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themajor.bsky.social

@themajor.bsky.social
164 followers 738 following 135 posts
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Reposted by @themajor.bsky.social
timoconnorbl.bsky.social @timoconnorbl.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Even here, this form of solar panel at this height could easily be installed on grazing land and livestock grazed under it without the remotest bother. I would suspect that were you to offer connections and/or grants, there would be an absolute stampede of farmers towards this.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
“Paris has embarked on a grand transformation, planting 155k trees, adding hundreds of kms of bike lanes, pedestrianising 300 school streets and banning cars from the banks of the Seine. Parking has been turned into green space…Fewer parents fear their child being run over when they walk to school.”
theguardian.com
How Paris swapped cars for bikes – and transformed its streets
Under Anne Hidalgo – mayor for 12 years until last week – the French capital added bike lanes, cut traffic and reclaimed public space, but not without resistance
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Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
frankly I have come to believe techies are illiterate. science fiction isn't about the future, stupid. it's about the current political situation but set in space so no one gets mad. duh!
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Trump's "Board of Peace" isn't an international organisation; it's a personal fiefdom. Its Charter names him personally as chair,subject only to resignation or unanimous vote of incapacity; lets him pick his successor; allows him to hire & fire the executive... www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-ch...
timesofisrael.com
Full text: Charter of Trump’s Board of Peace
No mention of Gaza, which bolsters ToI's reporting that US also envisions panel helping resolve other conflicts worldwide; member countries must pay $1 billion for permanent spot
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Interesting to contrast what Laffer says in this Times radio interview only to find it's a load of baloney when you check out his arguments afterwards m.youtube.com/watch?v=yC1S...
m.youtube.com
Economist breaks down how Rachel Reeves can get Britain growing again
YouTube video by Times Radio Politics
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Reposted by @themajor.bsky.social
Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Some have already had a go at debunking the claims in the book. e.g. gully-foyle-debunked.co.uk/1-10
gully-foyle-debunked.co.uk
Debunking Gully Foyle's EU Benefits Claims Effectively | Gully Foyle Debunked
Join us as we debunk Gully Foyle's claims about Brexit benefits. Our counter book, 'Gully Foyle Debunked', aims to challenge misinformation and support the National Rejoin March with all profits. Proj...
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
In other news, Kemi Badenoch's party has taken at least £7 million in donations from funders and directors of climate change denial lobby groups bylinetimes.com/2025/03/18/k...
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
The first episod of Alien earth is enjoyably silly, a mixture between an Alien film and Scooby doo-I presume the last episode will have a xenomorph saying "I would have got away with it had it not been for you kids"?
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
Essential overview of Hiroshima - it was thought that civilian casualties would be low and radiation sickness wasn't widely understood. It shows that the precautionary principle applies, lessons for new technology such as #ai #airegulation www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, Exposing Hiroshima
The forgotten story of the first Western journalist to report on the Hiroshima atom bomb.
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Bet there was a scrum to write this headline, made me chuckle anyway #ft
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Here's the Open Statement on sludge spreading launched by us at Fighting Dirty, and signed by many leading figures. The water companies are using farmland as a dump for hazardous chemicals. They mislead farmers, poison the land and threaten our health. It must stop. fightingdirty.org/open-stateme...
fightingdirty.org
Open statement by leading environmentalists demands government action over “toxic cocktail of chemicals” spread on British farmland | Fighting Dirty
In the UK, we have a dirty secret that’s recently been brought into the light. Sewage sludge, we now know, contains far more than just human waste. Not only does a wide range of synthetic chemicals po...
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
I think the words covered it just fine on this occasion #ft #ukraine
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Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Carl Sagan speaking at MIT in 1987 on lowering our C02 emissions. Apply these words to any technological problem our world faces today and it holds up.
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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
UK ministers use "arcane parliamentary procedure" to block Lords bid to make AI firms declare use of copyrighted content www.theguardian.com/technology/2... Reasons given bills.parliament.uk/publications... Kidron is up for another round though. #DUABill #DataBill #genAI #IPlaw #techpolicy
"Across the creative and business community, across parliament, people are gobsmacked that the government is playing parliamentary chess with their livelihoods."

Kidron will table a rephrased amendment before the bill's return to the Lords next week, setting the scene for another confrontation. This could include removing the reference to regulation, or omitting a timeframe for it to be implemented.
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Sabine Pahl @sabinepahl.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Titans of #Science: Podcast with brilliant Richard Thompson @plymouthuni.bsky.social "We need to develop #essentiality criteria for #plastic" getpodcast.com/uk/podcast/t... #Microplastics #PlasticPollution
getpodcast.com
The Naked Scientists Podcast
Listen to The Naked Scientists Podcast on GetPodcast
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
I think with Gemini upping it's game @anthropic.com should add better integration with note making apps, and other document file types.
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
@economicsinten.bsky.social why are the treasury trying to avoid state ownership of Thames Water? It's asset rich with problems due to questionable financial practices which would be voided with bankruptcy?So it shouldn't add to govt debt/ be profitable? www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Treasury threatens Defra with £4bn bill if Thames Water nationalised
Exclusive: Treasury threat an example of ‘scare tactics’ to help force through private sector deal, sources suggest
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Professor Toby Walsh FAA FTSE @tobywalsh.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
theguardian.com
‘Meta has stolen books’: authors to protest in London against AI trained using ‘shadow library’
Writers will gather at the Facebook owner’s King’s Cross office in opposition to its use of the LibGen database to train its AI models
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Reposted by @themajor.bsky.social
Koldo Casla @koldocasla.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
"Land differs from all other forms of property". It is "a necessity of human existence”, “the original source of all wealth”, and “strictly limited in extent”. Winston Churchill 1909. Read what to do about it, by @guyshrubsole.bsky.social unherd.com/2025/04/can-...
unherd.com
Will Starmer take on landowners?
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Cat Neilan @catneilan.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Billionaire accused of using a 'strawman' to donate to German far-right party AfD is linked to company using loophole to make UK donations My last (gulp!) in this series of joint investigations with @tortoisemedia.bsky.social and BBC R4's The Naked Week 👇 www.tortoisemedia.com/2025/04/11/m...
tortoisemedia.com
Money trail leads through Carlton Club to Tories
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Sheila Pinder @sheilab01.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Reading it right now. Wasn't anticipating the shark attack! (But what an extended metaphor....)
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
@doctorkarl.bsky.social how come you never see these ideas put into action? newatlas.com/materials/pl...
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Kit Yates @kityates.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
“The 53-year-old has also repeatedly used his own account to spread falsehoods, including inaccurate claims about COVID-19, vaccines, miscarriages and heart problems.” phys.org/news/2025-0...
phys.org
UK's Royal Society of top scientists debates call to expel Elon Musk
Britain's Royal Society will hold a crunch meeting on Monday following calls to expel the world's richest man, technology billionaire Elon Musk, from the prestigious institute of scientists.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Zelenskyy's character can be judge more directly by how he treats others and whether you think he's protected his country. From what I've seen, he has treated Americans with respect. His attire is to remind people he's at war, not unlike Churchill wearing a siren suit to the White House in 1942.
Winston Churchill at the White House wearing a one-piece garment known as a siren suit.
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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Extraordinary story the Wall Street Journal. X is threatening advertisers that if they don’t spend more, Elon Musk will use his influence in government to block company mergers. That’s extortion.
Extract from WSJ story.
A lawyer at advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group fielded a phone call in December from a lawyer at X. The message was clear, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation: Get your clients to spend more on Elon Musk's social-media platform, or else.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino has made comments that seemed like similar warnings in conversations with Interpublic executives, according to people with knowledge of those talks.
Interpublic leaders interpreted the communications from X as reminders that the recently announced $13 billion deal to merge Interpublic with rival Omnicom Group OMC -0.53% could be torpedoed, or at least slowed down, by the Trump administration, given Musk's powerful role in the federal government, some of the people said. They also had a front-row seat to Musk's continued criticism of advertisers that ditched X since he bought it in 2022, when it was known as Twitter.
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Kenan Malik @kenanmalik.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
From @bcmerchant.bsky.social, a short history of OpenAI and “how ‘AGI’ operates in a material context… as a driver of continued investment… a marketing and recruitment tool, and a framework for bolstering the company’s influence and cultural footprint”: ainowinstitute.org/wp-content/u...
ainowinstitute.org
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Chris Chibnall @chrischibnall.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
So, to recap: the suggestion is: the UK creative industries grant open access to all their historic and future work and IP, without payment, to the brains behind a nascent industry that just tanked $1tn in a couple of hours. Sure. Seems great.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
1. This is what it’s really about. Farage, Truss and co have no convictions of their own. They are mere channels for the demands of capital. Here they are, supporting a climate science-denying lobby group funded by oil and oligarchs. www.theguardian.com/environment/... 🧵
theguardian.com
Farage and Truss attend UK launch of US climate denial group
British arm of Heartland, which has taken fossil and Republican funding, to be led by ex-Ukip head Lois Perry
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Bentley ****TALK CLIMATE**** @bigclimate.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Is #Landman compelling television? Absolutely (though it's already getting a little stupid). Is it also thinly veiled, ham-fisted #BigOil -servicing, anti- #EnergyTransition, #Climate-worsening #Disinformation & even outright #Propaganda? Without a doubt. By every definition of the word. 🧵
Landman title screen background with oil rig explosion, Landman title in clouds "is propaganda." Actors Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hamm and show creator Taylor Sheridan also features and includes the label "propagandist"
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Aaron Parnas @aaronparnas.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Jeff Bezos never wanted this cartoon to become public. He killed it, and as a result, pulitzer prize editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes quit. Make sure everyone sees this cartoon.
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NateintheWild @nateinthewild.com · 23/12/2024
On the left, my image. On the right, the Al image that was clearly trained on, and designed to plagiarize, my image. All Al generated imagery is inherently theft. It's unethical, environmentally disastrous, and does irreparable harm to both artists and society.
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
In light of their status as inheritors of the earth, I'm quite heartened that LLMs quality of output in ASCII art is roughly equivalent to my old Maths homework #AI #asciiart ...
LLM rendering of a tentacled sea monster in ASCII art
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Which current political figure would you describe as 'wise' or does wisdom come after office? #politics
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
My Bluesky transfer wish list is nearly complete with Doctor Karl now here @doctorkarl.bsky.social 😉
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Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️‍🌈 @ssteingraber1.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Carbon capture and storage is a climate fraud that uses public money to create private sewer systems for the oil industry. 86% of the CO2 shoved into the earth is used to push more oil out of it. Here’s the research from my team. www.carboncapturefacts.org
carboncapturefacts.org
Carbon Capture and Storage Facts
An independent, investigative perspective on “carbon capture and storage” (CCS). The site provides peer-reviewed studies and verifiable facts, many of which refute misleading information about CCS tha...
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Alex Steffen @alexsteffen.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Amazing graphic, via ‪@conradhackett.bsky.social‬ How many people got sick before vaccines for these diseases were introduced, and afterwards. Vaccines save lives, alleviate suffering and make us all more prosperous.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Phew! Well, now that I've decided to move here properly from Ex, I guess I'd better introduce myself. I've been an environmental journalist since 1985, and a campaigner for most of that time. Here's some blah about my strange and not-always-happy life: www.monbiot.com/about/%F0%9F...
monbiot.com
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Robert Llewellyn @bobbyllew.bsky.social · 30/10/2024
I'm working on a rant about the current UK governments idiotic, fossil fuel subsidy of £22 billion being given to Exxon, BP etc to do, wait for it, 'Carbon Capture and Storage.' The lobbyists must have been wetting themselves laughing when they managed to con ministers into believing this shit works
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Paul McNamara @mpaulmcnamara.bsky.social · 30/10/2024
Lovely bit of detective work on Putin’s online support for Trump. When Russia had an internet outage, pro-Trump tweets had a lot less traction. www.bruegel.org/first-glance...
bruegel.org
Russian internet outage offers clues about online ‘goblin’ army
The outage provides new evidence of the Russian state’s use of bot networks to influence public discourse on Western social media platforms
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themajor.bsky.social @themajor.bsky.social · 30/09/2023
@neilhimself.neilgaiman.com which book should my 6yr old (Arlo) start on for bbc 500 words ?"The aliens stop the eyes" (aliens stop giant eyes from destroying the galaxy),"the jaguar that went to a mysterious house" or "the pterodactyl that went to the rock planet" (pterosaur stops ogres)?Any tips?
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