Sad to see people posting on social media negatively about Rod Liddle, who died yesterday. If I have disagreed with you very strongly in life - and you die - I hope I'll be either silent, or kind.

Just went to The Music Box on Cowley Rd to get my guitar fixed. I bought it in 1990 aged 16 for £85, from him. Now he's the only instrument shop left in Oxford. No smiling photos because (a) I'm not like that (b) as you'd hope from a great guitar shop he's appalled at the prospect of more customers.

Watering new trees is permitted during a hosepipe ban. But how do you communicate to neighbours that your noisy babbling hose is on legitimate legal business? Single foghorn blast then confident announcement on a loudhailer? (First timer, I've just bought three trees, soon they will die).

SUVs are higher at the front and three times more likely to kill a child when they hit them. SUV drivers drag the child under their vehicle, and then they crush the child to death. It's incredible that SUVs don't have higher tax, and why not lower speed limits. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Britain’s cars and SUVs are growing bigger – but there is a way to stop this deadly ‘carspreading’ | Christian Wolmar

Larger vehicles crowd our roads and are far more dangerous to pedestrians. Let’s curb them before they do even more damage, says says transport commentator Christian Wolmar

theguardian.com

HISTORIC MOMENT Today at 14:40 Dr Mark Russell from KCL pressed the button to execute the first ever job on the new OpenSAFELY service. Until today, OpenSAFELY was COVID only. Now we are open to critical analyses that improve all patient care, on GP records, securely, at scale. PICS! THREAD!

We are hiring! Brilliant senior job running our new UK Government team… …looking for someone creative and strategic with experience of government who would seize this fantastic opportunity to make government work well for the people of the UK! www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/about-us/car...

Director, UK Government | Institute for Government

A rare and exciting opportunity to become a core member of the Institute for Government’s newly restructured senior team.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

It is the weekend, and tomorrow we are promised CLOUDS. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HmC...

Yip Roc Heresy

YouTube video by Slim Gaillard - Topic

youtube.com

planning a stern letter to the climate change denialists

In 2009 I bought a ludicrous old vampire cape from a charity shop in Bath. Then I went to the supermarket. But my new cape manifested... at the Waitrose checkout... through its own magical powers... Giles from Buffy. RIP, what a magical hero.

*EPIC FREE LECTURE ON THURSDAY IN OXFORD* Our heroic CTO Seb Bacon on open science, open code, OpenSAFELY and more!

Ben Goldacre@bengoldacre.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Inaugural Lecture Klaxon! Our magnificent CTO Seb Bacon is a hero of the modern age, and now PROFESSOR Seb Bacon... Come to his inaugural lecture in Oxford! OpenSAFELY! OpenPrescribing! TrialsTracker! OpenCorporates! Open Code! Open Everything! www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/05... bacon.boutique

*EPIC FREE LECTURE ON THURSDAY IN OXFORD* Our heroic CTO Seb Bacon on open science, open code, OpenSAFELY and more!

Ben Goldacre@bengoldacre.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Inaugural Lecture Klaxon! Our magnificent CTO Seb Bacon is a hero of the modern age, and now PROFESSOR Seb Bacon... Come to his inaugural lecture in Oxford! OpenSAFELY! OpenPrescribing! TrialsTracker! OpenCorporates! Open Code! Open Everything! www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/05... bacon.boutique

Inaugural Lecture Klaxon! Our magnificent CTO Seb Bacon is a hero of the modern age, and now PROFESSOR Seb Bacon... Come to his inaugural lecture in Oxford! OpenSAFELY! OpenPrescribing! TrialsTracker! OpenCorporates! Open Code! Open Everything! www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/05... bacon.boutique

"On The Record" - Seb Bacon’s Inaugural Lecture | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science

Come and join Seb for his inaugural lecture as the first-ever Professor of Practice at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences

bennett.ox.ac.uk

Inaugural Lecture Klaxon! Our magnificent CTO Seb Bacon is a hero of the modern age, and now PROFESSOR Seb Bacon... Come to his inaugural lecture in Oxford! OpenSAFELY! OpenPrescribing! TrialsTracker! OpenCorporates! Open Code! Open Everything! www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/05... bacon.boutique

"On The Record" - Seb Bacon’s Inaugural Lecture | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science

Come and join Seb for his inaugural lecture as the first-ever Professor of Practice at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences

bennett.ox.ac.uk

Genuinely delighted that the UK is being represented by an analogue modular synthesizer geek with a full onrejoin message

"I really like it when a house smells slightly of cat wee" is one of those things you can say, genuinely mean, but still end up in unjust social bother.

Deerhoof last night were magnificent. Here's a great interview with Greg Saunier... politics, art and money... We have brief lives: scrolling AI-curated doom-slop is a waste. Consume books, interviews, music, life, and recommendations like this, from friends! www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQeW...

My latest Paris dispatch on how 300 streets outside of schools became some of the coolest places in the city. But even more importantly, these family-centric improvements provide ubiquitous reminders that this society prioritizes children

Cool streets

Paris's school streets are effectively sculpting out instant parks in the locations where they'll provide immense public health benefits to the city's most vulnerable populations

torched.la

Application deadline is Thursday! APPLY #medsky

Ben Goldacre@bengoldacre.bsky.social · 5mo ago

OpenSAFELY is open from today! Huge thanks to all who supported this vast collaboration: whole population GP data; in a productive platform; innovative privacy protections; unprecedented support from professions, privacy campaigners; &c Now it's over to users! www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/02...

Amazing thread on how social media is no longer what you choose, from humans you selected, but algae content, from strangers and LLMs, selected on the basis of your twitches.

Marie Le Conte@youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 3mo ago

:(

A miraculous live gig tape archive. Add n to x.. Stereolab.. Godspeed.. Robyn Hitchcock.. Dinosaur Jr... Is it ok? I hope so. Commercial streamers profit by robbing artists. I doubt I'd have paid for these live recordings. But I did just buy new vinyl because of them. archive.org/details/@aad...

The drum and bass on a bike chap is back! Broad Street Oxford today, 2pm. youtu.be/-pSGF3Z1N3o?...

Drum & Bass On The Bike - OXFORD

YouTube video by Dom Whiting

youtu.be

YouTube has removed "sort by date" in search results. Here's why that's "platform enshittification" (© @doctorow.pluralistic.net) the recurring process of 1. Lock in users with good service 2. Exploit your monopoly for advert £$€ 3. Chase profit so hard that your platform becomes bad for everyone

Things I say that get me in trouble, part 7426: "No but I'll sponsor your partner to look after your children while you train for it".

YouTube has removed "sort by date" in search results. Here's why that's "platform enshittification" (© @doctorow.pluralistic.net) the recurring process of 1. Lock in users with good service 2. Exploit your monopoly for advert £$€ 3. Chase profit so hard that your platform becomes bad for everyone

In the news today, a cyclist on the pavement who killed a man is charged with manslaughter. By contrast, here's a van driver who killed a little girl. He was driving on the pavement: common, and illegal. Killed her. Only charged with dangerous driving. Fully let off. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...

Cheshire van driver cleared of dangerous driving after four-year-old's death

Four-year-old Esmé Rose Weir was run over as she rode her scooter along the pavement to pre-school.

bbc.co.uk

Like any DIY synth geek I've loved Look Mum No Computer for many years. But I didn't expect to him to be the UK 2026 entry to Eurovision. Bravo man, this is the UK at its best, open and inclusive to other cultures, blue tack, string, and very silly. On! youtu.be/niMKvJ-Itq8?...

OpenSAFELY is open from today! Huge thanks to all who supported this vast collaboration: whole population GP data; in a productive platform; innovative privacy protections; unprecedented support from professions, privacy campaigners; &c Now it's over to users! www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/02...

OpenSAFELY news: you can apply to do non-COVID research, from today! | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science

We are delighted to announce that - from today - you can submit applications to the OpenSAFELY service for non-COVID-19 studies.

bennett.ox.ac.uk

Just bought one of these gloriously absurd mirror masks freddieyauner.co.uk/products/wha...

Mirror Mask - What I'm looking at

What I’m Looking At is a mirrored mask that allows you to see what the wearer is looking at, reflecting colour, texture, light and movement. #whatimlookingat It is anti selfie - away from the self and...

freddieyauner.co.uk

I wish that Spotify or similar would let people make radio shows, where they play music and talk in between. Since you've paid to access the music, it would be nice to have people share and curate, but with rambling humanity in the chat, not just playlists. This is the narrowcasting of my dreams.