All posts tagged: Mainstream

As UFOs go mainstream, the jury is out on what the existence of alien life might mean for religion

As UFOs go mainstream, the jury is out on what the existence of alien life might mean for religion

Published by Sam Flores

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In “Disclosure Day,” out Friday, Steven Spielberg is once again inviting audiences to ponder the existence of extraterrestrial life — and the implications it would have for religion on Earth. But Spielberg is hardly the only one making headlines of late about UFOs and the possibility of life on other planets. What was once considered fringe or conspiratorial has in recent months popped up everywhere from the White House to the Catholic Church, as public fascination with unidentified anomalous phenomena — or UAPs, as the government calls them — becomes more mainstream. The Pentagon in May made public large swaths of UFO files with very little context, leaving curious sleuths to piece together their own interpretations. The dump came just weeks after former President Barack Obama set off a media frenzy for stating unambiguously in an interview that aliens are real, though he later tempered that take. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” the former president, who made a surprise visit to …

Belfast unrest shows the power of social media as far‑right views on immigration enter the mainstream

Belfast unrest shows the power of social media as far‑right views on immigration enter the mainstream

Published by Sam Flores

Footage of a horrific knife attack in Belfast began to circulate on social media on Monday evening. A Sudanese asylum-seeker in his 30s, who entered the UK in 2023, has been charged with attempted murder. Meanwhile, the far-right was quick to exploit the situation to further an anti-immigration agenda. Violent unrest followed on the streets of Belfast and beyond on Tuesday evening. Houses, cars and a bus were set alight, and masked men were seen smashing in windows. Some of the attacks on property were reportedly racist in nature. Posting earlier on social media, activist Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) urged supporters to join street protests against this “invader attack”. Robinson provided a list of locations across Great Britain and Northern Ireland where protests were planned on Tuesday night. His post on X was shared by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who called for citizens to protest “repeatedly and loudly” to change government policies around immigration. The leader of Restore UK, Rupert Lowe, pledged that his party would begin mass deportations and reintroduce the death …

Contributor: The overdue rise of the right within mainstream media

Contributor: The overdue rise of the right within mainstream media

Published by Sam Flores

On Sept. 30, 2024, prominent progressive thinker and author Ta-Nehisi Coates appeared on “CBS Mornings” to promote his new book focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “The Message.” Coates’ argument echoed many standard left-wing tropes about the intractable conflict, framing it as an intersectional battle between an illegitimate oppressor group and a helpless oppressed group. Journalist Tony Dokupil, whose children live in Israel with their mother, pushed back in the interview. He stated that “The Message” would “not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,” and he further argued that Coates’ book deliberately omitted crucial details about the Hamas jihadist organization and the realities of Islamic terrorism. For having the temerity to ask challenging questions to a leading proponent of post-George Floyd left-wing racial gospel, Dokupil was ritually reprimanded by his employer. The anchor was summoned to the organization’s Orwellian-named “Race and Culture Unit” after some CBS News employees complained about Dokupil’s “tone of voice, phrasing, and body language.” In a subsequent CBS News editorial meeting that was leaked to Bari Weiss’s the …

Pupil ‘clustering’ threatens inclusive mainstream aim

Pupil ‘clustering’ threatens inclusive mainstream aim

Published by skeptic

Ministers’ ambition to meet the needs of more pupils in their local mainstream school won’t be met while pupils with SEND continue to be clustered “in a subset of settings”, a report has warned. The National Foundation for Educational Research said the government must monitor the distribution of pupils with SEND across the school system and “prioritise a more even spread across schools” to support the ambition for “local” suitable places. Bridget Phillipson and her team have put making mainstream schools more inclusive at the heart of their SEND reforms. But today’s report casts doubt on that aim, warning pupils with SEND are “unevenly distributed across mainstream schools and that unevenness is growing”. “The white paper’s focus on access to a suitable place in a local school will not be met while pupils with SEND continue to cluster in a subset of settings,” the report said. They said academy trusts and councils “should therefore routinely monitor the distribution of pupils with EHCPs and SEN support across schools within local areas (including in-year movement) and use …

Some schools will get under £6k inclusive mainstream cash

Some schools will get under £6k inclusive mainstream cash

Published by skeptic

Almost one in 10 primary schools are set to receive less than £6,000 in annual funding to support pupils with SEND, with heads warning it’ll do little more than balance the books. During the next three years, schools will receive their share of a £1.6 billion “inclusive mainstream fund” (IMF) that is aimed at making mainstream schools more inclusive for pupils with additional needs. The Department for Education has not published a full breakdown of school-level allocations, but has issued a spreadsheet calculator allowing leaders to see their setting’s 2026-27 provisional allocation. Source link

Special school reports drop mainstream comparisons

Special school reports drop mainstream comparisons

Published by skeptic

Schools Week previously reported how special schools were being compared to mainstream schools within the same age range Schools Week previously reported how special schools were being compared to mainstream schools within the same age range More from this theme Recent articles Special school Ofsted inspection report cards will no longer compare their cohorts to national mainstream averages after complaints from heads. Ofsted provides contextual data about schools to parents, including data metrics such as capacity and pupil demographics. But Schools Week previously reported how special schools were being compared to mainstream schools within the same age range. The report for Rotherham-based The Willows School, for instance, shows that 100 per cent of pupils have education, health and care plans (EHCPs). But it is unusual for pupils to attend a special school without a plan. Yet the report card claimed this is “well above” a national average of 3.1 per cent. It also stated that the 190-pupil school is “well below” an average of 1,067, which related to secondary schools overall, including mainstream. Ofsted should …

DfE leverages capital to force LA mainstream focus

DfE leverages capital to force LA mainstream focus

Published by skeptic

Town halls will be required to sign a new ‘memorandum of understanding’ on how to spend £860m of high needs capital cash Town halls will be required to sign a new ‘memorandum of understanding’ on how to spend £860m of high needs capital cash More from this theme Recent articles Whitehall is continuing to tighten its grip on councils’ SEND functions by forcing them to agree to prioritise mainstream specialist places or face having capital cash withheld. Town halls will be required to sign a new “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) on how to spend £860 million of high needs capital cash for 2026-27. This “should start” with ensuring that there are enough places in mainstream schools, including through inclusion bases – which ministers expect to be in every secondary school. But if they intend to spend it on expanding special school or alternative provision, a “clear evidence-based rationale” must be provided. While the MOU is not legally binding, councils which fail to “evidence the outcomes” may have funding reduced or pulled entirely in future years.  …

The House Article | Inside The Battle For Labour’s Mainstream: Luke Akehurst Vs Luke Hurst

The House Article | Inside The Battle For Labour’s Mainstream: Luke Akehurst Vs Luke Hurst

Published by Sam Flores

Labour First’s Luke Akehurst and Mainstream’s Luke Hurst (l-r) 12 min read49 min Two internal players called Luke are battling to claim Labour’s mainstream. The outcome of their rivalry will shape the future of the party – and possibly the country. Sienna Rodgers reports On one side is Luke Akehurst. He is a veteran organiser within the party and has served as secretary of Labour First, the ‘old right’ Labour factional group, for 20 years. In recognition of his services, the 54-year-old became a Labour MP for the first time at the last general election, and now also runs a WhatsApp group of 198 MPs called “mainstream”. On the other is Luke Hurst. He is the lesser-known Luke, having only involved himself in Labour during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership years, via student politics. Today, the 27-year-old is national co-ordinator of new membership organisation Mainstream, which represents the soft left of the party and is best known for being close to Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. As their respective brands suggest, both claim to …

Multiverse Computing pushes its compressed AI models into the mainstream

Multiverse Computing pushes its compressed AI models into the mainstream

Published by skeptic

With private company defaults running at upwards of 9.2% — the highest rate in years — VC firm Lux Capital recently advised companies relying on AI to get their compute capacity commitments confirmed in writing. With financial instability rippling through the AI supply chain, Lux warned, a handshake agreement isn’t enough. But there’s another option entirely, which is to stop relying on external compute infrastructure altogether. Smaller AI models that run directly on a user’s own device — no data center, no cloud provider, no counterparty risk — are getting good enough to be worth considering. And Multiverse Computing is raising its hand. The Spanish startup has so far kept a lower profile than some of its peers, but as demand for AI efficiency grows, this is changing. After compressing models from major AI labs including OpenAI, Meta, DeepSeek and Mistral AI, it has launched both an app that showcases the capabilities of its compressed models and an API portal — a gateway that lets developers access and build with those models — that makes …

Echoes Of Iraq: Mainstream Media ‘Deja Vu’ Over Framing Of The War On Iran

Echoes Of Iraq: Mainstream Media ‘Deja Vu’ Over Framing Of The War On Iran

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via Middle East Eye “Why we should go to war” ran the headline of a Guardian article in February 2003 by the commentator Julie Burchill. In it, she explained to the Guardian’s liberal readers why a pro-war attitude in the run-up to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq should be welcomed.  “If you really think it’s better for more people to die over decades under a tyrannical regime than for fewer people to die during a brief attack by an outside power, you’re really weird and nationalistic and not any sort of socialist that I recognise,” wrote Burchill. Another article published in April 2003, after the invasion started, criticised anti-war “doomsters”, claiming “the people of Iraq have been unchained from appalling torture and tyranny” as a result of US-UK action. Despite claims of the BBC’s anti-war bias from Downing Street, academic analysis proved that it was in fact more reliant on government and military sources than other sources. It was also the least likely to quote sources of Iraqi or independent origin, such as the Red Cross, which might contradict official narratives that underplayed …