Jane Ponsford
@janeponsford.bsky.social
Artist and papermaker. I make bookworks, sculpture and installations responding to specific spaces or landscapes.
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Jane Ponsford
@janeponsford.bsky.social
· Jan 28
Lovely to see some familiar faces from Instagram here and thank you for following. I mostly use BlueSky as new Twitter and don’t really post much at all and definitely not much art stuff but I appreciate the follows. Impatiently waiting for a new Instagram
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
A good home needed urgently for one of the most significant libraries of housing and planning in the country (via @municipaldreams.bsky.social) substack.com/inbox/post/2...
A Good Home Needed Urgently for One of the Most Significant Libraries of Housing and Planning in the Country
The trustees of the Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum are disposing of its Harry Simpson Memorial Library in September, next month.
substack.com
August 18, 2026 at 3:07 PM
A good home needed urgently for one of the most significant libraries of housing and planning in the country (via @municipaldreams.bsky.social) substack.com/inbox/post/2...
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI.
We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
www.404media.co
August 17, 2026 at 1:23 PM
New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI.
We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
UK records hottest day of the year as fifth heatwave reaches 38.1C peak
UK records hottest day of the year as fifth heatwave reaches 38.1C peak
An amber extreme heat warning is in place for parts of England until midnight.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 13, 2026 at 5:04 PM
UK records hottest day of the year as fifth heatwave reaches 38.1C peak
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
One of my favorite rhetorical and analytical moves is joining things (showing that different, seemingly unrelated ideas are part of the same phenomenon) and taking them apart (resolving paradoxes by demonstrating that what appears like a contradictory thing is different things, lumped together).
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August 12, 2026 at 9:51 AM
One of my favorite rhetorical and analytical moves is joining things (showing that different, seemingly unrelated ideas are part of the same phenomenon) and taking them apart (resolving paradoxes by demonstrating that what appears like a contradictory thing is different things, lumped together).
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Reposted by Jane Ponsford
This is whole story is horrifying, and as a journalist covering ICE flights, I was struck by this sentence: “We were shipped to Texas overnight from Los Angeles in horrible conditions that I won’t elaborate on in this letter.”
Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
www.thenation.com
August 11, 2026 at 3:53 PM
This is whole story is horrifying, and as a journalist covering ICE flights, I was struck by this sentence: “We were shipped to Texas overnight from Los Angeles in horrible conditions that I won’t elaborate on in this letter.”
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them.
It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out:
🧵 1/10
It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out:
🧵 1/10
July 29, 2026 at 8:05 AM
I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them.
It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out:
🧵 1/10
It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out:
🧵 1/10
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Alarm at NHS patient records being put under control of US private equity firm
Alarm at NHS patient records being put under control of US private equity firm
Doctors and MPs urge more scrutiny of £300m deal for company behind system used by most GPs in England
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UK politics live – latest updates
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Business live – latest updates
A US private equity firm will take control of NHS patient records in a deal experts say should “ring alarm bells” amid concerns sensitive health data is increasingly being handed to private companies.
The investment firm TPG has bought Optum UK, the healthcare technology business behind the electronic patient record system used by most GP practices in England, in a deal worth about $400m (£300m). Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
July 27, 2026 at 10:57 AM
Alarm at NHS patient records being put under control of US private equity firm
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Short-sighted, stupid cuts to the UKRI budget include shutting down Jodrell Bank, the icon of British astronomy. (Many other cuts too, including 20% to our brand new @vrubinobs.bsky.social). Interesting politically to shut down a major facility in...um..Manchester 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands
Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 27, 2026 at 11:04 AM
Short-sighted, stupid cuts to the UKRI budget include shutting down Jodrell Bank, the icon of British astronomy. (Many other cuts too, including 20% to our brand new @vrubinobs.bsky.social). Interesting politically to shut down a major facility in...um..Manchester 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Nearly 4,000 academic posts in social sciences, humanities and the arts have been axed in one year alone. In the 12 months to December 2024, just under 3,000 social sciences, 820 humanities and 240 arts jobs went.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
www.theguardian.com
July 19, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Nearly 4,000 academic posts in social sciences, humanities and the arts have been axed in one year alone. In the 12 months to December 2024, just under 3,000 social sciences, 820 humanities and 240 arts jobs went.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
looks like Thames Water has given a 14% pay rise to its chief executive and a 26% rise to its finance director
July 15, 2026 at 7:13 AM
looks like Thames Water has given a 14% pay rise to its chief executive and a 26% rise to its finance director
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Tabloids could do a lot of good, if they choose to:
Loire Valley without Loire
Loire Valley without Loire
July 10, 2026 at 9:53 AM
Tabloids could do a lot of good, if they choose to:
Loire Valley without Loire
Loire Valley without Loire
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
That won't serve them well in an emergency. It's also a pleasure to know your way around, as I do to some extent in several cities. I also know how to travel on foot across unroaded landscapes reasonably well without getting lost, and I enjoy the sharpened attention to landmarks, directions, etc.
July 10, 2026 at 3:59 PM
That won't serve them well in an emergency. It's also a pleasure to know your way around, as I do to some extent in several cities. I also know how to travel on foot across unroaded landscapes reasonably well without getting lost, and I enjoy the sharpened attention to landmarks, directions, etc.
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
I teach a journalism workshop in a Dutch university each year and after observing the damage that devices do to students’ ability to learn, I will be making it analogue from next year on. I’ll need to get creative to pull it off but it has to be done for their sake.
July 8, 2026 at 1:23 PM
I teach a journalism workshop in a Dutch university each year and after observing the damage that devices do to students’ ability to learn, I will be making it analogue from next year on. I’ll need to get creative to pull it off but it has to be done for their sake.
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
The grant for 2026/27 will now no longer support some subjects at all, including archaeology, geography, nursing, computing and history courses, in order that funding for the likes of medicine, chemistry and engineering is “protected”. Vandalism of the HE sector. Hugely damaging to the UK's future.
Performing and creative arts university courses will no longer receive funding from a government teaching grant as part of “difficult decisions” about spending priorities, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said.
DfE slashes creative and performing arts teaching grants for universities - Arts Professional
Performing and creative arts university courses will no longer receive funding from a government teaching grant as part of "difficult decisions" about
www.artsprofessional.co.uk
July 8, 2026 at 11:07 AM
The grant for 2026/27 will now no longer support some subjects at all, including archaeology, geography, nursing, computing and history courses, in order that funding for the likes of medicine, chemistry and engineering is “protected”. Vandalism of the HE sector. Hugely damaging to the UK's future.
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
The treatment of this woman is absolutely outrageous and one of the most egregious corporate violations of free speech I've seen. I have just bought the book as a fuck you to Facebook. It's available here uk.bookshop.org/p/books/care...
July 1, 2026 at 9:16 AM
The treatment of this woman is absolutely outrageous and one of the most egregious corporate violations of free speech I've seen. I have just bought the book as a fuck you to Facebook. It's available here uk.bookshop.org/p/books/care...
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
‘We’re up against forces that have all the money in the world’: Erin Brockovich on her battle against AI datacentres
‘We’re up against forces that have all the money in the world’: Erin Brockovich on her battle against AI datacentres
In 1993, she squeezed a $333m settlement from a Californian energy company in a scandal over contaminated water. Three decades later, she has a new target in her sights – and it’s global
www.theguardian.com
June 29, 2026 at 4:38 AM
‘We’re up against forces that have all the money in the world’: Erin Brockovich on her battle against AI datacentres
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
On the AfD attack on the Bauhaus in Germany, and why we should take note.
open.substack.com/pub/jpstonar...
open.substack.com/pub/jpstonar...
Hating the Bauhaus
On the Alternative for Germany attack on modernity.
open.substack.com
June 28, 2026 at 6:20 PM
On the AfD attack on the Bauhaus in Germany, and why we should take note.
open.substack.com/pub/jpstonar...
open.substack.com/pub/jpstonar...
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
As Britain swelters through another heatwave, few people will have heard that ministers have quietly dropped plans for solar carports.
Cars cooler in summer. Shelter from the rain in winter. Clean electricity all year round.
A missed opportunity?
Cars cooler in summer. Shelter from the rain in winter. Clean electricity all year round.
A missed opportunity?
As Britain bakes, ministers quietly park plans for solar carports
Ministers have quietly shelved plans that could have transformed Britain's biggest car parks into shaded power stations
eastangliabylines.co.uk
June 27, 2026 at 10:04 PM
As Britain swelters through another heatwave, few people will have heard that ministers have quietly dropped plans for solar carports.
Cars cooler in summer. Shelter from the rain in winter. Clean electricity all year round.
A missed opportunity?
Cars cooler in summer. Shelter from the rain in winter. Clean electricity all year round.
A missed opportunity?
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Never heard of an instance like this of a charity CEO getting a £1.74m bonus. Part of a strange wider story I’ve never heard about of the sale of City & Guilds to a commercial company in Cyprus. The sale is now subject to a Charity Commission inquiry
www.thetimes.com/article/76bb...
www.thetimes.com/article/76bb...
February 28, 2026 at 10:35 PM
Never heard of an instance like this of a charity CEO getting a £1.74m bonus. Part of a strange wider story I’ve never heard about of the sale of City & Guilds to a commercial company in Cyprus. The sale is now subject to a Charity Commission inquiry
www.thetimes.com/article/76bb...
www.thetimes.com/article/76bb...
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
I'm attending a digital humanities event in Montreal. There was a keynote on AI and something about the talk made me wonder if it had been written by Claude. I said as much in the Q&A. As I posed the question, the speaker shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable. What he said next shocked the room +
June 17, 2026 at 3:55 AM
I'm attending a digital humanities event in Montreal. There was a keynote on AI and something about the talk made me wonder if it had been written by Claude. I said as much in the Q&A. As I posed the question, the speaker shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable. What he said next shocked the room +
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Exclusive:
Top UK scientists have lodged a protest with Keir Starmer attacking the government's "unfathomable" and "dangerous" decision to stop donating to the global Pandemic Fund: www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...
Top UK scientists have lodged a protest with Keir Starmer attacking the government's "unfathomable" and "dangerous" decision to stop donating to the global Pandemic Fund: www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...
Scientists attack Keir Starmer over ‘dangerous’ exit of pandemic fund
Public health experts say the Ebola emergency underlines the need for continued British backing of efforts to detect and contain emerging diseases
www.thetimes.com
June 9, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Exclusive:
Top UK scientists have lodged a protest with Keir Starmer attacking the government's "unfathomable" and "dangerous" decision to stop donating to the global Pandemic Fund: www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...
Top UK scientists have lodged a protest with Keir Starmer attacking the government's "unfathomable" and "dangerous" decision to stop donating to the global Pandemic Fund: www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Sad to hear Marjane Satrapi, author of this extraordinary memoir, has died
June 4, 2026 at 8:11 AM
Sad to hear Marjane Satrapi, author of this extraordinary memoir, has died
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
I'd read excerpts of the sentencing remarks from different articles, but it really is worth reading the whole thing - as so many with influence and power appear to have not.
www.judiciary.uk
June 3, 2026 at 5:41 PM
I'd read excerpts of the sentencing remarks from different articles, but it really is worth reading the whole thing - as so many with influence and power appear to have not.
Reposted by Jane Ponsford
Noted Surrey colony of at-risk swifts destroyed during nesting season
Noted Surrey colony of at-risk swifts destroyed during nesting season
Campaigners say builders’ demolition of nest site highlights weak protection of wildlife from development
A building that was a noted nesting site for swifts, among the UK’s most at-risk birds, has been demolished during the nesting season, highlighting significant weaknesses in the protection of wildlife from development, campaigners say.
Contractors for the housebuilder Hill Group carried out the demolition of Regent House near Dorking station in Surrey over the last few weeks, during the nesting season which runs from 1 March to 31 August. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
June 3, 2026 at 6:15 AM
Noted Surrey colony of at-risk swifts destroyed during nesting season