Neil Atkinson
@knoxharrington.bsky.social
9.4K followers 740 following 850 posts
Turns meetings into pints and pints into meetings. Host of The Anfield Wrap and occasional writer of things. Author of Transformer for the good people at Canongate.
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Reposted by Neil Atkinson
Long, but well-researched and important thread on Labour's anti-immigration policies. Do take the time to read it.
Very long thread: As with many of Labour's anti-immigration policies, this isn't new. British police have been stationed in other countries for this purpose for a long time
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
Home Secretary orders police and border 'hit squads' to Albania to stamp out people smugglers | LBC
Shabana Mahmood will send hit squads of police and border force teams to Albania in a fresh drive to stamp out people-smuggling gangs upstream.
www.lbc.co.uk
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
"I don't have anything to hide why should I care about privacy?"
The politician in South Carolina who has introduced a bill redefining contraception as abortion also wants people who share websites to be charged with aiding and abetting homicide.
When asked why his bill redefines contraception, Cash admitted he believes certain forms of birth control are “an early abortion.” When pressed about allowing homicide charges against abortion patients—which could mean the death penalty in South Carolina—he shrugged it off: “It’s wrong to kill an innocent person.”

And when asked about whether someone could be criminally charged for calling an abortion clinic, or sharing a clinic website with a friend, Cash compared it to “sharing a website to find a killer to rub your wife out.”

“If you’re aiding and abetting the killing of an innocent person,” he said, “you’re going to be held accountable.”
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
In honour of Bob Mould’s birthday, a Husker Du location hunt thread

My partner Katy in the exact location of the cash register at Cheapo Records. It was here that Bob met Grant Hart for the first time.
Want one of these for every band named in Irk The Purists.
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
Was simultaneously thrilled and slightly terrified to be subjected to The Shoot Treatment by the brilliant @4hundredblows.bsky.social for @theanfieldwrap.bsky.social
This show - and Martin himself - always manages to provoke conversations few other interviews get to.
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
Mainstream media:
"There's a new threat coming from US Christian extremists. They're planning to poison the UK's politics!"

The LGBT community and abortion rights activists:
"New threat? They've been here for decades, ruining lives. Where the fuck have YOU been?"

A thread.
It's really telling that mainstream journalists are doing stuff about the *possibility* of the ADF or the Heritage Foundation starting to influence UK politics, when the reality is that they have been here for years, spending huge quantities of cash and succeeding in areas like trans rights.
"The ADF has chosen Nigel Farage to focus on, building up this ally who has the potential to be a JD Vance-like figure in the future."

Can the Christian group that influenced the overturning of Roe v. Wade bring its extreme views to the UK?

www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/is-n...
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
We had *years* of “finally Labour are listening to the public and changing to become what the people want”. Look at the polls, really appreciate how popular they now are. To whom were they listening, to have earned all that praise? *Who* wanted this. Was it the public? Was it the people.
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
You’ll notice that new developments in generative AI are always accompanied by new ways of depicting women without their consent—undermining their autonomy and harassing them—almost like it’s a pillar of the technology and its evolution
No she is doing what she thinks.
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
In A Glass of Blessings (1958) Barbara Pym says the post arrived 2-3 times a day in the run-up to Xmas. Which reminds us that technical regress is a thing: enshittification isn't just for the internet. Here's one I wrote earlier: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/technical-...
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
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A reason to distrust the nation state which has nothing to do with borders.
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
It is laughable to think that you can neuter the far right with minor tweaks like this.

How many Conservative or Reform supporters even know that immigrants have to pass a language test? They object to immigration on emotional grounds, not because they have dry objections to eligibility criteria.
To ensure graduates contribute effectively to the economy, the maximum post-study stay will be reduced to 18 months from the current 2 years for most from 1 January 2027. It comes after data clearly showed that many holders had not transitioned into graduate-level employment as intended.
Finance requirements for student visas will also be increased for the 2025 to 2026 academic year, meaning foreign students will have to demonstrate they have sufficient funds to support themselves.
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
In practice, and even before today's changes, Labour has gone further on anti-immigration policies than any government in decades. The outcome being more families ripped apart, more people forced to become undocumented, fewer jobs for everyone and a crashed economy. 3/
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
Making life more difficult for migrants helps nobody.
Making it harder for people fleeing war and persecution to find safety helps nobody.
Labour pushing xenophobia as policy helps nobody.
Pandering to far right politics doesn't combat far right rhetoric or "build trust in politicians"
#r4today
We can all bitch and moan and call out the utterly contemptible policies suggested by the likes of Reform and the Conservatives, but if that same condemnation is not applied to Labour then it shows it is not about supporting migrants, it is about being party political. 2/
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
presume I'm not the first person to say this but real cool that actual human adults can't get up to regular, legal human adult stuff online anymore but somehow the robots doing porn will be fine

real cool!
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
Some people don't like hearing that their dry, academic epistemology can have moral, real-world consequences & pointing that out makes them feel disrespected. There is a kind of person who enters these fields because they don't really want to think about that. Do with that what you will.
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
Sam Altman went from “AI will cure cancer" to "ChatGPT porn" in less than a month
ChatGPT boss predicts when AI could cure cancer We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.
12:02 PM · Oct 14, 2025
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1.2M
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Reposted by Neil Atkinson
For those curious this is a negative 5900% gross margin
There's one person who pays them $250 a month who cost Augment $15,000. Amazing stuff. Can only imagine how bad things are for Cursor or Replit
www.augmentcode.com/blog/augment...
The user message model also isn’t sustainable for Augment Code as a business. For example, over the last 30 days, a user on our $250 Max plan has issued 335 requests per hour, every hour, for 30 days, and is approaching $15,000 per month in cost to Augment Code. This sort of use isn’t inherently bad, but as a business, we have to price our service in accordance with our costs.
Reposted by Neil Atkinson
Q: Politico reported on a group chat of young Republicans. Does this just reflect some bad apples?

HOCHUL: Some bad apples? These are the future of the GOP. This is so vile it's hard to find the words to put into context ... there's gotta be consequences ... this bullshit has to stop.
The engagement around football is dreadful here. I am only lightly on either platform now regardless.
This is spectacular "everything has to be seen through the prism of the next election which could still be 45 months away" posting and thinking.

Not doubting it is true which causes its own fucking problems.
Labour MPs reckon that if the ceasefire holds it will be harder for opponents to mobilize against them over the Israel-Palestine issue in the next election. There are concerns though about whether the fragile agreement will hold. More in London Playbook PM.
London Playbook PM: Has he Don Keir a favor?
Presented by Rolls-Royce By EMILIO CASALICCHIO with NOAH KEATE PRESENTED BY Send tips here | Subscribe for free | Listen to Playbook and view in your browser SCOOP — LOBBY TO LOBBIED: Sky News Poli…
www.politico.eu