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alexfeakes.bsky.social

@alexfeakes.bsky.social
83 followers 488 following 144 posts
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The Women’s Institute casts a long shadow.
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Adam Rutherford @adamrutherford.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I’m back on Start the Week on BBC Radio 4 at 9: Carlo Rovelli on philosophy and physics, Lavinia Greenlaw on difficulty in poetry, and James Graham’s new play about John Maynard Keynes. Stick that heady mix in yer podcast pipe. How lucky we are to have the BBC.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
enserm.substack.com/p/are-americ...
enserm.substack.com
Are Americans Lost?
What Happens When Geography Goes Missing
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Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Good luck to my fellow teachers returning to work today - hope the term ahead is a good one for you and your students.
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Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Powerful and important letter about artificial so-called intelligence from Sheila Hayman from Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge, in the FT today
Margaret McGirr’s letter (“AI can lend a hand, but it will struggle to replace one”, July 21) and Chine McDonald’s guest column (“This retro revival is more than a longing for the past”, Opinion, August 7) both touch (sic) on something that should be obvious, but is carefully ignored by almost everyone in the tech world. Namely that our intelligence is embodied, evolved and biological, and inseparable from our bodies.
The brain’s job is to control the body in the world; it is the last organ to develop.
Every square centimetre of our hands (and of the rest of our skin) contains about a 170 touch sensors or nerve endings, sensitive to different kinds of touch: a slap, a burn, a caress, a hug — each of which travels to different parts of the midbrain, prompting the appropriate response. Quickly to the autonomic nervous system for something dangerous; more slowly via a different channel for something carrying meaning.
In addition to the hand’s limitless versatility, it is self-repairing, regulates its own temperature, knows without being programmed how much pressure to exert on an egg, a tennis ball or a day-old chick, and can fuse neurologically to whatever it holds.
So when we put a glass down on the table or slide a knife through an apple, we feel the table, or the apple, not the glass or handle in our hand (try it!).
Finally, and most urgently, the entire human body — including the hands — does everything on 25 or so watts of completely renewable energy: a tiny fraction of what a humanoid robot, even one of the current primitive iteration of robots, needs.
The “retro revival” is thus not cultural nostalgia.
It’s millions of years of evolution crying out to be heard, before we suppress it totally in the service of an automated — and dead — planet.
Sheila Hayman
Member of the Advisory Board, Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge, London NW1, UK
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Geologists and evolutionary biologists do not have to debate creationists. Astronomers do not have to debate pre-Copernican theories of the heavens. Doctors do not have to debate anti-vax nuts. Climate scientists do not have to debate industry-funded deniers. All that goes for racists times ten.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Said this on another thread about the Out Yourself as Pro-Eugenics in One Easy Petition petition, re the 10% or so of women signing it (in my casual count of the first 100 signatories). bsky.app/profile/rebe...
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Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Every single journalist in Britain should read this searing essay by Will Self
willself1.substack.com
Jason Arday: J'Accuse the British Media
After the death of Jason Arday, Will Self asks what happens when the media machine mistakes what interests the public for the public interest.
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Professor Tom Crick @proftomcrick.com · 13/08/2026
A brief guide to eclipses, aliens and trying to keep quiet — with Iain Banks, Liu Cixin, the Fermi paradox, and a partial eclipse from Corsica. proftomcrick.com/2026/08/13/a...
proftomcrick.com
A brief guide to eclipses, aliens and trying to keep quiet
The Sun is about four hundred times wider than the Moon. It is also about four hundred times farther away. There is no reason for this. It is a coincidence, and it is the only reason a total solar …
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Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Insights from A-levels: Maths has 115k entries & Eng Lit just 36k. 20 yrs ago they both had about 50k A generation of kids will be far more familiar with quadratics & conditional probability than Mr Rochester & Ophelia. Bayes is destroying Defoe... substack.nomoremarking.com/p/the-fall-o...
substack.nomoremarking.com
The fall of Eng Lit
What is the cause, is it a problem - and if so, what can we do about it?
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Alex Quigley @alexjquigley.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Unsurprisingly, small schools find implementing national policies a greater challenge than most. This study explores how small schools implemented the early career framework in the face of challenges of recruiting mentors, travel etc. See here: bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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Ellie Harris @eleanorrrlouise.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I think while some might have overstated the relative role of schools v wider economy- the debate on here massively undersells the huge role schools play. Attainment, engagement, SEN, mental health- all factors for becoming NEET & something schools can help with. It all feels a bit reactionary.
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Louise @louiseankers.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Also, the only reality TV I like is Bake Off because they criticise something you do rather than something you are
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Dario Perkins @darioperkins.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I'm slow to this, but here is a beautiful piece on the dynamics of the AI buildout and how they could flip into reverse. Wish I had written it tbh www.groundbrkr.com/p/the-second...
groundbrkr.com
The Second Derivative: Why No One Understands the AI Boom
The market misremembers 2008. That same blind spot sits at the center of the AI boom.
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Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Jane Gingrich and I have written an essay for @ippr.org on a fundamental problem, that an age that demands more of the state also suffers from multiple state legitimation crises www.ippr.org/articles/the...
ippr.org
The legitimacy trap | IPPR
In many ways, the public want more government: to shape a fairer, more dynamic economy and protect ordinary people from the consequences of a turbulent wor
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Stamp duty and council tax are terrible taxes. Land value tax could replace both - and Andy Burnham has backed it for 16 years. Who wins? Who loses? What happens to house prices? LVT could drive growth. But it isn’t easy. Our model shows its promise - and its problems.
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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
There’ll be a documentary on these hydration breaks in a few years with whistleblowers breaking the silence, what an absolute FARCE #ENGGHA
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
"Why adopting Reform-lite rhetoric or intensifying enforcement measures rarely resolves the political problem for centre-left parties: the goalposts constantly move because the politics is not designed to produce resolution. It is designed to sustain a permanent sense of crisis and cultural threat."
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Why public attitudes to immigration don’t respond to falling migration | LSE British Politics
Migration numbers are falling, but attitudes towards immigration are hardening. That's because immigration concerns are a symbol for other anxieties.
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POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 12/06/2026
Over the past month, Britain’s Liberal Democrats quietly picked 28 candidates for the U.K.'s next general election. It marks the earliest in a cycle that the country’s third-largest party has ever picked contenders. We take you inside their strategy.
politico.eu
With British politics in chaos, the Liberal Democrats are getting election-ready
The centrist party — eyeing a role in government — is speeding up its candidate selection and overhauling its digital operation.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
This is no more about the details of immigration policy than the progroms my great great grandparents fled were about Jews committing crimes. It's straightforward racist violence and it needs the strongest possible response.
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Kate Polling @katepolling.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Listening to Radio 4 this morning horrified by way they are normalising far right talking points in Belfast. Such a relief to hear @naomilong.bsky.social speaking to the truth that this is unjustifiable racist violence. I wish England had such smart, clear, courageous leaders at the moment.
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Magnificent rant about marketing-induced bilge about “generations”. About time too. My LinkedIn timeline is full of pseudo-scientific platitudes on how people of different ages are ”radically different”. www.ft.com/content/ff49...
ft.com
Please stop talking about Gen Z in the office
Mindless generational labels don’t help at a time when the workplace is one of the few places where young and old mix
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Adam Rutherford @adamrutherford.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I am genuinely surprised by this. Of course you don’t just check all references, you actually read them. And yes that includes ones written in languages other than your own.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #OST armour animal masks? Great beat and interesting staging, but… lyrics are a bit dull. Random guitarist? Hmm.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #ROM outtakes from Dune? I see they put the guitar bands on at the end… but not all of them are equal. Has some interesting staging and musical elements. Also, not sure about the main lyric…
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #NOR gets points for actual guitars. Black harlequin waders? Like a cross between The White Stripes and The Years.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #ITA 57?! Really? Looks a bit like a Spandau Ballet tribute band. Oh! Acrobatic dancers flick-flacking across the stage, check! Dress comes off to reveal national flag, check!
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #CYP bit of a Euro-banger this. Simple but effective staging. Not convinced dancing is her strong suit. But… they have definitely read the assignment.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #SWE Who is the Masked Singer? I like the techno beat, Sweden seem to have stepped it for this year. Ooh, can I choose which body part? This could be a club track, it’s growing on me. I like the animated break through bit. And a switch of masks.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #LIT one day he’ll be a real boy. That is a lot of shoulder… which he’s left behind. Cheeky subtitling there. Nice. He’s haunted by electric dreams. This has improved as it’s gone on, and as I’ve got nearer the bottom of my glass.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #POL that breastplate looks painful to wear. Great voice, I can see what Graham Norton means about her gospel sound. I like the dancers efforts. Good song and done well, not very Eurovisiony, but still works. I like it.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #FIN he’s just remembered he left the gas on. Which is dangerously with that amount of product in his hair. I think we see more of the violinist, as the singer is a bit boring. Ah there we go. I think they’re taking it a bit too seriously.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #MOL Brought to you by the Campaign to Locate Moldova on a Map, any map. Who is the very tall lady in a red dress? Anyway, catchy and to the point. Fun.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Sneaking a giant screen into the flagshagger march is one of the funniest things @ledbydonkeys.org have ever done. "STAY HYDRATED" 😂🤣😂
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #FRA a lovely voice. Looks like she borrowed her outfit from an earlier contestant. Amazing voice, actually, and so confident. At least it’s not a ballad, and one of the more interesting songs France has entered for a while. Let down by boring staging.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #UK This… is much better than I’d feared. Great staging and the song has flashes of Euroness, but not enough I suspect. Bonkers computer headed dancers - reminds me of the Saga graphic novels.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #CRO they have seem to have brought cultists to the stage. Or possibly a Greek chorus. No a cult. It’s the second coming of Zarqion! He made it in time before the end of the universe. Phew. Love this staging - and the band are really enjoying themselves.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #BUL This is the sort of euro-loony-banger I’m here for. A little bit of bangla, a little bit of mambo and a Chair dance! The slower sections are letting her down, but I like it, I like it.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #CZE sorry, I’ve already fallen asleep. I have Czeched out.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision MAL Hello, I am your spirit guide this evening <raises eyebrow>. The song is ok, but does rather sound like an entertainer in a Mediterranean cantina.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #SER monster shoulder pads, come on! Including swords! More Swords! He is Kurgan the Destroyer! This is totally on brand Balkan-metal. A proper band too.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #AUS I see they brought their A game. Fake piano? Key change, check! Podium from the piano - genius! Great song and performance, best so far.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #UKR ethereal entrance with floaty outfit, check! Setting looks like she is being filled up with chocolate. That is a long note, impressive. Great voice, but not that interesting.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #GRE Gangnam Style rip-off! Clever staging… too clever, perhaps. More mothers, statues and Midas? This is nuts, it’s like they couldn’t agree on a theme. Kinda catchy tho’
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #ALB the Albanian national Psychodrama on stage! He looks like he’s about to hypnotise some boobs, or something. Like scenes from Superman 2. Has Albania ever seen Eurovision before? Too much melodrama.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #BEL fake snow or dandruff? You decide! Musically more interesting than the first few, but the song itself is not good - it looks like she’s phong it in.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #ISR and the diamond reveals… a balladesque musical mess. Oh dear. Michelle c’est ne pas ma belle this time.
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #GER a dance performance in search of a better song. Costume change, check; flame cannons, check!
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alexfeakes.bsky.social @alexfeakes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#eurovision #DEN interesting visuals, but song doesn’t really stand out. Sheer sparkly top! Check!
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