Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

The fact is no presenter has ever had to leave the BBC for expressing conservative views, or even explicitly endorsing a right-wing party. Was never a problem for Jeremy Clarkson. Was never a problem for Andrew Neil. Was never a problem for Alan Sugar

He thinks he's a rat

Minister defends 'pragmatic' U-turn on workers' rights. It was a manifesto pledge Why no 'pragmatic' U-turn' on nationalising water, energy, rail rolling stock companies and freight; ending privatisation of the NHS and social care; taxing the super rich?

I wanted dinner recommendations so I scraped 13,000+ London restaurants and accidentally discovered Google Maps is running a shadow economy. Anyway here's a dashboard and a political economy thesis: open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...

Video clip of Natasha Devon raising concerns about Simon Wessely being involved in the government’s ADHD review. She says it feels like a foregone conclusion because Wessely has already made comments about young people “overdiagnosing” their own mental health.

Wes has always punched down on people. That's his M.O. www.independent.co.uk/voices/wes-s...

So Deutsche Bahn is finally, after all these years waiting, going TO RUN TRAINS FROM GERMANY TO LONDON! #CrossChannelRail

Been asked to review a report that is... Well it's not great. So I am breaking out pedantry brain and going so far as to leave comments on the Latin root of certain words. Yes. I am in that sort of mood.

The NHS: "Health sec, there is too much demand for autism, ADHD and mental health services, the waiting lists are too long, we need investment!" Wes Streeting: "Hearing you loud and clear! Let's have a review into how we can stop people accessing those services to cut the load :3"

Did a 50 minute talk on the history of disability in the UK for work. First comment: "Have you considered doing a podcast on this stuff".

Ok, so, train themes for a moment. These are due to leave the SWR network this month. Pretty sure I've ridden more 455s in the last three weeks than the last six months. Still. Hello from 2D63 and a free coffee because apparently it's my day.

What do these corporations have in common? Netflix Ford Tesla T-Mobile Duke Energy DISH Network Metlife Dominion Energy United States Steel In recent years, they all paid their execs more than they paid in taxes. This is what a corporate-rigged system looks like.

"We're just men, we're just innocent men"

Crossroads

Reform UK Party Ltd are a company and yes, they ought to be investigated.

Someone keeps asking me for dinner.

The public consultation on trans access rights at Highgate Ponds ends on the 25th Nov - so now's the time to give your thoughts if you were intending to! Link in QT

Today marks 38 years since 31 people lost their lives in the Kings Cross Underground Station fire. A couple of links from LFB & @timharford.ft.com that help contextualise the disaster and what was changed following that. www.london-fire.gov.uk/museum/londo... timharford.com/2023/02/caut...

A splash of colour and grey.

Why the ever flying fuck are people discussing "private finance" ?! PFI/PPP was one of the greatest cons and most expensive mistakes this country has made! Why would we want to do it again?!

These fights are *normal* to get the help people need. No one is getting diagnosed without similar horror stories. So when I hear about over diagnosis? These are the children I think of:

I was part of a group of almost 20 amazing researchers, educators and representation leads from right across the continent and between us, lead by the wonderful Dr Andrea Laczik and Dr Søren Kristensen, we got out 8 chapters covering a lot of important aspects of democracy and vocational education!

🧵On our revelations today about the BBC Coup and the Prescott Dossier. The leaked ‘BBC Bias’ memo Trump used to attack the BBC was authored by Michael Prescott — a Hanover lobbyist paid by US tech/media giants tied to Trump. Full story: bylinetimes.com/2025/11/11/b... 1/12

It's sort of interesting to me that for a lot of British journalists, "success" largely means reducing people's access to essential services

How many trans people have the BBC had on this week discussing the BBC's pro-trans bias? Zero.

India: 67th poorest country in the world UK: 160th poorest country in the world India: 100% rail electrification is affordable, and we have achieved this in 2025 UK: anything more than 39% electrification is unaffordable, and we will never achieve 100%

[Paraphrasing] "Young people should work for free and do bullshit not in their contract for reasons" Uhuh... Or, or you could pay people for those extra hours? Maybe we all ought to consider work/life balance more? inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

Man who started his career by promoting a zero tolerance stance on crime reaches the 'how it's going' part of his meme.

I like his mother too: “Art and museums are living spaces,” she said. “Life without art is not life.” Also, "The fedora, angled just so, is his homage to French Resistance hero Jean Moulin." That's exactly the energy I needed. Especially from a 15-year-old French boy, in these uncertain times.

A mountain shenanigan today. Pike of Blisco, Crinkle Crags, Bowfell, Esk Pike and a long route down. Was in cloud until after midday, slipped on a rock and have a bruise on my hip that is painful AF. But a good day, a QMD in the bag and time with my best friend. In all, not bad. Now, beer time.

The more I see unskippable adverts on services I've already paid for, the more sympathy I have with pirates. However, up side, I now know that Monday .com which I already had doubts about uses AI and as a qualified project professional just let me say. Avoid that at all costs! It will be dreadful.

Has she considered a wealth tax or maybe changing NI rules on LLP types perhaps? Maybe closing some loopholes on unearnt wealth? Just a thought, might be nice to have some progressive policies from the *checks notes* party of labour [Are we sure? Ed.] www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory. www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

Thought-provoking final paragraph here on the social cost of carbon. "From that perspective, the question is less, “Why are flights so cheap?” and more, “Who actually pays for them?” " www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Oh look, France has jailed one of their presidents. Hint, hint.

Who's solving the Louvre robbery? Right answers only

Louvre robbery. French police release image of suspect.

The trouble with the French is they don't have a word for insouciant.

So. A shenanigan may have started. 9I52 with @coastwaywill.me @daxon.insanity.tube and a few others, a quick change at Rotterdam (or anywhere) where I abandoned my compatriots and the IC1178 to Delft for me. Time to find my hotel, maybe a beer and relax for what's left of the evening.

Here's Palantir's Louis Mosley, grandson of Britain's most famous fascist leader, talking about the importance of AI, if you aren't convinced yet that this is one big co-ordinated push towards the destruction of everything good in life. www.politicshome.com/news/article...

This lurid headline is about British tourists no longer getting away with overstaying in Schengen. Or being 'illegals', as it's often called in the UK.

Almost 4,000 people have signed up to a lawsuit against major poultry producers and a water company over allegations of "extensive and widespread pollution" in three rivers - the Wye, Lugg and Usk. Good luck to them, I say.

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

I'm guessing the chocolate was white, managed to be very bitter and left a nasty aftertaste www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"IT ABSOLUTELY WILL STOP!!!"

Talks that challenge, workshops that teach, and a community that pushes boundaries. That’s WICCON 2025. Haarlem, Oct 30–31. Join us & be part of it 👉 wiccon.nl/tickets-2025 #WICCON2025

So I was in the mood to level up #BloomfieBubble and this is the end result after I cooked for a little while. It's higher resolution, it's in an actual bubble now, and the page will generate alt text for you ready to copy and paste. It's super cute right. 🥹🫧 skythings.lukeacl.com/bloomfie-bub...