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George Poles

@georgepoles.bsky.social
276 followers 764 following 270 posts

Writer. Story consultant. Involuntary long covid expert. The password is "Finland Red, Egypt White". Repd by Jean Kitson at Kitson Press.

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Reposted by George Poles
Eric Rauchway @rauchway.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I am not gonna start a thread of these but our times do seem to be telling us something about the inability to read a text
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yep, I’ve definitely had jobs like this.
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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Milo tried very hard to understand all the things he'd been told, and all the things he'd seen, and, as he spoke, one curious thing still bothered him. "Why is it," he said quietly, "that quite often even the things which are correct just don't seem to be right?"
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Frances Hardinge @franceshardinge.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
ICYMI, there's a limited edition version of TRAITORS' NEST with sprayed edges only to be found in independent bookshops. I've just received my own copy, and I can't stop admiring it. Isn't it pretty? Look at the magpie feather!
Photo of a hardback book lying down on a black, semi-diaphanous cloth with tiny sequins on it. The book has the title "Traitors' Nest" in white capitals over an image of a magpie feather picked out in purple, blue, gold and black. Behind the feather is a black castle outlined in gold and green, and behind the castle stylised green flames leap before a black background. The white tagline is "Your Next Move Changes Everything". The gold author name is given as "Frances Hardinge". All the gold on the cover is shiny foil. A sticker in the corner says 'Signed Independent Bookshop Edition'.
The book is seen from a slight angle, so that green sprayed edges are just visible.Photo of a hardback book lying down on a black, semi-diaphanous cloth with tiny sequins on it. The book has the title "Traitors' Nest" in white capitals over an image of a magpie feather picked out in purple, blue, gold and black. Behind the feather is a black castle outlined in gold and green, and behind the castle stylised green flames leap before a black background. The white tagline is "Your Next Move Changes Everything". The gold author name is given as "Frances Hardinge". All the gold on the cover is shiny foil. A sticker in the corner says 'Signed Independent Bookshop Edition'.
The book is photographed from above and to the side, so that the long sprayed edge is visible, showing a magpie feather like that on the cover against a green background.Photo of a hardback book lying down on a black, semi-diaphanous cloth with tiny sequins on it. The book has the title "Traitors' Nest" in white capitals over an image of a magpie feather picked out in purple, blue, gold and black. Behind the feather is a black castle outlined in gold and green, and behind the castle stylised green flames leap before a black background. The white tagline is "Your Next Move Changes Everything". The gold author name is given as "Frances Hardinge". All the gold on the cover is shiny foil. A sticker in the corner says 'Signed Independent Bookshop Edition'.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 04/09/2026
Not surprised by this, but it is so patronising from the BBC. I don't need an audience proxy, I just want to hear from people who know more stuff about a thing than me.
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Frances Hardinge @franceshardinge.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Another day, another me-impersonation. Sigh. Someone pretending to be me is sending emails from authorfranceshardinge@gmail.com That's not my email address, and it's not me. There are a lot of scammers impersonating published authors right now. writerbeware.blog/2025/11/14/i...
writerbeware.blog
If a Famous Author Calls, Hang Up: Anatomy of an Impersonation Scam - Writer Beware
You open your email program one morning. The usual work stuff. Some spam (annoying that it got past your filters!). A couple of newsletters (maybe later). You sip your coffee, scroll down. Wait. What’...
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I'm stuck on a spaceship full of zombies, run by a psychotic computer that's out to kill me. Luckily, I'm fully prepared for this challenge after the last couple of decades of living in the UK.
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Steve Doherty @stevedoherty.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
More doesn’t always mean better. But more is still better than our current diet of bugger all. I wonder, given his well known and long running joke, whether the typo in Spike Milligan is deliberate.
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Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Per my last tablet
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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
This piece (via @doctorow.pluralistic.net) partly explains why the kind of coffee shop I enjoy—mismatched chairs, comfy couches, soup of the day—basically no longer exists, and the kind I hate—sharp benches, blond wood, pothos in white pots—is everywhere. laurenleek.substack.com/p/temperatur...
laurenleek.substack.com
Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same
What 640 London shopping streets, 4,000 Billboard hits, a million films and synthetic AI personas tell us about why everything is flattening into sameness and how to regulate the algorithms behind it.
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Bethany Black @bethanyblack.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Tech bros: “okay, so you’ve been down on tech recently, but we’ve invented a new thing that’ll either end scarcity, or end humanity, and in the meantime it’ll make most of you unemployed” Everyone “well that sucks, don’t do that.” Tech bros: “I don’t think you’re hearing me right…”
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
"altruism"
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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Under fairground rules I think they've just won that yacht?
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Attacking net zero as a religious obsession "is gaslighting of the highest order. The truth is, it requires dedicated ideological belief to argue against the scientific evidence that net zero is needed to stop ever more expensive and destructive warming" giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
How to stop global warming
The answer is obvious to all except the real climate change zealots: the anti-net zero movement
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MM Schill @mmschill.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Well... I'm proud of him for seeking help.
A drawing of the grim reaper at a psychologist's office, saying: on tge plus side, people seem happier to see me lately..."
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Has anyone considers that Odysseus's problem is that his men are just too delicious. Yes, he angered the gods, but so many of them getting eaten cant be a coincidence.
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John C @badsocialism.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"are there any bad @stephencollins.bsky.social cartoons?" No, of course not, I've been laughing at this one for three minutes
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Natalie Haynes @nataliehaynes.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
It was always a risk, having Biggins on the show… Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Nero, tomorrow at 9am on BBC Radio 4. Behind the scenes of I, Claudius and more… Catch up afterwards on BBC Sounds.
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Boosting for the afternoon crowd
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Ed Morrish @edmorrish.com · 05/08/2026
this is such a bleak read, but wonderfully written my main takeaway is the degree to which the burden of labour has been placed exclusively on creators, meaning Instagram/tiktok/substack get their cut for, basically, doing fuck all
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Movies Silently @moviessilently.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Every time they open their mouths, I swear to god, it’s a confession of how pitiful they are. They are so hopelessly addicted to the sycophantic lie machine that everyone else HAS to be using it too. “Checkmate!” they scream as they slowly turn to reveal their soiled trousers
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 05/08/2026
Could Google do better? Provably so. Kagi, a small company that runs a search engine powered by Google's own search index consistently delivers results that are substantially superior to Google's - using Google's own infrastructure: pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/t... 13/
pluralistic.net
Pluralistic: Too big to care (04 Apr 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
A really interesting article on what can be done to reinvent and revise the high street. And, yes, it requires an active state backed up by resources
It is perhaps 5,000 years since in-person retail started. Since then it has served two purposes: where we buy things, and where we meet. The first paid for the second without anyone noticing they were separate. Footfall for goods subsidised the public realm - the benches, the safety in numbers, the reason to walk somewhere, to exchange news. Online shopping has exposed and largely killed off that arrangement. What's left is the second purpose, unfunded, in a set of buildings that used to do it for free. So if we want a solution for the high street it will come from finding a financial model to pay for that second role.
This can't mean propping up shops. It must mean putting new kinds of civic life into buildings retail no longer needs. Not every high street can have an outpost of No 10 but most could host more of the state. Local tax offices, magistrates courts, police stations and cottage hospitals have gone. But by creating local hubs shared by multiple public services, front of house can come back.Any solution to our high streets' dilemma needs to force these delinquent owners to bring buildings back into use or surrender them. Councils have powers but rarely the capacity or confidence to use them. A state-backed capital vehicle - a National Trust for the high street - could take interim ownership while long-term plans are made. It would be transformative. And we need a fighting fund, with a crack team of lawyers ready to shift the expectations of every property owner whose building is blighting their community.
If you're not using it, and someone else can, then the choice should be out of your hands.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/08/2026
Neoclassical econ assumes rationality. The corollary of, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" is "you're rich, so you must be very smart!" Thus, people assume that if powerful, well-compensated CEOs insist that "AI is changing everything," well then, *AI must be changing everything*. 1/
A sepia-toned 1950s era boardroom in which men in suits sit around a circular table. The chair of the meeting has been replaced with a man in a straitjacket, making a funny face. The heads of the remaining board-members have been replaced with robots from 1930s pulp magazines. The image has been hand-tinted.
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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Quite.
At a time when some British universities, including Exeter, have targeted the humanities in recent budget cuts in favour of subjects such as engineering, LSE remains focused on the social sciences.
"We should recognise that the educational provision that comes from social sciences, humanities and the arts is equally relevant and important to long-term economic growth," Kramer said.
"Just inventing things doesn't mean you've created the environment in which they flourish. The question of how to keep start-ups in the UK is about economics, politics and law."
At a time of labour market disruption partly driven by the uptake of artificial intelligence, he pointed to recruiters' calls for skills from graduates such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and an interest in continued learning.
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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
can we sometimes be asking "what qualifies this guy to speak on this subject?" or has that ship sailed
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Angus Main @angusmain.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I don’t think anyone could have predicted that the big companies of the Information Age, who built billion dollar industries on providing people with useful information, would pivot their whole business to “lying, and providing tools to make all information indistinguishable from lies”
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Ed Newton-Rex @ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them. It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out: 🧵 1/10
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Andrew Crowther @andrewcrowther.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Originally written by Sarah Harrison and published in the magazine “Slightly Foxed” in Autumn 2010…
From the Editors
Autumn. Season of mists... Chudleigh the office dog is getting his winter coat and were thinking of turning on the heating.
Traditionally autumn is also one of the busiest publishing seasons when firms launch their 'big' books in time for the Christmas market, and review pages and bookshop displays expand. The novelist Sarah Harrison (whose piece on Teresa de Kerpely appeared in Issue 26) feels all those reviews and publishers blurbs need some decoding. Her brief guide tickled us, so we thought we’d pass it on:
Enchanting: there's a dog in it 
Heart-warming: a dog and a child
Heart-rending: they die
Thoughtful: tedious
Thought-provoking: tedious and hectoring
Haunting: set in the past
Exotic: set abroad
Prize-winning: set in India 
Perceptive: set in NW3
Epic: editor cowed by writer's reputation
From the pen of a master: same old same old 
In the tradition of: shamelessly derivative
Provocative: irritating
Spare and taut: under-researched
Richly detailed: over-researched
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Tansy Gardam @tansyg.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
obsessed with Ian Flemming's daily schedule - swim - brunch - write 1500 words no edits just freestyle - lobster hunting - pink gin - lunch - siesta - sit in garden - another swim - 500 more words - "a couple of powerful drinks" - dinner - scrabble with wife - sleep
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
It’s not difficult to control because it’s become sentient, it’s difficult control because it can’t follow a simple instruction like ‘don’t hack other AIs’.
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Peter Geoghegan and Lucas Amin · ‘This looks absolutely rubbish’: Palantir and the NHS
A decade ago Palantir was largely unknown in the UK. It now holds public contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds...
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
🧵
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Neil Brand @neilkbrand.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
The new Prime Minister is writing a "10-year plan" for the UK. The arts & culture MUST be part of it. I've signed @campaignforthearts.org's petition urging @andyburnham.bsky.social to revitalise the arts – to revitalise the whole nation 🌱 Join me: www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/10-year-plan/
campaignforthearts.org
Prime Minister – put the arts in your 10-year plan for the UK | Campaign for the Arts
Sign our petition urging the UK Government to build a country where the arts are available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere.
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Kai TechnoLust (he/him) @technolust.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Watched The Odyssey and I have to say it was completely inaccurate. First, the main character wasn’t named Abe, looked NOTHING like him, and the whole thing didn’t even take place on Oddworld. Do some basic research. At least read the Wikipedia page for fuck’s sake. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oddworl...
en.wikipedia.org
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - Wikipedia
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I’ll ask Jeeves.
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Do I need to tap the "I wrote my thesis on the literary value of comics at Oxford 25 years ago" sign and risk sounding like a dickhead to get through to these people? www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
tes.com
What the bestselling books for children tell primary teachers
Research shows that pupils’ enjoyment of reading declines as they move through primary school. Do the bestselling books for this age group hold any clues about how schools can help reverse the trend?
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
If I hadn't already pre-ordered this, I'd be straight in there.
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George Poles @georgepoles.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
A good WGGB online town hall this afternoon re the future of Children’s TV. These days, that means the BBC. With charter renewal discussion in full swing, this would be a really good time to have a Culture Secretary who was interested in, er, being Culture Secretary.
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Frances Hardinge @franceshardinge.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The School Library Journal Day of Dialog is happening today, and there's still time to register! www.slj.com/event/school... I'll be appearing in the panel 'A YA Sampler' at 10.05am ET, 3.05pm BST, with Dusti Bowling, Sami Ellis, Beck Kubrick , Kara Storti and moderator Jesse Sanders!
slj.com
School Library Journal
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The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
In 2020, I came up with a suite of different ways to illustrate just how wealthy Jeff Bezos is. Some of my favourites are collected below. Six years later, he is $100 billion richer but I refuse to redo all the sums. bsky.app/profile/seam...
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The Onion @theonion.com · 20/05/2026
OpenAI Announces Construction Of New Data Center On Top Of Sick Child
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
A government that visibly holds the people it governs in contempt.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
The Starmer government will do anything to avoid having to persuade the public of something or fund a cash transfer:
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 18/05/2026
Right - you all thought that quiz was too US-centric. So I've vibe-coded something far more British. Specifically British, because I am *not* making a Northern Irish Political Compass. From taxes to the monarchy, answer the questions and see where you sit. quiz.jmoxley.co.uk
quiz.jmoxley.co.uk
British Political Spectrum Quiz
Find out where you sit on the British political map across six dimensions.
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
"Heat pumps just shift gas burning to the power station." Wrong. Even if 100% of electricity came from gas, a heat pump at SCOP 3.8 uses 51% less gas than a boiler. At a terrible SCOP 2.5, still 25% less. David MacKay made this point in 2008. The maths hasn't changed.
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Ed Morrish @edmorrish.com · 15/05/2026
if someone offered you £5m for twenty-seven years' work, that's a tad over £185k/yr
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
This mass courtship event typically marks the beginning of Waymo mating season, and the general public is advised to avoid approaching them or their young and maintaining a safe distance at all times as they can get even more unpredictable in their behaviour towards humans at this time
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 14/05/2026
This is an incredibly transparent ruse: media companies are artists' class enemies, and if we get a new right to control AI training, our bosses will demand that we sign it away to them as part of their non-negotiable, one-sided standard contracts: pluralistic.net/2024/11/18/r... 19/
pluralistic.net
Pluralistic: Harpercollins wants authors to sign away AI training rights (18 Nov 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
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