multi-Party Politics Dozens of academics have written to the government to warn that the current voting system risks producing distorted results on an 'unprecedented' s...

Over 50 academics have written to the government warning them about the likely impact of First Past the Post at the next election. General elections shouldn't be a random government generator.

Is No 10 seeking its own destruction? Why else would it botch its council plans and hand a victory to Farage? | Polly Toynbee Labour promised ‘ambitious reforms’, but it was fixing things that were not broken. And the moral: focus on what matters and stop making stupid mistakes, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

We need a more local, local democracy - we already have many fewer local elected representatives than most similar countries and England's local councillors have been vanishing fast “from 75,000 in 1965, to only 11,000 that will be left after this" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Is No 10 seeking its own destruction? Why else would it botch its council plans and hand a victory to Farage? | Polly Toynbee Labour promised ‘ambitious reforms’, but it was fixing things that were not broken. And the moral: focus on what matters and stop making stupid mistakes, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

Very good from Polly Toynbee on Labour’s perverse messing with local government structures - pointlessly disruptive, costly and a boost for political opponents when there’s so much that actually needs fixing: SEND, social care etc. Do better.

UK bank bosses plan to set up Visa and Mastercard alternative over Trump fears Exclusive: First meeting to be held over domestic payments system aimed at reducing reliance on US networks UK bank bosses will hold their first meeting to establish a national alternative to Visa and Mastercard, amid growing fears over Donald Trump’s ability to turn off US-owned payment systems. The meeting, chaired by Barclays’ UK chief executive, Vim Maru, will take place this Thursday and bring together a group of City funders that will front the costs of a new payments company to keep the UK economy running if problems were to occur. Continue reading...

UK bank bosses plan to set up Visa and Mastercard alternative over Trump fears

Cliff collapse at Stonebarrow closes South West Coast Path Dorset Council says it has closed the coast path and is working on a diversion.

Holy moly, that’s a big cliff fall near Charmouth #Dorset www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A great thread relevant to Dorchester, our town centre and @reconnection.org.uk

A grass covered ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort with a road bottom right and trees behind

Abbotsbury Castle is a roughly triangular multivallate Iron Age hillfort encircling 1.8ha of a limestone outcrop overlooking the Jurassic Coast betwixt Bridport and Weymouth in Dorset

We love it 😍

Here looking NE dominating the B3157 coast road

📷 © Jo and Sue Crane 2016

#HillfortsWednesday

The view the other way towards Lyme Regis is stunning! What a place to ‘fort’.

If Reform ever wins power in Westminster, it will be because of Labour’s cowardice | George Monbiot Starmer could improve our unfair electoral system to stop the hard right, but he won’t. All the party has left are threats about ‘splitting the vote’, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Regardless of which party you support, this is a key point by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social:

"With Proportional Representation, no one would ever need to worry about splitting the vote again. We could vote for the parties we actually wanted."

Wouldn't that be nice? To vote with hope, not fear?

And we still keep hearing that First Past the Post delivers "strong and stable" governments... 👀

I suspect it will be underwater before it’s finished.

But if we are going to do this, let’s make it a heritage attraction, for ceremonies like the opening of parliament only, and move parliament north in purpose built premises.

Surely it’s the silly electoral system that does that. No voter knows how others will actually vote so it doesn’t seem fair if they guess wrong tactically, esp given all the misinformation around. We *should* be able to vote for who we want and know the system will represent that.

[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.] JANET: Ugh... LIZ: What's up? JANET: I am so bored of cooking peas! LIZ: Have you tried... AI peas? JANET: AI peas? LIZ: They're peas with AI! [Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI]. LIZ: Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas JANET: What LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines] Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas? [Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it] LIZ: Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine [Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas] LIZ: With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas! JANET: What LIZ: Shut up LIZ: Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow From opening the bag of peas to boiling the peas to eating the peas To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means. JANET: Is it really necessary to- LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]: THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET [Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan: AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas. [Ends]

Every ad now

Sylvia Townsend Warner: Dorchester's first non-royal woman statue The statue of writer Sylvia Townsend Warner will be installed in Dorchester town centre.

Hi @clairemabey.bsky.social Followed you for the NZ connection, but you might be interested in this. Installed just before Xmas in #DorchesterDorset. Will try to find photo. Nice statue right in the town centre. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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...

In Davos, the rich talk about ‘global threats’. Here’s why they’re silent about the biggest of them all | Ingrid Robeyns Economic inequality is at the heart of all humanity’s major problems, but the wealthiest refuse to confront a system that benefits them, says economist and historian Ingrid Robeyns

"there are two paths for our future: either we will witness global societal collapse, or we will radically change the way we organise our societies." Global collapse here we come then..?
www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...

Interesting move here. Been looking @proton.me for similar reasons. #sovereignty #data #resilience

Interesting move. Been looking at Proton (Swiss, but available in Uk) for the same reasons.

HISTORIC HEAT IN AUSTRALIA
Climatic history is set to be rewritten with an absolutely deadly week:
Today 48.5C in South Australia,47.2 New South Wales,
45.3 Queensland,45.0 Victoria

‼️We might expect 7 CONSECUTIVE DAYS >46C in New South Wales and we can't rule out 50C.
A HELL

Masterclass in public comms: clear info on bread and butter issues; relatable; encouraging the best in us; use of humour

I propose reviving Clement Attlee!

Funny thing is I think Starmer could do the job, he’s just choosing not to with almost every decision. I find it bizarre tbh. Far too reliant on MS as you say.

Still quite a risky strategy for Burnham, and sends the wrong message on importance of devolution.

You’re probably right. I’ve just developed an allergy to personality politics and Messiah complexes! Here’s hoping!

I’m deeply disappointed by Starmer. But I think we’d do better by tackling problems themselves than this continual focus on personalities.

Devolution IS part of the answer to our problems but it won’t work if politicians think they need to graduate to Westminster all the time instead of valuing their regional roles. Disappointing.

Because our problems aren’t complex and everything will be fine if we just switch leader… again. Honestly. When will we grow up?

YouTube video by Green Party of England & Wales 🎵 Change The Tune - Green Party Election Broadcast (2015)

I remember liking this one from 2015 (not that it had a huge impact) youtu.be/PPgS7p40ERg?...

As the world finally punches back, was this the week Donald Trump went too far? | Jonathan Freedland The US president took his bullying doctrine to Davos and hit a wall of opposition. If this creates a new western alliance against him, all to the good, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

“The world we knew is dying, slain by the would-be emperor on the Potomac. But something else became visible this week: a new world waiting to be born.” Great analysis from @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

Stakeholders have their say on the project - read full report on a very well attended and lively event hosted by @dorchesterarts.bsky.social and the Town Council reconnection.org.uk/2026/01/13/s...

National security threatened by climate crisis, UK intelligence chiefs due to warn Report by joint intelligence committee delayed, with concerns expressed that it may not be published

www.theguardian.com/environment/...