David Allsopp
@doublehelix.bsky.social
Scientist turned software engineer. He/him
🏹 Field archery 🐀 Rats 😷 COVID cautious 🏃 Parkrun
https://medium.com/@davidallsopp
@[email protected]
@doublehelix on the birdsite
🏹 Field archery 🐀 Rats 😷 COVID cautious 🏃 Parkrun
https://medium.com/@davidallsopp
@[email protected]
@doublehelix on the birdsite
Pinned
David Allsopp
@doublehelix.bsky.social
· Nov 17
“Sex-based rights” are contradictory nonsense
The term is a dog-whistle slogan, coined just to exclude trans people, with multiple meanings — none of which make sense.
medium.com
A short thread of my essays on Medium - mostly debunking anti-trans disinformation and other bigotry
1) "Sex-based rights" are contradictory nonsense
The term is a dog-whistle slogan, coined just to exclude trans people, with multiple meanings — none of which make sense
medium.com/@davidallsop...
1) "Sex-based rights" are contradictory nonsense
The term is a dog-whistle slogan, coined just to exclude trans people, with multiple meanings — none of which make sense
medium.com/@davidallsop...
Reposted by David Allsopp
The government has discovered regulating social media is Hard (it's good at passing Tough Laws and then useless at enforcing them), so it's now going for the much easier job of just restricting the freedom of teenagers.
February 16, 2026 at 10:01 AM
The government has discovered regulating social media is Hard (it's good at passing Tough Laws and then useless at enforcing them), so it's now going for the much easier job of just restricting the freedom of teenagers.
"the AI was wrong in unpredictable ways".
AI can help with "write a function that does X" where X is hard to write but immediately testable. Or "rephrase this sentence concisely".
Churning out reams of text, in which *every single detail could be completely made up & wrong* is not actually helpful
AI can help with "write a function that does X" where X is hard to write but immediately testable. Or "rephrase this sentence concisely".
Churning out reams of text, in which *every single detail could be completely made up & wrong* is not actually helpful
We did this experiment at my former job. The highest paid employees (editors) ended up putting hours into editing and fact checking stories because the AI was wrong in unpredictable ways. Between coming up with the story idea, prompting, and editing they were the most expensive stories we did.
“We plan to hire an AI rewrite specialist to ingest the reporting by Hannah and others and use AI to convert it into stories.”
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
February 16, 2026 at 10:45 PM
"the AI was wrong in unpredictable ways".
AI can help with "write a function that does X" where X is hard to write but immediately testable. Or "rephrase this sentence concisely".
Churning out reams of text, in which *every single detail could be completely made up & wrong* is not actually helpful
AI can help with "write a function that does X" where X is hard to write but immediately testable. Or "rephrase this sentence concisely".
Churning out reams of text, in which *every single detail could be completely made up & wrong* is not actually helpful
Reposted by David Allsopp
I am pleased the Government has done another u turn.
Attempting to cancel elections, on top of scrapping jury trials, mandatory ID cards, criminalising peaceful protest and harassment of journalists is part of a disturbing authoritarian trend of this caretaker Prime Minister.
Attempting to cancel elections, on top of scrapping jury trials, mandatory ID cards, criminalising peaceful protest and harassment of journalists is part of a disturbing authoritarian trend of this caretaker Prime Minister.
Breaking: UK government is confirming it’s dropped plans to delay local elections at 30 English councils
February 16, 2026 at 3:07 PM
I am pleased the Government has done another u turn.
Attempting to cancel elections, on top of scrapping jury trials, mandatory ID cards, criminalising peaceful protest and harassment of journalists is part of a disturbing authoritarian trend of this caretaker Prime Minister.
Attempting to cancel elections, on top of scrapping jury trials, mandatory ID cards, criminalising peaceful protest and harassment of journalists is part of a disturbing authoritarian trend of this caretaker Prime Minister.
Reposted by David Allsopp
We did this experiment at my former job. The highest paid employees (editors) ended up putting hours into editing and fact checking stories because the AI was wrong in unpredictable ways. Between coming up with the story idea, prompting, and editing they were the most expensive stories we did.
“We plan to hire an AI rewrite specialist to ingest the reporting by Hannah and others and use AI to convert it into stories.”
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
February 16, 2026 at 6:28 PM
We did this experiment at my former job. The highest paid employees (editors) ended up putting hours into editing and fact checking stories because the AI was wrong in unpredictable ways. Between coming up with the story idea, prompting, and editing they were the most expensive stories we did.
Reposted by David Allsopp
Something's going on here
gardencourtchambers.co.uk/extinction-r...
gardencourtchambers.co.uk/extinction-r...
Extinction Rebellion medics unanimously acquitted despite defences being withdrawn | Garden Court Chambers
Tom Wainwright, of the Garden Court Protest Team, acted for the first and second defendants, instructed by Ella Jefferson and Hester Cavaciuti of Bindmans Solicitors.
gardencourtchambers.co.uk
February 16, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Something's going on here
gardencourtchambers.co.uk/extinction-r...
gardencourtchambers.co.uk/extinction-r...
Reposted by David Allsopp
Nothing says patriotic man of the people quite like taking up to £10k a month from overseas fascists
February 16, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Nothing says patriotic man of the people quite like taking up to £10k a month from overseas fascists
Reposted by David Allsopp
Federal court orders Trump administration to restore historical panel exhibits at President’s House in Philadelphia.
Happy Presidents Day.
Happy Presidents Day.
February 16, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Federal court orders Trump administration to restore historical panel exhibits at President’s House in Philadelphia.
Happy Presidents Day.
Happy Presidents Day.
Reposted by David Allsopp
🔴 Wife of Keir Starmer’s comms chief had direct knowledge of Labour Together’s investigation into journalists
Full story on Democracy for Sale:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/starmer-al...
Full story on Democracy for Sale:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/starmer-al...
Starmer ally Josh Simons faces fresh questions about digging dirt on journalists
Tory and SNP chiefs call for Labour minister Simons to ‘come clean’ as we reveal new details of PR firm’s campaign to discredit journalists
democracyforsale.substack.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:59 PM
🔴 Wife of Keir Starmer’s comms chief had direct knowledge of Labour Together’s investigation into journalists
Full story on Democracy for Sale:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/starmer-al...
Full story on Democracy for Sale:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/starmer-al...
When survey interviewers decide what your gender is for their data, without asking you, they get it wrong up to 7% of the time.
With a significant bias towards coding people as "male".
With a significant bias towards coding people as "male".
Kim Hipwell analyses how recent parallel usage of self-reported gender with their usual 'observational coding 'in the European Social Survey highlights the unreliability of observational coding.
transsafety.network/posts/europe...
transsafety.network/posts/europe...
The European Social Survey: A Case Study In Gender Assignation
In this article, I will show that it is incorrect to assume that “observation” can be used to find out a person’s gender or sex.
transsafety.network
February 16, 2026 at 6:35 PM
When survey interviewers decide what your gender is for their data, without asking you, they get it wrong up to 7% of the time.
With a significant bias towards coding people as "male".
With a significant bias towards coding people as "male".
Reposted by David Allsopp
The fucked up thing is this is *far* from the worst thing I've seen said about trans kids by so-called "gender-critcal" people. When Brianna Ghey died a lot of them set about trying portray her, a child murder victim, as a pervert.
February 16, 2026 at 6:21 PM
The fucked up thing is this is *far* from the worst thing I've seen said about trans kids by so-called "gender-critcal" people. When Brianna Ghey died a lot of them set about trying portray her, a child murder victim, as a pervert.
Reposted by David Allsopp
Kim Hipwell analyses how recent parallel usage of self-reported gender with their usual 'observational coding 'in the European Social Survey highlights the unreliability of observational coding.
transsafety.network/posts/europe...
transsafety.network/posts/europe...
The European Social Survey: A Case Study In Gender Assignation
In this article, I will show that it is incorrect to assume that “observation” can be used to find out a person’s gender or sex.
transsafety.network
February 13, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Kim Hipwell analyses how recent parallel usage of self-reported gender with their usual 'observational coding 'in the European Social Survey highlights the unreliability of observational coding.
transsafety.network/posts/europe...
transsafety.network/posts/europe...
Reposted by David Allsopp
New article in TSN in which I look at European Social Survey data which shows that “observational coding” of gender can create substantial errors in survey results.
The implication is that this practice is unreliable and should be abandoned, contrary to the Sullivan Review’s recommendations.
The implication is that this practice is unreliable and should be abandoned, contrary to the Sullivan Review’s recommendations.
Kim Hipwell analyses how recent parallel usage of self-reported gender with their usual 'observational coding 'in the European Social Survey highlights the unreliability of observational coding.
transsafety.network/posts/europe...
transsafety.network/posts/europe...
The European Social Survey: A Case Study In Gender Assignation
In this article, I will show that it is incorrect to assume that “observation” can be used to find out a person’s gender or sex.
transsafety.network
February 16, 2026 at 6:23 PM
New article in TSN in which I look at European Social Survey data which shows that “observational coding” of gender can create substantial errors in survey results.
The implication is that this practice is unreliable and should be abandoned, contrary to the Sullivan Review’s recommendations.
The implication is that this practice is unreliable and should be abandoned, contrary to the Sullivan Review’s recommendations.
Reposted by David Allsopp
Blimey. Looks like Matt Goodwin, who seems to think the Handmaid's Tale is an instruction manual, is in the pay of an Orban think tank, funded by Russian oil money.
Orbán’s pay cheques: Reform candidate fuelled by profits from Russian oil
The Reform candidate at this month’s byelection claims he wants to put Britain first, but is he still on the payroll of Viktor Orbán’s far-right propaganda unit?
goodlaw.social
February 16, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Blimey. Looks like Matt Goodwin, who seems to think the Handmaid's Tale is an instruction manual, is in the pay of an Orban think tank, funded by Russian oil money.
Reposted by David Allsopp
Dutch cops arrest man after sending him confidential files by mistake
Dutch cops arrest man after sending him confidential files by mistake
Bungled link handed over sensitive docs, and when recipient didn't cooperate, police opted for cuffs
Dutch police have arrested a man for "computer hacking" after accidentally handing him their own sensitive files and then getting annoyed when he didn't hand them back.…
dlvr.it
February 16, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Dutch cops arrest man after sending him confidential files by mistake
Reposted by David Allsopp
Many kudos to this journalism student, who has more of a backbone about not using AI in the newsroom than most of the top editors in the industry
A conscientious journalism grad withdraw from a job when she learned the Cleveland Plain Dealer uses AI to write its stories.
Now the editor is castigating her and journalism professors for not being “prepared for the workforce.”
You can’t make this shit up.
www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02...
Now the editor is castigating her and journalism professors for not being “prepared for the workforce.”
You can’t make this shit up.
www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02...
February 16, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Many kudos to this journalism student, who has more of a backbone about not using AI in the newsroom than most of the top editors in the industry
Reposted by David Allsopp
The fact that these sentences always end with "... which we will cram with more work for them" and not "... so we moved to a four-day workweek" really illustrate the hollowness of some AI evangelists' promises that AI will deliver us to some kind of post-work utopia.
“By removing writing from reporters’ workloads, we’ve effectively freed up an extra workday for them each week” is such a strange sentence to read.
February 16, 2026 at 5:13 PM
The fact that these sentences always end with "... which we will cram with more work for them" and not "... so we moved to a four-day workweek" really illustrate the hollowness of some AI evangelists' promises that AI will deliver us to some kind of post-work utopia.
Reposted by David Allsopp
Hilary Cass here arguing for children to be prevented from being known by a preferred name or getting a haircut in case it encourages them to continue later in life to transition.
Hilary Cass acts like gender variant children should have the transness hazed out of them.
Hilary Cass acts like gender variant children should have the transness hazed out of them.
February 16, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Hilary Cass here arguing for children to be prevented from being known by a preferred name or getting a haircut in case it encourages them to continue later in life to transition.
Hilary Cass acts like gender variant children should have the transness hazed out of them.
Hilary Cass acts like gender variant children should have the transness hazed out of them.
Reposted by David Allsopp
Pure moral panic. How, precisely, would a child who experiments with a different haircut or pronouns get “locked in” to a trans identity?
The parents who had no problem letting her identify as trans suddenly restrict her from identifying as cis? It makes no sense.
The parents who had no problem letting her identify as trans suddenly restrict her from identifying as cis? It makes no sense.
"if they socially transition too early we think they can get locked onto a trajectory that may not have been the correct natural trajectory for them"
Direct quote.
Direct quote.
February 16, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Pure moral panic. How, precisely, would a child who experiments with a different haircut or pronouns get “locked in” to a trans identity?
The parents who had no problem letting her identify as trans suddenly restrict her from identifying as cis? It makes no sense.
The parents who had no problem letting her identify as trans suddenly restrict her from identifying as cis? It makes no sense.
Reposted by David Allsopp
It's also just not evident based. For all the evidence Cass had tried to amass, this speculation that kids who might have ceased being trans are being frozen in time rather than helped to develop their growing minds, identity and agency by exploring and expressing it actively has zero evidence.
Pure moral panic. How, precisely, would a child who experiments with a different haircut or pronouns get “locked in” to a trans identity?
The parents who had no problem letting her identify as trans suddenly restrict her from identifying as cis? It makes no sense.
The parents who had no problem letting her identify as trans suddenly restrict her from identifying as cis? It makes no sense.
"if they socially transition too early we think they can get locked onto a trajectory that may not have been the correct natural trajectory for them"
Direct quote.
Direct quote.
February 16, 2026 at 5:01 PM
It's also just not evident based. For all the evidence Cass had tried to amass, this speculation that kids who might have ceased being trans are being frozen in time rather than helped to develop their growing minds, identity and agency by exploring and expressing it actively has zero evidence.
Reposted by David Allsopp
When I worked for Reason magazine during Trump's rise to power in 2016, I was explicitly forbidden by the editor in chief from writing about Trump's racism, or the violence and racism at his rallies.
It was a "sideshow," I was told.
It was a "sideshow," I was told.
February 9, 2026 at 2:10 PM
When I worked for Reason magazine during Trump's rise to power in 2016, I was explicitly forbidden by the editor in chief from writing about Trump's racism, or the violence and racism at his rallies.
It was a "sideshow," I was told.
It was a "sideshow," I was told.
Reposted by David Allsopp
It’s the Government’s duty to protect all communities - including trans people.
They’re failing to do that.
Trans people deserve safety and dignity.
www.attitude.co.uk/news/zack-po...
They’re failing to do that.
Trans people deserve safety and dignity.
www.attitude.co.uk/news/zack-po...
Zack Polanski on how Keir Starmer could have changed the April 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling to protect trans rights (EXCLUSIVE)
Zack Polanski revealed how Keir Starmer could have acted to protect trans rights after April 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling.
www.attitude.co.uk
February 16, 2026 at 2:06 PM
It’s the Government’s duty to protect all communities - including trans people.
They’re failing to do that.
Trans people deserve safety and dignity.
www.attitude.co.uk/news/zack-po...
They’re failing to do that.
Trans people deserve safety and dignity.
www.attitude.co.uk/news/zack-po...
Reposted by David Allsopp
The article doesn't say it and I've forgotten the specifics, but the 'change' suggested involves a statement to Parliament from the relevant minister. That's it.
This btw is a fantastic example of an opposition party acting like a real opposition party: Direct criticism and a specific alternatives.
This btw is a fantastic example of an opposition party acting like a real opposition party: Direct criticism and a specific alternatives.
It’s the Government’s duty to protect all communities - including trans people.
They’re failing to do that.
Trans people deserve safety and dignity.
www.attitude.co.uk/news/zack-po...
They’re failing to do that.
Trans people deserve safety and dignity.
www.attitude.co.uk/news/zack-po...
Zack Polanski on how Keir Starmer could have changed the April 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling to protect trans rights (EXCLUSIVE)
Zack Polanski revealed how Keir Starmer could have acted to protect trans rights after April 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling.
www.attitude.co.uk
February 16, 2026 at 2:28 PM
The article doesn't say it and I've forgotten the specifics, but the 'change' suggested involves a statement to Parliament from the relevant minister. That's it.
This btw is a fantastic example of an opposition party acting like a real opposition party: Direct criticism and a specific alternatives.
This btw is a fantastic example of an opposition party acting like a real opposition party: Direct criticism and a specific alternatives.
Reposted by David Allsopp
Indiana Sen. John Petit called the phrase “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence a “self-evident lie” during debates over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln *never* forgot it, and neither did a lot of other northerners who considered the document their political lodestone.
“One dashingly calls them ‘glittering generalities’; another bluntly calls them ‘self evident lies‘; and still others insidiously argue they only apply to ’superior races.’”
February 16, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Indiana Sen. John Petit called the phrase “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence a “self-evident lie” during debates over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln *never* forgot it, and neither did a lot of other northerners who considered the document their political lodestone.
Reposted by David Allsopp
”This is a world of compensations; and he who would *be* no slave, must consent to *have* no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.”
February 16, 2026 at 5:11 PM
”This is a world of compensations; and he who would *be* no slave, must consent to *have* no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.”