Mastodawn

The man with thistledown hair
will make them dance
in ill-fitting shoes.

Were the people of Barnsley consulted at all?

Barnsley rebranded UK’s first ‘tech town’ as US giants join AI push
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/03/barnsley-uk-tech-town-ai-microsoft-cisco-adobe?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

#ai #democracy

Barnsley rebranded UK’s first ‘tech town’ as US giants join AI push

Minister announces Microsoft, Cisco and Adobe to help apply AI to local schools, hospitals, GPs and businesses

The Guardian

I guess the economists', and the wealthy's prejudice against public debt, and in favour of private debt, is influenced by an underlying misconception, and an undoubted fact...

The misconception is that money created in the private banking sector goes into 'investment' (factcheck: it doesn't, it goes mainly to inflate asset values); and that money created by the government is just spent, badly (factcheck: it isn't, it is invested mainly into things like the education, health and safety of us all).

The undoubted fact is that money created in the private banking sector goes mainly to the already wealthy...

Calvin Feb 1

Frans Super 🇺🇦🇵🇸🍋 FKNZS🔻Feb 1

@Remittancegirl Yeah, I saw this video the other day. I hope all the 'tremendous' mistakes he has made in the past seven decades and specifically those of the past year simply blow up in his face TODAY. The sooner America gets rid of His Royal Obtrusiveness the better it is for the entire world.

Calvin Feb 1

"Patriotism is the nicotine of the masses."

Calvin Jan 31

Emeritus Prof Christopher May Jan 31

The Jospeh Rowntree Foundation's latest UK Poverty Report shows that:

The average person in poverty in 2021-24 was 29% below the poverty line, up from 23% in 1994-97.

More than 1 in 5 people in the UK were living in poverty in 2023/2-4. This amounts to 14.2 million people. Of these, 6.8 million were living in very deep poverty.

When 20% of our population are living in poverty, this is not happenstance but the result of deliberate political choice(s)!

#Poverty #politics
h/t JRF/LinkedIn

Calvin Jan 31

Randahl Fink Jan 31

When the war in Ukraine broke out, and Europe was hesitant in the first year, I thought alright, this is a surprise to everyone and of course we need time to prepare.

Now 4 years have passed, and we are 450 million EU and 69 million UK citizens still standing on the sidelines, telling 38 million Ukrainians they should fight 133 million Russians on their own.

We could end this war. Instead we keep pretending that it is fine to let Ukraine take all the punches.

I find that profoundly shameful.

Calvin Jan 24

Adam

Jan 23

With #meta blocking stories about the protests and strike in #Minnessota, it is a reminder of why platforms like the fediverse are important. This is a video of the clergy protest at the MSP airport today, passed along by a colleague, at which 97 clergy were arrested.

#AbolishICE #IceOut #ClergyProtest

Calvin Jan 24

emsenn Jan 24

EDIT: Please tune into the news. Another person has been shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis and the federal and local authorities are working to again obfuscate the investigation.

I've seen a lot of photos showing the massive crowds gathered in Minneapolis today, but I want to remind folk that today was actually a day of economic blackout, and the protests and other events were there to help us bond, learn, teach, and share.

But the main show was actually the complete lack of activity and spectacle around the normal center of life: the economy.

We'll never get an honest accounting of how that went down, but I know in addition to the indie stores that shut down, a LOT of folk working corporate gigs didn't go to work today.

I think this photo, showing one of the main stretches of highway into the city, during what should be rush hour, instead showing a smattering of cars, is one of the better demonstrations of that part of today.