Walker, weight trainer, gamer, knitter, podcast listener. Interested in societal effects of digital technology. Lefty feminist.
England, United Kingdom
Joined August 2008
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Barbara Thomas retweeted
Gender is the conservative view that people should adhere to strict roles and stereotypes based on sex.
Gender identity is the conservative view that adhering to the strict roles and stereotypes of the opposite sex makes a person the opposite sex.
Two sides of the same coin.
Barbara Thomas retweeted
Just to add that one of the more frustrating responses to this issue is - let's get rid of formal assessments, they're a distraction from actual education. What a lovely idea! But realistically, in the society in which we live, this is a call to cut the size of the sector by 90%
Barbara Thomas retweeted
I look back at what happened to me and still struggle to comprehend it.
I defended women’s rights. I supported JK Rowling. I raised concerns about the medical treatment of children questioning their gender and the influence of commercial interests.
Then came serious allegations, investigations and BBC coverage that I felt presented a deeply unfair picture of me. I even sought advice about an injunction.
The first investigation cleared me, yet I apologised. A second investigation followed, with lawyers involved.
After resigning, I lost the company I had founded and built over seventeen years, a company bearing my own name. I also lost access to my company email, phone and family photographs. The professional and personal consequences were devastating.
I stand by my defence of women’s rights and my concern for children.
When I think about my experience alongside those of Denise Fahmy, Kate Clanchy, Rachel Rooney and other artists, I see a culture in which expressing a belief can put an entire career at risk.
Against the backdrop of allegations concerning prominent men in entertainment, I keep thinking about how the arts respond to questions of harm and responsibility.
Where was that care when women were losing work for defending our rights and raising concerns about children?
How the fuck did we get here?
Barbara Thomas retweeted
Someone made a Linux script that emails Sam Altman every day to report how much unused RAM is sitting in your PC.
Called Ram-Altman, it monitors your free memory and sends him a daily email if more than 10% is unused.
It even includes different email messages and a test mode.
Barbara Thomas retweeted
There are two sexes.
Not two genders.
Feminism 101.
The political right essentialises gender (regressive sex stereotypes) onto sex.
Queer theory essentialises gender onto sex.
Feminism disaggregates sex and gender.
Recognises the material reality of sex.
Dismantles gender.
Barbara Thomas retweeted
I also signed the Cofnas *and* Malm letters. It's so, so depressing how signatures on such letters can be interpreted; support for someone's liberal-democratic rights is entirely different from support for their position!
No, this is definitely not any kind of solution to the problem
🚨 NEW: Andy Burnham says he will introduce 8 "regional water councils" to oversee water companies
"For the first time, local people will have a real say over what they need from their water company, whether that's cleaning up polluted rivers or building new reservoirs"
24
Barbara Thomas retweeted
You seem to assume that nothing will change on the other end
We will simply get new forms of friction
Bots will be banned.
Captchas will be redesigned.
For every bot fighting to be paid, there will be another bot fighting to resist payment.
We'll end up in something quite similar to now. Because most friction in the world wasn't accidental, it was designed. . It was the business model.
Barbara Thomas retweeted
bro thinks saying this will save him from being fed to 50 starving lions
Barbara Thomas retweeted
A morning full of breast exams. Top on, top off, top on, top off!
I know October is over, but breast cancer awareness should never stop. I have very dense breasts, so I have to be extra thorough with my screenings.
Ladies, don’t forget to prioritize your breast health. Get checked, know your body, and stay on top of your screenings.
Barbara Thomas retweeted
Sometimes the headline says it all.
"University investigates marketing professor for criticising its marketing"
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10…
Barbara Thomas retweeted
Sam Altman thinks RAM sitting in personal computers is a waste when it could be put to better use in data centers.
Weird. I was just thinking that all those billions sitting in billionaires’ bank accounts could be put to much better use in our communities.
Barbara Thomas retweeted
I'm so glad that we have LLMs to make computers more expensive for the first time since they were invented while also taking my job and making everyone illiterate
Barbara Thomas retweeted
until cloud gaming latency is brought to zero you will pry my random access memory from my cold dead fingers good sir
Barbara Thomas retweeted
Absolute lunatic country - it’s only weeks since we were told we had food security thanks for asking
We didn’t then
We don’t now
And the budget did precisely nothing to help us have a more resilient and robust food system
Burnham suggests stocking up on tinned food and bottled water bbc.in/4jVhbCH
Barbara Thomas retweeted
The hidden tax measure in the Budget is huge for people paying tax under self-assessment - sole traders, partners, landlords, retired investors.
For 6th April 2028-29, you currently pay 50% of your income tax late in the tax year in question (in January 2029), 50% just after the year end (in July 2029) with any make-up payment in January 2030.
Under the new proposals you will pay your tax perhaps monthly or quarterly (TBC) from April 2029 onwards. A rough analysis suggests the impact is to draw about 50% of your tax bill forward, a huge cashflow boost to HMRC and a significant funding issue for the self-employed.
The Treasury recognises this, and expects to raise £1.3bn of additional tax in 29/30 as a result of this change.
The cashflow impact of the accelerated charge will send some businesses to the wall.