Sign in

akkasivaraman.bsky.social

@akkasivaraman.bsky.social
81 followers 79 following 0 posts
PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Dr Dean Burnett @drdeanburnett.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"By using AI, tasks like essays that used to take hours can be completed in minutes!" Sure, like how if I arrive at the gym and immediately go for a shower, my workout is done in record time. And if I throw my sandwiches straight in the bin, I can finish my lunch in under 10 seconds.
5858511599
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Now do everywhere else www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Meta glasses banned from courts in England and Wales
Exclusive: Court service says anyone trying to enter buildings with glasses will have them confiscated and returned when they leave
1238695
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
ICYM A Sunday afternoon read on how Andy Burnham’s (and Kemi Badenoch’s) promise of a ‘pragmatic’ approach to North Sea drilling is hard to square with the realities of escalating climate impacts and yet another fossil fuel-induced economic shock. www.businessgreen.com/blog-post/45...
businessgreen.com
What does true pragmatism look like in an age of climate crisis?
Andy Burnham has promised a 'pragmatic' approach to North Sea drilling, but who gets to decide what that word even means?
22311
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
sturmyarcher3.bsky.social @sturmyarcher3.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"There aren't enough of us doing politics right now. We can tell, because our politicians are so contemptuous of the grassroots that they will sell us out without a moment's hesitation, smugly certain that they will face no consequences for doing so"
0397
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Rachel Gilmore @rachelgilmore.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Carney greenwashes and also attempts to Indigenous-wash his pipeline, despite: 1) environmental experts making it clear his ocean conservation plan wont change the fact that this is an orca-killing project 2) Indigenous communities already sounding the alarm about insufficient consultation
018959
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Bettina Struff #Woke #FBPE #FBPR #NHS #RejoinEU @bettinastruff.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"His remarks are particularly likely to be welcomed by EU members, who have been frustrated by the UK’s inability to have an honest conversation with itself about its relationship with the bloc." An excellent article from @alexhh.bsky.social in @bylinetimes.bsky.social And already....
Screenshot from the Financial Times of a photo of Macron and Sanchez shaking hands, above the text:  Emmanuel Macron, French president, and Pedro Sánchez, Spain's prime minister, both said the UK would be welcomed back into the bloc, which it voted to leave in the acrimonious Brexit referendum in 2016.
26124
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“What we are seeing now is a complete explosion of these melt rates, leading to the disintegration of glaciers. They’re really just falling apart.” #Switzerland 🇨🇭 #ClimateEmergency
theguardian.com
‘Explosion of melt rates’: 20% of Swiss glaciers lost in five years
Alpine regions in Europe experiencing extreme glacier collapse due to heat-trapping effects of fossil fuel pollution
18464
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.
211253449
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The ocean is not ok 👉 Half the world's oceans experienced heatwaves last year 👉 It became 17% more acidic between 1985 and 2025 👉 Salty areas are getting saltier 👉 Sea level rise increased from 3.8mm/yr to 4.2mm/yr
1126
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
there's a thing in moderate democratic politics where it is considered fundamentally illegitimate to deliver results to your own voters; instead, you must propose a better way to implement your adversaries' entire ideological program
441667287
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A man replied to this saying in earnest that women need to get organized and fight for our rights and men will follow. We did that. We do that. We mobilized the largest single day protest in global history on every continent and yet I have fewer rights than my mom did at my age.
15284821518
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Times this morning. Me in December last year. It was pretty damn obvious this would happen to anyone who did the maths. samf.substack.com/p/the-oversh...
22696195
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
GeorgeWeeks2014 @georgeweeks2014.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Elite projection. humantransit.org/2017/07/the-... "...the belief among relatively fortunate & influential people, that what those people find convenient or attractive is good for the society as a whole...It is perhaps the single most comprehensive barrier to prosperous, just & liberating cities."
humantransit.org
The Dangers of Elite Projection — Human Transit
(Leer en español aquí.)   Elite projection is the belief, among relatively fortunate and influential people, that what those people find convenient or attractive is good for the society as a whole.  O...
1166
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Your regular reminder that UK taxes are average by western standards and low on middle-earners. Labour figures, especially, should not fall into the trap of pretending that we have a “high” tax burden and that taxes are to blame for the living standards crisis. www.arguably.uk/p/the-tax-tr...
510137
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Ash Oro @ashoro.co.uk · 25/09/2026
Why have we reached a stage where people call in to @natashadevon.bsky.social and say they want people to drown? Well headlines like this don’t help. Let’s forget that numbers are way down on years previous and just keep stoking fear and division. This is why the RNLI is under attack.
61596146
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Forget grandiose talk of curing cancer - this is what AI is actually doing to healthcare. In the words of one cardiologist: “it’s bots fighting bots, agents fighting agents, a horrible dystopic future nobody wants to live in.”
282159854
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
“These deaths are, of course, preventable. But preventing them takes political will & cash. The worst effects of climate breakdown are setting in just as the West decided to cut off aid to poor countries.” - @graceblakeley.substack.com graceblakeley.substack.com/p/this-el-ni...
graceblakeley.substack.com
This El Niño is a preview of climate apartheid
450,000 are projected to die in the coming months - most in the global South; plus how the Iran war is exacerbating the affordability crisis; and how the German left can beat the far right.
11814
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
How Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports - Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’ #climatecrisis www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
How Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports
Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’
10423224
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
my brilliant colleague @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the threat from Elon Musk’s X platform www.ft.com/content/f270...
6428101169
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 19/09/2026
I think it should be a source of deep embarrassment – and perhaps even shame – that Rishi Sunak has spoken out on this before Andy Burnham has.
651940446
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
So much of the right these days have a massive patriotism problem. This guy: - is a tax exile (left long before this govt) - hates his own country while complaining he doesn’t get big enough subsidies from it - laments the manufacturing hit from a Brexit he supported www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
1031370463
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The only thing we learn from this is that Adam Smith anticipated the BBC: the "disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful...is...the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
224864
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 19/09/2026
It’s a £41k job now that’s alright.
915049
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Fixed that story about Sir Jim Ratcliffe on the BBC.
Picture of man smiling with tea-mug. Headline reads: "Non-Billionaire who actually lives in the UK and pays its taxes says he has lost confidence in the super-rich", with sub-header: 'One of Britain's taxpayers says he has lost confidence in billionaires, describing them as "on the take"".
18751215
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Lizzie Dearden @lizziedearden.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
His case is part of a much wider trend, where asylum seekers have become a key target for far-right terrorists I revealed earlier this year that a quarter of the terror attacks in Britain over the past decade have targeted Muslims or small boat migrants inews.co.uk/news/uk-terr...?
inews.co.uk
The UK terror attacks you don't hear about - and how they go under the radar
Some incidents are not being confirmed as terrorism for up to nine months, leaving the public unaware about the threat on British streets
120481
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Dr Matt Lodder @mattlodder.com · 14/09/2026
You will be hearing literally nothing about this horrific Lancashire rape gang from any of the usual suspects, because only one of them has a Muslim name. BBC News - Man admits drugging and raping wife for 20 years www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
29854
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 14/09/2026
Of all the weird recurring motifs of the stories people tell me about the AI labor wars, the *weirdest* is when bosses demand to be reassured that their contractors and workers will *absolutely* use AI to get the job done.
A worn out keyboard, cropped over the bottom left modifier keys. Posed in the image is a bearded prophet in Bronze Age robes, arms uplifted in worship.

Image:
ArwinJ (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macro_key,_BTC-53_series_keyboard.JPG

CC BY-SA 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
624867
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
All Our Yesterdays @allouryesterdays.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
22 yrs ago - September 14, 2004 – Blair “shocked” by scientists warnings – “time is running out for tackling climate change” allouryesterdays.info/2022/09/13/s...
allouryesterdays.info
September 14, 2004 - Blair "shocked" by scientists warnings - "time is running out for tackling climate change" - All Our Yesterdays
On September 14 2004, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the usual sweeping soaring platitudes – see BBC report – not backed up by anything (see text here). But then, next year he was hosting the G7, a...
22414
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/09/2026
Once you understand the corporate culture of AI hyperscalers is everyone cooking their brains by locking themselves in the bathroom, holding flashlights under their chins, and saying "Aaaaaaaaaay Eyeeeeeee" until they wet themselves in terror, things snap into focus: pluralistic.net/2023/06/04/a...
A cutaway view of a stone tower containing an elaborate water-powered medieval geared machine. Rising out of the machine is a rainbow-tinted, pixelated God with the robes, beard and all. To one side of this scene is a cluster of tiny people in Jesus-era robes, falling about themselves in religious ecstasy all over a stone staircase, atop of which stands a robed priest with his hands upraised. The background is a set of shining golden rays, emanating from pixel-God.
231183430
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/09/2026
The most reliable way to lose in politics is letting your adversary define the terms. For example, if you're an artist and you let your boss define the AI fight, he'll make it about "IP" (not labor) and ask your help winning a fight to make him richer and you poorer: pluralistic.net/2026/09/02/s...

A foil bowl of red jello on a red tablecloth, next to a shining spoon. Submerged in the jello is an elaborate watch movement.




Image:
Martell (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chronograph_movement.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

--

Horacio Cambeiro (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gelatina_de_frutilla_(postre).jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
112345
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Margaret Hollins @hollinsmargaret.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
“… the very fact these private armies have developed while ministers and the police have been criminalising peaceful protesters under terrorism laws indicates warped political and operational priorities.” Exactly. Contradictions and confusion expertly explained by DAG with his customary clarity.
07229
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This from a government that is still yet to publish in full the report its own security experts produced on the risks associated with ecosystem collapse. Lots of people have been trying to have a conversation on resilience, but the government has been reluctant to engage with it.
4146
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Leftback @leftback.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Really struggling with Pakistan's U19 cricket team coaches having to confirm their particulars with a Reform councillor to get him to disperse the mob gathered outside their hotel. We're in a very bad place and we're doing nothing about it.
10403115
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 09/09/2026
Also, why is this basically written up as "quirky crowd make an embarrassing mistake" and not "violent racists form mob because Asian people use hotel"?
5133641130
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Chris Terry-Enescu @cjterry.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Truly wild to have lived through moral panics about teenagers wearing hoodies and Muslim women wearing the head dress to now experience 'but is a large group of organised far right activists in balaclavas really that scary'
9259921593
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 08/09/2026
On Andy Burnham's sudden bout of shyness. thecritic.co.uk/sanc...
The close of his statement was an appeal to our better natures. If we were going to ask Israelis and Palestinians to live side-by-side, he said, Britain also had to be a place where “people of all faiths and none have a right to live without prejudice or fear.” Listening to him was Andy Burnham, who has been strangely absent from our public debate for the last few days. In August, we couldn’t move for social media clips from the prime minister, standing on a ladder to discuss his first job, or sitting in a pub to rate bar snacks. But faced with masked thugs trying to shut down British ports over the weekend, Burnham seems to have lost the password for his phone. For a decade now, Britain has had a series of leaders apparently paralysed by the fear that if they say that racism is bad, they’ll be voted out. It would be nice to get one who had a slightly higher opinion of us.
19957304
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
90 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵)
You cannot conduct a fair match when one side is playing with a ball and the other with bombs and, if democracy is to survive, it must be conducted according to definite and recognised rule. One of them is that no political party should resort to any weapon other than reason and argument. The introduction of private armies, as I see it, strikes at the root of democracy. I know it is contended that the Blackshirts are not armed and, therefore, are not an army, but I do not think that argument can be upheld. … Uniformed men in military formation suggest, and are meant to suggest, the idea of force. It is no argument to reply that at this or that demonstration no force is intended. It is an inescapable fact that a uniform in politics symbolises force, to be used either now or in the future.
4123711265
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 07/09/2026
If every statement about Extinction Rebellion had opened with "Climate change is the single biggest issue facing humanity, and we understand why people have legitimate concerns the world isn't doing enough to tackle it…" this approach might be *faintly* defensible. But they didn't, and it isn't.
12730279
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Matthew Willis (Naval Air History) @navalairhistory.com · 06/09/2026
Contrast the police statements about the Dover blockade yesterday with the Just Stop Oil protests in 2022
No arrests made during Dover protest, Kent Police says
published at 13:34 5 September
13:34 5 September
Kent Police has issued a statement following the disruption in Dover earlier today.
It says officers "responded to a spontaneous protest" during Saturday morning, adding "no arrests were made".
"Traffic is flowing normally, and all involved had dispersed by midday," it addsThe Met Police said 35 people had been arrested in response to the disruption.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the action was "criminality", not protest, and pledged to bring those involved to justice as quickly as possible.
"This was a very significant and co-ordinated effort to cause massive disruption to the entirety of the M25," he added.
9528284
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 07/09/2026
Yelling "stop the boats!" as I charge in to rob this NatWest at gun point so that I can later call the Home Secretary as a character witness and the BBC will spend two weeks telling all my potential future jurors how legitimate my concerns were.
242672684
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Seems the difference between ‘protestors’ and ‘terrorists’ is that protestors wear balaclavas while terrorists hold placards.
3034381277
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
“No arrests were made during the incident” Compare with the mass arrests during the Just Stop Oil road-blocking action earlier in the week Explanations, please… www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Black-clad protesters in balaclavas block road at port of Dover in Kent
Port authorities say access roads ‘free flowing’ again after large group forces road closures in both directions
57128
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Protester assaulted at Reform conference: "The focus really shouldn't be on whether the police will investigate this particular assault, but rather on how Reform incite and celebrate this sort of violent behaviour."
thenational.scot
I was violently assaulted at Reform's conference for protesting. Here's why I did it
A PROTESTER who disrupted Reform UK's party conference in Birmingham has spoken out after they were violently assaulted by audience members.
28437184
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Christian Christensen @chrchristensen.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The European left see this pattern repeat election after election — they copy right-wing policies and just ends up losing votes — yet they continue to do it under the weird conviction that THIS will be the year it finally works. It doesn’t.
514169
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
2) and 3) are intimately linked, in that the BBC (the organisation that really matters in the modern environment) treats 'claims by rival parties' as the operating frame for how it covers everything. The failure from Labour and the Conservatives to say 'this stuff is bad' is really, really bad.
341090340
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Daniel Moser @dmoser.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
Map showing Lower Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
164115633175
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I get there’s a fear of creating martyrs for the far right, but the softly, softly approach has been tried both in recent years and historically and it simply doesn’t work. It’s long past time for a much more visibly robust and condemnatory approach.
0427
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Posted this yesterday and since then we’ve had masked fascist thugs blocking roads with zero arrests and video footage of Reform pensioners assaulting a peaceful protestor with no immediate action.
48018
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
Tom Phillips @tom-phillips.com · 05/09/2026
almost word for word
Screenshot of tweet from @InternetHippo:

New right wing thing is describing crimes as generically as possible to pretend like they're not crimes. Someone gets convicted of conspiracy and they start yelling "Wow so it's illegal to make plans with friends now"
363652846
Reposted by @akkasivaraman.bsky.social
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 04/09/2026
Amazon's own balance sheet presents the most compelling evidence that we are stuck in the Enshittocene, the era in which everything is turning into a pile of shit, because the worst ideas of the worst people now make the most money. 1/
Hieronymus Bosch's 'The Conjuror,' a painting depicting a medieval con artist playing a shell game for an audience of astonished peasant rubes. The image has been altered: the conman now has Jeff Bezos's grinning head, and the mouths of all the peasants have been replaced with inverted Amazon 'Smile' logos, so they are now frowning.

Image:
Steve Jurvestson (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jeff_Bezos%27_iconic_laugh_crop.jpg

CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
211545655