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Steve Walker

@steve-walker.bsky.social
237 followers 370 following 648 posts

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities". Voltaire, 1765, Questions sur les miracles

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Reposted by Steve Walker
David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Worse. I'd argue that Europe's social contract is essentially broken with two huge factors being an ageing population and the rise of the gig economy. Preferred fixes, of blaming China or immigrants, are obviously inadequate and probably counter-productive.
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Politics Phil @politicsphil.bsky.social · 23h
Never widely reported, is that in 2010, one of Cameron's first acts was to make 500 employees of HMRC, redundant.
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🫣 stuart reeves 🫣 @5tuartreeves.bsky.social · 22h
I'm looking for a strong PhD student candidate for applying to EPSRC DLA (Doctoral Landscape Award) studentships (starting Oct 2027) topic: studying software developers' practices with "AI tools" (i.e. LLM-based assistance) and mapping out its implications stuartreeves.mataroa.blog/blog/phd-adv...
stuartreeves.mataroa.blog
PhD advert: Candidate search for EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award studentship on AI-assisted software development — notes on research
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
That's going to be a tough gig...
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 05/10/2026
As wildfires raged across eastern Australia in 2019, the small coastal town of Narooma lost power and internet. The only connection to the outside world was a handful of old-school pay phones. Now, one of them has now been given historic status.
nyti.ms
Pay Phone, a Lifeline During 2019 Australia Wildfires, Gains Heritage Status
Hundreds lined up to call loved ones as the internet went down and the flames closed in on the Australian town of Narooma in 2019.
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Embarrassingly, for Brits, there were no problems in France when I visited 25 years ago
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~daniel_barker~ @daniel-barker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Rosa Diaz from Brooklyn 99 saying: I just forget stuff, like a cook person.
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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026
This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The response when progressive policies that help millions of people are proposed... "How will you pay for it?" The response when the richest 1% ask for tax cuts, or banks ask for bailouts, or defense contractors ask for more contracts... "How much do you need?" It doesn't have to be this way.
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Here's hoping :)
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Jamie Smart @jamiesmart.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Can’t eat a sandwich until you subscribe to sandwiches. Can’t eat today’s sandwich until it has applied daily sandwich updates. Sandwich now has adverts even though you paid for ad-free sandwich. Can pay again to have less sandwich adverts. Now you can eat the sandwich, but it’s smaller.
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 26/09/2026
Amazingly, no one was responsible
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Oooops...
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Declassified journalists banned from Labour conference – again. A Trumpian policy started by Keir Starmer. Burnham can't make a fresh start without getting rid of the previous advisers. Democracy means accepting scrutiny, even when it is uncomfortable.
declassifieduk.org
Declassified journalists banned from Labour conference - again
Labour MPs have condemned the ‘Trump-like’ decision, saying party is ‘bang out of order’
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A bit niche, but Windows/onedrive screwing around with embedded URLs in Word files.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Greatest trick AI leaders have pulled is convincing many people—especially influential people in govt, media, and business—that their software is intelligent, independent, yet never culpable. Humans build it, humans deploy it, but no one bears responsibility for the things that happen when they do.
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I hate Basingstoke Nazis...
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Brilliant!
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's unclear how well it deals with darker skin tones, apparently...
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Seb Schmoller @schmoller.net · 23/09/2026
This point is well made by @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social here: brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/bbc-news-d...
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
BBC News, ‘Danny Tommo’ and the dinghy attack that disappeared
While the rest of the media – even the very worst parts – report on Daniel Thomas’ actions, BBC News fails to give its audience the facts.
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LAFAYETTE @lastudiolafayette.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I'm sure some of the detail and interpretation will have changed over the last 50 years, but the big picture, the sense of wonder and the quality of presentation remain fabulous.
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Just caught the last ep of Attenborough's Life on Earth. Absolutely as brilliant as I remember it being. Up there with the very best TV ever made. Off to watch the rest on iPlayer.
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Too big and important to tax, part 94 bit.ly/4jbxpa6 betting boss says don’t tax betting. Toys, Throw. Pram. There’ll be a lot more of this over the next 39 days!
bit.ly
Britain’s top taxpayer cuts sports funding in gambling tax row
Betfred tycoon Fred Done says he will no longer financially support rugby league and threatens to pull horseracing sponsorship if Labour hikes levies
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Anti-Reform @antireform.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"Proscribe the extreme far right groups before it's too late" via The UK Against Hate
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LabourStart @labourstart.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
GLOBAL: Outsourcing workers gather in Stockholm to build power and shape the rules on AI uniglobalunion.org/news/outsour...
uniglobalunion.org
Outsourcing workers gather in Stockholm to build power and shape the rules on AI
Union representatives from across the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector met in Stockholm on 16–17 September 2026 for a two-day forum on organizing, collective bargaining and the regulation of ...
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Ruth Watson @ruthwatson.eurosky.social · 18/09/2026
Piddington. The racist Sandford.
static.klipy.com
Hot Fuzz: Simon Pegg's 'Oh, I see. It's fascism.'
ALT: Hot Fuzz: Simon Pegg's 'Oh, I see. It's fascism.'
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Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️ @snarkysillysad.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Real Betis players walked out with the 11 oldest club *socios* (members, all over 80) as matchday mascots before their La Liga game against Getafe on September 17, 2026. Part of Real Betis' "Elderly Week" (*Semana de los Mayores*) initiatives. #AGoodPlace
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Parents. Your kids have a right to privacy. That includes privacy *from you*. It’s not an absolute right, but it exists. The default should be *not* to invade their privacy.
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Dr Carole McCartney 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ @ctmccartney.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Absolutely. If you work in HE these days, a meeting with managers and/or HR should NEVER be considered "informal". Always take union support!
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
In league games, I try not to get too worked up about poor decisions. Over a year, you win some and lose some. *Full disclosure: City supporter **Fuller disclosure: I shouted bad words at the telly when Foden got red. *** Even fuller disclosure: I laughed when the goal was given...
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
* the devil 🙄 😂
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
That devil's cut members of the ICC, and the former UN Rapporteur on Palestine, from banking facilities through control of SWIFT. We know thecdevil has form.
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
For me, unconvincing PhDs were much more stressful...
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Tbf I don't trust the US either
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 14/09/2026
If you give workers instructions that reveal your ignorance, they might roll their eyes at you and make you feel bad about yourself. Even if they restrain themselves in the moment, they might make fun of you in the break-room later.
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Sue Me @superberg.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Nothing to see here 👇👇👇 Donald Jr's Wedding was bankrolled by a Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch ..."but Hunter's laptop....." www.propublica.org/article/dona...
propublica.org
Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
No sooner had Burnham lamented unaccountable outsourcing than contracts worth £250m were announced for the outsourcing of civil service training to EY. Expect some heavy lobbying from its bosses and from other outsourcers to keep the gravy train on track.
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Thread
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, a fellow student who went on to become a very prominent journalist took me to a public meeting of the Maoist Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)... (it was all a bit mad, but that's another story) I don't think he's ever said 'At last...', though.
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John Denham @jydenham.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I do find odd that we all apparently enjoy the right to enter a hotel uninvited, go to the guest floors, knock on the doors of complete strangers on the grounds that they are not white - and yet not commit any offence.
bbc.co.uk
Group entered hotel of Pakistan cricketers mistaken for migrants
Protesters congregated at a Portsmouth hotel after false rumours that a coach of migrants had arrived.
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“Legitimate concerns” latest. The entire nation should be ashamed of how far we’ve fallen. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Group entered hotel of Pakistan cricketers mistaken for migrants
Protesters congregated at a Portsmouth hotel after false rumours that a coach of migrants had arrived.
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
No shit, Sherlock. As someone once said.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Intrigued to read that the Dublin Vegetarian Association in the early 20th century was run by a Mr Ham, Mrs Joynt and Mrs Hogg.
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Reform Party UK Exposed @reformexposed.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
11 councillors have gone from Reform UK this week alone. 6 by-elections this week and Reform UK didn’t even achieve 2nd in any. And that’s before we mention the scandals. But, the threat remains.
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
ooooh this js super interesting - high cost/scarcity of DRam means consumer electronics are getting de-specced to meet demand giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Companies are lowering the specifications of products to get ahead of the component shortage.
Justin Hotard, chief executive of Nokia, told the FT that it was redesigning some of its products to reduce the memory component. Hotard said the chip shortage was affecting Nokia's mobile, broadband and internet-routing equipment.He described the chip crunch as the "new normal going forward for the foreseeable future" and expected shortages to last through to 2027.
Console makers will be "forced to innovate" to get to the market at a lower price, said Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at Ampere Analysis.
There is renewed talk of in-game advertising to subsidise hardware, as well as new types of subscription bundles, he added.
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
:(
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Not your ex-local?
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Politics Phil @politicsphil.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
That's Brilliant !!
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Steve Walker @steve-walker.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Progress... But sure, Andy Burnham, the real threat to road safety is older drivers, not driverless cars or adrenalin-fuelled young men.
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