The Eagle of the Ninth. The Silchester Eagle at Reading Museum.

Are you learning Welsh? Do you teach Welsh? Or want to read a fun and informative book about mammals? I'm writing my 2nd non-fic book for learners and need a little help to pay for some image licensing. Pre-register here: www.kickstarter.com/... Pls share!

Wrote an update on my eco-comedy project, Fieldwork, last week. Had my first table read ever last month, now need to listen closely to the recording and rewrite the script. I also have a few interesting events coming up this autumn. Read more: fieldworkpodcast.substack.com/p/fieldwork-...

Bonfire last night. Lewes school kids get today off, but I don't, which seems unfair because they aren't the ones with the massive hangover, are they?

So, @bsky.app, why does your web interface character count say 300, but allow me to post 323 characters when there's a URL? You only allow 300 ch in your API, so when I write posts here to check for length and then paste them into a scheduler, they are too long. This is ridiculous.

One thing I've struggled with as a Welsh learner is finding ebook-audiobook pairs so that I can listen whilst reading. That's why I want to record not just a std audiobook, but also a 'shadow' audiobook with pauses so you can repeat what you hear. Pre-reg here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/suw...

Also, need a de minimis for businesses under the VAT threshold. Some years my corp tax has been a third as much as I've paid myself, and that was under minimum wage. Or to put it another way, I paid as much corp tax as Amazon did in the UK whilst earning less than one of their workers.

@golwg.360.cymru Mae gen i broblem efo'ch geirfa. Mae'r bocs geirfa'n diflannu ar frig y sgrîn. Mae'n problem yn Chrome a Safari, ac ar bob erthygl fy mod i wedi trio.

What if there was a consensus on the tax reforms the UK needs? What if it was backed by policy experts from think tanks across the political spectrum, from the Adam Smith Institute to the Resolution Foundation? The consensus is real. The question is: will anyone act on it?

Copurrnicus is a bit stoned (gabapentin for the fireworks) and I think he can now see though time.

Explains a lot.

It's really hard to believe proposed wealth taxes are unaffordable or burdensome when you see how much billionaires are willing to spend avoiding them:

Dach chi'n dysgu Cymraeg? Dw i'n sgwennu llyfr newydd, Mamaliaid Prydain. Medrwch chi ei gefnogi yma! Are you learning Welsh? I'm writing a new book, British Mammals. You can pre-register to support it here: www.kickstarter.com/... Please share widely!!

So it seems like perhaps LinkedIn is suppressing women's posts, which is absolutely fundamentally shitty of them. I've certainly noticed over the last couple of years my posts reached almost no one. Now I'm trying to build a new business, it's more of an issue. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Filming people without their consent to shame them on your socials is absolutely weapons-grade arsehole behaviour. Even if you don't show their faces. It makes the world that bit worse and compounds the arseholery that you're shaming.

Going quietly mad with various tech support tickets today, being told that the problem is, in fact, exactly what I said it was yesterday.

Mentoring? Training? A online community? Webinars with inspiring speakers? What is it that you need in order to thrive in your career? 2/2

I've had to pause all the scheduled posts for now, because SocialChamp keeps breaking all the links. Sorry about that. Meanwhile, to the women in STEM following us, if we were to totally rethink Ada Lovelace Day and how we support you, what services would you most like to see us provide? 1/2

Seeing a lot of takes about how Mamdani's win doesn't mean other left candidates should do what he did because it won't necessarily work for them. As opposed to how well chasing the centre-right vote has historically worked? I dunno, man, I think it's worth a pop.

I listened to a podcast about a year ago with two male writers talking about their writing routine. A very famous one said he slept in and then wrote during the night. The other asked if he got up with his children in the morning and he said: "No. Why would I do that?" and then they both laughed.

The flip side of this is the male author who was asked about his writing routine, and who talked about how much he loved the feeling that he could close his door and then “the day is completely yours” to focus on writing. He had, at the time, two young children… and, of course, a wife

Unauthorised student turned up to today’s research methods class, I guess they wanted to brush up on their meow-tiple regression skills?

I'd be grateful if someone could write a parody called "Cheney is Dead" to the tune of "Lady in Red"

Woke up with a stonking headache this morning. Think I was grinding my teeth at one point. Just waiting for the Neurofen to kick in.

I keep seeing journalism described as an "ecosystem" and I guess that tracks because it's undergoing an extinction crisis caused by billionaires, too.

A lot of language learners feel like they've plateaued at the intermediate level. Reading a lot of books helps, but there aren't many specifically designed to expand your vocab. Mamaliaid Prydain is. Pre-order here: www.kickstarter.com/... Pls share!

Via Gary Marcus. Wow.

Forgot to turn off Friday’s 6:30 alarm. Idiot.

this is honestly my main argument against AGI hype

Just sent the autumn issue of the Friends of Brompton Cemetery magazine to the printers, with HUGE thanks to @judew.bsky.social and @suw.bsky.social for the lovely pieces they contributed. (I'm always looking for contributions, btw ... )

How annoying. Despite having checked the character counts for a bunch of posts I'd scheduled, somehow the links got broken (they are whole in the scheduler) so lovely people have been sharing posts to my Kickstarter where the link's bust. Why is so much fucking broken?

One thing I've struggled with as a Welsh learner is finding ebook-audiobook pairs so that I can listen whilst reading. That's why I want to record not just a std audiobook, but also a 'shadow' audiobook with pauses so you can repeat what you hear. Pre-reg here: www.kickstarter.com/...

Oh! And don’t forget: there’s a bookstore on my website with some gorgeous old stock in it, if you want a signed Ladybird etc. www.gralefrit.co.uk/shop.html

Laurence Kasdan’s story of being asked to move all the incidents in a TV drama further and further along the story, to tease viewers, until he screamed “SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN AT SOME POINT” and quit writing for TV haunts me.

I could do all the pics in my next Welsh book with AI, but I believe in paying artists, not stealing from them. If you have a fiver to share so I can pay the wonderful Lizzie Harper for some of her illustrations, that'd be grand. Pre-register here: www.kickstarter.com/...

Time to watch some proper grownup telly you losers

A few thoughts on art: art plus intent, and the human connections and empathy of live performance. From The Art of Tax Reform Summit 2025 in NSW.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The first three words of "look at this asshole" is "look at this".

On this, if you grew up watching the Christmas Lectures or watch them now or have anything to say about them, I’m taking oral histories. About 20 mins over Zoom, if you’re lucky one of the cats might join us.

Handy time to re-up my piece on AI translation www.goethe.de/prj/k40/en/l...

I’m at the point where I think we need to send someone back in time and destroy generative AI before it gets started

Had an absolutely great day at the OKRE Summit, but having spent 10 hours pretending to be an extrovert I now need to spend three days hiding in a cupboard. I shall not be talking questions, comments or polite small talk at this time.

Thunderstorm in Paddington. Came out of the wrong underground exit, had to go round the corner to get back into the station and got soaked.

Never had a “Get on the train because we’re closing the platform for maintenance for 30 minutes” announcement on the tube before.

Are you learning Welsh? Do you teach Welsh? Or just want to see learners supported with fun and informative books to read? I'm writing my 2nd non-fic book for learners and need a little help to pay for some image licensing. Pre-register here: www.kickstarter.com/...

Misjudged the temperature again and am overdressed again. I really need to look at the forecast before I choose my coat for the day.

You know, the party that promises to clean up the Home Office and stop vindictive shit like this from happening will clean up at the next election. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

I’m often asked by women whether they should accept eg panel invitations if they feel they’re being tokenised, and I always say “do you believe the men on the panel were invited only on merit?”.

Jack o’lantern 2025. From a pattern from Zombie Pumpkins.