The Casual Critic

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405 Posts

Ecosocialist from Scotland. I write blogs about things I read, watch or play, because writing is fun.

My cat is much cooler than me and occasionally I will post a picture.

Write.Ashttps://write.as/the-casual-critic/

Somebody doesn't care about Google or Sora or tech bros and would like to give you a tiny dose of toe beans that he hopes will make you feel better if you're having a stressful day.

#CatsOfMastodon #FediCats #Cats

Did I miss the memo that it's now acceptable to just listen to music, radio, movies whatever without headphones on the train? Asking for a confused millennial.

https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/school-book-banning-escalates-in-the-uk-as-greater-manchester-secondary-school-censors-scores-of-books/

I don't know how to talk about this other than to say it's fucking revolting censorship. So many things wrong with this situation I don't even know where to start. Using "AI" to classify books for censorship. The idea that teens cannot handle, and need to be protected from, discussion of racism or misogyny. Terry Pratchett books being dangerous (actually I think he might be sort of pleased by that thought). Someone I went to uni with is an author on this list; I've read the book and the only reason to think a teen shouldn't read it is if you're a racist.

This ban is a move in support of racism and misogyny, it's utterly indefensible and I'm fucking fuming that they put an honest and caring librarian out of work over it.

School book banning escalates in the UK as Greater Manchester secondary school censors scores of books - Index on Censorship

A school librarian faced a disciplinary hearing and scores of books were removed from her school library after she stocked Laura Bates’ Men Who Hate Women

Index on Censorship

Sometimes you find yourself back in places that were meaningful once, but from which you've moved on for years.

It makes me feel how you don't just change, but you also leave your past selves behind. The person I was who was connected to these places is gone. I was shaped by that person, but I'm not that person.

Sometimes I wonder if we should mourn the past selves that we carry with us, but no longer are. But maybe that's very me, or very indulgent. Or both.

#nostalgia #memory

Occasionally I'm in #London for work, and the chasm with other UK cities is just so stark.

Things work here. Public transport. Roads that aren't mostly potholes. Clean streets.

I know the centre isn't representative of all London. I know the rents are extreme. I know the hinterlands are grim. But still. In #Glasgow you get all that and the city centre is also crumbling around us.

I'm not angry. I don't resent Londoners. I lived here for nearly a decade. I just feel sorrow for everyone else.

Trump, Putin, Netanyahu — I’m so tired of these rich, old, murderous men who cling to power and make the world suffer, desperately trying to escape justice. So damn tired.
Sums up my experience growing up
A School in Manchester banned a lot of books,. And destroyed a librarians career. I read a lot of these as a teenager from my School library, this is nuts, they were fine. https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/school-book-banning-escalates-in-the-uk-as-greater-manchester-secondary-school-censors-scores-of-books/
School book banning escalates in the UK as Greater Manchester secondary school censors scores of books - Index on Censorship

A school librarian faced a disciplinary hearing and scores of books were removed from her school library after she stocked Laura Bates’ Men Who Hate Women

Index on Censorship

Kelvingrove Park in today's Spring sunshine, with Glasgow University in the distance.

#glasgow #glasgowtoday #kelvingrovepark #spring #glasgowuniversity

Reminder that there is one undeclared nuclear armed state in the Middle East, and it isn't #Iran
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_and_nuclear_weapons?wprov=sfla1
Israel and nuclear weapons - Wikipedia