Nine days are a long time in the culture wars

James O’Brien@mrjamesob.bsky.social · last wk.

Well said, Alan. The Times following the Telegraph in to studied & deliberate ignominy. If there is any case to answer here, it is about Liverpool John Moore’s supervisory failure of an obviously unique PhD student. Something, I imagine, their own exhaustive investigation concluded… 1/2

Leaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.

First picky bits and now electic cars, what will @mjrobbins.com rant about next, babies?

James O'Malley@jamesomalley.co.uk · 2d ago

New YIMBY Pod! - @mjrobbins.com and I talk about why we both ordered household solar, and Martin tries to get himself cancelled with his opinions on electric cars. - And I talk to @bengarratt.bsky.social about the importance of logistics to the UK economy! www.abundancepod.com/p/martins-ho...

Petty driving illegality is just one of the more visible signs of bigger things breaking down. I don't understand why more dramatic, publicised, stops and crushings aren't happening. You don't need LOTS of resources. You need a few, doing the job, and showing they are. 5/5

Again, I think "be serious about confidential information" is another one of those things where Westminster has totally diverged from the rest of the professional world.

Daniel@deargodwhaat.bsky.social · 6d ago

You can draw a direct line, I think, from casually leaking details of lockdown measures (from the very start), to partygate? Just a profound lack of seriousness for the situation nor respect for the public?

I don’t think London people realise that mobile reception is like 10x better in places like Bedfordshire than it is in London, a city which as far as I can tell barely has 5G coverage anywhere.

Alan Smith@theboysmithy.ft.com · 6d ago

New with Kieran Smith - why is UK mobile phone coverage so bad? www.ft.com/content/db17...

It’s a rip-off price, the vendor is toxic, and it seems the software doesnt deliver: www.ft.com/content/cbd1... Palantir tool has not cut hospital discharge delays, study says

Palantir tool has not cut hospital discharge delays, study says

Think-tank’s findings likely to add to calls for audit of NHS England claims around Federated Data Platform

ft.com

Worse, the LDRS is “structurally NIMBY”: it distorts the debate by over-reporting minor disagreements. See @lauralaker.bsky.social on one little cycle lane: lauralaker.substack.com/p/why-did-th... @mjrobbins.com on a theme park: martinrobbins.substack.com/p/the-bbcs-w... bsky.app/profile/tom-...

Why did the BBC publish 22 negative articles on 300m of bike lane in Somerset?

Needless to say, the bike lane didn't survive

lauralaker.substack.com

Tom Phillips@tom-phillips.com · 12mo ago

A thing I've long suspected but never got round to rigorously checking is that the Local Democracy Reporting Service is, effectively, structurally nimby - because a disproportionate amount of the available material if you're covering "local democracy" is planning objections

Do it.

Ant Breach@antbreach.bsky.social · 2w ago

This would be the most important local finance reform since Elizabeth I. Finally introducing local revenue sources that aren't property taxes will ensure places really benefit from local growth - more jobs and/or higher wages in a place will translate into more investment and services:

Yeah this is just absolute brainworms reporting.

Ian Rennie@theangelremiel.bsky.social · 2w ago

Who are these weirdos? And why are the BBC interviewing them?

🧵Burnham announcements on bills/bus fares have a very 'bread/butter' feel & reprioritise from long term to now. Truth is lots of public are frustrated with 18 years of language around 'tough choices for long term change' that never comes & want govt to show it can help in here/now

I'd go further than that and say the discourse on this is emblematic of the broader British problem of not treating management itself as a valuable (learnable) skill.

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 2w ago

I don’t think any departmental minister needs to have credentials in their own department. Most of the effective delivery minister, regardless of party, don’t. The problem is that there were only five SoSes you could say had strong credentials on that score under Starmer and WS was not one.

Very much team ‘ban the paedo glasses’ I’m afraid

John Oxley@joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 2w ago

That's nothing: since the death of William IV in 1837 every British monarch has been alive at the same time as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, a record which will continue with Prince William.

Denali@denali.bsky.social · 3w ago

Husband just came in to tell me that since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln every American president has been alive at the same time as Herbert Hoover.

Its not you need new laws: largely you just need to enforce the ones we have. That you can just ignore them with no consequences, and that playing by the rules disadvantages you, is just... assumed now. And thats hugely high salience. See also why people are so annoyed on escooters.

Its not a new observation - @jim.londoncentric.media has been making it for months now - but this all comes back to a society where it seems there is no consequence for bad behaviour Austerity hollowed out and collapsed the regulatory state. Its the same phenomina with shoplifting, tax dodging etc

Jennifer Williams@jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 3w ago

Ok well live next door to a house that’s a nightmare - anti social HMO, empty and a lightning rod for nonsense, a commercial building rotting - that’s owned by someone hundreds or even thousands of miles away, who is unresponsive, and their agents don’t care, and even the council can’t get purchase

Wow! To Chris, Emma, and ALL of your brilliant cast and crew. Thank you for an amazing night in a movie theater. I can’t wait to see it again!

Or much of a drop in public support. Fascinating example of elite consensus switching despite popular opinion.

Arieh Kovler@ariehkovler.com · 3w ago

In two years Net Zero went from broad political consensus to politically toxic, without any particular scandal over the policy.

Reasons to be cheerful: I never have to listen to these commentators again, assuming they'll have changed them by the next world cup. The dreary circle jerk of punditry is the single worst thing about football apart from the existence of Cristiano Ronaldo

Will 🇺🇦 Absolute Shower 🇺🇦@showerabsolute.bsky.social · 3w ago

Well that was rubbish and well deserved. And now the little shits can go off and sing their little racist victory songs

1-0

As an island nation in a deteriorating global order we should be investing a lot more in piracy TBH.

Will 🇺🇦 Absolute Shower 🇺🇦@showerabsolute.bsky.social · 3w ago

THEY DID THE THING. Vice President of Argentina no less, making us sound metal af

Christopher Nolan <> Zulu

Empire Magazine@empiremagazine.bsky.social · 3w ago

Question for you – After The Odyssey, what should Christopher Nolan tackle next? Reply with your answer, and you might see it in print in our next issue...

I’m also convinced it’s a force that’s been turbocharged by social media like Facebook village groups etc that act as hotbeds of ‘radicalisation’.

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 3w ago

Alicia Kearns' question on local government reorganisation, essentially going 'Yuck, don't want to be run *by a city*' is, in my view, the single most neglected force in English politics and the single biggest threat and risk to Andy Burnham's devolution plans.

Don’t ever, ever, ever stay at a @nationaltrust.org.uk property, it is not worth the absolute misery of having to deal with their callously incompetent, ‘computer says no’ customer complaint team.

We must build @roadscholar.bsky.social's proposed Peak District tunnel. 💥 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How the Norway method could revive Peak District road tunnel

Experts say "drill-and-blast" techniques in Norway could be used slashing the cost to £2bn.

bbc.co.uk

Oh no Sam Neill 😔 Brilliant actor, who managed to bring something unexpected to every role. And a truly funny man- here’s his priceless response when asked about his ideal murder method.

Do, it’s like two Substacks in one and both are excellent even though they continue to *refuse* to do live stream games of Civ VII like hundreds of us have asked for 🤷‍♂️

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3w ago

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...

There's a lot of debate on what Manchesterism means and that's not going to stop. I will though keep repeating that this wasn't built by nimbyism and rent controls