Theo Bird
@theonlybird.bsky.social
Meandering musings of a millenial. Brit. Fungi enthusiast. IPA skeptic. Proponent of active travel, walkable cities and public transport. I follow politics in the same way I enjoy the odd horror film.
Why have these filled croissants never caught on in the UK when they are such obviously delicious processed food?
There really is no moral justification whatsoever for mined blood diamonds now, on an environmental or humanitarian level. As technology advances, industries die. There would be nothing sad about De Beers or Rio Tinto doing a Blockbuster. www.ft.com/content/2a8d...
How the diamond industry lost its sparkle
The explosion of lab-grown stones from China has shaken up the sector, leaving established players struggling for relevance
ft.com
What's going on with my "mallards" and, in some cases, "grebes?"
Forget Drake's fake abs - a gin collection of Bombay, Hendricks, Plymouth and Tanqueray for a man worth half a yard is funny to me
Perhaps a boring decision but a great one. Not only the right direction with nuclear but Rolls Royce being a British company for investment and infrastructure security.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.Rolls-Royce named winning bidder for UK small nuclear reactors
Truly one of the dumbest people ever to hold public office
Steve Herman@newsguy.bsky.social · last yr.NBC News - Format modifications being considered for the top-secret President’s Daily Brief, to make it more appealing for Donald Trump, include a video version that would look and feel like a Fox News broadcast. www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...
I thought this mandatory 2 pits would make it more exciting but somehow it's worse haha. I mean personally I'd just scrap Monaco, but if not, can the solution to avoid a situation like last year just be that teams can't pit during a red flag? #MonacoGP
I find the difference between X and Bluesky on the topic of AI truly staggering. On X, I can't scroll for a minute without seeing someone talking about AI. The lastest models, comparisons, job losses, benefits, covering all companies from Google, OpenAI or Anthropic. On Bluesky? Crickets.
Turns out a predatory business model of pushing loans on broke people might not be most stable www.ft.com/content/6c4b...
Klarna’s losses widen after more consumers fail to repay loans
‘Buy now, pay later’ group’s weaker results come as concerns rise about the financial health of US consumers
ft.com
With every fibre of my body I hope this is true. It's almost too on the nose for the Onion.
Olga Nesterova@onestpress.onestnetwork.com · last yr.As part of the red-carpet treatment, Saudi officials arranged for a fully operational mobile McDonald’s unit to accompany President Trump during his stay. According to local reports, the unit was set up near the Saudi Royal Court.
I remember when any reusable water bottle was the 'Eco-friendly' option. I am massively pro-environment, but where does the purity end? I fear a constant push for eco-perfection puts swathes of people off doing anything altogether.
*very* cheeky of the Guardian to illustrate this with a picture of Farthing Down, a site of special scientific interest and thus absolutely not the sort of horrible scrubland the mayor's talking about here
The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.Sadiq Khan to announce plans to build houses on London green belt
I don't know if I am just getting older or what but when I saw that the new pope was 69, my first thought was "lol nice" but my second thought was "damn, that's a young pope."
A lot of discussion about what name the new Pope will take. A small part of them must be tempted to go with Pope Muhammed for chaos purposes.
Omg Starmer on the phone constantly name checking him Donald is toe curling
BREAKING: US-UK trade pact will leave the 10% US tariff in place - CNN These tarriffs are not a bargaining tool, they are an ideology. Trump genuinely believes a trade deficit with another country is always a bad thing. At some point in the coming months Americans will face the music on this.
Much of this article is bleak but this part might actually be the worst. Just people asking ChatGPT who they are lol nymag.com/intelligence...
“When you’re ready for your child to stop being a child, give them a smartphone” We face a mammoth task as a society trying to reduce smartphone use in children, but I not only think it's possible, I think it's a societal necessity. #smartphonefreechildhood www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘The crux of all evil’: what happened to the first city that tried to ban smartphones for under-14s?
It’s a year since teachers in St Albans asked parents not to give younger children smartphones. How successful have they been? What do the kids think about it? And has it made the adults think about t...
theguardian.com
Places I didn't expect the strongest condemnation of Israel and it's allies? The FT. Excellent wording. Should be common place across most media outlets. www.ft.com/content/f5fd...
The west’s shameful silence on Gaza
The US and European allies should do more to restrain Benjamin Netanyahu
ft.com
For 580 days we have wondered if our club will still exist when we wake up. For 1,395 days we have been under an embargo in one form or another. Our Women’s Team had to go part-time, we lost our Cat 1 Academy status, we very nearly lost our training ground. #readingfc
Russell Brand here, facing charges of sexual assault, arriving at court dressed like a sex pest
This has been the best week for drying washing in recent living memory
FPTP is simply not designed for a 5 party system. A general election with this split would be absolute chaos. That said, I think it's easy to blow these results out of proportion. 2029 is a long way away and I think the Labour Gov will last until then (Starmer perhaps not). #LocalElections