I remember Frances Barber being A Presence in it

GenAI was better when it was weird, bring back the extra fingers etc

Late-night brain fog! Not 1995 (not yet). 1985. 40 years on from 1945, 40 years behind 2025.

Len Pennie could never

@jessothomson.co.uk has a very solid article on the climate influencing decisions of these kinds:

We see that many are neither equipped nor motivated to do so, at least at the leadership level. Perhaps the grassroots of the WI, Girl Guides, football clubs, etc etc etc, can organise the pushback that needs to happen, but "responsible stewards" will not.

A lot of scaffolding has collapsed, and entities for whom doing the right thing was once a relatively low-cost option are now thrown back on the question of whether they want to take an activist position, defending basic principles from the ground up

Another is the government's active weakening of the rights position, spreading confusion which means decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis without clear assurance that the position chosen stands on a firm legal foundation. Again, fortuitous climate for vexatious litigants

Some part of this is surely an effective and widespread campaign of vexatious litigation, making it appear like an existential risk to take a strong position against opponents who can drag you into endless legal proceedings and ruinous costs

This sentence in particular made me think of @sarahsteinlubrano.bsky.social: "Desires need not be altered through forceful imposition of political principles but can shift as a result of the cultivation of new habitats which draw out other patterns of feeling and thinking about others"

The core contention, that there is something in all the ferment around these questions worth digging into even if many of the positions taken ended up being dead ends if not reactionary calcifications, is one I fully agree with

Fascism is amongst other things a project of reinforcing the neurotypical social bond, even though fascist ideologues themselves are often the very sorts of weirdoes those structures are designed to isolate and discipline into passivity. Self-hating weirdoes, I suppose. I don't get the psychology.

I think normies just viscerally hate defectors from compulsory neurotypical sociality, whether it's those afflicted with Gemütlosigkeit or those who find their assigned gender insupportable. They fear that the structures they live comfortably within don't work if their compulsory character is eroded