Reposted by Paul MartinDr. Katja Thieme (she/they) @katjathieme.bsky.social · 31/01/2026Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/ 7529011423
Reposted by Paul Martinironeconomist.bsky.social @ironeconomist.bsky.social · 29/01/2026AI tools are immensely powerful. The use of AI as a general purpose chat bot that is used like an encyclopaedia is the worst possible use of AI. AI is now, given good instructions from a knowledgeable user, capable of doing absolutely vast amounts of work extremely fast. 1225145
Reposted by Paul MartinKristen Radtke @kristenradtke.bsky.social · 27/01/2026I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.comtheverge.comI grew up with Alex PrettiThe kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend. 496171856826
Reposted by Paul MartinJohn Abernathy @john-abernathy.bsky.social · 17/01/2026Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye. 12973968214520
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 13/01/2026For a mere £1250… www.kenwoodworld.com/en-gb/p/kenw... (not quite what you are asking for but it does the same thing)kenwoodworld.comCooking Chef Stand Mixer KCL96.004DG KCL96.004DG stand mixer | Kenwood GBDiscover Cooking Chef Stand Mixer KCL96.004DG KCL96.004DG kitchen machine and buy it on the official Kenwood website, at the best price. 010
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 27/11/2025en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Bef... I really enjoyed this book on the same sort of topic (but it came out 30 years ago so is it really a new argument?)en.wikipedia.orgWar Before Civilization - Wikipedia 010
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 25/11/2025This is an intensely targeted tax, though, not a broad-based one - www.gov.uk/guidance/che...gov.ukCheck if your drink is liable for the Soft Drinks Industry LevyFind out which drinks are liable for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, and how much you may need to pay. 000
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 19/11/2025To what, though? I wonder if there just isn't a successor to pasta/garlic/sundried tomatoes/posh coffees/etc nowadays. Any new and exciting food has maybe six months in a niche market before it's available everywhere. The democratization of taste! 000
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 24/10/2025or he also plans to build another hanger on the other side, perhaps 220
Reposted by Paul MartinRichard Littler @richardlittler.bsky.social · 08/08/2025Studios are pathologically averse to new material. Disney is the same. It's like watching dogs gobble up their own sick. The Return of Dog Food Legends of Carrot Chunk The Animated Adventures of Bile Semi-Digested Biscuits 2049 Sick Tales 4: Back Into the Mouth Vomit Days: A Sick Tales Prequel 96611
Reposted by Paul MartinMike 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @notkissinger.bsky.social · 22/07/2025It really is the best word for this. A nation that defeated fascism during WW2 and won the Cold War, only to be felled by a game show host and parking lot lawyer. Humiliating. 1486
Reposted by Paul MartinJohn Attridge @johnattridge.bsky.social · 03/06/2025(walking into an academic's office) wow! have you skimmed all these books? 110922
Reposted by Paul MartinMike Jones @mikepjones1.bsky.social · 27/05/2025Tired: interpreting the actions of SCOTUS as emerging from precedent and theories of jurisprudence Wired: interpreting the actions of SCOTUS as emerging from their status as competitive moves in a high-stakes game of Mornington Crescent 0104
Reposted by Paul MartinScott Lemieux @lemieuxlgm.bsky.social · 01/05/2025I can at least understand why Trump's army of sporadic low-information voters were nostalgic for 2019, but for six figure pundits to be like "wow, could remember how stressful and chaotic a Trump presidency could be" I dunno 1343
Reposted by Paul MartinFishbourne Roman Palace @romanpalace.bsky.social · 01/05/2025We need EVERYONE to see this advert for a Head of Operations at the Palace (£40-45k). Otherwise we might get some kind of numpty in charge. Please share. If we get 50 shares we'll post a video of #CuratorRob playing a hoover like a didgeridoo. hr.breathehr.com/recruitment/...hr.breathehr.comBreatheEffortless people admin 11142136
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 17/04/2025I would very much like one of these if you can ship them overseas 020
Reposted by Paul MartinSam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 15/04/2025Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you. 103105053371
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 13/04/2025Oh sure, I think the motivation was not "I have a crush on this right wing thinker" and publishing those pieces was a public good, but still! 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 13/04/2025Au contraire www.ft.com/content/a46c... and www.ft.com/content/f313... etc etcft.comA time for truth and reconciliationTrump’s return to the White House augurs the ‘apokálypsis’ of the ancien regime’s secrets 100
Reposted by Paul MartinBrendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 11/04/2025Dispatches from a country slipping into authoritarianism (if we don't come together to stop it) 491221265
Reposted by Paul MartinEric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 10/04/2025The fear among academics and lawyers now talking on the record on just about any topic that involves the federal government or the White House is really extraordinary and worrisome, and getting worse, it seems to me, every week. Dissent by an establishment figures becoming verboten in the US 29853221302
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 11/04/2025Surely "rich" refers to wealth, which this doesn't report; the question for income is "well paid"? 000
Reposted by Paul MartinThe Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 09/04/2025Storm has acquired the book, film and television rights to Fall Into You and two other queer romantic comedy novels from fan fiction writer Dylan Morrison. 👇 #BookSkythebookseller.comStorm Publishing makes three-book deal with fan-fiction writer Dylan Morrison 0134
Reposted by Paul MartinRos Wynne-Jones @roswynnejones.bsky.social · 04/04/2025The national conversation about masculinity sparked by Adolescence should include paternity leave. UK one of the worst in Europe, denying families support at a critical time. We spoke to some brave dads about effect on family finances & mental health. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic... 275
Reposted by Paul MartinHeidi Li Feldman @heidilifeldman.bsky.social · 03/04/2025🚨Georgetown University Law Center students are detailing which law firms have caved and which have stood up to the Trump regime. They have created this spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... Please share widely.docs.google.comLegal Industry Responses to Fascist Attacks Tracker (Public) 21987474125
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 23/03/2025I think it's actually a problem with the rules for private members bills, because it would (as you say) be quite helpful to be able to use them for a debate on an issue like this where being able to sketch out implementation is really important. 000
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 23/03/2025Private members bills cannot be primarily about taxation or spending - see guidetoprocedure.parliament.uk/collections/...guidetoprocedure.parliament.ukPrivate Members' Bills - MPs' Guide to Procedure - UK ParliamentRead guidance for MPs and their staff on 'Private Members' Bills' in the House of Commons. 100
Reposted by Paul MartinEdward Luce @edwardluce.bsky.social · 21/03/2025Lost count of number of people who’ve told me a) they won’t travel outside of US for fear of not being allowed back in and b) foreigners canceling plans to visit US. Those in group a) are making plans to become b). In a few short weeks, America’s soft power has been flushed down the toilet. 771591321
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025It's hard to say how likely all this is. But the more I've thought about it the more pessimistic I've become: Trump quite possibly does now have the capacity to disrupt the mid-terms sufficiently to ensure his continued control, if he chooses to try to use it. (11/11) 000
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025If that cannot be relied on and that if enough disruption and doubt can be injected into the electoral process then the seating of a possible Democratic majority after the mid terms cannot be guaranteed. (10/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025And of course many of those representatives and senators will in any case be Republicans. The election of a Democrat majority would be very dependent on the successful management of an election in states with divided rule and with Republican trifectas. (9/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025But only fifteen states have Democratic trifectas (ie unified partisan control); they elect a minority of representatives (around 213) and in 2026 only 9 of them will have Senate elections. (8/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025... it's clear we are in a different world now, and the parties are even more intensely polarised. Given this thread's main worry is disruption leading to no legitimate election result, it's possible either state legislatures or executives could cause trouble. (7/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025And, second, they may not even try to. States themselves have been prone to democratic backsliding pursued by Republican incumbents (see state politics in Wisconsin or North Carolina, for example). While Republican officeholders in 2020 did ensure a free and fair electoral process... (6/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025States do have national guards, but those can be brought under federal control. In the event of disruption in parts of a state, it's not clear that states have the capacity to repress that and fully ensure the effective administration of the electoral process. (5/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025So first the states themselves have limited enforcement capacity; they rely heavily on local police forces, elected sheriffs, etc. But this can involve significant challenges and resistance, as we saw with some sheriff pushing back, hard, against state laws during the covid era. (4/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025But I want to focus on the risks to the process. The key point is that elections are intricate processes requiring multiple actions to occur within a specified timetable. Disruption (through violence or otherwise) might be sufficient for the incumbent US regime to reject their results. (3/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025In practice the most likely route for attack would be legal and regulatory, against opposition politicians and their supporters, and wider civil society, and would take effect before the election (2/11) 100
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025A 🧵for future reference trying to put forward the pessimistic case for why US elections being state-run does not rule out significant democratic backsliding in the 2026 general election. The argument has been made that state control of elections provides significant reassurance. (1/11) 180
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 20/03/2025The example of the French scientist being denied entry for having expressed anti Trump views implies it might need a bit more than just “careful how you go…” 020
Reposted by Paul MartinSeeadler @seeadler.bsky.social · 20/03/2025A Polish friend of mine learned the only 2 facts about swans any Brit knows, then confused them and, gloriously, *forgot they were about swans*, so one day she told me: "Did you know that the Queen is the only person in England allowed to break your arm?" 291258362
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 10/03/2025... and I think the single substantive example is wrong or misleading. It's true that Oxford wants people to use the preferred travel supplier as it has for the past at least thirty years. But nobody is going to stop him from booking it himself and claiming on expenses. 020
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 10/03/2025It's baffling - would make some sense as an attack on regulation (the OfS, the OIA, the research funding bodies, UK immigration laws, GDPR...) but it would not in fact be easier for him to manage those relationships on his own - given that they are not voluntary you do in fact need a bureaucracy... 120
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 01/03/2025I find it pretty worrying that otherwise serious people are approaching the situation as one that merely needs managing and balancing. It’s like Cuba being unable to comprehend the end of soviet support b/c the alternative is too painful to think about. 000
Reposted by Paul MartinPhilip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 28/02/2025Obama and Biden may think they are honoring the office of the presidency by keeping quiet at a moment like this — if so that’s just preening vanity — they owe it to the office and to the Republic that until last month it served to speak up loudly and clearly and without relent. 490122702429
Reposted by Paul MartinAaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 24/02/2025Macron corrects Trump after he claims "Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They get their money back." 1070138453200
Reposted by Paul MartinJonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 23/02/2025The Starmer aide/AI stuff feels a bit canary/coalmine because this isn't letting electoral factors triumph over good governance or sinply doing something I don't like - things every government does - this is falling for a scam. There are people in Nunber 10 who are just idiots. 34718184
Paul Martin @jo95017.bsky.social · 22/02/2025Exactly - there’s no point at which he walks away with a stable deal, he just comes back for more. 010
