The more I reflect on the Kemi Badenoch interview, the more I think that "LOTO is utterly contemptuous of local government" is a bigger story than the specific judgement of candidate suitability. (Don't get me wrong, the latter is important too.) Particularly relevant in context of more devolution.

I have insomnia yet again, at the start of our seaside holiday. It's significantly less frustrating than normal, but I'm very tempted to go down to the beach to see the sea in the moonlight. Would unfortunately disturb other members of the household.

I dislike the way that reality TV show end-of-episode "the person leaving us today is..." huge pause has made it as far as elections. Just tell us the results already! (Seriously though, much gratitude to everyone who is conscientiously making sure the count is right in Greater Manchester tonight.)

Humbug. Between Stack Overflow being read-only for some of yesterday, and decompressing after an interview, I lost my streak of logging in every day. I think it had been about 16 years... Ah well.

Men: please don't do this. So much ick.

Michael Speirs@natuphillies.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm sorry but your piece smacks of ingratitude. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer your translation has sold ONE MILLION copies, most I contend, due to the pr run-up and release of the Nolan film. You are entitled to your opinion but why bite the hand that fed you? Maybe silence would be wiser?

@timharford.ft.com It feels like this would be a great subject for an episode of Cautionary Tales. (Apologies if you've already covered it - I did try to check, but I may have missed it.)

Chris Sams@jerijerod14.bsky.social · 2w ago

With news that they are removing the masts of the Richard Montgomery off Sheerness it raises the questions; What is the Richard Montgomery? Why is she so dangerous? What will the do with the masts afterwards? jerijerod14.substack.com/p/ss-richard... #navalhistory #history #Kent

Hadestown tonight, for the first time in over 5 months. This is likely to be the only time I see this cast before it changes again in September - shocking!

Somewhat surprised that UK politics BlueSky hasn't already exploded with laughter at the new Reform funding news. Maybe it's just my dodgy connection which isn't showing it to me.

Learning the part of Pisthetaerus for "The Birds" by Aristophanes, in Greek, at university. I don't know Greek, and it's a big part.

Gail Simone@gailsimone.bsky.social · 2w ago

Okay, my QUESTION OF THE DAY is… What is your weirdest actual accomplishment? Not the biggest necessarily…but the weirdest?

So do we think Rayner, Phillipson, Nandy etc are playing Twister in the basement of No 10 to figure out who's getting which of the remaining posts?

Incredible statement from the Church in Wales on the ignominious Code of Practice: "The Church in Wales will not use equality law exemptions to exclude trans people from our worship, our sacraments, our pastoral care, or our common life." www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/news-and-...

Statement of the Bench of Bishops of the Church in Wales on the publication of the EHRC Draft Code of Practice - Church in Wales

churchinwales.org.uk

I've just scored 81 on Flea Juggle in Silksong. If that isn't a good way of spending time between jobs, I don't know what is.

Last chance to sign up to our substack at 25% off for a year. Just a few hours left... samf.substack.com/p/summer-sal...

Summer Sale - *25% off for a year*

We only do one or two special offers a year, but as we’ve recently gone past 90,000 subscribers we thought we’d celebrate with one.

samf.substack.com

Blogged: Forking an open source project - codeblog.jonskeet.uk/2026/07/11/f... If you have experience on forking an OSS project and would be able to weigh in with thoughts about my plans, I'd be very grateful...

Forking an open source project

Introduction and motivation Some of the projects I work on – notably V-Drum Explorer and At Your Service – use MIDI to interact with hardware devices. I use a couple of packages for thi…

codeblog.jonskeet.uk

This is very much the post we need, along the lines of "Yes, it's all exciting and fun to talk about Count Binface. Now take a breath, and think about what can realistically happen." Fantastic from Sam as ever.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 4w ago

New post: "Farage's Folly" Yesterday's gambit was a desperate move from a man in trouble. I look at the likelihood of him quitting or being thrown out after a standards investigation. And what that would mean for Reform and British politics. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/f...

So, there is a precedent for vetoing an MP's resignation Viscount Chelsea (Henry Cadogan) applied for the Chiltern Hundreds in 1842 The Chancellor (Goulburn) refused because, get this, Cadogan wanted to resign to obstruct an investigation for bribery h/t @fascinatorfun.bsky.social and @gazhay.com

All this is almost worth it for making Nick Robinson say ‘and we’ll hear from Count Binface in a few minutes time.’ #R4Today

I am seriously concerned for the health of Jon Harvey, if he has to campaign during a heatwave with a bin on his head. Fortunately the sea breezes seem to make Clacton significantly cooler than my home at the moment, but even so.

If it ends up being Count Binface vs Farage, I'd love it for Binface to play it as an *absolutely normal* candidate in an *absolutely normal* by-election, and for the media to follow suit. Full Hustings - with questions about finances, of course.

I've handed in my Google laptop and badge. I guess I'm properly unemployed now. (Hopefully only temporarily, mind you.)

From my experience watching TV at this time of the morning, this thing is going to be decided by the suburban seats in the Midlands.

I'm in a hotel in Durham, looking forward to my daughter's graduation in just over 8 hours. As so often happens, insomnia has hit - nothing to do with the football. As far as I can tell, we're not particularly near any open pubs, but I could tell when England scored their first goal.

It's very odd to rewatch The Thick Of It (in this case "The Rise of the Nutters") and then open up BlueSky to see a bunch of @mrchrisaddison.bsky.social posts.

'Seeking the Disabled Christ' Panel Discussion I will be discussing my Disabled Christ images, disability, Deaf and Neurodivergent theology with the excellent Hannah Lewis Tim Rourke and David Harknett At Leicester Cathedral Monday 3rd August 2026 leicestercathedral.org/exhibition-s...

Starmer could do the funniest thing now, coming out to the lectern, drawing a large breath, and saying: "We wish to announce that we expect it to be very hot this week. Please drink lots of water." (And then going back inside.)

If rumours are to be believed I'll be living with a seventh different Prime Minister shortly. If it carries on like this I'm going to stop making the effort to learn their names.

“The Lemkin Institute is disgusted by the use of equality law and the cloak of “women’s rights” to cause harm to the trans and intersex communities. The existence of trans and intersex people in no way threatens women’s rights.“

Sophie Molly@sophiemolly.co.uk · 2mo ago

"trans existence is criminalized", in the UK. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has spoken. www.lemkininstitute.com/statements-n...

So, today is the by-election. Do we know whether there'll be an exit poll? I know normally there isn't one, but this is far from an ordinary by-election. I can't find any information one way or the other - surely I'm not the only one interested? @samfr.bsky.social @robfordmancs.bsky.social ?

'The bathing ponds at Hampstead Heath in north-west London will remain trans-inclusive after a public consultation overwhelmingly favoured its existing rules.' Good news. 86% of 38,000 respondents in favour of retaining trans-inclusive policies.

Hampstead Heath ponds to remain trans-inclusive after public back existing rules

Policy agreement means trans people will continue to have access to Kenwood Ladies’ and Highgate Men’s ponds in north-west London

theguardian.com

The eye-roll at 17:00 on this @fryrsquared.bsky.social video is possibly the best eye-roll in history. Think "since the invention of the kiss" from The Princess Bride, but applied to eye-rolls. No timestamp in the link, because it's worth watching the whole video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzR...

Why AI Agents are either the best or worst thing we’ve ever built

YouTube video by Hannah Fry

youtube.com