Final @TheOrwellPrize shortlist! It’s been a lot of reading, thinking and discussing amongst the judge panel. Some fantastic political non-fiction writing around. Now re-reading these eight closely and carefully for our final decision. #OrwellPrize2025.

RT @LabourWomensNet: First session with the brilliant women from across the South East on our regional Labour Women's Leadership Programme!….

RT @antonioguterres: The situation for Palestinians in Gaza is beyond description, beyond atrocious & beyond inhumane. A policy of siege &….

RT @DaleVince: I agree with Gary. Silence is complicity. 18k children have been killed in Palestine by the Israel army since Oct 7th - 50k….

Every week more great stories of returns of cultural objects, international collaboration & co-curation, knowledge exchange and research across borders. This is helping all countries to work together and understand our histories.

The Manhattan DA’s office Antiquities Trafficking Unit has helped return over 2,000 objects including these to Greece.

Not every object will be returned and nor is that necessary - some are not wanted, some can be loaned or used in cultural collaboration and knowledge exchange. This isn’t a binary keep-return, neither is it re-writing history. The processes help us to understand history better.

RT @UNReliefChief: Enough. We demand rapid, safe, and unimpeded access to starving civilians in Gaza. We have a plan. We have thousands of….

RT @HTLGIFestival: Think the real political fights are always Left vs. Right? Think again. 💡 . Our new Internal Dialogues series exposes an….

As some of us have been saying for some time, months/years, but James @piercepenniless puts it brilliantly 👇🏽. Voters who are moving away from Labour to Greens and LibDems should not be ignored. It’s ours to fix.

RT @UKAIofficial: Chaired by @RobertBuckland, Advisory Board member to @UKAIofficial, Baroness @ThangamDebb is on the @HicksLlp panel tonig….

It’s been an immersive and intense experience to be reading and re-reading the short and long lists. Pleased with our shortlist - now to focus down to a winner! Recommend all these books.

Really looking forward to being a speaker, panellist and chatter at philosophy breakfast at @HTLGIFestival very soon! 👇🏽.

👇🏽 1. US Copyright Office report backs creators, rejects “fair use” claims from AI and backs licensing. 2. US President sacks head of US Copyright Office. Why is US President afraid of licensing for creators to have their work recognised and rewarded?.

Copyright laws protect the right of creatives to choose whether or not their work can be used, to be recognised and fairly rewarded. AI is a threat to this system. Read more in the link below 👇🏽.

Elton John and Dua Lipa urge Starmer to back UK artists in AI copyright row.

Being a judge for @TheOrwellPrize has been a reminder of the importance of quality of prose in political writing, quotes, speeches. Orwell’s advice is still relevant - the clichés and typical weaknesses he analyses are still in use. The rules he suggests are still helpful 👇🏽.

[Orwell: Why I Write, cont] . “vi. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.”. [I particularly like (vi).]. He also cautions about care with negatives, a caution I need to heed more, along with all the others. (4/5).

[Orwell: Why I Write, cont] . Orwell asks that political writing has:.* political purpose.* clarity of expression.* intellectual courage.* critical thought.* artful writing. Or, in these words from a friend: “your colleagues will always thank you for your brevity”. (5/5).