Sign in

Jon Turney

@jonturney.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.8K following 1.6K posts

Writer & editor, past lives in science policy, sci-comm etc. Retirement pastimes include managing climate anxieties. New writing at UKjazznews.com and @theartsdesk.bsky.social jonturney.wordpress.com See also bristoljazzlive.co.uk

PostsRepliesMedia
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 36m
and hurrah for people who get confused between advice and unsolicited declarations of what everyone else must do, "no exceptions" :)
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 2h
See also walking, getting out of bed etc…
150
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 4h
possibly a slight misreading of the mood of the membership here...
130
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
An intriguing evening in Cardiff on Saturday… ukjazznews.com/tomos-willia...
ukjazznews.com
Tomos Williams’s ‘Cwmwl Tystion III/Empathy’ in Cardiff - UK Jazz News
Trumpeter Tomos Williams began developing this project in 2019, and this concert for Llais, Cardiff’s annual festival celebrating the voice, was the culmination, or perhaps the swansong, of a notable ...
001
Reposted by Jon Turney
Sathnam Sanghera @sathnam.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Dear tv and radio producers. Thankyou for the invitation. But, no, I do not want to appear on your show to defend the idea that I am English, after 50 years of living and working here, because the increasingly feral right want to turn this into a "debate" and you cannot see how you're being played
10851891146
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
When I taught about eugenics, old and new, I came to feel it is largely a boo word. That is, “I believe this is a bad thing, so will call it eugenics” or, “this is a good thing, so we should not deem it to be eugenics”
100
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Ha - I recall this routine, but commuting to school in the 1960s
010
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Yes, last saw him doing Godot. Quite a strong pairing!
120
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Eurotrash - with Ben Whishaw. Sold out I’m afraid. We had an early alert from daughter, who is also a huge fan
110
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Ivo Neame’s Dodeka recording is pretty great. Comes with an approving note from me so sure to be a hot seller… #jazzsky ivoneame.bandcamp.com/album/dodeka...
ivoneame.bandcamp.com
Dodeka - New Reveries, by Ivo Neame
7 track album
140
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Wow, M John Harrison and Kathryn Hunter: what a combination. If we club together, maybe we can get her to read the whole book!. youtu.be/b9J2o2QhdSQ?... Already getting excited about seeing Hunter on stage again at Young Vic next month :)
youtu.be
Kathryn Hunter reads from The End of Everything | The Booker Prize
YouTube video by The Booker Prizes
131
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
So the story of the ADHD/autism review, in brief, seems to be they were commissioned to reveal over-diagnosis, found no evidence it is happening, but decided to report there is growing risk anyway…? And media highlight the speculative bit.
000
Reposted by Jon Turney
Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Pleased to announce that I am launching AI Explained, a weekly column on how to understand AI. The first edition today is all about OpenAI's maths dump www.newscientist.com/article/2592...
newscientist.com
OpenAI has dumped 722 maths papers – now it must clean up the mess | New Scientist
OpenAI is using mathematics as a test site for its most capable AI models, and that means it has a responsibility to deal with the fallout, rather than just leaving it to mathematicians, says Jacob Ar...
2134
Reposted by Jon Turney
Ehud @duhe.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is an enjoyable and useful episode situating transhumanism within Darwinism and 19th century socialism. You’ll get to meet old friends like Haldane and Bernal and wonder whether eugenics was always already part of the story. www.ppfideas.com/episodes/the...
ppfideas.com
The History of Transhumanism: Origins
333
251
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
That was me (partly) agreeing with you :)
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I guess - and Edgbaston, Moseley, King’s Heath aren’t (aside from the uniformly homicidal drivers and propensity to park with 4 wheels on the pavement)?
100
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Much of it feels like London, only a good deal worse, I find. Meanwhile, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool feel rather unlike London?
100
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
2 cultures innit
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Was going to ask the same question!
100
Reposted by Jon Turney
Matthew Henry @mattjohenry.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
'We've had 2 hot summers, so I'm just hoping that next year will be ok again' Oh buddy you have no idea ....
012
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
If you live in Bristol it is compulsory to take at least 1 photo of bridge + balloons each year :)
050
Reposted by Jon Turney
Dr Richard Gomer @richardgomer.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
No, this is mad. Devolution will not work until govt and civil service work through their unhealthy obsession with centralised control, probably with therapy. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Ministers explore how to stop regional leaders misusing planned new spending powers
Labour wants to make sure mayors and council chiefs in England can be held to account for extra revenues devolved to them
043
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Rather fine piece about a favourite poet by a writer I am less drawn to but whose critical acumen I always admire…
lithub.com
A Reticent Eloquence: Colm Tóibín on the Poetry of Thom Gunn
In August 1991, in a review of a new anthology of sixteenth-century poetry, Thom Gunn noted two poems by Sir Thomas Wyatt. These were poems that dealt directly with the execution of friends and ass…
000
Reposted by Jon Turney
Andy Extance @andyextance.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
After my partner died of cancer, the fact I write about new treatments for it in my work has been complicated. Inspired by this, I am launching an Instagram account called The Widowers Guide to the Science of Cancer today - you can see the first post here: www.instagram.com/p/Dd-__vcALl... 🧪
1228
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Jeez, Chris Mason’s self-regarding rehash of his part in this deeply trivial little eddy in the discourse tells you a lot about the state of political “journalism” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Chris Mason: Why Andy Burnham's about-turn on Manchester City matters
The prime minister's comments on Man City were revealing on several levels - and leapt on by many in football, the BBC's political editor writes.
021
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A very happy birthday to Dave Holland, who has probably given me more delight over the last 50 years than any other musician, and still going strong 🙂 ukjazznews.com/dave-holland...
ukjazznews.com
Dave Holland – ‘Freedom Call’ - UK Jazz News
NOTE: This review is being published on 1 October 2026, Dave Holland's 80th birthday, and it is an opportunity for all of us at UKJN to thank Dave for decades of fabulous concerts and albums, and to s...
1103
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Extraordinary man/life
000
Reposted by Jon Turney
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
What was the moment you realised you had no grasp of the world anymore? This did it for me www.ft.com/content/f109...
Many creators seek to ride more shortlived waves of internet popularity. Shira
Jeczmien, founder of viral marketing agency Screenshot Media, points to a brief trend of people eating whole cucumbers that led to shortages of the vegetable in supermarkets.
39119
Reposted by Jon Turney
Sadiah Qureshi 🦈 @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Spotted the paperback version of Vanished in the wild for the first time nestled among the other ‘New, Notable, and Nectarous books.’ 🐯
A display of paperback books on a table in a bookshop, labelled ‘New, Notable & Nectarous: An intriguing collection of new non-fiction, fresh in paperback and ready to feast upon. Our favourites of the floor, from the lauded to the easily missed.’ Vanished is nestled among the other books.
0164
Reposted by Jon Turney
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.
241378493
Reposted by Jon Turney
The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 29/09/2026
We’re excited to announce the winner of this years’ Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize is the 'The Age of Alchemy: How Early Innovators Shaped Modern Chemistry' by Kit Chapman, a ‘dazzling’ globetrotting adventure in the history of alchemy. #SciBooks royalsociety.org/news/2026/09...
A man in a suit smiles at the camera whilst holding a book. He stands in front of a backdrop with corporate logos.
4123
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"We neither need nor want to know about every slightly over-eager cell with the molecular desire to grow but without the genetic toolkit required to travel" - curious to read this on the day a first degree relative has a confirmation of a cancer diagnosis...
aeon.co
We need a better way to describe what is often called ‘cancer’ | Aeon Essays
A cancer diagnosis carries with it fear and upheaval. For many patients the cellular changes do not warrant the label
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yes, I got a newsletter notification email headed "Epistemic Humility and the Pessimistic Meta-Induction" and I thought, ooh, interesting. I'm still a nerd OK?
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
these ideas are not mutually exclusive :) (also, FWIW, this kind of infantile sloganising is not why I joined the Green Party - sigh)
011
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Think you're probably right. I'm trying to think of an exception but haven't time just now to keep at that until I come up with one...
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I console myself (a bit) with the thought that the Telegraph is dying a slow death - along with its readership...
010
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is the kind of grown up political debate the country needs
221
Reposted by Jon Turney
Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 25/09/2026
The Prospect paywall is down!! Head to our website to read all our online content FOR FREE until Monday 5th October. lnkd.in/eUYscDfv This includes our entire current issue: www.prospectmagazine...
02118
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Humans, eh?
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sometimes youtube algorithm just serves up something half a century old that simply bowls you over youtu.be/Q4x7SbgB0KM?...
youtu.be
Jeane Lee -- Conspiracy 1974 [Full Album]
YouTube video by World Music & Drops
021
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
But you’re still going for the half century aren’t you?
010
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I know a guy who does piecework training AI to do slide decks against the clock. Hourly rate is impressively high & he reckons the company is spending millions per month on the project as they suck up his skills… but needs the money
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
One good thing about getting older is the people buying presents know you very well :)
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
What is an ethnicity, please? Aside from, as in this case, apparently being an indicator of profound stupidity
000
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Yay - about time :)
020
Reposted by Jon Turney
The Daily Tism @thedailytism.com · 19/09/2026
A newly published survey has found that nearly anything can make someone an autism expert, according to the totally unbiased people behind it.
thedailytism.com
Bar never been lower for “autism expertise”, study finds
A newly published survey has found that nearly anything can make someone an autism expert, according to the totally unbiased people behind it. The survey, conducted specifically by people who have…
48417
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Hmm…. Link from PR in the inbox this morning. Keith Jarrett augmented by AI obviously a thing that needed to happen youtu.be/QVuS0U-XSuM?...
youtu.be
STOMP (Édouard Ferlet)
YouTube video by Edouard Ferlet
020
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
😳
010
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New CD from the mercurial soprano sax maestro Emile Parisien ukjazznews.com/emile-parisi...
ukjazznews.com
Emile Parisien – ‘Floating’ - UK Jazz News
The quartet he presents here, the dizzyingly gifted Emile Parisien tells us, was recruited during a spell of reflection, after an intense spell of work on other projects. To explore a quieter brand of...
021
Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Not sure - my surviving brother, 80 next year, does admit to being old…
010