Ruth

Therapist thought: just FYI, you shouldn't see the same therapist as your partner (unless you see them together). You probably don't want to see the same therapist as your mate either. You deserve a space to talk freely, and that isn't going to happen in your therapist also works with a partner.

Very clearly AI generated poster being used to advertise a person-centred therapy group about deep listening and human connection. Seems kinda contradictory to me.

Yes, there is also that. It was as if she has not even read the Wikipedia page for quilting. The understanding of the history of quilting outside the Americas, and the different ways it reached there was so poor I just despaired.

Was really excited by quilting having a massive episode on the Ologies podcast but got 15mins in and a bit crushed - what they're saying about the history of quilting doesn't appear to correlate with much of what I've read.

What phone line does he think 'pushy' people are using to access 'services'? There are almost no phone lines for services available anymore. We actually want more of them. Most people want to be able to talk to another human, not be stuck in some opaque robot system.

Not an AI fan but I have to use one to resolve some website issues. It's like following directions from someone who doesn't know any of the route you've taken to this point and doesn't know the final destination, only the next step. I am learning nothing, as it keeps the map to itself.

In a local shop and overhead the conversation between a Labour councillor and another (I think retired?) Labour councillor. The amount of work they do seemed relentless, and as one said 'it's never enough'. But more poignant perhaps was their sense of Labour;
"The tide is going out on us."

Possibly also - just because a guy is sexy doesn't mean he's not a jerk who disrespects the women in his life (I think his mum's profession was ballet?).

This is horrendous too. Trial by jury should be fundamental.

Picture of Farage from GB News website with the caption For GB News's funders, £130m is a small price to pay fro vast influence

GB News, the channel of “reactionary rage bait”, has released its latest accounts showing a £22m loss for 2024/25 (and a £131m total loss since launch)

Yet another demonstration that there’s no shortage of funds on the right of British politics, writes @writesbright.bsky.social for the Nerve

🧵1/6

I think religious organisations need to get a move on establishing their position on AI use, particularly with respect to people's freedom *from* AI, eg freedom to access necessary state and health services without their data being processed by an AI.

Redesigning my personal website today. Decided to just scrap the old one (20+ years, lots of content from old PhD and earlier). A big part of the decision is I'm just tired of my work being used to train AI. If I'm not getting anything out of it, I'm done providing content for bots.

Westminster Meeting House raided by Metropolitan Police again. Statement: “For Quakers, faith and action are inseparable. Peaceful protest, prayer and nonviolent action are integral parts of many Quakers' religious life. Whilst we take the planning of criminal acts very seriously, we believe that this incident is a deliberate targeting of committed young people who want to make our country a more equitable place. This raid is part of a systematic stifling of dissent. That this is the second time in a year that the police have raided our meeting house dramatically illuminates the broader trend in the UK of cracking down on those who disagree with the government. The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy. It's a key part of how people make their voices heard between elections.” – Oliver Robertson, Head of Witness and Worship Quakers in Britain, 5 March 2026

Yesterday evening, for the second time in a year, the Met Police raided Westminster Quaker Meeting House and arrested a number of young nonviolent activists.

STATEMENT: www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

We also need to know whether AI was used to select the target. WaPo is reporting Anthropic and Palantir tech were used to identify 1000 targets in Iran 24 hours. Who vetted those targets? Who pays for errors? It's possible they weren't involved in this strike but this we need to know.

Today I have many different small jobs to do, AND I'm waiting for a service engineer to turn up at some non specific time. IT IS THE WORST.

[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.] From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes: NEWSREADER: Extraordinary images here of an expat in Dubai [The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly] …Having their first ever geopolitical thought. [CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones]. CLIVE MYRIE: To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent DAVID JONES: Clive, this is momentous It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’. [Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same] You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self. It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts. CLIVE MYRIE: Which are…? DAVID JONES: You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes, I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa. CLIVE MYRIE: And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days? DAVID JONES: I think we can expect to see: “I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To” CLIVE MYRIE: Mmm. [Ends]

Yeah, I'm always wary of responsibility that serves others but I think being on top of our own emotions (which doesn't mean just repressing them 🤣) is good for us and enjoying our lives.

This is so cool!

Ultimate Creamy Miso Butter Beans – A Delicious 30-Minute Recipe Indulge in creamy miso butter beans, a quick vegetarian dish ready in under 30 minutes, packed with protein and flavor.

Made these creamy miso butterbeans and they are fantastic. I would say I simmered them for 20-30mins and also probably used a touch less cream and no lemon juice or dill.

www.brinleyrecipes.com/creamy-miso-...

The funny thing about working in community projects is you'll find yourself doing stuff that other folks are getting paid £50k p/a for, just randomly on a Tuesday afternoon between shifts at your actual job.

Super embarrassed, extremely apologetic. Like they had no concept they could be overheard(!) It was a white man. I always try and go in with talking to people IRL first as you would not fathom how often it is genuine ignorance behind a behaviour. Even though that sounds dumb.

I have actually been brave enough in the past to say to someone "hey, you know we can all hear the things you say about your business clients? I don't think that is going to adhere to gdpr."

When I talked it through with people I think the biggest one is probably being able to be emotionally appropriate - not over reacting, not taking things out on other people, not over-sharing, overcoming bad feelings and not let it sink us. Not that many have had good rolemodels of that ;)

It's a very pre-telephone style of communication.

Yup. Honestly I was pretty torn (as a new Green member) as an Andy Burnham PM run would have seriously deflated and conflicted me. Refusing him permission to run pretty firmly settled me in the Greens. I wonder how many others had the same 'last nail in the coffin' experience?

Hannah Spencer of the UK's left-wing Green Party won the contest for the vacant parliamentary seat of Gorton and Denton, with Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform party coming second, and Labour pushed into third place.

I wonder if those who talked about their votes together even knew they weren't allowed to do that.

May have shed a few tears when I saw it this morning.

Isn't GoodReads owned by Amazon now, or did I get that wrong?

At the moment I'm mostly working from lunch through to the evening, so if I get up at a reasonable time I get quite a few pleasant, chilled mornings in the week. I can thoroughly recommend it as a working pattern.