Stephen H. Jones

Building stuff temporarily pisses a lot of people off. Any politician who wants to build stuff but can't address that reality isn't really serious. (Though tbh, that covers almost all politicians, especially our last PM.)

Example: Near where I live, Tata Chemicals is trying to build a solar farm on contaminated wasteland. Every local councillor - most of them Labour - is opposed because building it will temporarily increase traffic. The Planning Inspectorate is pushing it through anyway.

I'm pretty positively disposed towards Polanski but this reveals an unresolvable contradiction. You can't delegate power to the 'most local possible level' and rapidly introduce green energy infrastructure. You just can't/

Jess Gill c. 1590. I wille notte eate ye ungodlie ‘potatoe’ for itte is heathene foode. I onlie feaste on trew borne englishe dishes lyke eeles and puddyng

Maccabi TLV fans are at risk of antisemitic attacks by antisemites (as they were in Amsterdam), and Muslims are at risk of anti-Muslim attacks by some Maccabi TLV fans (as they were in Amsterdam)

Why do so many struggle to hold multiple facts at once? I feel like I’m losing my mind

Screenshot of a Facebook post featuring three of the Portland protesters wearing inflatable frog costumes with the following text: Episcopalians on Facebook Elizabeth Rose Elrod • 22h • Exodus 8:2-6 "But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs... The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials."

you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you

This has been happening to Muslim organisations for years. The difference now, perhaps, is that the Miller/Bristol Uni precedent means these people might be able to sue (and I hope they do).

In the Fourth Person | Christopher Tayler In 1896 the French writer Alfred Jarry gave a speech introducing his play Ubu Roi, a pioneering work of avant-garde provocation, at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre

“There’s an insistent analogy in Tokarczuk’s work...between the arbitrarily constructed qualities of gender roles and the arbitrarily constructed qualities of nation-states.” —Christopher Tayler

The poem in question.

Today feels a lot like the famous Mahmoud Darwish poem about the end of war, except in this case the leaders aren't shaking hands, everyone knows who sold the land, and the old woman, the girl and the children have all been killed.

Throughout, Israelis are described as killed *by* Hamas, while Palestinians are killed *in* the conflict. Whoever drafted and enforces these infernal style guidelines, insisting that all Palestinian casualty numbers are queried as they are reported, I hope it weighs heavy on their soul.

Hamas presses Israel to free prominent prisoners as part of Gaza deal It is unclear if disagreement over the list of Palestinian prisoners will affect the release of hostages within the agreed 72 hours.

BBC coverage of Gaza really has been appalling. This is a case in point. All that is said about Barghouti is that he was 'convicted of deadly attacks'. Nothing on the fairness of his trial, the prison beatings, his two state advocacy, or his diplomacy and campaigning./
www.bbc.com/news/article...

zensnapple's comment on "Is there a real way to shut off the Google AI overview for searches, or am i switching browsers and search engines?" Explore this conversation and more from the techsupport community

Finally looked up how to get rid of Google‘s automatic AI answers (and the attached waste of resources) and it‘s so easy! What relief. 😅

www.reddit.com/r/techsuppor...

Having illustrated the problem of X ignoring its legal duties, I want to build an effective coalition for intervention. If you are or know people on X receiving racist abuse, rape threats, I would welcome receipts of one rejected attempt to report to the platform an indefensible case

I have been working on a book about the separation of church and state for God knows how many years and I somehow never saw this quote from George H.W. Bush on being shot down over the South Pacific during World War II.

Race and religious hate crime rises in England and Wales, figures suggest The number of police-recorded race and religious hate crimes have increased in the year to March.

Hate crimes are up for the first time in three years? Complete mystery about how we got here.

All my comics have happy endings!

Best song ever!

A reminder of how Mrs Thatcher's Conservative party in 1983, an era featuring much more widespread racial prejudice in the public, approached the issue of race and national identity:

Jenrick being the loudest member of the Conservative party has already been a huge contributor to the poisoning of our politics. We really don't need any four-dimensional chess about him becoming leader. When it happens, it will be a terrible day for our country.

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

University of Chicago Professor Arrested at Anti-ICE Protest Assistant professor Eman Abdelhadi was charged with two counts of aggravated battery to a police officer, a class 3 felony, and two counts of resisting and obstructing peace, a class A misdemeanor, af...

This is a scary situation. Academic folks in the UK should be paying more attention to it than they are.
chicagomaroon.com/48606/news/u...

The far-right is never conservative. It always attacks established social institutions, the ones important for democracy and social peace. Because it knows they will be a source of opposition.

Two years after 7 October and the kidnap of my parents, hate is in fashion. For all our sakes, we need compassion | Sharone Lifschitz So many were killed – yet on her release, my mother said ‘shalom’ to her captors. Let’s learn from that moment of grace, says Sharone Lifschitz, London-based film-maker and academic

It is so important to acknowledge that some of those most directly involved in 7 October are some of the most reluctant to endorse its consequences. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

I’m old enough to remember when a comment like this would have been a resigning matter…

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David is slightly unfair. There is a clear difference here.

Conservatives and Reform plan to forcibly expel large numbers of people who are legal, permanent residents of migrant origin. The BNP proposal is voluntary.

I had zero idea, until today, who the current shadow chancellor is. Given how nerdy I am about politics, this tells you a lot about how vacant the Tories have become.