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Reposted by Alison

Helen Lewis @helenlewis.bsky.social · 11h

"Sometimes you have to ask yourself: How did I get here—sitting in Saudi Arabia, listening to Louis C.K. do jokes about Barely Legal magazine?"

I went to Riyadh to see the transformation of a country with the world's biggest cultural chequebook. Gift link:

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

How Many Comedians Does It Take to Change a Country?

What it’s like to watch Louis C.K. do stand-up in Saudi Arabia

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Alison

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 12h

"The explosion of mass media, in every form from the Victorian social novel to the Tiktoks sent from Gaza or Kyiv, have served to show that people unlike ourselves are first and foremost people: just us, in a different situation.

"Anyway, I worry social media might be f*cking this right up."

The Two Minutes Hate

Some thoughts on what pile-ons are doing to our brains, because ouch. Also: everything objectively insane about Kash Patel’s “challenge coin”; and meet “ratzilla”.

jonn.substack.com

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 12h

Oh so much this.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 1d

Loved Small Bomb at Dimperley so much I didn’t want it to end.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 1d

Would read this if you wrote it.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 1d

Think it’s an American issue due to (I think) the burden of proof of harm being on the consumer rather than the product having to meet a (higher) standard as in the EU.

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Reposted by Alison

James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 1d

Periodically I watch this again because it’s just so good.

BFI National Archive trailer | BFI

YouTube video by BFI

youtu.be

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 1d

Aka “buttery” when I lived in Aberdeen, food of the gods. Unfortunately, never been able to fine a replacement outside of NE Scotland.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 3d

Such a fluffy little tyrant!

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 4d

Cool cat.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 4d

Really enjoying #riotwomen. Sally Wainwright nails it as always.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 4d

“Hidden here is the assumption that ordinary people are unable to grasp anything challenging or complex. It is a wretchedly patronising claim imposed upon working-class people by middle-class gatekeepers who define what is “relevant” and have no grasp of working-class history.”

David Benedict @eggsbened.bsky.social · 4d

EXACTLY!
‘Where once there was a yearning to be “exposed to something extraordinary”, today politicians and arts administrators are besotted by the notion of “relevance”, of the arts as something with which people must immediately identify or recognise.’ observer.co.uk/news/columni...

It’s not opera that’s elitist but the idea that art is to...

The myth that culture has not been for the masses is debunked in a new book

observer.co.uk

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 4d

👇This. Always thought ‘relevance’ like this was condescending.

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 4d

When I became a teacher in the late seventies, relevance was all the rage. If a kid lived on a sink estate, they’d have to read about kids on sink estates, e.g. “Kes”. No thought to firing their imagination, showing them different worlds. It’s pointlessly limiting of people’s horizons.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 5d

I am not a doctor so couldn’t say, but think it’s probably a case of the dose creates the poison so they’re probably alright in moderation.

Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 5d

That is the best yet.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 5d

Lovely film, lovely review.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 5d

Well, it said he had extremely high blood pressure and that’s a strong risk factor for heart attack and stroke…

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 6d

😱

Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 8d

I take it you’ve watched Shetland?

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 8d

“Books, because…they are the considered and painstaking work of many solitary hours and much revision, supply the antidote to the hot take, the angry riposte and the overconfident assertion.”

Sam Leith @questingvole.bsky.social · 8d

Cannot. Case for books, as the antidote to everything that makes Kemi Badenoch Kemi Badenoch, made here:

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 8d

Oh good. Humble thanks to Her Daphneness.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 9d

Yes,I thought that odd. He’s still talking about it as if it was a straight literary adaptation rather than a musical.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 9d

Just had to get a photo taken in a booth which I swear was designed by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 10d

Oh Guardian did you learn nothing?

Dr David Robert Grimes @drg.bsky.social · 10d

Asked lots about this piece on Chronic Lyme disease, and disappointed in the @guardian (a publication I both subscribe and contribute to) for running it. Short thread explaining the multitude of problems with it, and why I consider it irresponsible to run as is..🧵

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Alison @alisonauciel.bsky.social · 10d

Oh that’s lovely.

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