Matt Potter
@mattpotteruk.bsky.social
2.1K followers 460 following 1.1K posts
Journalist, author, magpie, scriptwriter, nerd. Washington Post, BBC, Literary Review, Independent. Nonfic books WE ARE ALL TARGETS & OUTLAWS INC. Science, languages, virology, art, illicit networks, cyber, psychology, weird, prehistory, subculture. He/Him
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Matt Potter
mandapen.bsky.social
For those who don’t read French - the cat burglar (literally) has stolen 7 pairs of swimming goggles. Mon dieu!!!!
rommallet.bsky.social
EXPLOSION DE LA CRIMINOULITÉ EN FRANCE
Reposted by Matt Potter
dieworkwear.bsky.social
in 2011, the president of antifa hired me to give fashion consultancy to the organization. i recommended everyone wear navy suits with tan shoes, dress sneakers, and golf polos with slim chinos. if you arrested everyone today wearing these things, you'd destroy antifa
Reposted by Matt Potter
obarcala.bsky.social
The "don't call us Nazis" crowd sure has a lot of swastikas
santiagomayer.com
Holy shit. This is Angelo Elia, a legislative correspondent for Congressman Dave Taylor.

According to @rooster.info, during a Zoom meeting today, he had an American nazi flag displayed in the background.
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
Fast forward to 2025, and the leaders of Essex Council arguing in court that a hotel that shelters asylum seekers is a “feeding ground for unrest'” among racist members of the local population… and the hotel should therefore be shut down.

How far we have come.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Epping asylum hotel is a 'feeding ground for unrest' - court
Lawyers for a council are trying to stop The Bell Hotel in Epping from housing asylum seekers.
www.bbc.co.uk
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
In 1590, Marlowe wrote his tragedy The Jew Of Malta. In it (among much else) he nailed the bigotry & hypocrisy of Maltese Christian leaders who sought to scapegoat their own evils on the Jews there.

One key couplet comes as the Governor is extorting the main character. He justifies it like this:
A screenshot of the script of Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, with the following couplet (spoken by Ferneze, governor of Malta, to the Jewish merchant of the title while he is extorting the Jew, outlined:

“Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness;
And covetousness, O, 'tis a monstrous sin!
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
Some experiences will live on forever - for all the wrong reasons. 😬
Reposted by Matt Potter
aliyazaidi.bsky.social
Loved sharing this experience with @mattpotteruk.bsky.social 🤣
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
I have just been to the most toe-curlingly mediocre and electrifyingly trite exhibition I have seen in decades.

It was at a London gallery. The artist was there. He held forth in terms that if I repeated them, you would think I was quoting David Brent.

The reviews have been glowing.

VERY weird.
Reposted by Matt Potter
drjennings.bsky.social
Neither Labour nor the Conservatives have made Farage bear any of the political costs of Brexit that they themselves have endured in terms of intra-party divisions and wider public discontent.
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
Right?!

I was half-waiting for the Big Reveal of hidden cameras and the announcement this is the filming of some Great Art Swindle documentary for Netflix. That the reviewers are all in on it. That the audience contained stooges.

(At the Q&A, every last one was ‘more a comment than a question’)
muellermanfred.bsky.social
Are you sure, that this wasn’t live performance art, an act of profound criticism of modern society you just aren’t educated enough to recognise?

(What a story though …)
Reposted by Matt Potter
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
Like, there are probably more holes in this statement than there are letters in the words of the statement.
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
Oh haha WAIT. Someone else at the Gallery just reminded me of this peach from the artist:

“All the cultures from the ancient past that we genocided lived in harmony with each other. They had no idea of ethnic, neurodivergence or gender diversity because all were in welcomed and all were one.”

🤡
Reposted by Matt Potter
tmsqrll.bsky.social
NOW THAT WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MITIGATE THE SERIOUS MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

i am going to lose my entire fucking mind
Reposted by Matt Potter
drewharwell.com
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
·
1.2M
 Views
Reposted by Matt Potter
Reposted by Matt Potter
bradheath.bsky.social
The Assad government carried out a two-year clandestine operation to truck thousands of bodies from one of Syria’s largest known mass graves to a secret location more than an hour away in the remote desert, a Reuters investigation has found.

www.reuters.com/world/middle...
Reposted by Matt Potter
lauraashe.bsky.social
I love the idea of inviting someone back to yours after a blind date, this is your living room, and you say nothing at all
Reposted by Matt Potter
tusk81.bsky.social
“Many of the chat members already work inside government or party politics, and one serves as a state senator.”
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Matt Potter
Reposted by Matt Potter
chowleen.bsky.social
James Baldwin, May 17, 1963

Time Magazine cover palate cleanser

BIRMINGHAM AND BEYOND:
The Negro's Push For Equality
MAY 17, 1963
Time
THE WEEKLY NEWSMAGAZINE
AUTHOR
JAMES BALDWIN
VOL. LXXXI NO. 20
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
This is VERY interesting, and I am 100% gonna try it for myself with other things than music:
Reposted by Matt Potter
bgrueskin.bsky.social
Thoughts/prayers to the TIME photo editor today.
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
And yet. The reviews.

The hagiographic profiles.

I know some of the writers, and all I can think is whether I need to alert the authorities, because clearly someone has kidnapped them and this is their signal to let us know all is not well and they are secretly being kept hostage.
mattpotteruk.bsky.social
“I’m more than an artist. Think of me as a priest.”

What

The

Fuck.

Every atom in my body wanted to retreat into every other atom to hide. My teeth wanted to retreat back into my gums. My finger & toe nails kept trying to escape back under their cuticle duvet in sheer, idiocy-bitten fright.