Xander Flatt
@xanderflatt.bsky.social
Working in local government policy, data (analysis and visualisation), and making information accessible. Interested in film, music, art, culture, politics, sport, news and the weather. East Lothian/Edinburgh Nae Paseran He/him
Excuse me while I go and sit down in the museum with the other fossils.
I am 2,000 years old
I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man
As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...
lrb.co.uk
After 800 miles, two taxis, six trains, three missed connections and about 50ft of a mild jog, I finally got my well-read copy of Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art signed by @daisydixon.bsky.social It changed how I view art. Bought @portybooks.bsky.social signed @bookspacecardiff.bsky.social
Standard bluesky response: In choosing Neutral Milk Hotel, you have chosen the side of the Oppressor Milk Hotel.
Listening to Neutral Milk Hotel to start the day.
If your only experience of food poverty is reusing a slice of lemon for your second gin of the afternoon, sit down and shut up.
'£50 doesn't even buy a meal': What people think of Burnham's electricity VAT cut
Everyone on here be like “oh yes I am a games designer with very strong opinions”, meanwhile here’s Anna age 12 out-designing all of you with her amazing pavement games. G’aun yersel, Anna.
A solid example of "I'm not doing it to change the world, I'm doing it so the world doesn't change me."
"You know PlayStation isn't going to reverse their policy, right?" Wow, good point. I'll just throw my beliefs aside and only buy digital PS games I don't own, then. That's what you want me to say, right?
But they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made. In the land of Switzerland, in the fires of Mount FIFA, the Dark Lord Infantino forged in secret a Master Ring... One Ring to rule them all!
World Cup 2026: World Cup rings for winners as Donald Trump to attend final
Donald Trump will present the trophy to the World Cup final winners on Sunday, and rings will be presented to the victorious side.
bbc.co.uk
It makes sense that he'd need to move onto burning more fossil fuels having immediately burned through his credibility and any goodwill.
Burnham to announce plans for new North Sea oil and gas drilling - BBC News share.google/4VlRtXSSFkk8...
This is grim. If you show children that they're not allowed to enjoy something because people will make fun of them; all they learn is to hide what they like and to make fun of others. Your children are not a blank page on which you decide what to write.
Cringe culture was always gonna lead to a trend of millennial parents banning their kids from watching anime so they don't grow up to be "weird."
I'll hit 68 in 2053. By that time, state pension age will likely be 70+. And with cuts to welfare and increasing wealth inequality, healthy life expectancy in many places will be lower than that.
The UK State Pension age will be increasing to 68 in 2037 instead of 2044. Meaning if you are under 58 your retirement just went up to 68 when it would have been 67. But it will barely be on news.
Probably won't go down very well in Edinburgh North and Leith...
5 Labour MPs and… a DUP MP Signing the EDM to censor Amnesty International DUP. Says it all.
Over the years, I've learned many life lessons from @themountaingoats.bsky.social . Today I learned that Napalm Death performed "You Suffer" at the tiny desk. This might be the most profound one of them all. Or, at least, a close second behind the availability of Pan-Asian supermarkets in Hell.
you guys this is the greatest thing ever to have happened
Remember Streeting's review into whether young people are being overdiagnosed with ADHD, autism, and mental health issues? Well, the interim report is out, and there's a reason the media are silent on it (spoiler: it proves what a lot of us have been saying all along)
Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their funding. Within hours, GC groups threatened defamation lawsuits and Amnesty was forced to pull it down. Proving the point they're anti rights. Anyways, here it is.
Princess Bride: You Keep Using That Word
Alt: A man with long hair and a mustache looks down at a shorter man. He is saying" You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means"
static.klipy.com
If the idea seems absurd, it is because Britain has drifted so far from the ideas and ideologies that dominated the country barely a decade ago
Said Hernan Cortes to the governor of Cuba...
Ooooh Spain break through at last!
"Well she was always nice to me." A line almost identical to the one a lot of women have heard from men who also want to defend the reputation of truly irredeemable friends. Yes, they're nice to people who aren't the target of their monstrous intentions.
Sad news about Ann Widdecombe. Very good and nuanced obit from the Times. Didn't share many of her social views but she was a woman of strong principles, far better and kinder than her caricature. This last par captures here well: www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...
Rounding up some translations of Count Binface that have been appearing in foreign press 🇷🇴 Romanian: Contele Tomberonez 🇫🇷 French: Comte Tête-de-Poubelle (bin-head, more accurate than bin-face) 🇮🇹 Italian: Conte Faccia-da-Bidone 🇪🇸 Spanish: "un hombre con un cubo de basura en la cabeza" (!) Cont...
Unfortunately, a stunned Paris is how they all got into this whole mess to begin with
‘The Odyssey’ women Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, and Charlize Theron stun in Paris.
Going out on a limb: Farage is going to call a by election. Best case for him, he loses and claims an establishment conspiracy. Increases his personal support but doesn't need to be an MP. Worst case, he wins and can try to claim that previous expenses don't need to be declared.
The problem with The X-Files on Disney+ is the minor spoiler in the content warning "contains tobacco depictions"
watching X-Files with no lights on... i hope the Smoking Man's in this one :)
Asking how people can partake in joyful acts during a period of immense suffering leads me to believe this is your first time at the suffering rodeo.
Absolutely gutted to miss @daisydixon.bsky.social talking about her new book at @portybooks.bsky.social tonight. I had soooo many questions.
Today is World Refugee Day. Here’s a poem called ‘Refugees’.
“so what’s your take?” “the city of New York must pay me $1 million cash in the next hour and I will kill one person for every minute they are late” “100% disagree”