Dan Olner

@danolner.bsky.social

644 Followers 1911 Following

Policy fellow @Y_PERN_ @SouthYorksMCA Data scientist / geospatial+economics / climate / political economy / "tepid centrist" / bit of sci-fi too danolner.net github.com/DanOlner

Screenshot of a Rotten Tomatoes listing for the film “MELANIA.” On the left is a black-and-white poster showing a woman seated in a chair, with text “A NEW FILM” and “MELANIA,” and “Exclusively in theaters January 30.” On the right, the ratings show an 8% Tomatometer (12 reviews) and a 99% Popcornmeter (100+ verified ratings)
Stacked bar chart from The New York Times/Siena Poll (Jan. 12–17) asking: “Do you think the country is generally better off than it was a year ago, about the same, or worse off?” Overall results: 32% better off, 19% about the same, 49% worse off. By party: Democrats — 3% better, 11% same, 86% worse; Independents — 24% better, 22% same, 52% worse (with a tiny remainder not labeled); Republicans — 73% better, 16% same, 11% worse. Green indicates “better off,” gray “about the same,” and orange “worse off.”
Screenshot of text: "That word, ‘creativity’. In academia as elsewhere, it’s lionised, recognised as absolutely essential, featured heavily in aspirational leadership quotes. But in practice it’s treated like an eccentric purple-wearing relative, liable to drink brandy and spit in meetings. Productive society would prefer creativity was a battery, something you can transmit from people’s brains at a predictable wattage over power cables, strategically direct from a control room."
A cartoon shows two men sitting in a cozy, book-filled study. One man with glasses and a beard sits in an armchair, while the other, also wearing glasses, reads aloud from a book. The caption reads: “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Yet those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it.”
A cartoon shows a person presenting survey results on a large screen. The chart shows 99.8% of respondents saying “Yes, I love responding to surveys” and only 0.2% saying “No, I toss them in the bin.” The presenter tells the audience, “We received 500 responses and found that people love responding to surveys.” Four people at a table look on, one saying “Hmm…” The cartoon is titled “Sampling Bias.”
Guardian headline: "pay no attention: global health agencies dismiss false trump claim on everyday painkillers."
Wes Streeting quote: "I’ve just got to be really clear about this: there is no evidence to link the use of paracetamol by pregnant women to autism in their children. None. In fact, a major study was done back in 2024 in Sweden, involving 2.4 million children, and it did not uphold those claims. So I would just say to people watching, don’t pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine. In fact, don’t take even take my word for it, as a politician – listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS."
Keir Starmer quote, 12th May 2025: "In 2023, under the previous government, inward migration exploded to over a million people a year – four times the level compared with 2019. This was a political choice that was never put before the British people. In fact, quite the opposite – the previous government repeatedly promised inward migration would be brought under control. Instead, Britain became a one-nation experiment in open borders. The damage this has done to our country is incalculable. Public services and housing access have been placed under too much pressure. Our economy has been distorted by perverse incentives to import workers rather than invest in our own skills. In sectors like engineering, for example, apprenticeships have almost halved while visas doubled. But arguably even worse is the wound this failure has opened when it comes to trust in politics. It is a wound, as I said on my first day as prime minister, that can only be healed by actions not words. This white paper is just that."
Image of tweet, text reads: " How did we get from "Do not use Wikipedia as a source" to "ask hallucinating chatbot everything"? "