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Jonathan D. Beer

@jonathandbeer.bsky.social
890 followers 186 following 574 posts

Sci-fi writer. Freelance author for Black Library. He/him. All views are my own. Pick up my latest novel, TOMB WORLD, out now!

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Reposted by Jonathan D. Beer
M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 12h
Naomi Klein Is Spot On.......
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Jonathan D. Beer @jonathandbeer.bsky.social · 6h
What in the unholy fuck is this? www.cnet.com/tech/service...
cnet.com
Audible Will Soon Let You Use AI to Talk to a Book Character - CNET
Amazon's audiobook service is rolling out new AI-powered features to make listening to stories more interactive.
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Danie Ware @danacea.bsky.social · 7h
Jesus fucking motorboating Christ, NO. Fuck off, right to the edge of fucking off, fuck off over that edge, hit the very fucking bottom of fucking off, and then fucking crawl away to die in a fucking corner.
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 30/09/2026
If Palantir are so trustworthy, why are they intimidating anyone who criticises them? www.thenerve.news/p/clive-lewis-tom…
thenerve.news
'We're watching you': MP Clive Lewis reveals Tom Watson has warned him over criticising Palantir
In a letter to his former Labour colleague, the peer, who joined Peter Thiel's AI company this month, writes: ‘You have made the case against the company more or less continuously'. By Carole Cadwalladr
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Jonathan D. Beer @jonathandbeer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Thunderbirds was a formative show for me. Probably the first I can remember really loving as a child. There's a picture somewhere in my mum's collection of me in a Scott Tracey costume for some birthday or event or other.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 29/09/2026
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer xkcd.com/3304/
4-panel comic. (1) April 2023: [JUICE space probe flying away from Earth] FROM EARTH: *JUICE* is en route to explore the icy moons of Jupiter! JUICE: *Wheee!* (2) August 2024: [JUICE flying past Earth] JUICE: ...So which planet was I visiting again? I got distracted. FROM EARTH: Jupiter! JUICE: Right, OK. (3) September 2026: [JUICE flies past Earth again] JUICE: Is Jupiter the one with all the rings? Or... FROM EARTH: No, the big one near it. JUICE: Got it! (4) January 2029: [JUICE returning to fly past Earth again] JUICE: And *which* moons am I looking at? FROM EARTH: Oh my *god*. FROM EARTH: Now I get why we budgeted for so many Earth flybys.
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Jonathan D. Beer @jonathandbeer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If Liz Truss has any lasting achievement from her week and a half in office, beyond showing how truly broken our political system is, it is this spectacular gif. It's the little shoulder swerve and smile that really makes this a classic.
static.klipy.com
Liz Truss and the Pork Markets Speech
ALT: Liz Truss and the Pork Markets Speech
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Happy cheese day to all who celebrate. And a good moment to remember that our political system is so broken that this woman, who is visibly inane, became prime minister.
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Jonathan D. Beer @jonathandbeer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I'm no biologist, but don't we often find all manner of life around hot underwater sites? I'm not wrong to be hugely excited by this, right? To paraphrase Carl Hauser, we need to get our asses to Mars and prove that life has existed beyond the bounds of Earth. www.space.com/astronomy/ma...
space.com
'Mars constantly throws surprises at you': Perseverance rover finds evidence of ancient hot water in Red Planet crater
NASA's Perseverance rover uncovered evidence of water interacting with rocks in Mars' Jezero Crater multiple times, including a period of hot groundwater activity.
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Jon at Handiwork Games @handiworkgames.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Some quality advice here.
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Glenn @frackpong.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
When your dog hears you open a packet of biscuits.
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Kasey Gifford @kaseygifford.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This is my new favorite thing.
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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Started watching Sky’s War Game last night where Michael Gove is the PM during the Russian attack and I’m afraid it is just very difficult to watch it without thinking of this, one of the great cartoons ever published
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Danie Ware @danacea.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
For #Hobbit day: 'If most of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.'
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Andy Clark of the living dead @andycruns.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Having taken an online British Citizenry test (and failed) I propose we make our own, better one. Q1: If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit? a) tough, it's dry digestives b) join our club c) racism
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Michelle Goldberg @michellegoldberg.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/o...
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Dewie @judgedewie.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
In 1994 when they were taking off but by no means massive or wielding any influence within the music industry, Green Day took gay punk band Pansy Division on tour with them. People were very vocally homophobic back then (in England, section 28 was still very much in force - not repealed until 2003!)
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Friend shared this video of a man unveiling the library he hid when he fled Damascus in 2011. It’s incredible
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Ed Newton-Rex @ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It’s clear that a number of governments are going to try to force through laws that hand creatives’ work to AI companies, on the grounds of ‘national security’. But this is an abysmally weak justification for stripping away creatives’ rights. Two core reasons why: 🧵 1/5
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Sexy Plato's Cave @andrewblair.co.uk · 16/09/2026
The arts industry in the UK: we contribute so much money to the economy but we are dying, please help Lisa Nandy: Village Parish Council: we held a pretend referendum Lisa Nandy: I'm listening
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Patrick McNamara @dogfoodstudios.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The reason that AI companies are saying "it's too dangerous! we have to slow down!" is that they are no longer making progress and need that fact to appear deliberate.
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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"AI models are typically trained on enormous amounts of data scraped from the internet, including copyrighted materials taken without their owners' permissions, to the chagrin of creative groups." Chagrin?! CHAGRIN?! Try FURY at having our work stolen and our governments ignoring clear copyright law
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Tammi, yeah, that one. 2.1 @tammi.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
A convicted crypto fraudster gives £36M to a Right-wing political party, more than the Labour party spent on the whole of the last general election, but we don't need a cap on political donations?
static.klipy.com
Angry Kitten Flips Table Cartoon
Alt: Angrily frustrated little black cat flips another mother-flipping table.
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Dr. Catherine Strickson @brigitteempire.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Eye-wateringly stupid defence from Rowling’s team here - ‘She does not support legal actions aimed at harming transgender people.’ - Really? So that £70,000 towards the bathroom ban was by accident? The JKR Women’s Fund was made by an impersonator? At least have the spine to admit you want us dead
ew.com
J.K. Rowling’s rep responds to Lilly Wachowski’s accusation of ‘funding trans genocide’ (exclusive)
J.K. Rowling’s representative responded to Lilly Wachowski accusing the author of ‘funding trans genocide’: ‘She does not support legal actions aimed at harming transgender people.’
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Finally they came for the Daily Mail and my irony meter just packed up and left and I never heard from it again.
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Tom R. Pike @tomrpike.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
And there it is: the cover of my newly-announced debut novel, Crucible of Fire. Isolated survivors of a massacred Valhallan armoured company must arm civilians and wounded in a desperate attempt to hold a key factory against overwhelming forces. www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articl...
Hardcover book art showing Valhallan Lt. Kallisto Rytsar and his crew preparing to defend their position in darkness, with his Royal Dorn tank Worm of Valhalla looming in the background.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 09/09/2026
Astrophotographer Adam (AJ) Smadi caught this image a few hours ago from Washington state. A thin crescent Moon, sunlight illuminating the rugged lunar surface. And 2,400 times farther away—and on the other side of the Sun—mighty Jupiter, and its moons Io (left) and Ganymede (right).
A crescent Moon seen during the day, arcing from upper left to lower right of the frame. At lower centre is the full disk of Jupiter; the small dots to its upper left and lower right and Io and Ganymede, respectively.
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Carole Bruce @cabruce.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This is the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire, Donna Jones commenting on 2024 riots. How deep is this attitude within the police force?
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Justin Hill @justinhillauthor.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
'The handling of Bjorn’s character… is magnificently done.' 'A titan of war.' 'Five out of five. Blessed by the Emperor.' www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT57... #Warhammer40K #SpaceWolves #BjornTheFellHanded #BlackLibrary #WarhammerCommunity
youtube.com
BJORN THE FELL-HANDED REVIEW! - Warhammer 40k
YouTube video by Wolf Lord Rho
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KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 08/09/2026
as so often, Terry Pratchett had it nailed.
Death and Susan talking in Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET— Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME... SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"But people have got to believe that, or what's the point?"

MY POINT EXACTLY.
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Jonathan D. Beer @jonathandbeer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
In the midst of so much awful today, something positive. Small Prophets was an absolute joy of a show.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
90 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵)
You cannot conduct a fair match when one side is playing with a ball and the other with bombs and, if democracy is to survive, it must be conducted according to definite and recognised rule. One of them is that no political party should resort to any weapon other than reason and argument. The introduction of private armies, as I see it, strikes at the root of democracy. I know it is contended that the Blackshirts are not armed and, therefore, are not an army, but I do not think that argument can be upheld. … Uniformed men in military formation suggest, and are meant to suggest, the idea of force. It is no argument to reply that at this or that demonstration no force is intended. It is an inescapable fact that a uniform in politics symbolises force, to be used either now or in the future.
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Chris Terry-Enescu @cjterry.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Truly wild to have lived through moral panics about teenagers wearing hoodies and Muslim women wearing the head dress to now experience 'but is a large group of organised far right activists in balaclavas really that scary'
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Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 08/09/2026
It won’t stop these reprehensible, cowardly pieces of shit attacking the RNLI, but here is a handy link to donate rnli.org/support-us/g...
rnli.org
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea
Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 08/09/2026
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Louis 〓〓 @louishenwood.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Over on X, the far-right British Patriots have launched a hate campaign against the RNLI They are recording RNLI volunteers in order to dox them, reveal their identities and publish details of where they and their families live These men are dangerous
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
At what point does ‘the masked men on the street have legitimate concerns’ and ‘Just Stop Oil/Palestine Action are terrorists’ become two tier policing?
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
"It is hard not to draw the conclusion that the police and Home Office seem to be incapable of an appropriate response to the threat of far-right activity and violence."
nicklowles.substack.com
Did Kent Police ignore a 999 call?
Contrary to their public statement, HOPE not hate can exclusively reveal that Kent Police were tipped off about the Patriot Platform mobilisation – and seemingly did not act on the information.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The Times. Explicitly and deliberately, as a matter of editorial policy, promoting violent racist thugs.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
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Gavin, Small Beer (closed due to long covid), &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Nope. “developers who'd be forced to individually contact each rights holder for permission, paying out potentially billions for copyrighted works would be prohibitively costly” As it should be. Each of those works was *work.* Stop whining and either pay writers or change your model.
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Patrick - Here for the craic❗️🤷🏼‍♂️😉 @paddyopatrick.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Let’s just imagine for a few moments that they were Asian, Black, Middle Eastern who turned up and effectively blockaded Dover Port.. Now imagine MSM outrage, the inflammatory headlines and rhetoric, the Tories, Reform etc. The “pure cold rage” It’s two tier reporting as well as policing
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Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Apparently people are sharing this far and wide on social media, which I think is horrible. This could cripple ICE operations. PLEASE do not share this.
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Jonathan D. Beer @jonathandbeer.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The games industry *desperately* needs to unionise. www.ign.com/articles/the...
ign.com
The Studio Behind Hit New Star Wars Game Zero Company Quietly Furloughed 'Most' Staff Just Before Launch
Bit Reactor, the studio behind Star Wars Zero Company, furloughed the majority of its staff just before the game launched.
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 04/09/2026
Oh my god, this is AWFUL
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Robert Simmon @rsimmon.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I am having a particularly frustrating week, so here’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. The eruption of Sarychev Peak in the Aleutian Islands, seen by the crew of the space station. www.nasa.gov/image-articl...
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Jonathan D. Beer @jonathandbeer.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The fact that this grinning bastard has been treated seriously for the past 30 years says a great deal about us as a country, and the corruption of our media.
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Joanne Hall @hierath77.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
If you live in Wales and support trans people please consider signing this? And please share widely!
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Hardeep Matharu @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Now James Orr has stepped down as Reform UK's Head of Policy after C4's report, questions remain for Cambridge – where he is Associate Professor. Byline Times revealed serious concerns about his activities there months ago. We all know there won't now be 200+ articles on him and his life don't we?
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Remember: it could be someone you know.
[Scene is a parody of a 1970s Public Information Film. A young girl is going home from school.] 

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[She leaves the school gates]. 

VOICEOVER:

The world today
is full of people.

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You meet lots of them every day. 

[The girl crosses the road with the help of a LOLLIPOP MAN]

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LOLLIPOP MAN says ’to camera’ [girl’s POV]:

Mind ‘ow you go, love.

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But every time you meet one,

[She gets on a bus]

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BUS DRIVER [also talking to camera]:

That’ll be 40p, please

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[She enters a sweet shop]

You must always think to yourself:

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[The kindly looking woman behind the counter hands her a bag of pick n mix]
 
KINDLY WOMAN:
There y’are, sweet’art...

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[Voiceover again]:

Could *they* be a person who leaves one-star reviews for things when they get sent the wrong item?

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[The woman picks up a smartphone to write something]

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[Cut to a view of her phone screen, it is an Amazon review page for Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro]: 
 
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
[one star]
THIS ISN’T A PRIT STICK

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[Woman looks ‘to camera’ at the girl, sinisterly]

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[Girl’s terrified face behind the ad’s final text line]:

Always have one-star-reviewers-of-things-for-not-being-other-things sense.

[Ends]
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