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Paul Brown

@foolmentaljoker.bsky.social

320 followers 410 following 1.1K posts

Stunt journalist - doing the tricky bits uncredited so 'stars' look good. Fluent English/German, tourist French, Dutch, Italian, Macedonian, read Flemish, Spanish, can decipher some Icelandic. Jack of banjo, guitar, mandolin, violin, uke, master of none.

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · May 30

The word 'change' should be taboo in election campaigns. It's meaningless. Losing a limb is 'change'. Waking up to a bus in your living room is 'change'. Just because you're sick of whoever the current mob is - and almost all of us almost always are - don't fall for an utterly empty promise.

Reposted by Paul Brown

🅢🅗🅔🅔🅝🅐 @sheena-mck.bsky.social · 11h

This made me laugh more than it probably should 😂
#funny

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 5h

Can we not just leave them locked in eternal battle somewhere on a deserted planet?

The Tories and Reform being completely different to one another.

Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 6h

True.

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Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 6h

A great article from Rachel, who really understands the heart and soul of Dad’s work.

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Pamela Weaver @pamelaweaver.bsky.social · 8h

Screen shot of a typo in a post reading: Patient has an insulin pimp.
Some has shared this, saying: Pretty sure that's the opposite of a sugar daddy.
I have no idea who came up with this, but how could you not share.

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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 22h

No, that’s the NRA

A white man in a suit and tie holding a rifle.

NRA Accidentally Forgets To Rise Up Against
Tyrannical Government
An embarrassed National Rifle Association says it totally forgot to do the one thing it has been saying for years it is solely there to do.

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 9h

Watch out for the E string

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Dammit Doug Smith @dammitdougsmith.bsky.social · 10h

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Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 16h

😂

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Moose Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 13h

I have a cartoon in the current Private Eye

Cartoon. Two people standing on a stage looking at a third person who is jumping down through a trap door. In the foreground we see the backs of the audience’s heads. One standing people observes “It’s just a stage he’s going through”

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 14h

A dentist in Bavaria with, as it turns out, a very old and respected local surname.

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 15h

'Making people pay for retail goods would kill the shoplifting industry.'

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Neil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra @fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social · 15h

Arnold J. Rimmer taking to Kryten:

‘A plan with no drawbacks.’

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 1d

Nothing says "I want independent judges" like threatening to sack any judge who disagrees with you, while holding up a judge's wig like a puppet

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 16h

If you set out to find Buckinghamshire, you'll find it in the friends you make along the way.

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Joe G @eastendjoe.bsky.social · 17h

Best 3 minutes you will spend on the internet today.

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Moose Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 16h

The Tories can promise us the moon on a stick because they know that they won't be in government.

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Moose Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 17h

Cartoon. Two people in lab coats, one is showing the other a beaker. The person on the left says "Can| bortow
your chloroform?". The other person replies "Go ahead, knock yourself out"

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 17h

Indeed. I suspect the answer, whatever she actually said, would translate as: 'Looking after people's wealth. And by "people's" I mean ours, not yours.'

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 17h

I'm sure she is - which is why she doesn't want anyone else finding out. And if she scraps the courses, or even persuades people they're not worth it, then those critical thinking lessons are never attended.

Their dream would be a return to mass illiteracy, so you only know what they tell you.

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 17h

But if you study the language, looking at how authors, poets and songwriters use it to enchant, entertain and enlighten, you also learn how to spot when someone is misusing it to distract, deceive and divide.

Do not let them.

Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 17h

Someone skilled or even just well coached in using language can push buttons you don't even know you have. They can sugar-coat a falsehood so you not only swallow it whole but ask for another. They can even use the truth to camouflage lies so big you ought to be able to see them from miles away 2/3

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 17h

It seems the old lie has come around again that English is a 'rip-off' degree, and that the study of our language and literature is not worth the time and money.

Which is exactly what someone who uses language to manipulate and deceive you on a daily basis *wants* you to think. 1/3

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 18h

English isn't 'sold' properly to students, IMO. Alongside the understanding and appreciation of literature, poetry, song etc, it teaches you (if you're paying attention) how language is used to move, persuade and even manipulate others - and how to spot when people are trying to do it to you.

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Paul Brown @foolmentaljoker.bsky.social · 1d

'Why don't you like the witness stand?'

'I 'ate that dock.'