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• Post #4442259

  Had a fun date yesterday.

• Post #4349601

  The cool thing about being in your forties is that when you tell someone you managed to have a good night's sleep they congratulate you like you've just had a child.

• Post #4279904

  It's amazing how many of my work conversations are now suddenly about doing things in the north.

• Post #4215222

  God, Flaming Lips were fantastic. #music #gig #FlamingLips #Cardiff

• Post #4174090

  I don't know whether to highlight this as positive news or not, but yet another right wing voice is calling out Kemi Badenoch's abandonment of the net zero consensus: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/07/28/pull-brink-kemi-badenoch-before-you-destroy-conservatives/ Her rightward lurches look, with hindsight, less insane politically now given the Burnham coup, but even so I think this is one crazy stepping stone too far. Reckless populism epitomised. We should expect better of...

• Post #4159193

  It's such a strange moment. The US is in the midst of a democratic crisis, with woefully unqualified and regressive right wing populists having total control of their government and dominating their culture. But the moment will pass, and things will incrementally improve from November, and one day folks will look back at these painful absurdities as just a dark blip — as they did on Nixon, and Trump during the Biden years. #USPol #USPolitics https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c87nj3w9g...

• Post #4136193

  New poll. Usual caveats, just one poll etc. The Burnham Bump is now measurable, approximately 4-6 points — albeit alongside the Farage controversy and the Greens' numerous missteps. I think Burnham is making lots of errors and the bump is temporary, but I think the back of the populist surge across Reform and Greens has more permanently been broken, and the next election will be back to the usual Labour/Tory/LibDem tempo. #UKPolitics #UKPol

• Post #4118942

  Long, long, LONG, overdue. Neidle taking him to task last month was a massive exposure, even after a ton of other recent disastrous online conversations and videos. He's not the worst at it, nor even the worst Brit, but the online space is full of people peddling wild views far outside the consensus as truth to people who don't know what they're hearing is nonsense — especially on economics. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/26/gary-stevenson-to-quit-youtube-channel-ga...

• Post #4066493

  I don't post much about the insane streamer drama I embarrassingly enjoy, but this one deserves special mention. Here, Stardust, a relatively small streamer, persuades a toxic doxxer and rapist vtuber streamer to go on stream with her then over *6 hours* questions him calmly and with total poise, systematically proving him wrong on every single point, and masterfully shutting down his evasions, deflections, and attempts to wriggle out. Glorious. https://www.youtube.com/live/xSqfq8VXx3U?is...

• Post #3999511

  Talking with a colleague today who has a son named Arthur, and he's suitably obsessed with Arthurian legend and D&D and similar. Top lad. She also told me that he's so nerdy that 'Arthur' had turned into Artoo in their family, after R2-D2, and that's just the coolest thing I've ever heard. Imagine having a kid named for C-3PO though 🤔

• Post #3958993

  I will do a blog post soon, but my full expectation is that my enthusiasm for our politics is going to wane in the coming months. I'm not going to sit on the sidelines and snipe. I'm going to quietly pray it doesn't go as poorly as I think it will. Meanwhile, US politics will be heating up in the run up to November, and I can be truly insufferable when I get enthused by their political scene. Like, they chose not to elect Kamala in preference to this mass chaos, for REASONS.

• Post #3940390

  An actually accurate piece on migraines, absent the woo that usually accompanies them. Need to get 'prodrome' in my lexicon in place of 'aura' (I thought they were one and the same) and 'postdrome' for the post-migraine fatigue. #migraine https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jul/19/banging-headache-mysteries-migraine-treatments

• Post #3930752

  "The cost of climate-worsened wildfire smoke alone is larger than what earlier studies said every other estimated cost of climate change would be, combined." 😳

• Post #3888170

  Got reminded of this piece from last year about one of the more absurd media moments of recent years. Mass uproar and fury at something that... actually went pretty well. Came up in the context of susceptibility to misinformation and our lack of a shared understanding of reality anymore. Spending some time with folks absorbed in populist narratives is exhausting. #UKPolitics #UKPol https://inews.co.uk/opinion/we-were-warned-about-a-catastrophe-for-private-schools-so-what-actually-happened-...

• Post #3808195

  Some birthday adventure snaps and the tentative return of my mediocre street photography.

• Post #3761485

  I hate this weather. Hate hate hate it. Every time I go outside I can't wait to scurry back home to my air conditioned flat with the curtains drawn and cool darkness enveloping me. Nevertheless, I'm on leave this next week and bouncing around the country a bit, and I'm spurred to pick up the camera again.

• Post #3736266

  This piece, originally titled, "Who broke Britain?" (I hate it when publishers change titles like this, especially when they choose worse ones) really nails it. The unspoken conclusion (the Tories) comes with the wider undercurrent of misinformation and populism as the cause for Britain consistently having chosen the most self-harming route between 2010 and 2024. Gifted link, free for fourteen days. #UKPolitics #UKPol https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/07/uk-productivity-ec...

• Post #3704192

  I'm not going to chart every step of this downward spiral, but these first few days as his coup takes control deserve narrative. Here he is, out the gate, nakedly wrong, absurdly un-Labour, failing to understand electoral politics. This is one tweet, one moment in time, surrendering at least ten million votes from the crucial centre to the right. For the sake of... some temporary glazing from Green voters. We're doomed. #UKPolitics #UKPol https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/...

• Post #3675983

  There are many good reasons to oppose cryptocurrencies and many reasons why shady individuals flock to them, but it's plainly obvious exactly why the Faragists and a certain subset of the online right *love* them. It's literally just because they're unregulated, and in many cases transactions are untraceable. Farage lobbying Bank of England for them is akin to him lobbying directly for legalised corruption, foreign influence, and unlawful political financing. #UKPolitics #UKpol

• Post #3654679

  First as tragedy, then as farce. No major party is going to stand against Farage in his byelection. Count Binface may genuinely be his primary opponent. I'd like to see him unseated and would've backed a fight against him, but this will make it seem all the more absurd with only small, fringe parties and joke candidates standing against him. Though another byelection seems likely in short order when the standards committee rules on him. #UKPolitics #UKPol #Farage https://www.thegua...

• Post #3649730

  Burnham should parachute in and stand. #UKPolitics #UKPol https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn0v9l9x0g8t?post=asset%3Af66d5886-ed0d-4afa-81d4-5d0713fbed62#post

• Post #3631236

  I'm not into football at all, but am I right in judging it's likely to be US vs France and England vs Argentina in the semifinals? Blimey.

• Post #3626404

  I'm going on an adventure! #summer #selfie

• Post #3610306

  Almost got my new note-taking setup working right. That's the Boox Note Air 5C e-ink tablet and my Xencelabs 16 hooked up to my Linux machine. Both sync via Syncthing into my Silverbullet space. It's not *quite* perfect due to the constraints of Boox's apps (and alternatives don't work well with e-ink) but it's close enough for my workflows — especially once I build some funky stuff in Silverbullet around it.

• Post #3484689

  Good, a leadership challenge I can get behind. McCluskey was far too close to Labour through a particularly weak and embarrassing period; Graham succeeded him by becoming far too distant to Labour during a time when their support was sorely needed. Seeing Graham fall to her anti-green agenda, if she does indeed fall, will be a good opportunity for a reset. #UKPolitics #UKPol #Labour #Unite https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/30/unite-union-sharon-graham-leadership-challenge-reform-...

• Post #2788537

  Not quite as egregious as Farage not showing up for the King's Speech (or most other things), but not far off. Tons of folks have noted the Greens' turn away from being green-oriented already. That a junior minister for energy is only now realising it when it falls to House business being neglected is at least a little bit his own fault. #UKPolitics #UKPol

• Post #2788536

  It is kind of weird being in a situation where virtually everything is getting better but everyone is very angry and insistent we must change course, so much so they're swarming to reckless populist parties while stirring division and chaos. #UKPolitics #UKPol https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/20/uk-inflation-slows-energy-price-cap-softens-impact-of-rising-fuel-costs

• Post #2788535

  A story in two parts. Lots of nuance to unpick. Six points is more than fine in the current timing — opposition parties headed for government aim to have ~20pt leads around now — especially with positive outcomes landing on every front at the moment. And on the other side, Burnham is just a figurehead at this point with nobody knowing his platform or how things would go in power compared to the current government. Still, food for thought. #UKPolitics #UKPol

• Post #2788534

  He's right to ask for clarification, especially since Chris Bryant has just apologises for cocking this up. Best I can gather from the horrible reporting is that the sanctions coming into effect today were announced in October and, like all new sanction measures, have a temporary phase-in period where they're more lax to prevent big shocks. These new ones don't have an explicit end date for the phase in, which some have interpreted as a waiver. #UKPolitics #UKPol htt...

• Post #2788532

  Two strong supporters of the dead assisted dying bill from the last session have drawn second and fourth place in the Private Member's Bill ballot. We're likely to get another go at it 🥳 #UKPolitics #UKPol