Hearing uncomfirmed reports that the man in that video in the hospital was sacked by the Times for making up quotes in a story, and by Michael Howard for lying about an affair, and once conspired to get a journalist beaten up.
Can anyone confirm?
I tend to be cynical about the idea of Late Capitalism, but an Uber driver last night told me a story which made my jaw hit the floor.
He picked me up, and apologised for the congestion.
"You see all these cars, though? They're owned by the same person". (1/9)
Thinking of all my friends in the Caucasian Community at this difficult time.
Remember that all the suspicious looks you'll inevitably get over the coming weeks come from a place of ignorance, not hate.
I know these extremists don't represent your proud, peaceful culture ❤️
Testimony from the owners of the shop where George Floyd was arrested.
Awful to hear the story of exactly how it happened, the absurd context for his arrest, right before he was killed.
#BlackLivesMatter
"But if they go too quick, and get a speeding ticket or their driving makes their Uber customer rating drop below 4.5, then they lose access to the car too. It's a real bind. You can see them everywhere, though. Look, there's another two." (9/9)
Me, still in the back:
"That's why you see these drivers speeding around, cutting corners. They need to rack up these trips or they're not even paying off their lease, let alone making money".
Me: "What?! But I thought the margins for uber drivers is low anyway. How is this worth it for them?" (5/9)
"The set-up means that when these drivers complete a ride, the payment goes direct to the guy who owns the car.
The driver sees precisely zero cents until they hit a monthly quota. The money's in the owner's account; he then transfers it once the quota's hit." (4/9)
"If they don't go quick and do enough rides, they fall behind on those lease payments and lose access to the car that gets them to their main job which actually pays their rent and food and essentials, right?" (8/9)
"So they wake up, complete a few rides before work, a few after. More on the weekend, obviously. If they're quick, they can complete enough rides to make their quota for the month and make some money.
But they're on a real knife-edge..." (7/9)
Him: "Oh. Well being an uber driver isn't their main job. They might work a 9-5, but not own a car that lets them get to that job.
By leasing this uber car, it gives them transportation, right?" (6/9)
Capitalism should create freedom, but these drivers clearly aren't free.
& capital isn't as accessible or frictionless or socially mobile as you think, if you're arguing the drivers could just theoretically set up a leasing business so the outcome is therefore 'fair'
3) Uber is evil, or the Virginia guy is evil
➡️ Think this is missing the point. Water flows downhill; people and companies respond to incentives.
4) What's the problem? It's a service, they're free to choose or do it themselves
➡️ We may have different definitions of freedom...
I'm also not that creative, and am currently at the National Academies of Science for an event discussing online misinformation, so take from that what you will.
"He's from Virginia, and leases out thousands of cars to drivers who for financial or background reasons can't otherwise buy or rent a car that meets, say, Uber's rules."
Me: "Oh, ok. Well, that makes sense."
Him: "Yeah? Here's the thing, though." (3/9)
There's been a few types of response to this
1) I'm making the whole thing up!
➡️ The whole convo was about 10 mins, so admittedly I was paraphrasing rather than verbatim, but I didn't introduce any elements, & don't think I missed anything crucial.
2) the uber driver made it up
➡️ Possibly. But a number of people in the thread claim to have heard similar stories, in a variety of global cities, and some posted links to Uber schemes accomplishing the same goal.
5) Where was this?
➡️ DC! I was getting a late-night cab from the airport to my hotel. I probably wouldn't have done that back home in London, so some commenters are right that better public transport is part of the answer, to reduce the incentives.
Thinking of all my friends in the Caucasian Community at this difficult time.
Remember that all the suspicious looks you'll inevitably get over the coming weeks come from a place of ignorance, not hate.
I know these extremists don't represent your proud, peaceful culture ❤️
Thinking of something my wife told me at the end of summer, about Beto O'Rourke & Stacey Abrams.
Both ran for Governor, in Texas/Georgia. Both narrowly lost.
Beto's next move was to run for President.
Abrams' was to mend democracy in Georgia, & now she may have saved America
Some news...
I'm leaving
@wellcometrust
in the new year, and handing over public engagement to the amazing
@inbetweendays
From January, Lara will lead our PE work under Wellcome's new strategy!
As for me? I'll be looking for work in San Francisco... to be with my new wife 😮
So we called up Hackney registry office on Monday morning, got the last slot on Wednesday afternoon, and organised a micro-wedding and tiny reception in 48 hours.
And now I be with my new wife for Xmas 💕
To be continued... in California!
Friends in the US - I was out for a late afternoon stroll in Victoria Park, one of London's green spaces, and the whole park suddenly erupted into cheers. Took me a while to clock what had happened and check my phone.
Congratulations from east London! 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇸
Crap like this is why we need
@Humanists_UK
.
You're welcome to debate morality, but you don't get to choose whether kids should know that homosexuality exists.
EXCLUSIVE
#BBC
learns 4 more schools in
#Birmingham
have stopped teaching children about same sex couples after protests from parents. A campaigner tells us: ‘Morally we do not accept homosexuality as a valid sexual relationship to have..’
We at
@wellcometrust
want to fund you to take 2 years out to become a better leader in engaging the public with health research.
Whether you're in tech or local communities, science or arts, if you want to lead and inspire others - apply here: . Please RT
Jigsaw puzzle makers apparently use the same die-cut pattern for a number of different puzzles...
... artist Tim Klein (puzzlemontage) exploits that to create these surreal mashups. Weirdly mesmerising.
For the first time,
@wellcometrust
’s public engagement department has a dedicated research & evidence team- because it’s important that engagement has impact, not just that it happens. In this blog, Carla Ross outlines what the priorities are going to be:
@ImranKhan
The use of Internet access to our country is doing very wrong So Therefore i requested from
#MinistryofInformationandTechnology
Kindly report this type of activity and block certain sites that have sexual content and only limited websites accessible though our internet
.
@wellcometrust
are trying to figure out how we can help our researchers to do more and better public engagement.
Been sobering to see
@shift_org
’s insights from interviews with our researchers, but these are problems we can fix! Need to prioritise problems & figure out how.
Amazing news!
@JuliaGillard
, former PM of Australia, announced as the next Chair of
@wellcometrust
. She'll take over from Eliza Manningham-Buller next April. 👏🏾
Major new role at
@wellcometrust
. Up to £70k + top benefits for someone to be our Research & Evidence lead for public engagement. Help me figure out how best to involve the widest range of people in Wellcome's work:
I'm thrilled - and still in slight disbelief - to announce that I'm joining the
@UCBerkeley
Center for the Science of
#Psychedelics
(
@Berkeley_Psyche
) as its first permanent Executive Director!
Argh. So proud of my mum. Was meant to catch the train Manchester tonight to see the folks for Eid, and called them to talk about the news... Was expecting an argument, but she just straight up told me not to come.
She says it's all in Allah's plans, so there's that 🤷🏾♂️
In case you needed evidence that people like
@piersmorgan
literally just make up stuff to get upset about... apparently Daniel Craig is less of a man because he's ... *checks* ... carrying his child?
In two weeks
@wellcometrust
will be revealing what the whole world thinks and feels about science 🧬 & health 🏥.
Thanks to a global survey of over 140,000 people we can tell you what factors make people trust science, which countries see vaccines as unsafe, and much much more.
Ok, nerd content warning.
Been watching some old episodes of Star Trek TNG recently, for the first time in, god, maybe 20 years or so.
It's SO striking how deliberately progressive it is, even by today's standards - let alone the late 80s. Went totally over my head as a kid.
Guy just jumped onto the tube, beating the closing doors Bourne-style, then visibly giggled to himself for 5 mins about how awesome it was. Now reading a calculus adventure book to calm himself down. Nerds are the best.
Reviewing my notes from
@michaelpollan
’s thought-provoking book, reminded myself of this amazing metaphor from Bertrand Russell.
Had never come across it before but it’s quite the metaphor.
Really sorry guys.
Regret to inform you that
@emilyadawson
has changed the game and all academic or policy reports need to be delivered in zine form from now on.
Our re-launched
@wellcometrust
Public Engagement fund is now live: ! You can apply for £25k to £3m if you're trying to engage and involve the public with health & research - it's an important part of Wellcome's mission.
It's amazing the number of public engagement funding pitches I read where the whole aim is to go and work with a specific artist or poet or musician or whatever, and no exploration of who it'd be appealing to.
Identify an audience. Figure out what'd work for them, not you.
In fact - do you want to hear a crazy love story that involves a transatlantic romance during a global pandemic, a last-minute wedding, and the strangest year of my life?
Amy and I met by chance in August 2019, when I was in the Bay Area for work...
Theory; orangutans must think humans are less alien than we think they are. Can you imagine this scene the other way round? 🤔
(No idea of source, via imgur)
Turkish supermarket, literally across the road:
"Welcome! We have preserved lemons from Morocco, fresh lentils from Cyprus, a dozen different types of rye bread, seven different flavours of smoked tofu... And if there's else anything you need, Ahmed can get it from The Back"
Everyone who works in museums or science communication or public engagement should read this
@emilyadawson
paper and ask which people, despite our intentions, our work ends up really being for:
Two big bits of
#psychedelics
science communication launching today!
1) - our website featuring 101s on psychedelic medicines, laws, history, and more.
2)
@michaelpollan
's new
@netflix
show... search for 'How To Change Your Mind' - ft. MDMA, LSD, & more
For centuries(?) we've been debating whether to put jam or cream on your scone first.
She got the little jar of jam, poured it into the little tub of clotted cream, mixed it all together, then spread it on the scone.
Mind. Blown.
It’s mostly people who like science talking to other people who like science.
Which would be fine, except there’s an expectation that it can somehow change society.
We’d be better served if we asked what it was we’re trying to change, and then designed for that.
Can't wait for
@michaelpollan
's new 4-part series to drop on Netflix next month... trailer just released 👇🏾
'How to Change Your Mind' - the new science of psychedelics
No idea how this is going to go... but here's an offer.
If you're black, under 30, working in science, culture, or social impact, and looking for a professional mentor, read this - I'd like to see if I can help fix a tiny bit of structural racism 👇🏾
Happy bonfire night, Pablo!
But as you’re worried about Diwali it might be Narendra Modi, PM of India, that you’re after.
Imran Khan is the PM of Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim country, and Muslims don’t celebrate Diwali.
Pretty excited about this. We’re setting aside a quarter of a billion pounds for high-risk science and health research that wouldn’t get backed in traditional response-mode funding schemes.
@wellcometrust
Did you know that
@wellcometrust
is getting meta about research and how science works?
We're looking for proposals (£50k-£250k) that help us understand and improve how research is funded, practiced and evaluated.
Looking for
#PublicEngagement
funding 💰💰from
@wellcometrust
? Read about what we've just funded and why, what we didn't like, and what we want to see more of ➡️
My parents came to the UK illegally - due to the withdrawal of British passports from Kenyan Asians, under the ethnonationalist 'Commonwealth Immigration Act', later found to be illegal.
No fucking sense of history. Good to know I could be a slave?
If you come to the UK illegally:
➡️ You can’t claim asylum
➡️ You can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections
➡️ You can’t make spurious human rights claims
➡️ You can’t stay
Twitter, need your help
I outraged my wife this morning by explaining that we English call ladybugs 'ladybirds'.
Her objection is that they're not birds, and I countered with the suggestion that lots of animals are called things they're not. She requires examples.
Excited to say I'm joining
@uclsts
as a (*very* remote) Honorary Research Associate as of today!
Been a fan of them for as long as I've been working, so feels like a weird home-coming.
Looking forward to corresponding & plotting with
@emilyadawson
,
@Jackstilgoe
, et al.