Alix Mortimer
@alixmortimer.bsky.social
I(i)mpact and engagement for my brilliant colleagues in politics, economics, social sciences @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social. Often I dream of islands.
🚢 ships
🏺archaeology
🏰 medieval history
🇭🇷 učim Hrvatski
Can’t see DMs, sorry!
🚢 ships
🏺archaeology
🏰 medieval history
🇭🇷 učim Hrvatski
Can’t see DMs, sorry!
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
The idea that within a notoriously glacial system you can tinker - during the cycle no less - with a framework that rewards past performance, and hope that this leads to more strategic outcomes is... bold.
REF changes ‘to help deliver new UKRI objectives’, says Ian Chapman
National funding agency handed new targets tied to government priorities as part of R&D revamp
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
National funding agency handed new targets tied to government priorities as part of R&D revamp
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
REF changes ‘to help deliver new UKRI objectives’, says Chapman - Research Professional News
National funding agency handed new targets tied to government priorities as part of R&D revamp
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:01 PM
The idea that within a notoriously glacial system you can tinker - during the cycle no less - with a framework that rewards past performance, and hope that this leads to more strategic outcomes is... bold.
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
🚨🚨🚨 Job alert! 🚨🚨🚨
The Department of Political Economy @kcl-spe.bsky.social are hiring a permanent Lecturer in Economics. It's a fantastic department that's really going places.
Please share widely!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPL723/l...
The Department of Political Economy @kcl-spe.bsky.social are hiring a permanent Lecturer in Economics. It's a fantastic department that's really going places.
Please share widely!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPL723/l...
Lecturer in Economics at King's College London
Apply for the Lecturer in Economics role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
www.jobs.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 8:46 AM
🚨🚨🚨 Job alert! 🚨🚨🚨
The Department of Political Economy @kcl-spe.bsky.social are hiring a permanent Lecturer in Economics. It's a fantastic department that's really going places.
Please share widely!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPL723/l...
The Department of Political Economy @kcl-spe.bsky.social are hiring a permanent Lecturer in Economics. It's a fantastic department that's really going places.
Please share widely!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPL723/l...
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
Toby Young, self-appointed king of free speech, is speaking in Hungary tomorrow about UK “censorship”.
He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
Toby Young to Address Orbán-Backed Group on UK ‘Censorship’
Conservative peer and right-wing commentator Toby Young is due to deliver a talk tomorrow (25 November) at the in-house think tank of Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán. Young is being interviewed by Mat...
www.desmog.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Toby Young, self-appointed king of free speech, is speaking in Hungary tomorrow about UK “censorship”.
He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
This is useful recent research on how the “bot” category breaks down into people and actual bots - “inauthentic participation” is the unifier www.kcl.ac.uk/orchestrated...
Orchestrated Crowds: Rethinking Inauthentic Participation in Digital…
What is driving online communication today?
www.kcl.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 8:37 PM
This is useful recent research on how the “bot” category breaks down into people and actual bots - “inauthentic participation” is the unifier www.kcl.ac.uk/orchestrated...
Do we know if anyone managed to scrape any Twitter location data? I gather the roll-out has now been hurriedly unrolled
We urgently need to know how many of these accounts have been spreading/amplifying hate, division and instability in Britain. We already know that a foreign actor - Elon Musk - promoted violent overthrow of the government. Has his platform been enabling foreign adversaries to do the same?
This is one of the big accounts boosting Tommy Robinson, Farage and Reform and ‘English Patriots’.
It’s Russian.
It’s Russian.
November 24, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Do we know if anyone managed to scrape any Twitter location data? I gather the roll-out has now been hurriedly unrolled
Srsly this statement has a built-in stirring music soundtrack somehow, that’s very clever
Sen. Mark Kelly has released a statement.
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."
November 24, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Srsly this statement has a built-in stirring music soundtrack somehow, that’s very clever
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
Sen. Mark Kelly has released a statement.
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."
November 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Sen. Mark Kelly has released a statement.
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."
The thing that’s enraging me is that sufficiently experienced pre-modern midwives would also likely have done the yanking. Yanking when necessary is in fact a part of ancient female wisdom! There’s no direct comparison because of better nutrition etc but I imagine their outcomes are sub-medieval.
November 23, 2025 at 10:11 AM
The thing that’s enraging me is that sufficiently experienced pre-modern midwives would also likely have done the yanking. Yanking when necessary is in fact a part of ancient female wisdom! There’s no direct comparison because of better nutrition etc but I imagine their outcomes are sub-medieval.
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
It's going to be fascinating if Twitter gets properly regulated again and there are localised economic collapses because the rage farmers of developing countries lose their income.
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
November 23, 2025 at 9:25 AM
It's going to be fascinating if Twitter gets properly regulated again and there are localised economic collapses because the rage farmers of developing countries lose their income.
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
"Unfortunately, due to a terrible miscalculation of scale, the entire 28-point peace plan was eaten by a small dog."
November 23, 2025 at 12:14 AM
"Unfortunately, due to a terrible miscalculation of scale, the entire 28-point peace plan was eaten by a small dog."
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
Yes! This is so important! Machine Learning is doing wonderful things like mapping Martian craters and analyzing microbe genomes. LLMs are a very specific form & it’s them doing these huge amounts of harm. I also sometimes say “Gen AI”
when I mean both LLMs and art generators; I try to never say AI
when I mean both LLMs and art generators; I try to never say AI
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Yes! This is so important! Machine Learning is doing wonderful things like mapping Martian craters and analyzing microbe genomes. LLMs are a very specific form & it’s them doing these huge amounts of harm. I also sometimes say “Gen AI”
when I mean both LLMs and art generators; I try to never say AI
when I mean both LLMs and art generators; I try to never say AI
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
Please hear me when I say that
1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements
2) they pre-date the age of social media
3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence
1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements
2) they pre-date the age of social media
3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.
Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Please hear me when I say that
1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements
2) they pre-date the age of social media
3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence
1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements
2) they pre-date the age of social media
3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence
Could be a sort of tragedy of the commons of enshittification going on where tech firms all nibble away at our tolerance with AI tools and crap updates etc and no-one has the incentive to stop, but cumulatively the marginal effects add up and steer behaviour. Away from… online?
November 22, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Could be a sort of tragedy of the commons of enshittification going on where tech firms all nibble away at our tolerance with AI tools and crap updates etc and no-one has the incentive to stop, but cumulatively the marginal effects add up and steer behaviour. Away from… online?
Do you find you’re literally - I don’t know how to put this - using the internet less? Because I am, and I don’t know what that means or if anyone has really reckoned on it.
November 22, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Do you find you’re literally - I don’t know how to put this - using the internet less? Because I am, and I don’t know what that means or if anyone has really reckoned on it.
It’s a bit emblematic of the way these people would be so lost in an actual traditional economy with all its tiresome cooperation, bartering and resource management etc.
November 22, 2025 at 8:54 AM
It’s a bit emblematic of the way these people would be so lost in an actual traditional economy with all its tiresome cooperation, bartering and resource management etc.
Idk though, do you check the CCTV each morning?
November 22, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Idk though, do you check the CCTV each morning?
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
A quick run through of the Trump administration's proposal for a Ukraine security guarantee, which is a security guarantee in the same way that the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is a party committed to liberalism and democracy. 🧵 x.com/BarakRavid/s...
Barak Ravid on X: "FULL TEXT OF THE U.S. DRAFT PROPOSAL FOR A UKRAINE SECURITY GUARANTEE: 🚨This Framework establishes the conditions for an armistice between Ukraine and the Russian Federation and provides a security assurance modeled on the principles of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty," / X
FULL TEXT OF THE U.S. DRAFT PROPOSAL FOR A UKRAINE SECURITY GUARANTEE: 🚨This Framework establishes the conditions for an armistice between Ukraine and the Russian Federation and provides a security assurance modeled on the principles of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty,
x.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:07 PM
A quick run through of the Trump administration's proposal for a Ukraine security guarantee, which is a security guarantee in the same way that the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is a party committed to liberalism and democracy. 🧵 x.com/BarakRavid/s...
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
FT investigation:
Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing.
If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing.
If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
November 21, 2025 at 12:46 PM
FT investigation:
Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing.
If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing.
If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
In highly important news from history today, it’s the 80th anniversary of the 21st birthday of Christopher Tolkien, notable now for the wording (especially the small print) of the invitation to the party
November 21, 2025 at 9:55 AM
In highly important news from history today, it’s the 80th anniversary of the 21st birthday of Christopher Tolkien, notable now for the wording (especially the small print) of the invitation to the party
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
Bōtīc Bōtfǣcesson?
November 21, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Bōtīc Bōtfǣcesson?
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
European political scientists are blue in the face from constantly pointing out that accommodating the far right does not help centre-left parties win, and contributes to the rise of far-right parties. There's a mountain of data to support that.
But no, the galaxy-brained strategists must be right.
But no, the galaxy-brained strategists must be right.
November 18, 2025 at 11:58 AM
European political scientists are blue in the face from constantly pointing out that accommodating the far right does not help centre-left parties win, and contributes to the rise of far-right parties. There's a mountain of data to support that.
But no, the galaxy-brained strategists must be right.
But no, the galaxy-brained strategists must be right.
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
The Danish Social Democrats are currently on course for their worst election result since at least the Second World War, despite their brand of far-right accommodationism being touted as a blueprint for other centre-left parties.
November 18, 2025 at 11:58 AM
The Danish Social Democrats are currently on course for their worst election result since at least the Second World War, despite their brand of far-right accommodationism being touted as a blueprint for other centre-left parties.
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
I sometimes feel like I am going mad.
Owning a £1.5m home is not normal in London or the South East of England.
Owning a £1.5m home is not normal in London or the South East of England.
November 20, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I sometimes feel like I am going mad.
Owning a £1.5m home is not normal in London or the South East of England.
Owning a £1.5m home is not normal in London or the South East of England.
I know it’s attributed speech but I can’t get over “an attempt to humanise… [humans]”
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
London's giant AI artwork to be torn down
The bizarre story of why a much-talked-about creation is being torn down. Plus: Docklands Light Railway extension, giant laser stalks the night sky, and more tales of Android phone theft rejection.
www.londoncentric.media
November 20, 2025 at 10:08 AM
I know it’s attributed speech but I can’t get over “an attempt to humanise… [humans]”
Reposted by Alix Mortimer
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
London's giant AI artwork to be torn down
The bizarre story of why a much-talked-about creation is being torn down. Plus: Docklands Light Railway extension, giant laser stalks the night sky, and more tales of Android phone theft rejection.
www.londoncentric.media
November 20, 2025 at 7:18 AM
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...