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Maria W. Norris

@mariawnorris.bsky.social
1.2K followers 274 following 843 posts

Asst. Professor; Security Studies; Human Rights; Terrorism; AI; Pop Culture; '"An aging, angry woman, laying mightily about me with my handbag, fighting hoodlums off." Ursula K Le Guin. And me. She/her 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💓💜💙🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
When the subtext is just text.
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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 26/09/2026
Please sign if you can! OPEN LETTER: PAUSE THE NATIONAL ROLLOUT OF AI-MEDIATED TUTORING IN ENGLAND'S SCHOOLS > Children should not be exposed to a technology whose future, effectiveness, and safety we cannot predict, and for which the evidence is mostly negative.
docs.google.com
OPEN LETTER: PAUSE THE NATIONAL ROLLOUT OF AI-MEDIATED TUTORING IN ENGLAND'S SCHOOLS
OPEN LETTER To the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, Prime Minister, and the Rt Hon Lucy Powell MP, Secretary of State for Education The Department for Education has announced plans to develop, what it calls, “...
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Can the new cutting-edge dollies models feel pain? They at least behave as if they do, according to a recent study by small female children.
top5best.com
Top 5 Best Crying Doll (Budget-Friendly Options (2026))
2026's Top 5 Best Crying Doll Top Rated and Reviewed. Easily choose and compare the Best Crying Doll for you all in one place. (Budget-Friendly Options (2026))
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
AI detection software, made out of genAI by the same dipshits making genAI, is being targeted at Black writers so that an Arday can happen but with no human able to be held accountable.
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It's now been 3 months since I was made redundant and one of the absolute worst things has been losing access to journals and books. A book I need for my project costs £53. A single journal article costs £27. Access to academic work should not be so unaffordable.
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Brendan Davey @brendandavey.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
The Humanities continue to be vastly underfunded. And look at the world we live in now that has disproportionally decided that STEM is the end all be all of the education system. Science and engineering are important, but so is teaching people how to think critically about how the world works.
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Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
tech ceos are openly salivating about the idea of kids losing basic literacy and numeracy. this tells you pretty much all you need to know
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👻 🎃 🦇 Boola Lughosti's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Danny Tommo has been nicked for criminal damage and reckless endangerment, and for some reason the only outlet reporting it so far is the Sun.
thesun.co.uk
Far-right activist Danny Tommo arrested a day after 'slashing migrant boat'
FAR-right activist Danny Tommo has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage with intent to endanger life, according to a video he posted this evening. Tommo is Tommy Robinson’s right-hand man …
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Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
‘Many readers, I suspect, will have a sense of just how dangerous the modern right has become. What I think is less understood is the enormous harm center-left elites can do when they adopt the wrong strategy for dealing with this unprecedented threat’
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 23/09/2026
I think once black clad men are interfering with rescues at sea, we are past "legitimate concerns". Once they're attacking boats, and risking the lives of everyone on board, it's just thuggery. The Home Secretary's statement is on the side of criminals. There's no other way to read it.
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Not a dicky bird about thugs trying to sink a dinghy with a rescue worker on board or their claims to be "forming an army". Two boats of people seeking safety land and bingo bango they're the ones portrayed as the issue. Labour is complict in the rise of the far right. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Home Secretary hits out at 'unacceptable' migrant landings in Kent
Usually brought ashore by Border Security Command or the RNLI, these are the first uncontrolled landings since 2025.
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Dr. Mag 🌿👾 @nobugsnous.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The one somewhat skeptical student is quoted as saying, ““At this point, I feel like its unavoidable, given the times.” Inevitability rhetorics are SO dangerous.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Just as well those committing wrongs against the RNLI are not holding placards supporting a proscribed organisation, else they would really be in trouble.
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Thousands of university jobs lost too, and barely a peep either.
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My husband and I have decided to re-watch all of the Batman movies ever made to decide once and for all which is the best Batman. We're starting with 1997 Batman & Robin because we love chaos.
Movie poster for 1997 Batman and Robin.
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
@richmondbridge.bsky.social Catherine! Hello! Lovely to finally find you here on BlueSky :)
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Lookie here, the UK legal definition of terrorism! I'd say this falls under 1b, 1c, 2c, 2d. Again, this is the same definition used to proscribe Palestine Action.
Terrorism: interpretation.
(1)In this Act “terrorism” means the use or threat of action where—

(a)the action falls within subsection (2),

(b)the use or threat is designed to influence the government [F1or an international governmental organisation] or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and

(c)the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious [F2, racial] or ideological cause.

(2)Action falls within this subsection if it—

(a)involves serious violence against a person,

(b)involves serious damage to property,

(c)endangers a person’s life, other than that of the person committing the action,

(d)creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, or

(e)is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.

(3)The use or threat of action falling within subsection (2) which involves the use of firearms or explosives is terrorism whether or not subsection (1)(b) is satisfied.

(4)In this section—

(a)“action” includes action outside the United Kingdom,

(b)a reference to any person or to property is a reference to any person, or to property, wherever situated,

(c)a reference to the public includes a reference to the public of a country other than the United Kingdom, and

(d)“the government” means the government of the United Kingdom, of a Part of the United Kingdom or of a country other than the United Kingdom.

(5)In this Act a reference to action taken for the purposes of terrorism includes a reference to action taken for the benefit of a proscribed organisation
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I remember outrage about Just Stop Oil blocking a street, just in case an ambulance had to drive down it. Not because an ambulance was prevented from doing so, you understand. Just the abstract idea that one might have to.
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Seva @seva.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
hegemon.substack.com
We’re all going to die? What does IR theory say?
global politics in the shadow of existential risk
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ha I just saw the @toddintheshadows.bsky.social @lindsayellis.bsky.social Ed Sheeran's Bravery T Shirt and I want one in every colour! All proceeds will go directly to Palestine Children's Relief Fund store.dftba.com/products/tri...
Black t shirt with blue ed Sheeran division sign logo thing, with the words 'I am not complicit' in the middle.
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Heather Burns @heatherburnstech.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Regular reminder that JG Ballard’s final novel, “Kingdom Come” (2006), is about a far-right English town which creates their own militarised breakaway state in a shopping mall, where they worship the gods of St George and consumerism. Old JG wrote it as tongue-in-cheek satire. At the time.
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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
In the movie version of this, after Piddington runs out of food water and money as a result of leaving the UK, the residents apply for asylum and end up housed in a military base, with HILARIOUS consequences. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans
Piddington residents voted over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby
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Sarah Kay @k-interarma.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
BBC is state media. It has literally been described as “an instrument of soft power” (I spend too much time on Hansard). This isn’t just malicious - it is endorsed maliciousness
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Tristan Grayford @tristangrayford.scot · 15/09/2026
The TUC, congress of all the UK's trade unions, have voted to condemn the EHRC guidance and backed self-ID. Good luck finding reporting on it, you'll struggle to find it, even as the papers report on plenty of other things the TUC has voted on, and speeches. leftfootforward.org/2026/09/tuc-...
leftfootforward.org
TUC votes to condemn EHRC code of practice and back self-ID for trans people
Delegates backed a motion branding the EHRC guidance 'discriminatory and unworkable'
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It's like every Labour politician has been forever traumatized by Gordon Brown losing the 2010 election after he called a woman with 'legitimate concerns' about immigration a bigot.
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Rose Schmits @roseschmits.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
There were nearly three times as many people at the recent trans rights lobby than residents of Piddington
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Jfc. This is not a serious or a sane country.
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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
the things that Brighton university management has decided it simply… no longer recognises? it also no longer recognises UCU or Unison? again: how is this legal!!!!
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Mark Hebden @unionlib.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This goes for UNISON members too. Absolutely disgusting that Brighton would derecognise the only voices for staff at this prestigious organisation.
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Simon Hewitt @leedshewitt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is genuinely shocking, even by the current low standards of the sector.
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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
To enable such an unprecedented attack on our rights, management have also today announced the de-recognition of the UCU and Unison. The scale of this assault is so extraordinary that the General Secretary of UCU has called a demo on campus tomorrow.
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Good lord. This is unprecedented.
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Dario Amodei has really committed to the 'I'm not like the other girls' marketing strategy for Anthropic.
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Kirsty Grainger @handle.invalid · 14/09/2026
That anyone should be sacked via Teams in a UK University is utterly shocking. What is our sector if it is not the brilliant people that work in it. If you don't understand that, and don't treat people with a basic level of respect then you should not be in the sector.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
NEW Why holding a placard is a terrorist act, while causing disruption in a balaclava is not The mess caused by ministers and the police not taking terrorism law seriously By me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

Recent events in England now reveal the practical difference between terrorists and protesters. It would seem that terrorists peacefully hold placards and get immediately arrested, while protesters wear black uniforms and balaclavas and disrupt infrastructure and do not get arrested.

How did we get into this mess? How have we placed ourselves in the position where terrorism legislation is used to detain and prosecute peaceful protesters, while those adopting the terror tactics of private armies seem to be free to do as they wish?

The reason is that for some time British politicians have not taken terrorism legislation seriously, and that ministers have got into the habit of misusing terror laws for easy targets.
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Nick from Toy-Fu @toyfu332.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Now in colour, courtesy of Mike Spicer who works with Daniel Warren Johnson on Skybound TF:
The above image, now in full colour with a grey smoky background. The civillians are in shadow underneath Optimus Prime's bulky form, in contrast to the bright muzzle flashes from the ICE agents shooting impotently at Prime's face.
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The tantrum over Verhoeven's (stupid! lazy!) adaptation is by far my favourite part of this unhinged article.
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Micah @rincewind.run · 10/09/2026
"look it clearly says on the label to keep your guns out of reach of the toaster, we have no liability here"
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"GE warns its toaster may grow human arms and shoot you with a gun" Ok that sounds like their fault. They should do something about that
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Does anyone know of good, age-appropriate resources that parents can use to explain to all this AI bs to their kids? My eldest came home in tears as some kids in school told her AI was going to kill us all.
static.klipy.com
Frustrated Annoyed Woman
ALT: Frustrated Annoyed Woman
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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 09/09/2026
Just learned that Category Is Books, a lovely queer bookshop in Glasgow, has been targeted by transphobic violence, & is fundraising to cover the costs of a smashed window & roller shutters. I hate that they have to do this & would love to see them meet their goal.
gofundme.com
Donate to Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!, organized by Category Is Books
For the past eight years, Category Is Books has been able to comfortably oper… Category Is Books needs your support for Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!
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Hardeep Matharu @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A criminal investigation is underway by Met Police into allegations Reform broke the law in relation to foreign funding, following a C4 broadcast involving James Orr. James Orr is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion at the Faculty of Divinity. Any media interest in hundreds of articles?
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I think we can all agree that we have all been strange deep-sea fish.
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
In that case, I wasn't made redundant after all. I had to leave the university because they were building a doomsday device in one of the empty lecture halls.
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Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Dancing very very VERY close to saying “OpenAI stole our almost-complete proof of Navier-Stokes from internal access to our ChatGPT sessions because they were desperate to scoop Anthropic” which is absolutely 100% a believable thing OpenAI would do right now cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/st...
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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Suspicions growing … the moral of the story may be don’t feed your frontier math into a model owned by a company that has a massive incentive to steal it bsky.app/profile/quan...
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Simon Gosden @simongosden.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Me, a terrorism and security scholar: *posts about my topic of expertise.* A random dude on the internet: *replies with a bunch of nonsense* 'HERE IS ALL THE WAYS YOU'RE WRONG'
static.klipy.com
Johnny Bravo Flexes His Huge Muscles
ALT: Johnny Bravo Flexes His Huge Muscles
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Butlerian Jihadist of House Slytherin @shimminykricket.blacksky.app · 08/09/2026
Exactly and I refuse to be lectured to about research or due diligence by anyone who thinks the greatest thing to happen to them is the opportunity to do even less thinking than they do already.
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Maria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
In my terrorism studies classes, I always told students to keep an eye on Northern Ireland if they wanted an accurate snapshot of the state of UK counterterrorism. And here we are.
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