Tim Ripley

Ieshia Evans and riot police during a protest against police brutality at the Baton Rouge police department in Louisiana on 9 July 2016. Photograph: Jonathan Bachman

Woman sits in front of riot police blocking the road to protect protesters during an anti-government march on 24 April 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. Photograph: Chung Sung-Jun

Young girl faces down a riot policeman during a protest marking the country’s 1973 military coup in Santiago, Chile on 11 September 2016. Photograph: Carlos Vera

Saffiyah Khan calmly staring down an EDL demonstrator in Birmingham. Unsure of photo credit

#InternationalWomensDay

“He has been granted bail”

Chin up. My sister-in-law recently realised that her daughters had outgrown some of the clothes at the bottom of her ironing pile.

It's not Trump. It's not Netanyahu. It's the USA. It's Israel. It's Americans. It's Israelis

The LLMentalist Effect: how chat-based Large Language Models rep… The new era of tech seems to be built on superstitious behaviour

If human consciousness was as simple as an LLM, I think by now scientists would have written about mathematical models for consciousness.

No, the chatbots aren't conscious; the software and user interfaces just do a good job of fooling those who really, really want to believe that one might be.

After electing him twice, and allowing him and mates to prevail, you have to assume that this is how most US people have become. That's grim

By ending my ignorance, I fear you've added to my terror

A reminder that making the rest of us watch in agony as they annihilate a people is also part of the intentional psychic terror of imperialist violence

I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

Every anti-vaxxer I encounter seems to love weird unregulated supplements. They hate Big Pharma but they love Little Pharma, Big Pharma’s younger sibling who grew up without any adult supervision.

Of all the things we are doing in MN, this one is just beyond. Imagine being released from hell alone in the cold. And a total stranger has waited all night with a blanket just to be ready to hug you and carry you home. Every job we do is crucial, but this one is what restores humanity and dignity.

1 [Scene is a GREGGS interior. A lone MAN, the only customer in the shop, is standing at counter] MAN: Please can I have a sausage roll. 2 GREGGS SHOP ASSISTANT: Certainly sir [She pulls a leaver on the panini machine and WOOSH the man disappears through a trapdoor]. Whoosh 3 [The MAN appears through a chute in an underground bunker. A voice from off-scene greets him]: Welcome, friend 4 [We see the voice is of a military-looking resistance COMMANDER with a moustache] COMMANDER: You said "please can I have" instead of “can I get”… So now you're one of us. 5 MAN: W-where am I ...? [We see him looking at a hi tech UNDERGROUND MILITARY BUNKER - it has resistance vibes, and has lots of screens with maps etc] 6 COMMANDER: You've joined the resistance… ...against people saying things all American. 7 COMMANDER: We are an underground network of sleeper agents poised to have a right go at young people the moment they say "mom" or "bangs”. 8 LIEUTENANT [Staring at screen]: Agent 244 has just given a Zoomer in Halifax the “could/couldn't care less" speech, sir COMMANDER: Very good 9 [Show the map of the UK with digital pop ups on it saying ‘GOTTEN’, ‘ZEE’, ‘MATH’ etc COMMANDER: You may have heard our name... We are... 10 COMMANDER: ...the Fight Against New Yankee Pronunciations and Americanisms Corrupting the King's English! 11 [Show the military command center panel. It says on the wall in big metal letters]: F.A.N.Y.P.A.C.K.E. 12 MAN You've called yourselves the 'Fanny Pack' COMMANDER: We didn't spot the acronym [/end]

This took me fucking ages

A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.

Promotion plans for 2026

behold this archive video from 2015 of Starmer backing Burnham for Labour leader

America, I'm sorry to say your demented grandpa - yes, the rapey one who was pals with the paedophile - has escaped again. Please come and pick him up as soon as possible and maybe think about moving him into a more secure institution.

Bullshit the likes of which the world has never seen.

Trump in Davos, Switzerland:

"Without us, right now you'd all be speaking German".

German is the main language of Switzerland.

THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB | Official Trailer | In Theaters December 17 YouTube video by WILLA

Short listed for an Oscar. The voice of the little girl is the actual telephone recording. The actors in the film are hearing it for the first time during the filming of the scene.

#Cinema

Heard a lad earlier talking about ‘Belgian whistles’

“A basic website costs 10k or 25k upwards if you want all the Belgian whistles”

BELGIAN WHISTLES

Can UK Health Trust US Tech? A remarkable article by a Cambridge-based computer scientist Quentin Stafford-Fraser has set all sorts of alarm bells ringing for me.

rorycellanjones.substack.com/p/can-uk-hea...

Finally got round to watching Derry Girls. Excellent. Subtitles on obviously

Starmer has a remarkably short time to decide whether to align with the USA or Europe. Hours and days. A decision that will outlive Trump too

Looking for something positive, Trump has legitimised the decapitation of a head of state, i.e., more than just an ear lobe...

One day, the USA will be told, "Pick on someone your own size". Followed by a painful blow

Don't miss out, WHSmith are getting ready to reduce the price of their 2025 diaries right now

A brick what look like Kneecap man

Q. Name an Irish hip hop trio from Belfast

Agreed. Plus, "I'll be retired before this matters!". There's rarely a budget for dealing with 'old data'

The requirements were not complicated and didn't warrant a database. The problems arose from poor office IT skills rather than the tools. Even simple processes were not designed or implemented. Plenty of slide packs but no meat

The Oasis tour is such a success. I reckon they're going to continue to play live forever