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Reposted by Ben Dunnell

Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 11h

I bang on about this a lot: I think the combination of a global pandemic, underregulated internet/SM, collapse/corruption of trustworthy media, plus now unregulated genAI, is a wildly toxic environment for radicalisation & mental health. We see the results of that in our politics & lives every day

James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 1d

Everyone knows at least one person (normally, but not exclusively, a guy) whose gone properly mental due to net rabbit holes.

We see public figures regularly go mad and destroy themselves.

And we have, at a policy level, just decided to put our fingers in our ears and go nahnahnah

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 1d

Last night I heard of another friend of a friend who has been lost to a rabbit hole of online propaganda. We need to start treating this as a serious public health concern.

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 20h

So long as they’re also taught about how Clarkson only started his farm to take advantage of a tax loophole.

The Times & Sunday Times @thetimes.com · 1d

Kaleb Cooper, the breakout star of Clarkson’s Farm, has called for farming to be taught in schools so that children understand where their food comes from ⬇️

Teach farming in schools, says Kaleb Cooper — it saved me

The star of the TV series Clarkson’s Farm tells the Cheltenham Literature Festival that ‘everyone should know how to grow potatoes and other vegetables’

www.thetimes.com

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 22h

Locations still bearing a Charter Mark sign, left over from John Major’s Citizens’ Charter.

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 22h

What policy themed visitor trail would you do upon retirement? I would pilgrimage to visit the 100 Rishi Sunak outdoor chess sets around the country. I genuinely think it would be one of those fun random things that would take me to places I’d never otherwise go to

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 22h

I think about Dinenage quite a lot. Absolutely fascinated by his style of turning even a daytime quiz into something requiring as stern an approach as a superpower summit.

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 22h

Yep.

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Reposted by Ben Dunnell

Rick Burin @rickburin.bsky.social · 1d

What makes you proud to be British? For me, this is right up there.

A one-star review from a Texan tourist visiting Liverpool:

freddytexan (16 reviews)
“My wife and I visted Liverpool for our 30th wedding anniversary from Texas. Our evening was ruined when a man dressed as an adult baby called my wife a "Mad yank slut" because she'd never heard of a band called Steps.”

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Reposted by Ben Dunnell

Richard Littler @richardlittler.bsky.social · 23h

🧵Thread. I collect photos that people took of their TV screens (in the days before video) because they wanted to capture a historical moment, or at least something that meant something to them.

1950s/60s? shot of a TV screen. Female presenter

1950s/60s shot of a TV screen. Unknown guitarists

Blurry pink shot of a TV screen. Women in evening dress

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 23h

Absolutely splendid, once again.

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 23h

And the bits about the sets in particular. Terrific research.

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 23h

Loved this as well.

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Reposted by Ben Dunnell

Matt Owen @mjowen174.bsky.social · 1d

If you could please do us a favour and RT (or whatever it is on here) my writing CV I would be extremely grateful. I am a very capable writer of words, mainly “humorous”’ and if you have some PROPER paid work for me, please DM me. Thank you for your time www.mathew-owen.co.uk

Home | Matt Owen | Freelance Writer

I offer a broad and diverse range of writing services. Get in touch!

www.mathew-owen.co.uk

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 23h

Honestly, Polanski is such a showboater, and it’s a very good thing for him that there isn’t more focus on the Greens’ policies, because a lot of those will fall apart in an instant.

Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 23h

What about you saying you think it’s right for us to leave NATO? Is that impersonal enough for you?

Bold Politics with Zack Polanski @boldpolitics.bsky.social · 1d

"I'm not surprised the personal attacks have started. They've got loads of lines: about my teeth, about my history as an actor, about my name change... the right just don't actually have a line of attack against me that's political"

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 23h

What a dreadful person. I don’t like saying that about people, but really, there are limits.

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 23h

Ha ha. Yes. As a side issue, I love how every programme like this from the era is introduced like a meeting, with a list of agenda items to tick off.

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 1d

I have. Talk about interviewer and guest not being suited to one another.

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Reposted by Ben Dunnell

Alan White @aljwhite.bsky.social · 1d

I ❤️ Viz

A letter to viz on why we should be removing British objects from people’s rectums, not foreign ones

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 1d

A gibbon playing a piano would make me very happy.

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 1d

Why does *no-one* ever confront them over this arrant bollocks?

Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 1d

Ugh.

Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 1d

Being in Birmingham New Street is bad enough. Being near someone playing random notes, totally drowning out anything *you* might want to listen to, is utterly dreadful.

Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 1d

Pianos in stations. An absolutely fucking awful idea. Can’t imagine what it must be like to work all day near one.

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Reposted by Ben Dunnell

Jason Sinclair @jsinclair.bsky.social · 1d

When you've just divorced Dave

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Ben Dunnell @bendunnell.bsky.social · 1d

Agree completely. As for the general demeanour of the news, Newsround 35-40 years ago was genuinely more serious than the proper news is now.

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Reposted by Ben Dunnell

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 1d

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

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