Oliver Townsend

Why is this a perfect analysis

The truth about impartiality at the BBC And the hysteria of the current "crisis"

Excellent piece by @lewisgoodall.com on the BBC mess and how the principle of impartiality has been distorted open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

No culpa mea or otherwise, needed! It was just one of those things that seemed extremely odd so I was fascinated by the context. But makes some sort of sense as it’s the whole “keep the SNP out” nonsense.

Am I misunderstanding a local Edinburgh political subtlety? It looks like there’s 17 SNP, 14 LD, 11 Lab? Doesn’t massively dispute your overall point, but they’re not the biggest group?

It's always good to see priests who still remember there are *seven* Catholic social principles. Also, that noise you hear is the USCCB screeching to the Vatican and getting back nothing, lol

Another piece of (excellent) research showing that support for the far-right is never going to be driven purely by either 'culture' or 'economics'. Inevitably, both are involved - and they're often inseparable.

Sadly not! But thank you for the name - might add it to my list!

Since Google search has been so enshittified, I’m hoping someone on #booksky with #fantasy knowledge can help. A few years ago I read a GREAT book from the library, a fantasy “real world” medieval setting with Edward III, and Roger Mortimer, and Isabella, and there were angels/demons? Any ideas?

So much of the absurdity in how some elites talk about Charlie Kirk—or navigate the authoritarian politics of this regime—stems from political science’s and the elite class’s fixation on polarization, and the misguided belief that it’s inherently bad and that the “remedy” is civil submission.

Our new BARN Cymru poll run with @itvcymruwales.bsky.social and @yougov.co.uk has landed 📈 #Senedd26 #Wales #Cymru

Really good to see initiatives like this. One excellent way to get much needed resource into social housing. Reliable, long-term, decent investment. And will have huge positive impact on the city and people living there.

It’s also such an open goal for Labour against Reform. Lots of parents benefit from SEND support (not enough), and you have Tice et al suggesting there’s too much SEND. Labour could absolutely use this as a wedge issue that also means more parents get the support they need.

Yes, an incoming illiberal and radical UK government would have absolute constitutional power Only good fortune has prevented previous governments from misusing our constitutional arrangements more than they did

Profoundly important from @davidallengreen.bsky.social. The lack of meaningful restraints against executing power in our system leaves us utterly exposed in the face of a Reform government. They could do whatever they want.

open.substack.com/pub/emptycit...

I am one of the 14 authors who chose to leave the Polari Prize, and I find myself frustrated and saddened at the way this entire story has been represented. 1/

That’s M&S gone from my list then. And I hope the employee has good legal advice as this doesn’t sound like a safe working environment.

Look I know this is hard to reckon with but we don’t have time any longer to wait for you to catch up.

This Labour government is in fact worse than the last 15 years of Tory led governments. For us all.

And talking specifically about our LGBTQIA+ sector for a second… we need to acknowledge this.

The trans rights stitch-up: How the government plans to silence parliamentary debate on the most far-reaching restriction of minority rights in our lifetime open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...

Didn’t have John Redwood as a nascent Welsh independence supporter.

At no point in this study did I use AI. This includes the literature review, logical organization, writing, analysis, and proofreading. I do not cite any studies that use AI, to the extent that it is possible to know.

Yesterday I used this "AI -Free Statement" in a conference talk for the first time. Still trying to figure out the exact language.

Feel free to borrow, modify, etc.

Wonder if the good old Church of Satan can pull a few court cases where they object to the “Good Book” on the basis of religious grounds, or religious parents who hold a belief other than Christianity filing a case against the use of the Bible.

Government's math recruitment problem

The maths problem you have to solve to become one of the Government's new disruptors. Which shows the same diagnostic error as Cummings: state reform as a complicated rather than complex challenge. It will attract some good people so no harm. But won't confront fundamental institutional challenges.

Anyway, Happy Pride, from a gay man who is happily married in what had, prior to a change in understanding, been an exclusively heterosexually defined institution.

…and I would suggest we look more towards vested interests, powerful ideologues, a corporatist world system that seeks to maintain control… and their own wish to obstruct truth and obscure reality, than postmodern academics critiquing how we understand the world.

…and an understanding that different cultures, communities and people have different understandings of the world, is hardly the “death of objective truth”, it is recognising that what was seen as THE truth, is A truth. Postmodernism is a helpful critique of dominant ideas…

I know this is a pretty niche part of the “fascist slide” discourse, but how on earth are postmodernists being blamed for this? A critique of the ways in which knowledge is gathered, an acknowledgement that the modes of research and data gathering are often controlled by “in-groups”…

Labour in Wales were frenziedly spinning the Spending Review claiming how they delivered a good deal for Wales.

The truth is that Labour run Wales is one of the losers, while SNP run Scotland has gained.

Can someone explain to me how this partnership in power thing is working?

Ooooommmmggggggg

My god

Person dressed as a knight with a trans flag and a cape with a trans flag shield that says “Trans Knights are human Knights”

This absolute icon at Canterbury Pride 🩷🤍🩵