Sophia McDougall
@sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
1.2K followers 440 following 3.1K posts
Pronounced like the disappointingly heterosexual Nerina Pallot song. Writer -- ROMANITAS (modern Roman empire) MARS EVACUEES & SPACE HOSTAGES (kids & robots in space!) various scripts for Big Finish plus a movie you can't see yet.
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Pinned
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
Sadly it appears that their bravely faked email address is, indeed, faked, (I hoped it might be a mask for a real one!) and so I can't send the reply. So I'll pin it here for a while because I'm petty like that.

Once again, dear correspondent -- thank you.
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
As promised. I hope it reaches them -- but as they claim to have been observing my "descent" over FIFTEEN YEARS (!!!) I assume it will one way or the other.

Please do annoy them further and support genderedintelligence.co.uk!
Screenshot of an email:

Thank you for the extra book sales!
I  lost count when we passed fifty, I think? 🙏 Your words really inspired people! I told people we reached the goal but the sales just keep coming! And it's not just the financial boost I have to thank you for -- the response has truly been so heartwarming. ❤️😌😇 It really brightened my day. 😊

Kisses!

[a screenshot of the original post is attached to the emaill.]
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
sarahweinman.com
I *really* want more reporting on this because the book was pretty heavily vetted by lawyers in advance of publication….
maris.bsky.social
This is so damn scary. The book claimed that Jeffrey Epstein was the one who introduced Donald and Melania. Now the CEO of Harper UK is out.
jayrayner1.bsky.social
In other news Charlie Redmayne, the long serving CEO of HC in the UK, resigned yesterday.
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
Is Google stuff glitching for anyone else? My Gmail and Google Translate both seem very unhappy
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
andybrown1951.bsky.social
Perhaps the bbc will report on the green surge with the same enthusiasm with which they promoted farage?
electionmaps.uk
Westminster Voting Intention:

RFM: 32% (-3)
LAB: 17% (-2)
CON: 17% (+3)
GRN: 15% (+4)
LDM: 12% (=)
SNP: 3% (=)

Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 8 Oct.
Changes w/ 1 Oct.
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
I basically think American culture ingrains a sense that xenophobic bullying as entertainment is their birthright And "nice" Americans haven't unlearned that as much as they think they have. And they're happy whenever they find a target they think they can't be called out over.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
volts.wtf
It really can't be said enough: the goal of the "anti-woke" movement was always to destroy social norms against bigotry. And it worked. And there's a whole lot of purportedly "left" thinkers & commentators who helped it -- indeed, it couldn't have been done without them.

They should feel bad.
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
Once maybe we could all pretend we were broadly on a level but those days are clearly gone. Sitting in the imperial core laughing at the funny little ways of your subjects doesn't actually look different to us depending on whether or not you personally like the Emperor.
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
See, this is why I've had a total sense of humour bypass about Americans making any kind of joke about British politics, food, culture, looks, anything. Your president is dictating what laws we have, what statements we can make, what jobs individuals can hold. This isn't joshing between peers.
maris.bsky.social
This is so damn scary. The book claimed that Jeffrey Epstein was the one who introduced Donald and Melania. Now the CEO of Harper UK is out.
jayrayner1.bsky.social
In other news Charlie Redmayne, the long serving CEO of HC in the UK, resigned yesterday.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
maris.bsky.social
This is so damn scary. The book claimed that Jeffrey Epstein was the one who introduced Donald and Melania. Now the CEO of Harper UK is out.
jayrayner1.bsky.social
In other news Charlie Redmayne, the long serving CEO of HC in the UK, resigned yesterday.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
llincathryn.bsky.social
This. No amount of "special advice" will fix the fact that some people CAN'T work, and it also won't fix the fact that flexible/part-time/WFH jobs that pay ok are like gold dust, and disabled folks who could work part-time/WFH under the right circumstances are at a disadvantage in applying for them.
2damntrans.bsky.social
"Do much more to get long-term sick and disabled people into work"

Does he really not see the problem with this?
peterstefanovic.bsky.social
BREAKING: Specialist employment advisers will be based in GP surgeries and mental health services as part of government plans to get people back to work.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden speaks to #BBCBreakfast about the government’s plan to tackle long-term sickness
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
I am in Italy and I swear to god I just saw an ad for St Francis. Just ... an ad for him. Get some St Francis of Assisi in your life, you know.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
francesmeh.reviews
rereading a novel from the 50s set in the 30s and i know this passage did not hit as hard when i first read it in the 90s as it does now
Photo of a passage from "The Watch That Ends the Night"

Jerome stopped and stared at me with incandescent eyes.

"Try and understand this-the fascists have brought back tor-ture, and torture calls for martyrs. And what else is fascism but the logical product of the capitalist system?"

"What do you mean—torture calls for martyrs?"

"Simply this. Unless a man is able to stand up and look the torturer in the eye and say, 'I'm not afraid,' torture becomes the way of the world. It's as simple as that."

"Is it really as simple as that?"

"No." He shook his head impatiently. "No, because underneath it all is the plain economic exploitation of a rotten world.
The communists are the only people who understand that. How can you pretend they're not one hundred percent right when they say that at a time like this the life of a single individual isn't worth a snap of the fingers? Wasn't Debs right when he said that so long as there was a soul in prison he wasn't free?

What does a single marriage count in a balance like that? It isn't easy being me. I know what all this means. [Highlighted sentence:] This evil inside the human animal-the fascists are charming it out like a cobra out of its hole and the capitalists let them do it because they think it's good for business. You think I'm abandoning Sally by leaving for Spain. I tell you, if I don't leave for Spain then I really do abandon her to a future of fascism and concentration camps."
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
That middle one is wearing a Seventh Doctor tank top. I know many lovely people who would do the same but it does not exactly scream The Tories Are Back.
bagpuss.org
The photography in this article really feels like The Times are deliberately setting these people up for ridicule. (You can read it without visiting The Times here archive.ph/KZZC1)
An article from The Times: "Meet the young Tories dreaming of a bright blue future". Featuring bizarre portraits of Charles Amos, Rhys Benjamin and Daniel Campbell.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
mfolson.bsky.social
It’s finally here!
You can now buy the trade paperback of ARCHAIC, about a badass single mom who’s put in charge of a sentient island and its mythological Inhabitants. Come for the Mesopotamian goddess of the dead, stay for the 9-yr-old who saves the day w/birdwatching skills.
bit.ly/Demonde
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
collyd.bsky.social
#DVpit Graphic Novel Pitch:
OLD FADAMA based on true events of an Albino friend, growing up on e-waste dump Agbogbloshie,avoiding sacrificial hunters and her ultimate escape via dumped US e-waste.

Genre: non fiction/adult thriller
More info: zeecomeeks.com/comics/w-i-p/
Contact:[email protected]
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
#DVPit #GN #ND #LGBT Fae, Lawyers, Royals.

She married into the BRF. She got more than she bargained for. Her in-laws expect her to raise a changeling. So she wants a lawyer.

She gets one. He's confused. Especially when the Fairy Queens's champion arrives to negotiate-or maybe kill-on her behalf.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
keithwdickinson.bsky.social
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
sophiamcdougall.bsky.social
Despite the fact that Badenoch will never get anywhere near power again, this still frightens me. Remember what they did to Media Studies? Essentially destroyed it. And think how media illiteracy has shaped the last 20 years.
outonbluesix.bsky.social
How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
naomialderman.bsky.social
feels like yet again time to mention that the *videogames* industry (that's a creative industry, which people do creative degrees in) brings in more than twice the amount to the British economy as the fishing and steel industries *combined*
naomialderman.bsky.social
I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?

It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?
outonbluesix.bsky.social
How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
coreybrotherson.bsky.social
Hey kids!

Remember when the pandemic struck and eventually the (Tory) government told everyone to stay at home, and the arts and entertainment industries were one of the few things keeping everyone from pulling our own eyes out of our skulls from abject fear and boredom?

Remember that?
outonbluesix.bsky.social
How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
thegrampus.bsky.social
The Tories have the energy of someone who complains that there is dog shit on the pavements but also refuses to pick up their own dogs shit because its "not their job".
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
tupped.bsky.social
Just to be clear, an English degree - learning to critically assess texts - is actually one of the most dangerous for people such as Badenoch.

An educated population, able to bring hundreds of years of context to statements in a dawning age of AI slop and attention-seeking dishonesty is also vital.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
So, the plan is to cut English, the arts, and sociology - the degrees that actually study culture - while on another part of your platform claiming to “defend” British culture.

It’s performance nationalism with a reading age of seven.
Badenoch: Curb students taking 'rip-off' degrees such as English
The performing arts, sociology and anthropology are among the subjects the Conservatives would like to cut
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
omaromalleykhan.bsky.social
I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Reposted by Sophia McDougall
naomialderman.bsky.social
increasingly thinking these might be the only ethical scifi novels to write...
a4rdvark.bsky.social
Accepting recommendations for scifi novels about dismantling the torment nexus