Ruth Aylett
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ruthaylett.bsky.social
Ruth Aylett
@ruthaylett.bsky.social
940 followers 320 following 300 posts
(she/her) Author, poet, socialist, feminist, Heriot-Watt emeritus professor with research in AI, social robotics/agents, affective computing
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ruthaylett.bsky.social
Ruth Aylett @ruthaylett.bsky.social · Nov 16
Anyone keen to see beyond robot hype and understand how much of it is pure fiction, see our popular science book Living with Robots, what every anxious human needs to know. tinyurl.com/5y3552px
Living with Robots : What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know
Living with Robots : What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know (Paperback / softback) (9780262546041)
tinyurl.com
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
esqueer.net
Every dollar JK Rowling makes from Harry Potter is going into bankrolling an extortion racket issuing legal threats to organizations across the UK to purge themselves of trans people or face ruinous lawfare.
ulycia.bsky.social pseudonymity enjoyer @ulycia.bsky.social · 14h
i hope every single person who still buys harry potter merch or engages with that franchise is happy that they're literally making girl guides cry

girl guides uk have been forced very much against their will to exclude trans girls. full statement is here: www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-...
This update includes information you may find upsetting. Please take care when reading. From today, it is with a heavy heart that we announce trans girls will no longer be able to join Girlguiding. This is a decision we would have preferred not to make, and we know that this may be upsetting for members of our community. There will be no immediate changes for current young members, but more information will be shared soon. Most adult roles - including unit helpers, district helpers and administrative support - are already open to all, so we are confident that no volunteers will have to leave the organisation. Girlguiding believes strongly in inclusion, and we will continue to support young people and adults in marginalised groups. Over the next few months, we will explore opportunities to champion this value and actively support young people who need us. We stand in solidarity with trans girls and women.
December 2, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
theguardian.com
David Lammy’s jury trial cuts are a ‘massive mistake’, say Labour MPs and peers
David Lammy’s jury trial cuts are a ‘massive mistake’, say Labour MPs and peers
Only cases such as murder and rape or offences carrying a sentence longer than three years would face a jury under justice secretary’s plans * UK politics live – latest updates David Lammy has been accused of making a “massive mistake” by Labour MPs and peers after announcing radical plans to cut thousands of jury trials across England and Wales. Defendants will no longer have the option to choose to have their cases heard before a jury, the justice secretary told the Commons. Magistrates’ powers will be extended from dealing with maximum sentences of one year to at least 18 months, he said, and a new judge-led court will be established. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
jeremycorbyn.bsky.social
By eroding trial by jury, the government is cementing its legacy as a bulldozer of our human rights.

This is the behaviour of authoritarian regimes!

The right to a jury trial is a fundamental tenet of democracy. We cannot let it be destroyed.
December 2, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
jamesrball.com
“AI is a collection of moderately useful tools being billed as a supernatural being, something being created before us by shovelling extra words into the word-guessing programme until it wakes up and turns us into paper clips.”
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-c...
Cory Doctorow, the gatecrasher at the AI party
The writer coined the word ‘enshittification’ to describe how useful tech inevitably gets worse. Now he’s turning his sights on AI
www.thenewworld.co.uk
December 2, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
billbindc.bsky.social
Unless you are the President of Honduras and have something Peter Thiel can profit from.

Then you're jake.
katz.theracket.news Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 13h
The right's now hegemonic argument that cocaine is actually a chemical weapon and that mere suspicion of having it on your boat justifies an order to kill everyone aboard is astoundingly insane
December 2, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
josepgoded.bsky.social
Israeli forces abducted journalist and former hostage Mohammad Assida last night during a raid on his home in the town of Tell, south of Nablus.
November 30, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
scottishpen.bsky.social
Scottish PEN has issued a statement in solidarity with writers, artists and activists in Scotland subject to the abuse of terror laws.

See the image or visit our website for the full text.
Scottish PEN has issued a statement in solidarity with writers, artists and activists in Scotland subject to the abuse of terror laws. * The statement begins: "Scottish PEN stands in solidarity with writers, artists and activists arrested in Scotland and charged under the Terrorism Act for protesting in support of the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world. These protesters include acclaimed Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty and Scottish PEN’s Vice President, Lizzie Eldridge. We support their recent refusal to accept a warning from the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal in relation to these actions."
December 2, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
markantonyowen.com
On the 40th anniversary of his passing, here's one of Philip Larkin's greatest poems – 'The Whitsun Weddings'.

#riplarkin #poetry
Black and white photo of 20th century English poet Philip Larkin, sat at a desk and looking pensive, surrounded by volumes of books. The Whitsun Weddings By Philip Larkin That Whitsun, I was late getting away: Not till about One-twenty on the sunlit Saturday Did my three-quarters-empty train pull out, All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense Of being in a hurry gone. We ran Behind the backs of houses, crossed a street Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock; thence The river’s level drifting breadth began, Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet. All afternoon, through the tall heat that slept For miles inland, A slow and stopping curve southwards we kept. Wide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, and Canals with floatings of industrial froth; A hothouse flashed uniquely: hedges dipped And rose: and now and then a smell of grass Displaced the reek of buttoned carriage-cloth Until the next town, new and nondescript, Approached with acres of dismantled cars. At first, I didn’t notice what a noise The weddings made Each station that we stopped at: sun destroys The interest of what’s happening in the shade, And down the long cool platforms whoops and skirls I took for porters larking with the mails, And went on reading. Once we started, though, We passed them, grinning and pomaded, girls In parodies of fashion, heels and veils, All posed irresolutely, watching us go, As if out on the end of an event Waving goodbye To something that survived it. Struck, I leant More promptly out next time, more curiously, And saw it all again in different terms: The fathers with broad belts under their suits And seamy foreheads; mothers loud and fat; An uncle shouting smut; and then the perms, The nylon gloves and jewellery-substitutes, The lemons, mauves, and olive-ochres that Marked off the girls unreally from the rest. Yes, from cafés And banquet-halls up yards, and bunting-dressed Coach-party annexes, the wedding-days Were coming to an end. All down the line Fresh couples climbed aboard: the rest stood round; The last confetti and advice were thrown, And, as we moved, each face seemed to define Just what it saw departing: children frowned At something dull; fathers had never known Success so huge and wholly farcical; The women shared The secret like a happy funeral; While girls, gripping their handbags tighter, stared At a religious wounding. Free at last, And loaded with the sum of all they saw, We hurried towards London, shuffling gouts of steam. Now fields were building-plots, and poplars cast Long shadows over major roads, and for Some fifty minutes, that in time would seem Just long enough to settle hats and say I nearly died, A dozen marriages got under way. They watched the landscape, sitting side by side —An Odeon went past, a cooling tower, And someone running up to bowl—and none Thought of the others they would never meet Or how their lives would all contain this hour. I thought of London spread out in the sun, Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat: There we were aimed. And as we raced across Bright knots of rail Past standing Pullmans, walls of blackened moss Came close, and it was nearly done, this frail Travelling coincidence; and what it held Stood ready to be loosed with all the power That being changed can give. We slowed again, And as the tightened brakes took hold, there swelled A sense of falling, like an arrow-shower Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain.
December 2, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
bladeofthes.bsky.social
They want you to be obsessed with immigration so you ignore all the other problems.

But all the other problems ARE the problem.

Don't be distracted and let them blind you with hate.
September 22, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
saulstaniforth.bsky.social
"Jury trials to be ditched except for the most serious crimes"

Labour laying the foundations for a far right government to build on #GMB
December 2, 2025 at 6:04 AM
ruthaylett.bsky.social
Yes, THIS. And the Government failing to confront the issue that we NEED immigration is making this all more likely if/when Farage comes to power.
 hivernage.bsky.social @hivernage.bsky.social · 1d
The real problem is that it isn't about migration. So even when migration would stop, you would hear the same complaints. Deportations of anyone non-white is their end game
December 1, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social
Italy to deport Egyptian imam over comments at pro-Palestine rally - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/italy-deport-egyptian-imam-over-comments-pro-palestine-rally
Italy to deport Egyptian imam over comments at pro-Palestine rally
Mohammed Shahin told a Turin court that his expulsion to Egypt would risk his imprisonment, torture and even death
www.middleeasteye.net
December 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
theferret.scot
We spent three months on the ground at protests against asylum seekers across Scotland.

The picture that emerges is of a more organised far-right presence – and communities refusing to give up public space without a fight
www.theferret.scot/f...
Far-right agitators stand accused of stirring up trouble at asylum hotel protests. But anti-racists are standing firm
Following a sharp rise in far right activity, we’ve spent the last three months attending protests, speaking to activists under threat, and tracking anti-asylum seeker demonstrations across Scotland.
www.theferret.scot
December 1, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
onebiskuit.bsky.social
Confusing a Montreal cognitive test with an IQ test is one thing. Complete loss of inhibition exhibited by his retorts to journalists strongly suggests that, cognitive tests or no, his dementia is advancing rapidly.
December 1, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
ucu.org.uk
Derby University is in chaos and management caused it.

🔻 265 redundancies proposed
🔻 Nursing & early childhood studies at risk
🔻 Staff pushed through a rushed, unfair process

Show your support for staff and students on strike from tomorrow.

www.thecanary.co/long-read/20...
Derby University is sleepwalking into a disaster - as the UCU has exposed
The Canary speaks to the UCU chair at Derby University - as staff prepare to take strike action over redundancies
www.thecanary.co
December 1, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
adambienkov.bsky.social
For context the 'Middle England' referred to here is the 0.5% of households living in homes worth more than £2 million
November 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
jennanewman.bsky.social
“Imagine if we truly understand complex whale communication & can extend our term ‘language’ to them. Such breakthroughs would not only rewrite biology textbooks but also fundamentally redefine what it means to be human & pave the way to instituting new protections for whales, the ocean & beyond”🧪
“This month we published a study that showed that sperm whales have what appears to our team to be vowels and diphthongs, and use them in ways similar to how humans do. Later this year we will release Whale Acoustics Model, a novel A.I. system that translates any audio into sperm whale vocalizations - allowing humans to potentially experience, for the first time, what it might be like to interact with a whale in its own language. And we're developing the first blueprints for how we could evaluate whale communication translations, dismantling barriers between whale and human communication and opening the door to interspecies communication. Altogether, these findings are leading us to an extraordinary conclusion: Whales may possess a communication system more intricate than our own, one that possibly predates human language by tens of millions of years.”
November 30, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
jvl.org.uk
UN resolutions to outlaw torture used to be passed unanimously. This year three rogue states, Israel, US and Argentina, voted against and told the world they demand the right to use torture
www.middleeastmonitor.com/20251124-un-...
UN condemns torture in landslide vote, but Israel oppose resolution
Israel and the United States have come under fire after voting against a United Nations resolution reaffirming the absolute prohibition of torture. The vote, held during the 80th session of the Gen…
www.middleeastmonitor.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:36 PM
ruthaylett.bsky.social
Emergence can be chaotic as well as structured.
December 1, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
asls.org.uk
Scotland, you’re no mine
(you were no his)
and I don’t want you…

—Hannah Lavery, “Scotland, you’re no mine”
from BLOOD SALT SPRING (Birlinn, 2022)

A #poem for #StAndrewsDay
birlinn.co.uk/product/bloo...
Hannah Lavery SCOTLAND, YOU’RE NO MINE (you were no his) and I don’t want you. So go ahead, say I don’t belong, wi your sepia-tinged cross eye sweeping over all that swept-away, blood-stained, sweat-stained sugar for your tablet. Ya macaroon. Ya rotten, gobby, greedy, thieving bastard you, sitting atop a that shite and broken bones, weeping, Poor me. Fuck you! I will dance jigs on your flags blue n white; blue, white n red. It doesne matter but, ya wee chancer! Fuck! For making us complicit, handing us whip and chains, an officer’s coat, a civil-service pen, a Queen to love. And lay me out, I love you with your mountain thyme and all your coorie in. And you can say, I dinnae belong to you – go on – but I am limpet stuck on you. So fuck you for no seeing one of your own. I will, here. I will spill, here, my blood and your secrets, bleed into you, root and earth, and you, forever, pagan, will, in the spill and the seep, see all you really are. So fuck you, my sweet forgetful Caledonia. With love, fuck you.
November 30, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
carolineslocock.bsky.social
Farage has vowed to cut funding to universities that undermine ‘free speech’. This is just the beginning of the Trump playbook and we know from Johnson’s time there are few constitutional guardrails to stop the abuse of power. Cosying up isn’t going to cut it.
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Cambridge University cosies up to Reform
The vice-chancellor expects Nigel Farage to model his policies on Trump and says other Russell Group members are meeting his allies
www.thetimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
lukemcgee.bsky.social
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
November 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
jjindc.bsky.social
Secretary of War Crimes 😬
Ted Lieu Dear @SecWar: I read the classified legal memo. Nothing in the memo, or military law, authorizes a second kinetic strike against defenseless survivors. If the reports are true, then a war crime was committed. Also, there is generally no statute of limitations for war crimes.
November 29, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
rolandmcs.bsky.social
'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't.

'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.

'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
November 29, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Ruth Aylett
filipecampante.bsky.social
Look, every single “deal” reached by a university with the Trump administration is a moral stain that will be seen with deep embarrassment once we’re through this. But for Northwestern to do this now, when the administration is visibly weakened, is even more shameful and inexcusable.
November 29, 2025 at 3:31 PM