London-based researcher/writer. Tweets from this address on life, arts & culture; on the Information Society as @DSouter_ictDA. Keeping the Twitter bird alive.

London
Joined June 2012
Alexa has just told me that “I am constant as the northern star” comes from a Star Trek movie. Probably so, but it’s really Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
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David Souter retweeted
Note its the big Grn to Lab swing that has enabled them to take this seat from Ref, whose vote is unchanged
Town (Newcastle-under-Lyme) Council By-Election Result: 🌹 LAB: 46.2% (+18.0) ➡️ RFM: 26.7% (-0.4) 🌍 GRN: 12.3% (-9.2) 🌳 CON: 11.8% (-4.3) 🔶 LDM: 2.9% (-4.0) Labour GAIN from Reform UK. Changes w/ 2026.
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David Souter retweeted
Thank you ❤️
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David Souter retweeted
You & Yours is a superb consumer programme with first rate reporting, especially on scams & the cost of living , with a host who has genuine empathy for the listeners so YES, let's axe that to fund another vacuous celebrity podcast.
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David Souter retweeted
I’m sorry to say the BBC is committing multiple acts of self-harm. Current senior management do not seem to understand that in the changing media landscape the BBC should still be providing content the commercial sector is unwilling or unable to invest in.
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David Souter retweeted
My take on Archer and the champagne quaffers who turned a blind eye to his crimes and failed to ask him tough questions. British luvviedom and the British establishment at its sycophantic worst, and it's continued throughout today.
"That conversation illustrates the complexity of Archer's life..." @MichaelLCrick and @nadhimzahawi discuss the good and the bad that defined Jeffrey Archer and how he will be remembered. @theJeremyVine | #JeremyVine
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David Souter retweeted
Black History Month. We stand together in celebrating black history, culture and identity 🖤
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David Souter retweeted
So Kemi Badenoch wants to pay for new prison cells by cutting £1bn from culture, media and sport? That means youth clubs, leisure centres, sports pitches, arts projects and music venues, places that give young people somewhere to go and learn teamwork and self discipline, all of that: gone. That’s not tough on crime, that’s building a pipeline into the very prisons you're promising! And this from a party that added fewer than 500 prison places in a decade, and left communities like mine fighting to keep leisure centres open in the first place. Disgraceful.
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Where I spent many happy hours more than half a century ago.
Windows music shop, Newcastle. So horrible to see this. I had forgotten it occupied almost a whole side of the splendid Central Arcade.
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David Souter retweeted
The BBC, UK's Public Broadcaster, is paid for by its licence payers. The BBC should be supporting UK writers, actors, musicians and all creatives especially during these difficult times. Ban the use of AI in BBC programme making, or who's the BBC for?
#BBCLauraK: “Would you allow a programme to be made and presented by AI?” BBC Director General Matt Brittin: “I would do, within guardrails” bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6gr…
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Any thoughts, @ofcom?
A contender for the most shocking and revolting comment ever expressed on British television
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David Souter retweeted
Kemi Badenoch described a small tax on very sugary products, designed to make the most unhealthy foods marginally more expensive, as “too much nanny state” but now wants the government to dictate how people can or can’t spend their money.
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There is a time lag between the introduction of a new technology by leading adopters and wider adoption & adaptation of business & economic systems which means it takes time for impacts on jobs or productivity to become clear. I’ll refrain from insults like ‘midwit’, but really!
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Perhaps it was the way that you confused journalism with advocacy.
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Irony: the Spectator is edited by he who brought in the curriculum that has helped to put children off reading for pleasure.
The real reason children no longer enjoy reading.” Mary Wakefield has a theory in the latest Spectator.  Instead of screen addiction, she blames school curricula which teach “to the test” rather than reading for enjoyment. Children are so busy analysing brief extracts, they can’t enjoy the book as a whole. I read incessantly as a child, including illicitly when I was supposed to be sleeping. Not “great literature”, it was Dr Dolittle, Biggles, Bulldog Drummond, Just William, Arthur Ransome, Percy F Westerman. It would certainly have included Harry Potter if he’d been around then. I don’t believe I ever had my “comprehension” tested. I just loved reading. Is Mary Wakefield right?
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David Souter retweeted
Oh my god is there NOBODY at The Guardian who knows the difference between refute, rebut and rebuke? IT'S IN THE FLIPPING STYLE GUIDE THAT YOU ARE MEANT TO READ ON DAY ONE.
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David Souter retweeted
Last week - when all the front pages headlines were about Farage and his £72m - Farage fronted his own GB News show ….to talk about Farage! He compared his critics to communists and then interviewed other guests - about himself! OfCom has lost its sense of smell app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/s…
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Perhaps the Archbishop of Canterbury could help out by telling us the difference between actual Christians and fakes who claim that Christianity authenticates their hatred.
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