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Akru

@akru.bsky.social
79 followers 131 following 189 posts

Cyclist, gamer, metalhead. Vegan - broad church kind, not the militant kind. Mostly quiet, occasional ranter. Here for climate, rewilding & politics.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Akru
George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Here is how politics, in most cases, works: Rich and powerful interests, whether in fossil fuels, finance, big tech, media, meat, pharma or foreign governments, make a demand, and use their sophisticated tools to persuade a government to adopt it. The government adopts it. Please read whole🧵
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Good to see Foreign Secretary presenting the findings of the suppressed Joint Intelligence Report on ecosystem collapse to other governments. But when is it going to be shared with the rest of us? We can’t prepare for what we don’t know - it should be published in full
theguardian.com
UK shares findings of damning climate crisis national security report suppressed under Starmer
El Niño poses critical threat to nations’ defences, says Ed Miliband in presentation to global foreign ministers
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Philippe Auclair @philippeauclair.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Why is it that the *opinion* of a billionaire tax dodger who hates his country of birth is deemed worthy of a full-length feature on the website of the public broadcaster?
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.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 17/09/2026
As I warned you: the superstar media darling AI quitter is explicitly agreeing with Trump and claiming climate threats are "overplayed". Effective altruism / rationalism is a cult of broken priorities that denies the threat of fossil fuels. This is why Anthropic loves burning gas for power.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A macho culture of performative selfishness might start on the roads, through racing, rolling coal, ever bigger SUVs ... But it doesn't end there. If we want to live in a decent country which values human life, we need to change this culture. My column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Driving that’s too fast, too dangerous and utterly lawless: why do we tolerate this petro-masculinity? | George Monbiot
In towns and in the countryside, I see 4x4s and pick up trucks driven without care or consicence. It’s a Magafication of transport, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The way British democracy is being bought by crypto billionaires is simply obscene - and a direct result of Labour’s unforgivable inaction
theguardian.com
Burnham drops support for political funding cap aimed at curbing mega-donors
PM said he would set bar at £500k, but trade unions say funding reforms could undermine their ability to donate to Labour
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne has now matched Ben Delo's record-breaking £36m donation to Reform, months after Nigel Farage's party promised to slash crypto sales taxes in half Reform UK is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the crypto industry www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/reform-uk-...
adambienkov.co.uk
Reform UK Is Now a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of the Corrupt Crypto Industry
As criminal investigations into Reform’s funding continue, much of the British press continues to give a free pass to Nigel Farage’s shady funders
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I’ve reached the point - well actually, I reached it a while ago - where I’m militantly anti-AI. Fine - use it in bioscience labs and radiology where it might help analyse data more effectively. Use it sparingly for systems engineering. Everywhere else, it can fuck off.
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
You might have to turn up for the results of this one, Nige.
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andy™ @andylevy.net · 08/09/2026
werner herzog on AI filmmaking (from here www.indiewire.com/features/int...)
Q: A couple years ago at IDFA, I saw this movie "About a Hero," which is this partly Al-generated hybrid documentary that tries to recreate the atmosphere of your films.

A: The intention of this young filmmaker was never to remake any [of my films], but making something in the spirit. And I immediately said, "You will fail. It is such a stupid idea. It's phenomenally, abysmally stupid. I will not take part in it." He wanted me to explain things and have my voice in it.
I said, "You are alone. There's such a thing as free speech, which I respect. So go ahead and fail." And it is a failure, period.
It's so standardized that Al can step in because there's not real storytelling. It's mimicry of something that has happened before. And I welcome Al to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it's ad nauseam.
When it's ad nauseam, please, please, please let Al step in and do the job.
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This is of course not enough and it comes much too late, but it is still a significant step in the right direction. He's not at all perfect, but imagine how much better the UK's situation might be if the nation hadn't lost its mind over how this man ate a bacon sandwich one time.
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Camp Miasma was amazing! Not at all what I expected but completely brilliant.
Film poster for 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma'
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
In the UK, blackshirts can get away with almost anything while elderly nuns get arrested for opposing the Gaza genocide
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Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
"No arrests made" One rule for fascists, another for the rest If this had been a peaceful climate or Palestinian protest, they would have been dragged off to jail in no time Disgusting double standards www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
bbc.co.uk
Port of Dover delays: Disruption as masked 'stop the boats' protesters block roads
Hundreds of demonstrators, wearing black with their faces covered, caused delays to traffic reaching the port.
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Content warning: Multiple men violently assault a female protester at Reform's conference at the Birmingham NEC, to the visible delight of Nigel Farage.
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Philippe Auclair @philippeauclair.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
As per @financialtimes.com, Eldridge Capital Management Services (UK), majority shareholder: Chelsea FC chairman Todd Boehly, made a £75,000 donation to Reform UK in May of this year. Boehly has also donated at least $2 million to Donald Trump and MAGA Inc.
ft.com
Company linked to Chelsea FC co-owner Todd Boehly donated to Reform UK
Nigel Farage’s party received total donations of more than £5mn in second quarter according to Electoral Commission figures
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Why is environmental protest necessary? Because Government won’t listen to the science Exploitation of the Jackdaw gasfield by overseas businesses will provide a handful of jobs & will not help energy security But it will push us further into climate catastrophe www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Jackdaw gas field set to be approved as soon as mid-September, sources say
The government is set to give the go-ahead for the gas field off the coast of Aberdeen, the BBC understands.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The Nigel Farage and Reform foreign donations scandal excluded from all but one national newspaper front page this morning. No sign of it at all on the front pages of the two papers which splashed the polls secretly funded by a Reform donor earlier this year
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Gabby HC @scriblit.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
RIP to all the managers who will now starve to death, sobbing 'what do I want to eat?' at an uncaring phone
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
THE most impactful thing you can do as an individual, right now, to help stop the mass nature die-off humanity is driving? Reduce or stop consumption of beef and other animal-based foods.
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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"Keir Starmer Is Why Everyone Hates Politicians" The former PM misled his way to the top and now he’s walking away from politics altogether. His decision to quit Parliament so quickly is a reminder he was only ever interested in power. From Zeteo UK:
zeteo.uk
Keir Starmer Is Why Everyone Hates Politicians
The former PM misled his way to the top and now he’s walking away from politics altogether. His decision to quit Parliament so quickly is a reminder he was only ever interested in power and ambition.
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Leonore (Lee) Carpenter @leecarpenter.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
In case you are an academic who is currently being gaslit into believing that you're a caveman who wants their students to be jobless if you resist allowing AI in your classrooms... I present to you Berkeley Law's response, which can be summarized as "Fuck off directly into the sun."
law.berkeley.edu
Artificial Intelligence Policy
Effective Summer 2026 Purpose Future lawyers may need to use artificial intelligence (“AI”) fluently. But the current state of the technology requires that AI use be coupled with the cognitive […]
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 24/08/2026
Wild beaver kits born in Norfolk for first time in more than 500 years
theguardian.com
Wild beaver kits born in Norfolk for first time in more than 500 years
Pair are offspring of two beavers who mysteriously arrived in Pensthorpe nature reserve near Fakenham in December Wild beaver kits have been born in Norfolk for the first time in more than 500 years. The pair of newborns are the offspring of two free-living beavers who mysteriously arrived in Pensthorpe nature reserve near Fakenham in December. Continue reading...
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404 Media @404media.co · 17/08/2026
EXCLUSIVE: 404 Media placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Investigation by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social here: www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
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Mark C Norwich @markcnorwich.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/activis...
greenpeace.org.uk
Activists paint giant climate warning to Burnham on mountainside scorched by wildfires  - Greenpeace UK
Greenpeace has delivered a powerful message to Andy Burnham in a land artwork on the site of an extinguished wildfire in North Wales, urging the new PM to take serious action to address the climate im...
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This is an inappropriate, credulous & politically biased BBC headline. The claims about savings will be sharply contested. News reports should not imclude what reads as an ediorial endorsememt in the headline www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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Angela Francis @angelaisfranc.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This petition has jumped to over 93,000 signatures in the last few weeks and 100,000 will trigger a debate in parliament on a National Emergency Briefing on the climate crisis, televised and fronted by the PM. If you support please sign and share.
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Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Britain’s scorched fields mean a food crisis – and the government is ignoring the one measure that would help, writes @georgemonbiot.bsky.social 1/2 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Britain's scorched fields mean a food crisis – and the government is ignoring the one measure that would help | George Monbiot
This summer’s extreme weather and wars in Iran and Ukraine have made our need for food stockpiles more pressing than ever, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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James Dyke @jamesgdyke.info · 13/08/2026
Hell yeah! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kON2...
youtube.com
Honest Government Ad | Ai Data Centres
YouTube video by thejuicemedia
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Burnham's political strategy: 1. Copy some Green messaging on cost of living without doing anything meaningful 2. For god's sake don't mention climate change 3. Pander to racists He was supposedly Labour's great progressive hope, a guy with ideals & purpose, but this is just more McSweeney-ism
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Fiona Harvey @fionaharvey.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
A handy guide to ten things Andy Burnham could do right now to safeguard climate, environment, people and vital national infrastructure www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
From grey water to cool spaces: 10 climate crisis policies Britain needs right now
Rejecting North Sea drilling licences and protecting nature are just some measures Andy Burnham must implement to ready country
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
This is the key thing that so many debates about AI replacing jobs miss. Whether AI can do your job is not relevant. What's relevant is whether your boss believes (almost certainly incorrectly) that AI can do your job, or whether your boss wants to use AI as an excuse to let you go to 'cut costs'.
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The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 31/07/2026
As Europe burns, Shell has banked £7.4 billion in just three months. It's time to make the biggest polluters pay.
Green Party poster demanding "Make polluters pay," highlighting Shell's £7.4bn profit in three months against a backdrop of dark, orange-lit industrial smoke with a partial Shell logo in the corner.
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Groundwork Collaborative @groundwork.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Author @doctorow.pluralistic.net on @weeklyshowpodcast.bsky.social breaks down how surveillance pricing and algorithmic wage discrimination are affecting working families right now. Some companies are running experiments to see what the highest price or the lowest wage you'll accept. Watch now 👇
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Not to be another one of those people in your timeline but holy crap it's actually raining.
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Just re-watched Big Trouble in Little China and man, I think maybe I didn't get it the first time around. I remember it as a dumb, fun action film, but it's actually just flat out hilarious. What a great movie.
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Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Climate change keeps adding to the list of uninsurable assets, Allianz executive says - “Certain locations and perils cannot be covered as we would wish them to be covered" #climatecrisis www.latimes.com/environment/...
latimes.com
Climate change keeps adding to the list of uninsurable assets, Allianz executive says
One major bank now sets loan rates for companies based on their exposure to global warming. BBVA said sectors being targeted are agriculture, real estate and leisure, as well as utilities and infrastr...
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Futurism @futurism.com · 20/07/2026
It's a bloodbath.
trib.al
OpenAI Appears to Be Missing Its Sales Goals by a Vast Margin
The company behind ChatGPT is on track to undershoot its five-year revenue projection by upward of 90 percent.
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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 19/07/2026
Could Excel be conscious? We surveyed more than Jan 1 1900 people to find out.
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Gingerspiced @gingerspiced.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Pete Hegseth: "We need our warriors to embrace the Spartan mindset" U.S. Military: *suffers crushing defeat to the Persians*
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
From new hope to no hope before you can blink www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Burnham to announce plans for new North Sea oil and gas drilling
Drilling has become a controversial topic for the Labour party after the 2024 manifesto pledged to not issue new licenses.
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
JFC.
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Chris Packham @chrisgpackham.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Tell me Clarkson , is it really all happy smiley down on the farm ?
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
'...the most effective AI champions "are definitely not the most technical people."' Absolutely my experience. If you understand how AI works and object, you're an incompetent Luddite to be ignored. If you don't know anything about it you're a 'champion' and a 'disruptor'. Knowledge is ignorance.
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 09/07/2026
Cultist shit. A desperate last gasp operation to try and keep people believing, to bully them into acquiescing, to use social pressure to force a technology that will either continue to increase in cost and eventually will simply run out of cash to continue, truly corrosive to company culture.
To help meet those goals, Citi has scaled its program to more than 4,000 participants, divided between “champions”—or senior-level executives—and “accelerators,” those at various levels of the organization.

Adoption of Citi Stylus Workspaces, the most broadly available AI tool for workers at the company, has crept up from the single digits in late 2024 when it was rolled out to more than 80% now. The company said it credits the champion and accelerator program in part with that increase.

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Another key to the success of champion programs is making sure you tap the right people. According to Mars Snacking Chief Technology Officer Ramesh Kollepara, the most effective AI champions “are definitely not the most technical people.”

Rather, you’re looking for someone with innate curiosity who can act as a translator between business needs and technical capabilities, he said. 

Kollepara started a champions program two years ago while he was leading tech at Kellanova, and it has expanded since the snack company’s acquisition by Mars last year, now boasting 500 participants.

“Champions are the ones who socialize the broader potential of AI,” he said.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I don’t really understand UK politics but I can’t wait for this race in Clacton between the joke candidate and @countbinface.bsky.social.
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Akru @akru.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Whereas the truth is that use of AI is a sign of incompetence regardless of gender.
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Prof. Ian Walker @ianwalker.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
We limit the speed of ebikes "for public safety", yet this study shows we'd need to limit SUVs to 5.7 km/h for them to pose the same risk to other people #motonormativity findingspress.org/article/1587...
findingspress.org
Motonormativity and Speed Limits | Published in Findings
By Jeremy de Sousa, Alessia Vinet & 3 more. Cars pose a far greater threat to other road users than e-micromobility, raising a basic question for traffic safety: which modes should actually be limited...
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Shouldn’t we stop using the term ‘heatwave’, which culturally has pleasant connotations of lovely warm summer days? Let’s say ‘extreme heat’ instead
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
The attacks in Edinburgh, in which an armed bare-chested white man terrorised Muslims, leaving five people injured, don't feature on a single newspaper front page this morning. Two tier journalism
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