Francis 🇾🇪 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ @francis@greenplenty.social

#OtD 30 May 1381 tax collector John Bampton attempted to collect Poll Tax in Brentwood, Essex (UK) and ended up sparking the Peasants' Revolt. The mass uprising took until November for the government to suppress https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10313/peasants'-revolt-begins

Please annoy all the usual suspects and vote for Gary Lineker as best presenter in the National TV awards. You have to wade through a few categories to get to the correct bit, but don't let that put you off!

#GaryLineker #Palestine #Gaza
Vote | National Television Awards
https://www.nationaltvawards.com/vote

I’m officially done with takes on AI beginning “Ethical concerns aside…”.

No! Stop right there.

Ethical concerns front and center. First thing. Let’s get this out of the way and then see if thre is anything left worth talking about.

Ethics is the formalisation of how we are treating one another as human beings and how we relate to the world around us.

It is *impossible* to put ethics aside.

What you mean is “I don’t want to apologise for my greed and selfishness.”

Say that first.

If your corporation's business model relies on lawbreaking, your corporation has no legal legitimacy.

We don't let narcotic cartels and trafficking rings list themselves on the stock exchange: why should OpenAI or Facebook be any different?

‘Keir Starmer’s cowardice has made Labour a party for no one’
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/05/21/labour-keir-starmer-amelia-hansford-opinion/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into UK News @uk-news-PinkNews

Time for a new variation on a classic.

Britain's strictest headteacher claims transgender children more likely to be 'white' and 'privileged' - The Standard

https://apple.news/AmyyKxp_gTDaE-083mXWeVw. She certainly has strong opinions. She’s wrong of course, but when did that ever stop a self serving gobshite?

https://skwawkbox.org/2025/05/21/video-israeli-occupation-forces-open-fire-on-diplomats-from-30-countries-visiting-west-bank/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=video-israeli-occupation-forces-open-fire-on-diplomats-from-30-countries-visiting-west-bank

@HarriettMB @sundogplanets we know how to fix Climate Change without all these unproven technologies.

But that would mean Rich Men would be a little less rich so wild super-science ideas that appeal to rich idiots is the way we're going!

Don't anybody ask the Scientists if this shit will work, get some influencer on Twitter to say it's fine instead!

A few days ago I posted about the case of Nicola Packer accused, tried but found not guilty of having an illegal abortion....

If you thought the details of that post was horrific, the further details of her treatment revealed in this interview are both heartbreaking & disgraceful - a women abused by legal process.

Misogyny has no place in the legal system but we can see all too well that its structurally embedded in the law!

#law #feminism

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/13/i-hate-sitting-in-silence-now-nicola-packer-on-clearing-her-name-after-the-trauma-of-her-abortion-trial

Stupid? Evil? The "immigration" thing.

What do reform voters want? They *pretend* they want numbers to go down. Now, this is already a false debate, shifting a debate about rights/benefits/costs to reducing people to numbers.

But it's also a lie. Because what they want is US-style performative cruelty. Which is impossible under the rule of law.

And so, "responding to voter concerns on immigration" is a sure vote loser. --

Vibe coding claims of the "hours instead of weeks" variety are rarely accompanied by an actual example.

But when they are, they sure do look like they would have taken hours - maybe a Wordle clone or a Quote Of The Day app or a TO-DO list thingummy.

Y'know. The kind of stuff you might build at a hackathon.