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quizzzical.bsky.social
@quizzzical.bsky.social
92 followers 560 following 27 posts
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molliesimpson.bsky.social
thanks to @alphaville.ft.com for selecting our investigation into Andrew Milne as one of the best non-FT pieces of journalism of the year www.ft.com/content/72d0...
December 17, 2025 at 11:45 AM
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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
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coolorado.bsky.social
This is why Musk and Trump (and in the background Putin) are now attacking the EU with their propaganda to want to dismantle the EU. It's all about the money
December 11, 2025 at 6:33 PM
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peterjukes.bsky.social
I wonder if Trump is in such a hurry to appease Putin (and Netanyahu) because of the looming Epstein files disclosure, and Epstein’s proximity to Russian (and Israeli) intelligence services
December 11, 2025 at 6:48 PM
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maks23.bsky.social
🇺🇸‼️🇪🇺🇬🇧 Full story: US plan to restructure the economies of Russia and Ukraine is causing conflict with Europe, - WSJ
December 11, 2025 at 10:20 AM
quizzzical.bsky.social
To avoid this taxation doom loop, maybe it’s time for Rachel Reeves to think the unthinkable & require people to pay for access to the NHS. This should reduce demand & its substantial budget as well as raising money: a virtuous circle. It might not be popular tho

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
Reeves to hit middle class earners with £60b tax bomb, economists warn
In trying to meet her Budget targets, the Chancellor may face a £20billion to £30billion black hole, according to analysis by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).
www.dailymail.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 8:26 PM
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walshfreedom.bsky.social
October 31, 2025 at 12:53 PM
quizzzical.bsky.social
Save Greek and Latin at the University of Ottawa!
c.org/J5PLhkWSXf
Sign the Petition
Save Greek and Latin at the University of Ottawa!
c.org
October 31, 2025 at 8:39 PM
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13sarahmurphy.bsky.social
Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.
SHOCK POLL: NIGEL FARAGE WILL BE PM TOMORROW IN an amazing poll conducted by The Pointless Polling Company, it was revealed that voters' intentions may well change over the next three and a half years and at present it's 100 percent impossible to guess what the next government might look like. However, 99 percent of journalists agree that it would be much more fun if we had an election tomorrow and everybody resigned and everything was chaos and Farage had a go at being PM, just for the hell of it, because it was so much fun when Brexit happened and then the government kept falling every five minutes and we could write endless pieces about (cont. p94)
October 10, 2025 at 7:09 AM
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ericlisann.bsky.social
You can't legally fight a system where the supreme arbiter of what is "legal" systematically redefines this as whatever the fascist leader says it is.
October 4, 2025 at 9:25 PM
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brainnotonyet.bsky.social
The “but that’s illegal” crowd is going to find out soon what those of us on the academic and research side have been saying for months is true in that you cannot “legally” fight a legal fascist framework when countering fascism is seen as terrorism and illegal
lawrencehurley.bsky.social Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · Oct 4
Stephen Miller again lashes out at the judiciary, suggesting federal judges are aiding and abetting domestic terrorism:
October 4, 2025 at 8:37 PM
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milesklee.bsky.social
This is the biggest, toughest article I’ve done about so-called “AI psychosis.” It’s the story of a man who committed a horrific crime in his youth but served his time and against all odds found love and a new life—one that completely unraveled after he started talking to Google’s Gemini chatbot.
He Grew Obsessed With an AI Chatbot. Then He Vanished in the Ozarks
Jon Ganz committed a terrible crime in his youth, but he survived prison, fell in love, and started over. His new life unraveled in a way nobody could have predicted.
www.rollingstone.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:10 AM
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eddavey.libdems.org.uk
I’m old enough to remember when Conservative Party leaders believed in law and order.
zoegrunewald.bsky.social Zoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · Sep 16
Kemi Badenoch refusing to acknowledge that Tommy Robinson is "far-right", now on LBC, and refusing to condemn Elon Musk's words. In fact she says what Musk said *isn't* incitement. So what would be incitement then? How violent would his words have to be before he was deemed a threat to this country?
September 16, 2025 at 8:57 PM
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ryanestrada.com
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.

OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
September 6, 2025 at 6:31 AM
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mclem.org
US covert operations to prepare for seizure of Denmark's territory are setting the stage for attack on our European allies. They are poisonous to the interests of every Conservative and Liberal American.
Denmark summons US envoy over Greenland influence reports – DW – 08/27/2025
Denmark has summoned the US head of mission in Copenhagen over alleged covert US influence efforts in Greenland. US President Donald Trump had said he wanted the island — and even hinted at using forc...
amp.dw.com
August 27, 2025 at 2:16 PM
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silencedrowns.com
Tom Lehrer made all of his music 100% public domain so if seeing people sad about his death makes you want to check them out… it’s free. he wanted you to share them.

tomlehrersongs.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:37 PM
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emmakennedy.bsky.social
Absolutely astonishing publishers don’t do due diligence when it comes to non fiction books that contain miracle cures. #TheSaltPath
July 6, 2025 at 10:33 AM
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gregsargent.bsky.social
Amazing. NYT has more confirmation that Trump's decision to bomb Iran was motivated in large part by the way the Israeli strikes were "playing" on Fox News, which drove him to want credit for it
June 23, 2025 at 10:47 AM
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freddydeknatel.bsky.social
A chilling story about the manufacturing flaws in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and a reminder of the infamous report from the factory that built them, including the Air India jet that crashed: workers there said they would never allow their family members to fly on a 787. prospect.org/economy/2025...
One of the Dreamliners That Gave a Boeing Manager Nightmares Just Crashed
Whistleblowers always warned that passengers would pay a price for Boeing’s tyrannical corner-cutting, especially with the planes shipped overseas.
prospect.org
June 13, 2025 at 3:39 PM
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mclem.org
This is a genuine post by the official account of the White House, whose authenticity I verified.
May 3, 2025 at 1:49 PM
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nisreenalwan.bsky.social
Think of Others
By Mahmoud Darwish
April 24, 2025 at 9:41 PM
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jbendery.bsky.social
Holy crap. Here are 91 pages of letters that 14 House Democrats just sent to the nine law firms that have paid off Trump to not attack them.

Lots of Qs aimed at sorting out if they violated federal bribery/anti-fraud/racketeering laws. min.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
min.house.gov
April 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM