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jame5on.bsky.social
@jame5on
@jame5on.bsky.social
340 followers 1.9K following 1.5K posts
Poorly Paid Anarchist

Ride your bike
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Reposted by @jame5on
robinince.bsky.social
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
This is the saddest day of my professional life. Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage. I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until | dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity or the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys. I resigned in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show, A show that I named and helped develop over all those years. Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for sometime, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump, numerous other outlandish opinions, including once gently criticising Stephen Fry. These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or 'Resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices'. • I chose the latter. It broke my heart. I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make. I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer. I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence. One of my many privileges is that I am able to resign and I can speak out even if it is to the detriment of my career. I have thought a lot about my heroes, Sinead O Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and so many more. I think of Sinead's words, "the job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost". James Baldwin said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice. Audre Lorde, viewing her life, wrote that her only regrets were her silences. I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness , justice and kindness. Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire. I apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal. I am so sorry to let you down. I hope that you can understand my reasoning. I have to accept that I am not what the current BBC expects of their freelance presenters. Despite this I should add that I have always worked far more than my contracted hours to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them. Every night, we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the best show possible. This was not "just a job" I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, to those currently in prison on hunger strike, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world. From many conversations, I know there are many Monkey Cage listeners who support these communities and activists too. The strawberry is dead. Long live the strawberry. B
December 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by @jame5on
awkword.bsky.social
SOON, IT MAY BE ILLEGAL TO HAVE A… ZINE

Daniel “Des” Sanchez is facing *federal charges* for “transporting a box that contained ‘Antifa materials’”:

theintercept.com/2025/11/23/p...

So whatever you do, don’t download and distribute these:

drive.google.com/drive/mobile...
December 9, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Reposted by @jame5on
scottbot.bsky.social
My colleague points out here that possibly one in seven requests to our library now may be assisted by LLMs.

When those point to fictional documents, that's a huge staff time drain. There's often no quick way to check if an undigitized primary source doc exists beyond physically pulling some boxes.
December 9, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by @jame5on
prisonculture.bsky.social
She shouldn't have to keep doing this by herself. She is supposedly a member of a political party and every single one of her *colleagues* should be BLASTING the fascist in chief. ALL OF THEM. Where is the solidarity???
December 3, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by @jame5on
marynmck.bsky.social
You really have to read this thread. The genius of Tom Stoppard, the fragility of memory, the magic of theatre — and the glorious stubbornness of a researcher who would not stop.
bfletcherwatson.bsky.social Ben Fletcher-Watson @bfletcherwatson.bsky.social · 15d
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”
November 30, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
nameshiv.bsky.social
being ruled by tiny men bereft of both curiosity and the ability to feel wonder is a terrible fate
November 30, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
chrisgeidner.bsky.social
Here's the NYT obituary for Stoppard. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/t...
Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
katmabu.bsky.social
Impeach, convict, remove.

And if our current leaders won’t do it, they need to step aside for people who will.
November 25, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
internethippo.bsky.social
The guy shot two random people with a gun, I don't think you can say he wasn't assimilating into our culture
publius24.bsky.social John Q. Public @publius24.bsky.social · 18d
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
bodegacats.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
stereogum.com
The death metal band’s sole remaining member has launched a GoFundMe to get home to Portland

stereogum.com/2480744/vitr...
November 25, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
hypercubexl.bsky.social
what if all the kennedy family tragedies were actually trying to stop rfk jr, but time travel assassination is not an exact science
November 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
self.agency
"i want a fuckin' lawyer, man! bill kunstler or ron kuby!"
The Big Lebowski - Police station scene
YouTube video by Wojtek Burzyński
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
cupstid.net
The president is proposing that we take the 1 trillion gallons of water that fire departments use every year and give each American a 5-gallon bucket to fight house fires on their own terms. That makes them an informed consumer.
November 16, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
themountaingoats.bsky.social
resources re: ICE presence in North Carolina, distribute widely if you feel like it. all love to my community, no love to the people who said "but what is fascism really? historically, blah blah, name-calling gets us nowhere" when we were all saying "these people are fascists"

linktr.ee/apply_heat
@apply_heat | Linktree
Show up for our neighbors
linktr.ee
November 19, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
kattenbarge.bsky.social
So if Olivia is 32 now, broke up with Lizza last year, was together with him for a decade, and then was living with you for 4+ years before that, how old was she when you moved her out of her (presumably parents’) house in the suburbs to live with you?
olbermann.bsky.social Keith Olbermann @olbermann.bsky.social · 27d
Btw about this from Lizza's reply: Olivia and I lived together for 4+ years (4 b'days, 4 Xmases, 4 anniversaries). That's like $1250 of jewelry per celebration. And her apartment was a writing studio. And I made an f-ton then. What was I supposed to do? Get her a lot of Gift Certificates from Kmart?
November 18, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
wumother.bsky.social
We’re all piggy. Stay loud.
November 18, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Reposted by @jame5on
upshot.nytimes.com
We Can Now Track Individual Monarch Butterflies. It’s a Revelation.

From NYT Science:

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
November 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
taliajane.bsky.social
missing out on covering a mamdani event at a childcare center because i cannot afford childcare and my baby has refused to nap anywhere except in my arms this morning.
November 13, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
scottjshapiro.bsky.social
Prediction: Speaker Mike Johnson will not have seen the Epstein story as he is busy opening up the Government and doing the work that the American People and God sent him to do.
November 12, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
rincewind.run
great day for the legal theory of "not guilty if it's funny enough"
November 6, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
ndrew.bsky.social
rip dick cheney, you wouldve loved the illegal war in south america we’re about to start
November 4, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
snufkinlib.bsky.social
VP Cheney will be honoured with a 21 gun salute accidentally aimed directly at 21 of his friends
November 4, 2025 at 11:42 AM
jame5on.bsky.social
I told you all I’d finally figure out how to hack that pacemaker
November 4, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by @jame5on
hebagowayed.bsky.social
I am so upset.

Last week Time Magazine solicited a piece from me on Zohran Mamdani & anti-Muslim hate. I pitched a framing re the dehumanization of Muslims & how Mamdani’s inclusive, socialist campaign in its content resists that. They agreed. I wrote the piece. 1/
hebagowayed.bsky.social Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · Nov 2
To be asked to write about racism only to be racially aggressed in the editing process is a new level unlocked I have to say.
November 3, 2025 at 9:35 PM