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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 6h

The promotion of paid-for blue ticks to the top of every discussion was one of the agents of its demise, as firstly it was marketing itself to trolls who are happy to pay to be promoted, and made finding sensible discussion impossible. So it lost its utility both in content and function.

Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 21h

I don't get easily overwhelmed, but after a couple of hours in a spectacular church, my senses are saturated and I can't take in any more. My head spins, and I need to go outside.

Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 21h

I think they've used the amazing advances in being able to mimic human language to mis-sell the repackaging of Google with a few extra knobs on, the danger being that people then are under the misapprehension that the machines have the essential human traits of scepticism and doubt.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 21h

I once went on a school music tour (as staff) which had been devised so that the head of music could visit his favourite ones, especially the utterly amazing (aka nuts) Wieskirche. Didn't even have time to visit all the baroque churches in just Bavaria, sadly. A worthy project though.

By Danielloh79 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35583424

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 22h

Also: bsky.app/profile/hann... - you need to read the thread to see why!

Hannah Cooper @hannahcooper.bsky.social · 1d

Unexpected rabbit hole today is discovering that "Phwoar!" was first recorded by the dictionary in 1976, and 1972's Carry On Matron may be its first film appearance.

I thought I'd found an earlier 60s TV use, but it seems "Phwoar!" is firmly a 70s phenomenon.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 22h

bsky.app/profile/then...

THE NERVE @thenerve.news · 1d

More than just a bad apple: why we must look closer at the Nathan Gill scandal

New evidence connects the Ukrainian politician who paid bribes to Gill - Reform UK’s former leader in Wales - to a campaign to destabilise the US election

@carolecadwalla.bsky.social reports

The contact of Reform UK's Russian puppet Nathan Gill is linked to efforts to destabilise the US and Ukraine. Why, even now, is no one asking questions?

Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 22h

Aha, welcome back @carolecadwalla.bsky.social !! We need you!! bsky.app/profile/caro...

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 23h

NEW: We need to talk about Russia.

So, yes, that's why we need to talk about Nigel Farage.

My personal newsletter on the story behind the story. Brexit, Trump, Russia & now...Nathan Gill.

open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Copilot seems to be hallucinating, as the earliest OED citation is 1976ish.

Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

And it's stating the bleedin' obvious that the writing process is a central part in developing the understanding of what you're writing about: marshalling nebulous thoughts into a cogent argument in discrete words, phrases, and paragraphs gives structure to the thoughts that prompted the writing.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

🤣

Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

More to the point, I want to write like me, not someone else, whether that's the humour, unexpected idea or vocabulary, or the fallibility. I want the mistakes to be mine.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

I know you'll be shocked, but maybe they haven't fully thought this strategy through...

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Ah yes, obvs!!

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

I wonder if Farage told himself not to go to meet the Russian Ambassador, but he went anyway.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

I went the long way round to Topsham Aldi.

#photography #devon #autumn #cycling

At the start of the Exe Valley Trail to Exmouth - but I didn't go to Exmouth!

One of my favourite farm lanes, to Cutton, near Danes Wood (near Killerton)

Dog Village, Broadlcyst - one of the many National Trust properties there.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Has anyone even thought to ask Gill if Farage told him not to go to Ukraine? Not that I'd expect him to answer honestly, but still worth a try to see how evasive he is.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

It does seem daft that HMRC doesn't have an in-house function for this, if they want all self-employed people to comply. Most self-employed people's tax affairs arent that complicated: just income & expenses.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

🤷‍♂️

Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

I've been saying for ages that they could really upend UK politics by re-finding their pragmatic political post that was pro-business, admit that Brexit was mistake promoted by the charlatan Johnson, and that a return to SM & CU is the only way out of the mess the UK is in. Unlikely, I'll admit.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

The whole lot needs a deep dive. Cadwalladr was doing good stuff at the Graun, but that seemed to get snuffed out. Even given the right-wing press semi-stranglehold, Farage would be a career-forging case to investigate and publish for a mainstream team of journalists.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

They need to do the follow-up now. I'll not hold my breath waiting for it though.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

That word is the tell, and is the flag for his dishonesty.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Everything he's reported to have said in this BBC piece sounds like he's desperately trying to distance himself, knowing that the connection is real and toxic. If the press were investigating Farage with the same enthusiasm they went for Rayner, he'd be done for.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nigel Farage 'stunned' ex-Wales Reform leader Nathan Gill took bribes

Nathan Gill has admitted taking money for pro-Russian statements as a European Parliament member.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

It's all about whether the dialogue is in good faith... which requires listening to the other party and being prepared to modify one's own view, or, at the bare minimum, understand why they might have a different view. Without that, then there's no point in dialogue, sadly. Empathy is central.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

Well, when the CEO of the asylum is a lunatic, it's not surprising when the staff are lunatics too.

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