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Tom Shakespeare

@tomshakespeare.bsky.social
11K followers 12K following 2.7K posts

Talks, writes, teaches. "The Ha-ha" & "The Ends" might make you laugh. Patreon patreon.com/Tomtalksdisabillity?utm…

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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 11h
Somewhere, a lamp post is feeling lonely...
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Blue Wave @votebiue.bsky.social · 12h
THIS IS HOW ITS DONE. Protestors in Syracuse, New York have surrounded Trump's motorcad, preventing it from moving, and chanting "Fuck Donald Trump." October 9, 2026
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
If we want Public Sector Broadcasting, we have to pay for it. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/o...
theguardian.com
BBC axes long-running Radio 4 show You and Yours in push towards podcasts
Thinking Allowed, The Artificial Human and Free Thinking among other programmes hit by £500m cuts
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
[I meant to say: I love the Proust quotation in the news piece]
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I lov3leBBC News - 'Ghost particles' from space telescope wins physics Nobel www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'Ghost particles' from space telescope wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics
Belgian physicist Prof Francis Halzen has won for his pioneering work on an observatory that detects particles from space.
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Vaughan Williams Foundation @vwfndn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
General funding applications are now open! 🎉 We support the work of professional composers, including providing grants towards performances. Find out more about what is available here: vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/funding/how-...
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Social care for disabled adults is in as much crisis as support for elderly people – so why is the government silent about it? | John Harris
Working-age adults such as my son, who is autistic, face an unreliable system, yet ministers talk only of a national care service for older people, says Guardian columnist John Harris
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Ooo arhhh Darren.lad!
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Kate Manne @katemanne.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A sneak peak at my next big fat ambitious feminist book project katemanne.substack.com/p/the-author...
katemanne.substack.com
The Authority of the Body
A feminist moral philosopher’s manifesto—and a sneak peak at my next book project
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Christmas present sorted
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The Intellectualist @theintellectualist.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
U.S. has worse wealth distribution than pre-revolutionary France did.
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Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) were to shut down, the continent would plunge into “ice age” winters with year-round long droughts, and agriculture would become close to impossible. www.newscientist.com/article/2588...
newscientist.com
The collapse of the AMOC would be catastrophic. How will we know when it's coming? | New Scientist
Europe faces incredibly harsh winters and unrelenting droughts if the vital AMOC ocean current fails – but when disaster will strike and how bad it will be remains uncertain. Now there is an ambitious...
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 26/09/2026
Once again I find myself needing to write that the AI did not ‘go rogue’. It did what it was programmed to do by extremely negligent men, men who are responsible for their actions.
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Get well soon!
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
‘Rip the plaster off’: Andy Burnham sets out vision for universal free social care
PM says he will put proposals for NHS-style service funded by everybody into Labour’s next general election manifesto
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Personally, I’d rather have healthy kids than mollycoddled millionaires
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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It’s brilliant to see two key government reviews will likely seek to end the pointless reassessment of many disabled people. I’ve written for years it’s a waste of resources and has a huge strain on disabled people forced into regularly proving their condition. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Severely disabled young people should get fast-track access to benefits, Milburn says
Alan Milburn said 16- to 24-year-olds with most complex needs should not have to keep proving they cannot work
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
I have seen with pride how British overseas aid saves children’s lives. That is why I say cuts should be reversed | David Harewood
I understand the pressure on the public purse, but I have also seen the effect of our spending on the ground, says actor and Unicef UK ambassador David Harewood
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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 06/09/2025
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n
Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles
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𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 @sundaedivine.lol · 27/09/2026
At last, a safe space for men who think empathy lowers testosterone.
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The climate fight has one great ally. You just can’t look at it directly | Bill McKibben
There is hope in solar power. As the UN meets, we are urging leaders to pursue a clear goal: clean energy for all by 2030
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Professor Marion Gibson @witchesetc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This excellent book by Andrew Sneddon on witchcraft accusations and disability is free to view and download until 15th October - it’s in the CUP Elements in Magic series that I used to edit: eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Magic and Disability in the Early Modern World
Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Magic and Disability in the Early Modern World
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Oregon Zoo @oregonzoo.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Happy Sea Otter Awareness Week!
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Thank you!
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John Bate @jflb96.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
But they were fucked up in their turn, By bros in jeans and sleeveless coats, Who half the time were soppy stern, And half at one another's throats Bot hands down blatant goof to bot, It deepens like a coastal shelf, Block all the clankers you can spot, And don’t post any prompts yourself.
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Roger @rogerha.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
They fuck you up, these AI bots, They may not mean to, but they do. They pass on all the lies online And add some extra, just for you.
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Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I was trying to find a line from a Philip Larkin poem, and instead Gemini made up swathes of lines that aren't in the poem
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Jennifer Shin - WTAF @jennifershin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
💯💯💯 This 👇
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Nicolas Hénin @nicolashenin.net · 17/09/2026
Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Yes, I apologise. The Mouth and Foot Painter.
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Just had great talk with Tom Yeandell, foot-and-mouth painter (though I would prefer to call him just painter).
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Some TV Dramas take a little nurturing, need time to grow, find their voice. Some don’t. THE WEST WING (1999) This - from the Pilot episode - gave Martin Sheen’s President Bartlett one hell of an entrance. #AaronSorkin
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Kenny @kennyekn.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
As per @clairehanna.bsky.social off-script aside, during her speech today, "not as Orange as he looks".
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
However useful (& environmentally preferable to cars), e-bikes badly parked are often hazardous to people with visual impairment & obstructive to wheelchair users www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Thousands of ebikes seized by London councils as anger rises over blocked paths
Operators blame lack of parking and councils bemoan lack of central regulation, as more than 3,000 badly parked bikes seized
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Graham M. @graham-m.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
"The issues [maths] faces now are similar to issues that other scientific and creative professions are facing, and indicate issues that all of [us] might face: how to make sure that, as AI changes the way work is done, we do not lose sight of what that work was meant to achieve in the first place."
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The News Agents @thenewsagents.co.uk · 11/09/2026
"Technically Nigel Farage could have lost, not just the UK election on this, but the French election for the far right too." "That's quite a week's work." How Reform blew it with the French www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/the-...
thenewsagents.co.uk
The sad, sad story of how Nigel Farage lost his friends in France | The News Agents
Last week, Nigel Farage signed an oversized ‘memorandum of understanding’ with French far-right leader, Jordan Bardella. This week, it could have cost his French pal a chance at becoming president.
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Greenpeace International 🌍 @greenpeace.org · 10/09/2026
We have a chance to turn the tide. If world leaders act swiftly, they can protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 — giving marine life space to recover, helping stabilise our climate, safeguarding the livelihoods of billions of people, and securing a thriving planet for generations to come.
act.gp
Let’s Turn the Tide to Protect 30% of the Ocean by 2030 - Greenpeace International
Call on your government to start implementing protected ocean sanctuaries.
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Rupahuq.bsky.social
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Florenceeshalomi.bsky.social
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Tomtugendhat.bsky.social
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Please, MPs, back assisted dying on Friday. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
My plea to MPs: this is the final chance to save the assisted dying bill. Make your mark on history | Polly Toynbee
Any MP not voting for it on Friday will condemn thousands of us to die in agony. The public is hugely in favour too, so do the right thing, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"If I were king, I would redress an abuse which cuts back, as it were, one half of human kind. I would have women participate in all human rights, especially those of the mind." ― Émilie Du Châtelet, passed away #OTD in 1749 I reshare this thread. 🧪 ⚛️ #histsci #WomenInSTEM #MathSky #EduSky
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Brian Bilston @brianbilston.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
US FOLKS: My latest book How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside will be published in the US on 22 September. If you preorder it today or tomorrow via Barnes & Noble, you’ll get 25% off - simply use the coupon code PREORDER25 on the B&N site. [End of very important message] @barnesandnoble.com
A poster advertising my book ‘How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside’, plugging a 25% offer with code PREORDER25 for orders via the Barnes & Noble website.
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
FRED ASTAIRE and ELEANOR POWELL with one of the great tap dance numbers of all time. BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 (1940)
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PIK_climate @pik-potsdam.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"The AMOC is now at its weakest in at least 1,000 years." - Watch PIK’s @rahmstorf.bsky.social explain how climate change is putting the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation #AMOC at risk and what this could mean for Europe and the world. ➡️ Full video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNOS...
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Hedy Lamarr @chudonew.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Who do they think they are? Brian Rix? (Joke lost on anyone under pension age).
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Bruce Little @brucedlittle.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
He's now resorting to trying to buy the election. Federal law makes it unlawful to knowingly and willfully pay, offer to pay, or accept payment for registering to vote or for voting. (52 U.S.C. §10307(c).) Any type of incentive is considered “payment.”
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