Claire Debenham
@clairedeb.bsky.social
Japanese-to-English medical translator, dog-lover, servant of cat. Human companion to @fenlandlapphund.bsky.social
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Suzanne Vega
Salif Keita
Bruce Hornsby
Andras Schiff
Frans Bruggen
Suzanne Vega
Salif Keita
Bruce Hornsby
Andras Schiff
Frans Bruggen
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
The Cure
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Youssou N'Dour
Simple Minds
Fischer-Z
The Cure
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Youssou N'Dour
Simple Minds
Fischer-Z
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Prince
Beastie Boys
Sepultura
Rage Against the Machine
Underworld
Prince
Beastie Boys
Sepultura
Rage Against the Machine
Underworld
November 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Suzanne Vega
Salif Keita
Bruce Hornsby
Andras Schiff
Frans Bruggen
Suzanne Vega
Salif Keita
Bruce Hornsby
Andras Schiff
Frans Bruggen
Reposted by Claire Debenham
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Today's migration stats illustrate the migration doom loop in action...
(from my presentation at the IMF last week)
(from my presentation at the IMF last week)
November 27, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Today's migration stats illustrate the migration doom loop in action...
(from my presentation at the IMF last week)
(from my presentation at the IMF last week)
Reposted by Claire Debenham
We agree with Sam.
Scrapping the MIR is the only way to ensure British citizens and settled residents can live with the people they love.
It won’t shift net migration, but it will finally reunite thousands of families kept apart by these rules.
No ifs, no buts — Families Belong Together
Scrapping the MIR is the only way to ensure British citizens and settled residents can live with the people they love.
It won’t shift net migration, but it will finally reunite thousands of families kept apart by these rules.
No ifs, no buts — Families Belong Together
The five they haven't done:
Allow councils to keep right to buy money; scrap tuition fees for teacher training; halt HS2 sell-offs; scrap salary rule for foreign partners of British citizens).
They had to be ideas that didn't require legislation and were collectively broadly cost neutral.
Allow councils to keep right to buy money; scrap tuition fees for teacher training; halt HS2 sell-offs; scrap salary rule for foreign partners of British citizens).
They had to be ideas that didn't require legislation and were collectively broadly cost neutral.
November 27, 2025 at 5:13 PM
We agree with Sam.
Scrapping the MIR is the only way to ensure British citizens and settled residents can live with the people they love.
It won’t shift net migration, but it will finally reunite thousands of families kept apart by these rules.
No ifs, no buts — Families Belong Together
Scrapping the MIR is the only way to ensure British citizens and settled residents can live with the people they love.
It won’t shift net migration, but it will finally reunite thousands of families kept apart by these rules.
No ifs, no buts — Families Belong Together
Reposted by Claire Debenham
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Viewpoint with Andrew Brown: BBC protects mass media from abyss of #TikTok
‘Sometimes, I think that TikTok is best understood as China’s revenge for the Opium Wars’
SOMETIMES, I think that TikTok is best understood as China’s revenge for the Opium Wars. In the 19th century, we forced the Chinese to accept a dangerous and debilitating drug because the sale of it was so profitable to the East India Company. Tod...
www.churchtimes.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Viewpoint with Andrew Brown: BBC protects mass media from abyss of #TikTok
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Our lived experience and work with spouse-visa applicants show how exclusionary and often racist the immigration system is.
We worry the Government’s harsher tone reflects global right-wing pressure and emboldened far-right ideas rooted in racial hierarchy.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
We worry the Government’s harsher tone reflects global right-wing pressure and emboldened far-right ideas rooted in racial hierarchy.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Illegal migration tearing UK apart, Mahmood says
The home secretary is set to announce major policy reforms, including a 20-year wait before people granted asylum can apply to settle permanently.
www.bbc.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Our lived experience and work with spouse-visa applicants show how exclusionary and often racist the immigration system is.
We worry the Government’s harsher tone reflects global right-wing pressure and emboldened far-right ideas rooted in racial hierarchy.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
We worry the Government’s harsher tone reflects global right-wing pressure and emboldened far-right ideas rooted in racial hierarchy.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Good statement from the US conference of Catholic Bishops
November 14, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Good statement from the US conference of Catholic Bishops
"To translate is not simply to transfer meaning but to attend to differences—of culture, time, thought, expression—that evade perfect alignment." www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
The Costs of Instant Translation
AI might soon rob us of the thrill and challenge of cross-cultural conversation.
www.theatlantic.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:44 AM
"To translate is not simply to transfer meaning but to attend to differences—of culture, time, thought, expression—that evade perfect alignment." www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
Reposted by Claire Debenham
On a rainy day, I recommend heading to your local bookshop and charming the staff into giving you treats. Or on any day, in fact.
November 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
On a rainy day, I recommend heading to your local bookshop and charming the staff into giving you treats. Or on any day, in fact.
Storm Claudia making her presence felt here.
November 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Storm Claudia making her presence felt here.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Why do traditions get invented? Often, when there are identity gaps to fill. Reflecting on why new rituals of Remembrance mattered in the 1920s + how they can now help us address a core question of the 2020s: how our past, present + future are linked
easterneye.biz/uk-remembrance-day-shared-history/
easterneye.biz/uk-remembrance-day-shared-history/
Remembering together is more important than ever today
One of the most important foundations for a cohesive society is to understand how our past, present and future are linked, says Sunder Katwala
easterneye.biz
November 5, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Why do traditions get invented? Often, when there are identity gaps to fill. Reflecting on why new rituals of Remembrance mattered in the 1920s + how they can now help us address a core question of the 2020s: how our past, present + future are linked
easterneye.biz/uk-remembrance-day-shared-history/
easterneye.biz/uk-remembrance-day-shared-history/
The Home Office is consulting on the use of AI for automated translation and transcription in immigration administration, including asylum applications, but is only taking submissions from technology providers, NOT people who know about language. Please sign the petition and share! c.org/nfSb77ftDk
Sign the Petition
Home Office: before automating translation, please listen to the experts
c.org
October 28, 2025 at 8:53 AM
The Home Office is consulting on the use of AI for automated translation and transcription in immigration administration, including asylum applications, but is only taking submissions from technology providers, NOT people who know about language. Please sign the petition and share! c.org/nfSb77ftDk
Reposted by Claire Debenham
In Japan, most of the current nuclear power plants were planned and built before plate tectonics was accepted as mainstream science. A correlation to this is that a number of power plants were built over active faults.
![Comic. [two connected spacecraft hovering in space above the Earth] Houston, the view is superb. We can see the continents spread out below us, right where they’ve been since the Earth formed. [caption] I still can’t believe we developed spaceflight before we figured out that the continents moved.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreicp2ka5asjgkmgfdfj33vnjb5bbvk3vnyao6ju5kipxcdc23pqasm@jpeg)
October 27, 2025 at 8:28 PM
In Japan, most of the current nuclear power plants were planned and built before plate tectonics was accepted as mainstream science. A correlation to this is that a number of power plants were built over active faults.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Tom of Finland meets Norman Rockwell.
October 27, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Tom of Finland meets Norman Rockwell.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
"Let's not forget, when we remember the service and the sacrifice with this poppy, that the people who bled and died for our democracy and our freedom, weren't just my grandfather who looked like me & worshipped the same God, but people across Empire & Commonwealth, who were Muslim, Sikh & Hindu'
October 26, 2025 at 10:13 AM
"Let's not forget, when we remember the service and the sacrifice with this poppy, that the people who bled and died for our democracy and our freedom, weren't just my grandfather who looked like me & worshipped the same God, but people across Empire & Commonwealth, who were Muslim, Sikh & Hindu'
Reposted by Claire Debenham
The Established Church needs to find a voice on this kind of dehumanising depiction of men, women and children who have come to our country, being spilled all over the place to say the only thing that has human value is a salary above £38k and thst any foreigner who ever earns less must get out
October 22, 2025 at 5:00 PM
The Established Church needs to find a voice on this kind of dehumanising depiction of men, women and children who have come to our country, being spilled all over the place to say the only thing that has human value is a salary above £38k and thst any foreigner who ever earns less must get out
Reposted by Claire Debenham
I would happily join any such group - if you would too then get in touch with Marie. The madness being proposed by Tories and Reform needs to be opposed, and migrants' rights need to be protected.
(if anyone would like to maybe start some sort of campaigning or pressure group of and on behalf of immigrants with ILR and settled status in Britain then I would be interested in helping, or indeed trying to get it off the ground myself, email in bio, etc)
October 22, 2025 at 10:31 AM
I would happily join any such group - if you would too then get in touch with Marie. The madness being proposed by Tories and Reform needs to be opposed, and migrants' rights need to be protected.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Based on the account of the Ascension, it's all in the cloud.
All these people telling me "Jesus saves" but no one wants to stop and discuss his archived backup process, and I worry that Jesus is gonna lose a lot of files one day.
October 21, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Based on the account of the Ascension, it's all in the cloud.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
October 21, 2025 at 10:47 AM
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
A cake for autumn: honey, pumpkin and walnut loaf.
October 21, 2025 at 12:00 PM
A cake for autumn: honey, pumpkin and walnut loaf.
Reposted by Claire Debenham
'Staying at Gail’s and hoping for a promotion is, for Sanjana, the only option. Like thousands of other workers in Britain’s ever-deepening hostile environment, her life is bound to her employer.'
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
'We're just a bakery': Does Gail's rely on low-paid migrant workers to further its expansionist vision?
The economics and migration behind the Gail’s expansion. Words by Sasha Patel and Ben Jacob. Illustration by Kruttika Susarla.
www.vittlesmagazine.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
'Staying at Gail’s and hoping for a promotion is, for Sanjana, the only option. Like thousands of other workers in Britain’s ever-deepening hostile environment, her life is bound to her employer.'
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
Reposted by Claire Debenham
Yet more evidence that #translators are true collaborative partners and deserve wider recognition: James Rion on translating engimatic author #Uketsu's debut novel Strange Houses. jimrion.com/2025/09/30/t...
Translating Strange Houses
Jim goes on a somewhat spoilery journey looking back on an issue encountered in translating Strange Houses by Uketsu, which ended up making a major difference on the book.
jimrion.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Yet more evidence that #translators are true collaborative partners and deserve wider recognition: James Rion on translating engimatic author #Uketsu's debut novel Strange Houses. jimrion.com/2025/09/30/t...
Reposted by Claire Debenham
NAE KINGS, NAE MASTERS!
You want to keep your liberty?
Guard it like a favorite stick. You let one fool call himself ‘Master of Treats,’ and next thing you know, he’s telling you when to sit and when to beg.
Democracy’s a chew toy. If you don’t protect it, someone else will drool all over it.
You want to keep your liberty?
Guard it like a favorite stick. You let one fool call himself ‘Master of Treats,’ and next thing you know, he’s telling you when to sit and when to beg.
Democracy’s a chew toy. If you don’t protect it, someone else will drool all over it.
October 18, 2025 at 3:19 PM
NAE KINGS, NAE MASTERS!
You want to keep your liberty?
Guard it like a favorite stick. You let one fool call himself ‘Master of Treats,’ and next thing you know, he’s telling you when to sit and when to beg.
Democracy’s a chew toy. If you don’t protect it, someone else will drool all over it.
You want to keep your liberty?
Guard it like a favorite stick. You let one fool call himself ‘Master of Treats,’ and next thing you know, he’s telling you when to sit and when to beg.
Democracy’s a chew toy. If you don’t protect it, someone else will drool all over it.