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Reposted by Michael Merrick

Yuan Yi Zhu @yuanyiz.bsky.social · 24d

“Assisted dying would appear to mitigate some of those problems, curbing the pensions bill, the NHS bill and the care bill.” The New Statesman says the quiet part out loud: kill granny to save money. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Let them die

The case for assisted dying

www.newstatesman.com

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · 28d

Prayers with Tyler Robinson's father tonight. Finding out your son is a killer is one thing - having the courage to turn him in to the authorities in a state with the death penalty is another. This kind of sacrificial duty is the real model of manhood. His heart must be broken.

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · 28d

that's fair (although not using the 'For You' tab is an easy way to circumvent that) but it doesn't detract from the horror of what this site has offered a platform to - it's there on the trending tab. It seems inconsistent to call it out in one place and not the other

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · 28d

Certainly if you left Twitter for BlueSky because you found it toxic, but continue to hang around here after what's happened this last 48 hours, then it seems to me you are - or should be - in a bit of quandary

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · 28d

Will be honest finding it difficult to engage on here. What I've seen on this platform in the last 48hrs is just so dark - and widespread - I'm not sure it makes sense to persist.

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · 29d

agree - look at it on the trending list and the great majority are utterly despicable

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · 29d

The continuing spread of political violence is one thing - the reaction to it is quite another. This place is an utter cesspit at the moment Stephen, people celebrating, saying he deserved it, mocking him, having a dig at his wife and kids. It's the reaction that horrifies.

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · 29d

Keep thinking about his wife and kids. They were there in the crowd. How dark the world must seem to them right now. Please do pray for them - even if you don't think it works, or don't have a religion - please just say them a quick prayer

Reposted by Michael Merrick

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 10

Seems like a good time to ask the question again: how do we address progressive radicalisation? It is extreme, pernicious, and (as today) sometimes violent. We are not really set up for this - and yet, for the common good, it will need addressed like all other forms of radicalisation.

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 29

Surely the PhDs of the future will be asking what brought about the sheer radicalisation of the high-status classes. As in, off the charts, complete leave-of-their-senses radicalisation. It needs explanation

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 10

utter cesspit

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 10

Seems like a good time to ask the question again: how do we address progressive radicalisation? It is extreme, pernicious, and (as today) sometimes violent. We are not really set up for this - and yet, for the common good, it will need addressed like all other forms of radicalisation.

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 29

Surely the PhDs of the future will be asking what brought about the sheer radicalisation of the high-status classes. As in, off the charts, complete leave-of-their-senses radicalisation. It needs explanation

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 6

Wherein a journalist gaslights themselves about everyone else being gaslit

The New Statesman @handle.invalid · Sep 6

The British public are being gaslit about Angela Rayner, writes Stella Tsantekidou:

She's not a saint, but she is nowhere near as bad as the right-wing press would have us believe.

The British public are being gaslit about Angela Rayner

She's not a saint, but she is nowhere near as bad as the right-wing press would have us believe.

www.newstatesman.com

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 2

Also the 'I am different/special/chosen' narrative is nectar

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 1

I just don't find your explanation is very convincing, that's all. And this logic here seems off - it's like saying there's no such thing as a sub-genre because nothing is as successful as [insert bestselling example].

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 1

'As successful as Harry Potter' is an impossibly high bar. We're looking for common themes. And this is a particular school-based escapism - the point is the world-apart nature, inclusinf risk and epic; it both plays on and mirrors children's experiences of school more generally, longing included

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 1

Not convinced - escapism seems more the compelling feature, the sense of a world set apart, complete with risk. So boarding school stories always popular - Malory Towers, St Clare's, St Trinians, Worst Witch, Tom Brown - but also stories that evoke this same sense of apartness - think Percy Jackson

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · Sep 1

One reason why the books are enduringly successful IMO (my home station was thronged with diehard fans this morning as it often is in the holidays) is that children can imagine themselves in Hogwarts v easily: it is a purposefully slight school story, with magic:

Warwick Davis Comes Back To Hogwarts In HBO Original HARRY POTTER Television Series

Image Credit: Aidan Monaghan/HBO To celebrate Back to Hogwarts, the HBO Original HARRY POTTER television series today announced the return of Warwick Davis

press.wbd.com

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Sep 1

Seen on the Other Place - you were mentioned but not tagged @samfr.bsky.social - comes with fame I guess

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 31

I'm not arguing with someone advocating we legalise infanticide. You have completely taken leave of your senses.

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 30

State of this. John 11:35.

Patrick Briney 🔵 @briney.org · Aug 30

I don't care if you want to read the Bible.
Just stop reading it to the rest of us.

Thank you... 👀

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 30

You will never be able to afford to have kids. But also I promise you will always be able to afford to have kids

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 30

One can of course choose to steelman a case and use this to make a judgement, but it is still there, as much in the undeniable risk(/reality) of scandal and wrongful death that some have clearly determined a worthwhile price to pay. That is disregard for life.

Reposted by Michael Merrick

Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 29

That address from Pope Leo XIV has absolutely shredded the public/private distinction in matters of religion that has become the hallmark of polite western liberal norms. Complete and utter rejection

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 30

'the child dies' 😳

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 30

If what you are getting at here is true an hour before birth then it also true an hour after it and you find yourself excusing infanticide. Not for me.

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Michael Merrick @michaelmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 30

JP2 would have called it the culture of death - and it comes in many guises.