Sign in

Jack Pickering

@jackpickering74.bsky.social
84 followers 93 following 71 posts

Researcher focused on packaging, environmental politics, consumption issues. I write fiction, ride bikes, and make wine.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Jack Pickering
George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here's today's column on the astonishing, ongoing mistreatment of people with #ME/CFS. Please spread it far and wide: the only thing which can break the media's wall of indifference is seeing an article about the issue go viral. Thank you. 1/2 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed | George Monbiot
Changes in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a social crisis playing out behind closed doors, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
17925321730
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Listening to 9 to 5 and getting emotional - remembering that I saw Dolly Parton live - what is wrong with me
001
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Cycled past a small fire on Burbage plantation in the peak District- really hope they get it under control as it's in a small pine wood and surrounded by dry moorland
000
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Brb drinking 1 million beers
100
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
"the sheer profligate abundance of beauty is evidence of a universe intensely bound up with its creations" www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Susanna Clarke: ‘I had been ill for 11 years. I felt like I was about to fall off the world’
One hundred years after Virginia Woolf explored the limitations of language in On Being Ill, the Piranesi author reflects on the power of storytelling to shape our experience of sickness
000
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
You do not have to reach for cultural explanations for the lack of AC in Europe. It didn't used to be hot and now it is hot!
452026241
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Ben Miller @benwritesthings.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
the charcoals Hockney made in 2014, after a stroke, that show what it is to make something: you show up every day and look at it, wrestle with it, honestly. it’s in the doing. RIP to the master.
445186
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
I got married yesterday! It felt really good to be around family and friends, eating great food and drinking local beer, having pulled off a fairly ambitious plan - we made most decorations and did most catering ourselves.
120
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
I took this logic too far once and convinced myself and a room full of people that lasagne is actually American-italian food when it's one of the more historic dishes, dating from before the Colombian exchange.
010
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Train companies: do not email me you are false entities I have no comprehension of.
000
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 17/04/2026
A HUGE, narrative-breaking moment for the UK car market New EVs are now cheaper than petrol cars on average, says Autotrader Last yr CCC said price parity was due by 2028 – and it's already here And EVs are already MUCH cheaper to run than petrol
281103404
Reposted by Jack Pickering
The Onion @theonion.com · 09/04/2026
Swollen RFK Jr. Warns Americans Not Eating Enough Bees theonion.com/swollen-rfk-jr-warns-a…
Swollen RFK Jr. Warns Americans Not Eating Enough Bees

Kennedy Vows To End ‘War’ On Stinging-Insect Diets
375136852331
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Emma Atkins @emmaatkins.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
My first journal article has been published! It outlines the novel methods I used to study household food waste. Turns out noone has asked people to put Post-It notes in their fridges before? Weird Thanks to Area for a great publishing experience and the reviewers for their supportive comments!
042
Reposted by Jack Pickering
wint @dril.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
i guess those celebrating soras death didnt get the memo that some of us need daily personalized greetings from james bond—for mental health
73148772466
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Mollie Goodfellow @hansmollman.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Can we not compromise with an otter dressed up like Churchill, it could smoke a cigar
1219815
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Revealed: UK’s multibillion AI drive is built on ‘phantom investments’
Exclusive: Rented datacentres and unrealised supercomputer site raise questions for Starmer’s push to ‘mainline AI into veins of economy’
000
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Morrisons organic coffee is underrated - and cheap. Not sure how the price has stayed the same for so long given coffee price rises - they're probably shafting someone along the supply chain.
100
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Eating too much soup and falling asleep - a classic February activity
010
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Ted Palenski @tedpal.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
This reminds me of a provocation from @allartmarkets.bsky.social at a recent talk on aI: While we've all come to understand the narrative of inevitability, we must also explore the finance narratives. How do groups, money conspire to make all other narratives possible? Such a complex topic...
275
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Had a paper published I'm quite proud of: Rethinking consumer convenience as a barrier to reusable packaging systems. bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com
000
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Why doesn't the Sheffield tram line go through the wicker? Risk of flooding? There must be a reason for it.
000
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Why is the BBC allowing all these non-experts to sit around unchallenged on air saying #overdiagnosis is real? It's pure nonsense and entirely driven by a desire to remove support from people who are entirely warranted to have it.
1246
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
I keep thinking about demand reduction and progressive politics, limits and standards of consumption, the role of elite consumption in normalising higher standards and ratcheting etc.
010
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Cars over a certain engine size, weight and width should be banned unless your job necessitates it (and there should be a review of acceptable professions), and even then you should be prevented from driving on certain roads. Also headlight intensity should be lowered.
000
Reposted by Jack Pickering
HK @hkesvani.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
The BBC could really redeem itself to much of the public by re-commissioning Robot Wars
1215819
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Making a Dutch apple cake
010
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 31/10/2025
We have had surveys that have shown us exactly this in the UK, France, the EU etc for many years What we need to ask ourselves is why have journalists, politicians, academics etc chosen to focus on surveys that hype immigration This is what I explore here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

'Manufactured panic': Immigration not near top of most people's concerns, poll suggests

The cost of living, health, crime, and housing are much higher on people's lists of personal worries, a YouGov survey has suggested.
Friday 31 October 2025 04:22, UK
531883
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Rory Blank @roryblank.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
if you follow the logic of shareholder capitalism far enough, trying to cut costs to maximize profits, whittling down every corner to juice returns, eventually you end up in a situation where a company that once built houses ends up trying to sell toothpicks that cost a million dollars
5855
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Grem, of 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐏 @gremlin.world · 05/10/2025
I will never not repost this (Sound on for maximum effect)
3360282969
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Wasps swarming me in my bathroom at 5am: sincerely, go home, go back to the tree you live in
100
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Annie Kelly @annieknk.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
STARMER: hey I'm appointing this close friend of the world's most notorious paedophile to be US ambassador :) BRITISH PRESS: ok :) [One year later] BRITISH PRESS: wait a minute
321862375
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
I'm about to complete a very long railway journey: Prague to Sheffield. Did it the other way last week. Ask me anything?
000
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Absolutely insane music in the university cafe here in Prague - frantic jazzy noodling seemingly composed on a school keyboard - but it kind of works.
000
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
What an absolute shower of pathetic, two-bit authoritarians the UK Labour party are.
071
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Just fitted a water butt to the guttering. Yorkshire water where do I apply for a rebate?
000
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Giving the dishwasher a dirty look to threaten it into not leaking
000
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
Basil brush is why we have Nigel Farage. Don't @ me.
010
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
051
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Week off, 50km cycle in and out of the peaks 👌
000
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Kemi Badenoch has said she does not believe one in four people are disabled. I don’t believe Kemi Badenoch is a decent human being and capable politician. We’ve all got our views, Kemi!
2151295
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Enjoyable travelogues: narrow dog to Carcassonne - mad old couple take their canal boat across the channel and enjoy themselves for a bit. Deeply silly, life affirming and believable.
000
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
Free Palestine
110
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
This is a deceptively amusing post- wait till the end of August...
010
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
I'm in Paris
011
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Yael van der Wouden, who won last night’s @womensprize.bsky.social for Fiction, said she was intersex in her speech and had only got the right treatment because of “every trans person who’s fought for healthcare.” Say it again: Transphobia. Hurts. Everyone.
Quote from Yael van der Wouden: “…every single trans person who’s fought for healthcare, who changed the system, the law, societal standards, themselves, I stand on their shoulders.”
1477139
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 13/06/2025
The first U.S. bishop appointed by Pope Leo XIV—a refugee himself—is mobilizing priests to accompany migrants at immigration court on June 20. (Via Christopher Hale)
607314958343
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Sheffield smells much better than Paris.
041
Jack Pickering @jackpickering74.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
I'm in Paris
011
Reposted by Jack Pickering
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 15/05/2025
because there's no business model for these companies long term! This is a pale horse! $6m a month in revenue (not profit)? For one of the most notable generative AI companies? Good lord!
One of the best examples is Cohere, an OpenAI rival that was developing similar technology years before the launch of ChatGPT in 2022 and has raised a total of nearly $1 billion from investors. As of February this year, Cohere was on pace to generate just $70 million in revenue annually from licensing its AI models to enterprises, meaning it was generating less than $6 million a month at the time. That’s far short of what it told investors in 2023 it expected to be making by now.
The Takeaway
• Cohere says monthly revenue has doubled since December
• The company had projected hundreds of million of dollars in revenue last year but fell far short
• Cohere executives apologized to employees after postponing an expected employee share sale

In 2023, Cohere gave projections to investors suggesting it would generate about $450 million in revenue from selling access to its AI models in 2024, en route to $5.6 billion in revenue in 2027, according to the company’s pitch deck.

In an interview, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez defended the company’s growth as significant and said its new strategy of focusing on large, privacy-focused businesses and selling a ChatGPT-like app for enterprises would enable it to stand out in a crowded market.
1955897